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NYC Department of Records & Information Services - History
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Eugene de Salignac’s Workers — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
For Labor Day, we thought For the Record would look back on Eugene de Salignac’s photographs of workers. His most famous photograph is, of course, of workers on the Brooklyn Bridge, but many of his photographs emphasize labor. Some of de Salignac’s most intriguing photographs are his portraits, li
Victory Day in NYC — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
When Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia received word of the Japanese surrender late in the day on Tuesday, August 14, 1945, he rushed home to Gracie Mansion where he delivered a fifteen-minute broadcast on WNYC. Anticipating the end-of-war news, WNYC equipment had been installed at the Mayor’s residence the
A Century and a Half of Dining Out in NYC — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
As NYC Restaurant Week winds down, we are taking a looking back at more than 150 years of dining out in the city through the lens of guidebooks and other historic publications in the collections of the Municipal Library.
Fire Department of New York Photograph Collection — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Recent For the Record articles have advertised on-line publication of “resource records” for significant Municipal Archives collections. On the Waterfront: A Dip Into New York City’s Most Valued but Least Understood Real Estate highlighted the waterfront survey map series. “A True and Perfec
The Unique Correspondence of Mayor William J. Gaynor — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
If you’ve communicated in writing to a government official, chances are good that you received a generic, somewhat non-committal response. Frequently the response is a form letter sent to every other person who raised the same issue. That is the standard operating procedure and has been for
Celebrating Disability Pride Month: A Century of Progress Toward Access and Inclusion in NYC — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
This July, in celebration of Disability Pride Month and the anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we’re showcasing selections from the Municipal Library that trace New York City’s evolving journey toward accessibility, inclusion, and justice for people with disabilities.
The Mayflower II — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
What do the musical comedy star Ethel Merman, a troupe of young people dressed in “native” American garb, one live turkey, and a black and white cat named Felix have in common? They all played a role in the festivities celebrating arrival of the replica ship, Mayflower II, in New York City on July 2
Records About Records: Discovering the History of DORIS Records Management — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Recently, during an ongoing effort in the Municipal Library to reorganize the collection, librarians turned up a set of records that attest to New York City’s long history of responsible and innovative records management. A binder collecting the 1957 minutes of the Coordinating Committee for the Re
It Happened Here: 400 Years of NYC Government Records, 1636-2025 — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
On Friday, July 3, 2025, the Department of Records and Information Services hosted an exhibit of unique items from four centuries of NYC history. Selected from the vast collections of the Municipal Archives and Library, the display kicks-off the It Happened Here weekend. Dating from 1636 to the
The Case Against Bruno Richard Hauptmann — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
On April 3, 1936, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was put to death in the New Jersey State Prison at Trenton for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the 20-month-old son of Col. Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. It was the end of one of the most sensational inve
Love Counts: NYC LGBTQ History in the Municipal Library — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
This Pride Month, For the Record showcases selected publications in the NYC Municipal Library that illuminate the powerful and complex history of the City’s LGBTQ population in recent decades.
Deportation and Immigration: NYC Mayors and Federal Officials — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
On April 27, 1972, Mayor John V. Lindsay sent a letter to the Hon. Raymond F. Farrell, Commissioner, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U. S. Department of Justice, in Washington, D.C. Lindsay wrote to Farrell on behalf of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, “. . . who are currently facing
Indexing Felony Indictment Records, Update — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
“I was drunk all day, I did not mean to steal the child.” -Lizzie Colbert On October 26, 1879, Lizzie Colbert, entered a guilty plea before the Police Justice at the First District Police Court in Manhattan. She had been charged with “decoying child.” The details of this unfortunate incident, and t
New Project: Processing and Digitizing Records of the New York City Commission on Human Rights — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Project Overview The NYC Municipal Archives has launched a new processing and digitization project, Processing and Digitizing Records of the New York City Commission on Human Rights. It is supported by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the National Archive
The War Memorial of the City of New York — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
As Memorial Day approaches, we are looking back at a 1923 plan for a never-built war memorial in Central Park. In November 1918, at the close of the First World War, Mayor John H. Hylan created the Committee on Permanent War Memorial, which was tasked with producing a plan for an appropriate monumen
Delicious Apples: Department of Public Markets Photographs — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
The initial inquiry arrived via email in July 2024. The correspondent, a representative from the O’Malley family in Los Angeles, California, asked if the Municipal Archives would be interested in a collection of photographs that depicted public markets in New York City during the 1920s. The photogra
Jane’s Walk 2025: Walking the Streets of New Amsterdam — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
For Jane’s Walk (named after urban historian Jane Jacobs), the New York City Municipal Archives participated in two events, a tour of the Archival storage facility in Brooklyn, and a walking tour of lower Manhattan tracing the path of New Amsterdam. The tour will live on in an app, but you too can f
On the Waterfront: A Dip Into New York City’s Most Valued but Least Understood Real Estate — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
New York City is a seaport. Always has been. Even before Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed into the harbor in 1524 and declared it “a very agreeable place [where] a very wide river, deep at its mouth, flowed out into the sea,”(1) the Lenape had established trading centers along the shore. The C
Good Letters — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
The New York City Charter explicitly directs that mayoral records must be transferred to the Municipal Archives. Thanks to dedicated librarians and archivists over the past century, the Municipal Archives has become the repository of a significant quantity of records documenting the executive office
Landmarks at Sixty — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
“Try to imagine New York City without Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Jefferson Market Courthouse, the Flatiron Building, or the brownstones in Stuyvesant Heights, Greenwich Village, Brooklyn Heights and the St. Nicholas Historic Districts.”
DORIS Celebrates Records and Information Management Month — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
On Wednesday, April 9, 2025, the Records Management Division of the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) welcomed colleagues from City agencies to join them at a social event celebrating Records and Information Management Month. More than twenty City agency Record Management Office
April 1825 - Not Just Murder and Mayhem — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Municipal Archives and Library collections are justifiably renowned for their value in documenting the history of New York City. Generations of researchers exploring the events and decisions that shaped the city have been rewarded with rich resources, often in great abundance. Mayoral correspondence
On the Scene: Eugene de Salignac’s Photographs of Traffic Safety — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Eugene de Salignac served as Photographer for the Department of Plant & Structures (originally the Department of Bridges) from 1906 to 1934. During this time, the agency took on many of the functions that would later be taken over by the Department of Transportation and the MTA. When I wrote
History of Reproductive Rights in New York City - Exhibit — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
This week, the Department of Records and Information Services opened a ‘pop-up’ exhibit on the history of reproductive rights in New York. It begins in 1828, when providing an abortion after quickening first became illegal, and traces the story to the present day, highlighting the city’s current rep
Transcribing Records of Enslaved New Yorkers — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced an ambitious project at the Department of Records and Information Services to make accessible historical records documenting thousands of formerly enslaved New Yorkers. The records in the Municipal Archives date from 1660 through 1827 when New York S
The S.S. United States — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Shortly before noon on Wednesday, February 19, 2025, the luxury superliner S.S. United States began its final voyage. With news helicopters hovering overhead and escorted by five tugs, the largest passenger ship ever built in America slowly departed its berth in Philadelphia, bound for Florida’s pan
The 1890 Police Census–Digitized — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
The Municipal Archives recently completed digitizing the 1890 Police Census. Supported by a generous grant from the Peck-Stackpoole Foundation, project staff reformatted all 894 extant volumes of the collection to provide access (113 volumes are missing from the collection). They re-housed the volum
It’s Presidents Day — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
New York City government offices, including the Municipal Archives, close on the third Monday in February for Presidents Day. Banks, schools, the United States Post Office, and the New York Stock Exchange also observe the holiday. Archives collections document some presidential moments in the City’
Digitizing the David N. Dinkins Mayoral Photograph Collection — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Over the past year, the Municipal Archives has been busy working on the photograph collection of the Mayor David N. Dinkins administration that will be available on our digital platform, Preservica. As the archivist leading this project, I’ve been processing and digitizing both black-and-white and c
Displaced Persons — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
On June 25, 1948, more than three years after the war in Europe ended, President Harry S. Truman signed the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. The legislation was intended to help thousands of European refugees who had been displaced from their home countries during World War II, to settle in t
Department of Street Cleaning Photographs — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
“You Live in the Greatest City in the World – Let’s Make it the Cleanest and Healthiest,” is the wording on the sign on a Department of Street Cleaning cart photographed around 1908. The same sign today would not seem out of place on a Department of Sanitation truck and probably would have been a re
New York and President Jimmy Carter — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
On October 5, 1977, President Jimmy Carter visited the South Bronx. “The Presidential motorcade passed block after block of burned-out and abandoned buildings, rubble-strewn lots and open fire hydrants, and people shouting, “Give us money!” and “We want jobs!” Twice Mr. Carter got out of hi
Happy Birthday, Calvert Vaux! — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
This week For the Record celebrates the 200th birthday of Calvert Vaux, one of New York City’s most influential architects. If you are familiar with Vaux (pronounced Vox) at all, it is most likely as the co-designer of Central Park. Along with Fredrick Law Olmsted, Vaux created the past
Demonstrations, Disturbances, and a Papal Visit — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
After many years of planning and effort, the Municipal Archives launched online Collection Guides in October 2021. The Guides provide researchers with essential information about the Archives holdings in an easily searchable format. The Guides have allowed patrons to discover resources that are r
Tracts, Farms, and the Great Reindexing Project of 1911-1917 — NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Introduction: why archive? Archives preserve materials for many reasons, some of which are not immediately obvious. It’s certainly true that some archived items have obvious historic importance, such as the Grand Jury indictments for the murder of Malcolm X.