This post is one in a quarterly series in which the New-York Historical Society highlights the collections for which detailed finding aids were published over the prior three months. All collections receive at least a summary description in our catalog, Bobcat. But many collections have such depth or are simply so large or complex that…

Hello, I’m Alec Ferretti, and I recently interned with the Archival Processing Unit at the New-York Historical Society. I’m a professional genealogist by day and a grad student at NYU in their Archives program by night. I set aside every Monday of the spring semester to work on processing collections here in the N-YHS manuscripts division. On…

This post is the second in a new quarterly series in which the New-York Historical Society highlights the collections for which detailed finding aids were published over the prior three months. All collections receive at least a summary description in our catalog, Bobcat. But many collections have such depth or are simply so large or…

Update on April 14, 2020: Hart Island is back in the news for the most tragic of reasons: It’s currently being used as a burial ground for victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the time since this post was first published, control of Hart Island was transferred to New York City’s Department of Parks and burials are no…

With this post, the New-York Historical Society Library introduces a new quarterly feature in which we will highlight the collections for which detailed finding aids were published over the prior three months. All collections receive at least a summary description in our catalog, BobCat. But many collections have such depth or are simply so large…

A series of remarkable photographs from the library’s Geographic File (PR20) documents the construction of the Central Park Reservoir,  located between 86th and 96th streets.  Built between 1858 and 1862, the 106-acre reservoir is 40 feet deep and holds over a billion gallons of water. Once a critical part of the city’s fresh water system, it received water from the Croton…

Born in New York City in 1895, Irving Browning began his professional life as a silent film actor and comedian, but he was most prolific as a photographer and, later, a cinematographer and filmmaker. Browning opened his commercial photo studio in the early 1920s, enlisting his younger brother Sam as an employee. Clients of the Irving Browning Studio…

December 7th is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, honoring those killed when Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. This led to the United States’ entry into World War II. These images from our World War II Photograph Collection (PR76),  taken by U.S. Navy photographers, capture the aftermath of the bombing.  (All captions taken…

This post is by Melanie Rinehart, Assistant Archivist, Time Inc. Archive. LIFE Magazine was launched on November 23, 1936, for readers “to see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events.” The subject matter focused on both political and cultural events, and while the photographers captured iconic or scandalous photographs, it was rare that they…