In mid-December 1952, a plane from the United States Embassy in Singapore landed in Saigon, Vietnam. The passenger aboard was Henry R. Luce, head of Time Inc., who was there to see what was increasingly becoming another front in an expanding war against Communism. Luce spent a couple of days in Vietnam, visiting both the north…

As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving this week, the American Historical Manuscripts Cataloging Project staff would like to share this lovely discovery with our readers. This illuminated manuscript, done in the Carolingian style, was executed in 1932 by Madeline Abraham Scheuer for Dr. Victor H. Palsits (1867-1952). Palsits was the Keeper of Manuscripts at the New…

As part of the Enhanced Conservation Work Experience (ECWE), the New-York Historical Society Library Conservation Lab is hosting Katarzyna Bator as a third-year conservation fellow funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Ms. Bator is completing her conservation studies at the Patricia H. and Richard E. Garman Art Conservation Department at Buffalo State College. Prior…

The 1960 presidential election presented a quandary for Henry R. Luce, head of Time Inc., the largest publishing business in the world. A Republican whose aid had previously propelled Wendell Willkie and Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Republican nomination, he now had to choose between Richard Nixon and a man he admired but who stood for the…

In a set of early records from Westchester County is an unassuming reminder of the history of witchcraft in colonial New York.  Although written in a daunting-to-read seventeenth century hand, the reminder is a statement dated September 5, 1670, acknowledging payment of fourteen pounds to a Katharine Harrison by Joseph Palmer, “fully and abessolutely” satisfying his debt….

Before New York State took over all New York City bus, trolley, and subway operations on June 15, 1953, the subway was controlled by private companies. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the first to roll out an underground subway line in Manhattan on October 27, 1904, operating rails between City Hall and 145th Street. Frank…

Even in an age when we walk the streets believing in our ability to pull up all sorts of information on our smartphones, we can pause to appreciate the comprehensiveness, erudition, and wit of the AIA Guide to New York City.  The encyclopedic guide celebrates its 50th birthday this year, as it was conceived to…

Gordon Guild Burris (1903–1988) was a Canadian-born civil engineer for the New York-based Turner Construction Company in the 1920s and ’30s. Among the iconic Manhattan structures he helped build are Bloomingdale’s (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street), the Hotel Lexington (511 Lexington Avenue), and the massive Port of New York Authority Commerce Building (111 Eighth Avenue), now home to Google’s New York…

Born in Germany on September 27, 1840, Thomas Nast moved to New York with his family as a young boy. While Nast did not excel in his studies, he did show a great deal of aptitude for drawing at an early age.  By the time he was 12, Nast was enrolled as a student at…