Photographs of New York City and Beyond

: Eugene L. Armbruster photograph collection, 1894-1939; Eugene L. Armbruster (1865-1943) was born in Baden-Baden, Germany, and came to the United States in 1882. His first job was with H. Henkel Cigar Box Manufacturing Company, where he continued to work until his retirement in 1920. He lived in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with his wife and two children, Julia and Eugene Jr. Armbruster took photographs beginning in the late 19th century, but the majority of his work is from the 1910s and 1920s. Around the time of his retirement, Armbruster became interested in local history and began to photograph his environs in earnest, specifically the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. He took thousands of photographs of historic houses, churches, streetscapes, and buildings throughout New York City and Long Island. For a detailed finding aid to the collection, see http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/armbruster/.

: Bannerman family photographic negatives, undated; This collection consists of 24 glass plate negatives of Pollepel (Bannerman) Island and the estate Francis Bannerman VI (1851-1918) built there. Following the Civil War, Bannerman founded a company, Francis Bannerman Co., specializing in military surplus and scrap. In 1900 he purchased Pollepel Island, a small island located in the Hudson River just north of West Point, N.Y., with the aim to turn it into a safe storage location for his large stores of military surplus. Bannerman designed plans to have a unique, Scottish-style estate constructed on the island to serve his business and personal needs. The family owned both the business and the island until the late 1960s.

: Jessie Tarbox Beals photograph collection, circa 1905-1940; The Jessie Tarbox Beals Collection contains 420 black and white photographs, circa 1900-1940, primarily of New York City and its inhabitants. It also includes postcards, as well as larger prints, of bohemian Greenwich Village between 1905 and 1920. Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870-1942), a school teacher who taught herself photography, joined the Buffalo Courier staff in 1902 and became known as the first woman press photographer. She moved to New York City in 1905 and remained there for most of her career, leaving only to settle in southern California and Chicago for a few years during the late 1920s and early 1930s. She practiced many types of commercial photography with the vigor and speed associated with news work. Her body of work includes portraits, garden photography, city street scenes, fashion photography, and documentary photography.

: Herman A. Blumenthal photograph collection, approximately 1905-1939; 2,130 photographs, including glass plate negatives, cellulose nitrate negatives, and prints, produced by Fritz E. Bjorkman and most likely collected by Herman Blumenthal for visual research. The photographs depict a large number of places, including New York, Ohio, Maryland, Florida, California, the U.S. Southwest, and Mexico. One particular focus of the collection is parades, including photographs of an Armistice Day parade, a Liberty Day parade, parades commemorating the second and third Liberty Loans, and a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Along with many family photographs, the collection also includes photographs of monuments, memorials, buildings, canals, houses, and battleships. Herman A. Blumenthal worked as an art director and production designer for the 20th Century Fox film studio in Beverly Hills, California and received Academy Awards for his work in “Cleopatra” (1963) and “Hello, Dolly!” (1969). His other film work includes “The Three Faces of Eve” (1957), “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1959), “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” (1961), “What’s Up , Doc?” (1972), and “Westworld” (1973). Fritz E. Bjorkman was an electrical engineer born in Sweden who emigrated to the United States with his parents.

: Robert L. Bracklow photograph collection, 1882-1918 (bulk 1896-1905); Robert Louis Bracklow (1849-1919) was an amateur photographer and stationer. He was an active member of the Society of Amateur Photographers of New York (later the Camera Club), where he exhibited photographs with fellow amateur Richard H. Lawrence and with Alfred Stieglitz. This digital collection includes 2,084 glass plate negatives from the New-York Historical Society's Robert L. Bracklow Photograph Collection, which contains images of New York City, its immediate environs, and towns throughout New England from 1882 to 1918. Bracklow’s photographs often show elements of Manhattan in flux: old houses, new skyscrapers, and buildings in different stages of construction. The digitization of this collection was funded in part by a grant from the Metropolitan New York Library Council.

: Browning photograph collection, circa 1920-1938; The Browning Photograph Collection contains photographs produced primarily in the 1920s and 1930s by Irving Browning and his commercial photography firm in and around New York City. The varied subject matter, which includes street life during the Great Depression and the construction of Art Deco skyscrapers, reflects the social and economic realities of the time period while also showcasing Browning's technical and aesthetic brilliance.

: N.L. Coe and A.J. Drummond, Lower East Side photograph collection, 1901; The Lower East Side Photograph Collection spans the period from March to June 1901 and contains 63 gelatin silver photographs of buildings, on and around Delancey Street, before they were demolished during construction of the Williamsburg Bridge. The photographs show the markets, shops, saloons, and other businesses in the area; signs for many of these are in Yiddish. The images also capture the residents of the neighborhood, including several children, on the street and peering from windows of tenements. This neighborhood survey provides a unique view of life in this predominately Jewish neighborhood. All but two of the photographs are by N.L. Coe. The remainder are by A.J. Drummond.

: Bill Cunningham "Facades" photograph collection, circa 1968-1976; This collection consists of 91 photographs by famed New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham of his friend, neighbor, and fellow photographer Editta Sherman posing in period costumes in front of New York City buildings matching the same era as her clothing. Cunningham and Sherman scoured antique shops, street fairs, and auctions for period clothing, and conducted painstaking research to identify appropriate matching buildings. The project took eight years to complete and culminated in a 1977 exhibition at New-York Historical and other venues, as well as the 1978 book Facades.

: George R. Fardon's San Francisco album, 1856; George R. Fardon (1806-1886) was an English photographer who operated in San Francisco, CA and Victoria, BC. The album consists of thirty images of San Francisco in 1856, published as a portfolio by Herre & Bauer. The San Francisco album is considered the first published compilation of photographs of any American city and the major work of Fardon’s career. This is one of ten known variant copies.

: Eugene Gordon photograph collection, 1970-1990 (bulk 1975-1980); The Eugene Gordon Photograph Collection contains black and white gelatin silver prints of street life, religious groups, buildings, and public events of New York City. The photographs show New Yorkers going about their lives in a vibrant city. Gordons attention to detail, and to the changing face of the citys population and streetscape, is evident in images showing ethnic neighborhoods in Queens. The largest groupings of photographs are of Times Square and the 1970 Women's Strike for Equality. Other images show Hare Krishnas, Sikhs, St. Peters Lutheran church being demolished, and the United Nations. Several photographs represent the following neighborhoods: Harlem, Jackson Heights, Flushing, and Long Island City in Queens, Brighton Beach and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. Gift given in two parts: Eugene Gordon, 2005 & Miriam Gordon, 2008.

: Norvin H. Green collection of elevated railroad photographs, circa 1890-1910, 1937-1941; This digital collection includes 3,417 cellulose nitrate photographic negatives from the Norvin H. Green Collection of Elevated Railroad Photographs. Norvin Hewitt Green (1894-1955) was a business executive, civic leader, railroad enthusiast, and trustee of The New-York Historical Society who compiled a photographic record of New York elevated railroads that focuses on the dismantling of most of the lines between 1939 and1941, hiring the firm of H.F. Dutcher to document the demolition in almost 4,000 views. Views show the changes block by block as the heavy skeletal structure and stations were removed along Manhattan’s Sixth Avenue line (1939), Ninth Avenue line (1940), and Second Avenue line (1941); and along Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue, Fulton Street, and Sands Street lines (1941).

: Arthur W. Grumbine photograph collection, 1938-1960, undated; Collection of 133 silver gelatin photographs of Manhattan, approximately 1938 to 1960, taken by amateur photographer Arthur W. Grumbine. Part of the collection consists of street scenes and views of individual buildings taken in various neighborhoods around the city from the 1930s through the 1960s, and include images of street vendors, construction sites, signs and storefronts, building interiors, aerial and riverfront views, Times Square, Washington Square, South Street, and vignettes depicting life on the streets of Manhattan's Little Italy, Chinatown, and Lower East Side. The remainder of the collection consists principally of photographs of subjects such as elevated trains, ferries and riverboats, horse drawn carts, and a single image of a New York City streetcar. Also included are a handful of photographs of miscellaneous and unidentified subjects, as well as two photo prints of pen and ink drawings executed and photographed by Grumbine.

: George P. Hall & Son photograph collection, circa 1876-1914; The George P. Hall & Son collection consists of 1,649 photographic prints and negatives. The large-format views provide clear, extremely detailed and flattering depictions of a variety of subjects, including Manhattan's early skyscrapers, hotels and theater exteriors, harbor activity, and downtown streets, as well as Brooklyn business areas and resorts. George P. Hall & Son photographed the Battery skyline repeatedly from the 1880s through the 1910s, documenting the dramatic changes that occurred as New York progressed from a lowrise to a highrise city. George P. Hall (1832-1900) started his commercial photography business at 78 Fulton Street around 1875, and was officially joined by his son James S. Hall in 1886 when firm took the name George P. Hall & Son. After his father's death, James continued to run the business until about 1914.

: William D. Hassler photograph collection, approximately 1910-1921; William Davis Hassler (1877-1921) worked as a commercial photographer in New York City from 1909 to his death in 1921. He shot a wide range of subjects for a variety of clients, from magazines to construction companies, postal card publishers, and private commissions. Regular work came from the real estate auction house Joseph P. Day, for whom Hassler documented properties all over the five boroughs of New York City as well as Westchester County, Long Island, and New Jersey; and from the United Electric Light & Power Company, who he provided with images of power plants, illuminated signs, and product shots of electrical appliances of all kinds. Hassler was also an avid photographer of his family and friends, including his sister Harriet E. Hassler, who was head of the children’s department of the Queens Borough Public Library, his wife Ethel Magaw Hassler, and his son William Gray Hassler.

: Lewis Hine New York City newsboys album, circa 1908-1912; This collection consists of 43 photographs, mounted on 44 loose album pages of gray paper (one photograph is missing), of New York City newsboys (or "newsies"), probably taken by Lewis Hine for the National Child Labor Committee circa 1908-1912. All photographs are captioned with the subject's name, age, address, school, whether they had a badge or not, and the location of the photograph.

: Frank M. Ingalls photograph collection, circa 1901-1930; The Frank M. Ingalls Photograph Collection includes 1611 photographic prints and negatives of New York City and vicinity. Frank M. Ingalls (1862-1956) wrote that he always carried a small camera with him, even when it rained, to be sure he never missed an unexpected opportunity. The collection includes photographs taken around lower Manhattan and Queens. The majority of the views are of skyscraper and building construction and street scenes. The construction of the Singer Building and the Metropolitan Life Building are particularly well documented. Other well-represented structures include bridges, statues, and monuments. Also present in great numbers are images of different types of ships and boats in the waters around Manhattan, such as steamships, yachts, tugboats, ferryboats, and excursion boats. The photographs document an era in which the cityscape was rapidly being transformed by an upswing in the cycle of demolition and construction that has characterized so much of the history of New York City.

: J.S. Johnston photograph collection, 1890-1899; Collection of 108 photographs taken circa 1890-1899 by J.S Johnston, a New York City based marine and scenic photographer, including original glass negatives and modern gelatin silver photographic prints. The photographs are pleasant depictions of New York City landmarks, as well as Niagara Falls, Boston, the Hudson River valley, Puerto Rico, Montreal, and Quebec. There are also some images of shipping, and of Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody) and his Wild West Show.

: Frederick Kelly photograph collection, 1959-1976; The Frederick Kelly Photograph Collection spans the period from 1959-1976 and contains 250 black and white silver gelatin photographs, primarily taken in New York City. Frederick Kelly (1905-1999) lived in Baltimore, MD, where he worked as a librarian and an educator. His interests included photography, and he enjoyed traveling to New York City in his later years to photograph the vibrant city's buildings and people. Kelly appears to have been interested in the myriad different characters that mark the fabric of urban life. Most of the photographs are candid; the subjects do not appear to have known their picture was being taken. In general, this quality lends these photographs a documentary air, and allows the views of the city to appear lived in and fresh.

: Edwin Levick Studio photograph collection, 1926-1943 (bulk 1935-1938); The collection consists of 212 negatives (most film and some glass). Among the 20 negatives from around 1925 are views of Times Square at night and Walter Chrysler’s home. Almost 80 negatives record the 1938 Eagle Pencil Company strike. Other assignments from the 1930s include the Housewrecker’s Union strike, a women’s tennis tournament, movie theater marquees, radio opera broadcasts sponsored by General Motors, and Jimmy Durante as Santa Claus. Each image has a brief caption. Edwin Levick (1868-1929) specialized in spot news and marine photography. His New York City studio, staffed with some eight assistants, supplied illustrations for the rotogravure sections of several leading newspapers. Most of images in this collection date from the decade after Levick’s death, when the studio continued to cover local news topics.

: Edwin Martin "NYNY" photograph collection, 1994-2000; Collection of 62 photographs of New York City storefronts, street vendors, and restaurants primarily from the late 1990s.

: Burr McIntosh photograph collection, 1898-1910; The Burr McIntosh Photograph Collection consists of 596 glass plate negatives and 3,822 photographic prints dating from 1898 to 1910. Burr McIntosh (1862-1942) distinguished himself in many careers, including those of actor, reporter, publisher, lecturer, cinematographer, and radio pioneer, as well as photographer. While many of these endeavors were short-lived, they gained him prestige and popularity among the stylish set, including prominent figures in the arts, society, and politics, many of whom were his friends and acquaintances. Most of the photographs are celebrity portraits from the first decade of the twentieth century. The collection also depicts society and sporting events, and contains 41 views of Cuba taken around the time of the Spanish-American War, as well as over 80 photographs documenting William Howard Taft’s good will trip to the Philippines in 1905. The digitization of the photographic prints in this collection was funded by a grant from the Metropolitan New York Library Council.

: Eadweard Muybridge's Panorama of San Francisco from California St. Hill, 1878; 360-degree panorama of San Francisco in 13 panels photographed from the roof of the Mark Hopkins residence on Nob Hill by Eadweard Muybridge in 1878. The views in this panorama are from the same perspective as those in a smaller-sized 11-panel panorama issued in 1877, but the appearance of some of the buildings confirms that they were photographed the following year. Muybridge's panorama was purchased for the New-York Historical Society by Daniel Parish in 1897. In the 1897 letter to the Librarian of the New-York Historical Society included in this digital collection, Muybridge says "permit me to suggest that you have the names of the principal buildings and places copied from those I wrote on the copy at the Astor Library [now part of the New York Public Library]". The title of each photograph is based on Muybridge's annotations on the New York Public Library's copy.

: Harris Pierce photographs, 1888-1900; The Harris Pierce Photograph Collection spans the period from 1888-1900 and contains 300 gelatin silver photographs of residences and businesses during the grading and improvement of streets in the Bronx. Little is known about Harris Pierce, but his stamp appears on the verso of the photographs and gives his address as 1921 Oostdorp Ave and his profession as 'Photographer'. Trow's New York City Directory lists his profession from 1883-1908 as 'Stenographer' at various addresses on Nassau Street, with his home in the West Farms area of the Bronx. The photographs appear to have been made as evidence in supporting the cases of claimants filing for damages against the city. They include views of the construction of sewers, construction sites, street improvements and grading, residences, vegetable gardens, children, churches, and businesses such as grocery stores, brewers and liquor stores, bakers, barbers, plumbers, and real estate offices. The photographs also include views of the New York Central Harlem Line and train stations such as the Tremont Station, social clubs such as the Suburban Club, the Artistic Bronze Co., the American Pie Baking Co., and stables and feed stores. Gift of Herbert Berger-Hershkowitz, 6 July 2007; gift of Leo Hershkowitz, 2008.

: Victor Prevost photograph collection, 1853-1857, undated; Victor Prevost (1820-1881) was born in France and studied art before moving to California in 1847 and to New York in 1850. On a visit back to France in 1853, he learned Gustave Le Gray's calotype process, which was based on the process developed by William Henry Fox Talbot and employed sensitized waxed paper to make photographic negatives. When he returned to New York, Prevost opened a photography studio. The Victor Prevost photograph collection consists of 44 calotype negatives and several generations of contact prints. The artfully composed scenes are thought to be among the earliest surviving paper photographic views of New York City. They are prized as fine examples of the calotype process, which was rarely used in the United States.

: Arnold A. Rand and Albert Ordway, Photographs of the War of the Rebellion, Volume 20: U.S. Navy, Edisto Island, Morris and Folly Islands, Fort Warren, Mass., Andersonville Prison, miscellaneous, 1861-1865; Album of ca. 100 albumen photographic prints taken from 1861 to 1865 and printed later. Images include Navy ships and sailors during the blockade of southern ports; army camps; Edisto Island, South Carolina; plantations and African Americans; Fort Warren, Massachusetts; and Andersonville Prison, Georgia. Many of the Edisto Island photographs were taken by Henry P. Moore of New Hampshire. This album is vol. 20 from a 31 volume set of photograph albums compiled by Arnold A. Rand and Albert Ordway. They created a number of such sets throughout the 1880s and into the 20th century, using their personal collection of approximately 4,000 negatives as the source for the album prints., Gift of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of New York.

: Elizabeth Ransom photograph collection, 1891-1892; The collection contains 61 glass negatives of buildings, parks, events and portraits in New York City and state. Also included are three albumen prints of the steamboat Harlem and an unidentified residence. The collection was donated by Elizabeth Ransom to the New-York Historical Society, but other than her name, nothing else is known about her or her connection to the negatives. The photographer is unidentified.

: William J. Roege photograph collection, 1910-1937; This collection of 476 photographs by William J. Roege (1893-1970) includes film and glass plate negatives taken between 1910 and 1937, and contact prints made between 1968 and 1970 by Klein Brothers Studio, New York, from oversize glass negatives. The collection consists primarily of views of popular New York City buildings, streets, and businesses produced by Roege while he was employed by commercial photography firms, including American Studio and Boyette. Typical views show Times Square and Manhattan hotels in the 1910s, Columbus Circle in 1918, and upper Fifth Avenue residences in the 1920s. The photographs also depict saloons on Chatham Square in the Bowery, German ocean liners interned in New Jersey during World War I, and several rooftop views of Manhattan and the Hudson and East Rivers.

: Harold Roth photograph collection, 1937-1950; The collection consists of 25 gelatin silver photographic prints, 11 x 14 inches, by photographer Harold Roth, capturing New York street life between 1937 and 1950. The photographs show Roth's attention to light and composition, and range from a group of children playing in the spray of an open fire hydrant in the waning sunlight to a view of foot traffic in Madison Square Park against the hazy backdrop of the Flatiron Building. Other views include the interior of Grand Central Terminal, a hot dog vendor at work, the Parachute Jump at Coney Island, and an aerial view of a stickball game. The photographs in this collection were printed by Harold Roth from his vintage negatives between 1991 and 1995. Prints are numbered, captioned, and in most cases signed on the verso by Roth.

: James Reuel Smith springs and wells photograph collection, 1893-1902; The James Reuel Smith Springs and Wells Photograph Collection includes 852 glass negatives, acetate negatives, and photographic prints relating to his book "Springs and Wells of Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, at the End of the Nineteenth Century," published by the New-York Historical Society in 1938. Smith was born in 1852 in Skaneateles, New York. Family money enabled him to actively pursue his hobby of photographing and investigating springs and wells. He spent much of the years 1897 to 1901 bicycling around northern Manhattan and the Bronx looking for them and photographing them. His enthusiasm was well-matched with his photographic eye and his meticulous note-taking on the locations and conditions of the springs and wells he saw. He died in 1935.

: George E. Stonebridge photographic negatives, 1897-1918 (bulk 1899-1904); 4,670 images by George Ehler Stonebridge (d. 1941), an amateur photographer who lived and worked in the Bronx, New York. The photographs document both everyday life and special events such as parades, from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning decades of the twentieth century. The collection includes views of Manhattan sights as wells as Bronx parks, the Croton Dam strike, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the funeral of General Franz Sigel, the Dewey Naval and Land Parade, Niagara Falls, the May Walk (1898-1899), the Cycle Parade (1897-1898), wrecks, fires, the Sportsman's Show, the Stevens airship, baseball teams in action, scenes from Garrison, N.Y., and grim photographs of the victims of the "General Slocum" steamboat disaster.

: H.N. Tiemann & Co. photograph collection, 1880-1916; H.N. Tiemann (1863-1957) was the proprietor of a Manhattan-based commercial photography company, H.N Tiemann & Co., which photographed New York locations and events for publication and general sale. This collection of black and white negatives, circa 1880-1916, documents Manhattan buildings, bridges, churches, hotels, civic celebrations, and fashionable street scenes. Among heavily represented subjects are views of the 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration, the Queensboro Bridge, the Croton Reservoir, the Flatiron Building, the American Museum of Natural History, Grand Central Terminal, Madison Square Garden and Union Square. There are also exterior views of residences, including those of A.T. Stewart, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Gouverneur Morris, Jr.

: Boys' Club of New York photographic negatives, 1920-1980; The collection contains 403 photographic negatives produced circa 1920-1980 (bulk 1920-1950) by commercial photographers on behalf of The Boys’ Club of New York ("BCNY"). The majority depict young BCNY members engaged in a variety of activities, either at the club’s Tompkins Square Building (later renamed Harriman Clubhouse) or at the William Carey Camp in Jamesport, New York. Many of the photographs were published in annual reports, where they served to promote the organization’s work.

: Drucker & Baltes Co., Billboard photograph collection, circa 1918-1934; The 904 glass plate and film negatives in this collection were taken by Drucker & Baltes for the General Outdoor Advertising Company, a billboard company that was formed in 1925 through the merger of the Fulton Group and Thomas Cusack Company. The photographs record the advertisers who bought billboard space at thirteen sites in Manhattan and two sites in the Bronx. The views focus on signs but also show surrounding buildings, elevated railroads, and street activity at such heavily traveled intersections as Broadway and Seventh Avenue (Times Square), Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, Sixth Avenue at 27th Street, Eight Avenue at 110th Street, 125th Street in Harlem, and Third Avenue at 166th Street in the Bronx. The same sites appear repeatedly, sometimes monthly, during the 1920s and into the Great Depression. The photographs reveal changes in both the neighborhoods and in the advertising for many products, among them Chesterfield cigarettes, Wrigley's chewing gum, and Pepsodent toothpaste.

: Olmsted Brothers, Albums of photographs depicting the construction of Fort Tryon Park, 1930-1935; This digital collection presents one photograph album held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and six photograph albums held by the New-York Historical Society. The photographs are of the design and construction of Fort Tryon Park by the Olmsted Brothers firm and date from 1930 to 1935. The albums have black covers and black-and-white or sepia-colored photographs mounted on grey paper. Printed labels on the cover of the albums have text: "Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects, Brookline, Mass."

: Works Project Administration, Photographic record of Work Projects Administration for the City of New York : Education and Recreation District Office work project activities, 1938; Album of photographs produced by the Education and Recreation District Office of the Work Projects Administration, New York City, in 1938. The photographs depict children and adults engaged in educational and recreational activities as part of various city programs, including the Child Nutrition Program, the Recreation Program for Pre-School Age Children, the Recreational Day Camp Program, the Adult Education Program, the New Reading Materials Program, the Program for Handicapped Children, the Remedial Reading Program, the Field Activities Program, the Community Center Program, the Elementary School Activities Program, the Objective Teaching Materials Project, the Recreational Agencies Program, the Nursery School Program, the Recreation Truant Program, the Street and Play Center Program, and the Adjustment Program for Problem Cases. Title from cover. "Mary C. Tinney" stamped at lower right of cover. Gift of Work Projects Administration, March 26, 1943., New-York Historical Society

: Civil War stereographs, 1861-1865; The collection of Civil War stereographs from the New-York Historical Society's Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections covers the entire period of the Civil War, from the first Battle of Bull Run through the surrender at Appomattox, and the triumphal parade of Union forces in Washington D.C. Most of the images were made in the eastern theatre of the war, with a majority of scenes from Virginia. Compelling images of death on the battlefield and the destruction of cities, railroads and bridges show the devastating effects of the war. Individual and group portraits of participants are included, along with images of soldiers relaxing in camps, drilling in the field, and preparing for attack in trenches and other fortifications. There are images of African Americans fleeing slavery by crossing the Union lines, as well as African Americans on southern plantations and serving in the Army and the Navy. Because of their journalistic style, stereographs offer an immediate and graphic look at the war. When seen with a stereograph viewer which creates a three-dimensional effect, the small views (which range in size from 3 1/8 x 6 3/4 inches to 4 x 7 inches) become even more vivid and detailed. While photographers did not usually depict actual battle scenes, they captured images of camp life before battles and of battlefields afterward. Significant Civil War sites are documented, including Fort Sumter and the house at Appomattox where Lee surrendered. These views are also significant because of the photographers who made them. Mathew Brady is represented in the collection, as well as his former employees Alexander Gardner, James Gibson, and Timothy O'Sullivan. Other photographers represented include George N. Barnard, who took photographs in Virginia and the Carolinas, Sam A. Cooley, who was the 'Official Photographer' for the 10th Army Corps, and local photographers from Richmond, Gettysburg, and other locations. The 732 stereographs presented here came to the Society from various sources, although most were acquired in 1960 and 1961 from George T. Bagoe (1886?-1948), who specialized in collecting Civil War stereographs, among other subjects. Other significant groups of views were acquired in 1922, 1923 and 1936.

: Highlights from the Photograph Collections; The extensive photograph collections in the New-York Historical Society Library's Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections are particularly strong in portraits and documentary images of New York-area buildings and street scenes from 1839 to 1945, although contemporary photography continues to be collected. Both professional and amateur photographers (many unidentified) are represented. The selection of 50 images in this digital collection focuses on twentieth-century photographs that were chosen especially for their artistic merit, featuring the work of Jessie Tarbox Beals, Irving Browning, Arthur D. Chapman, Bruce Davidson, Arnold Eagle, Andreas Feininger, Raymond Germann, Bernard Gotfryd, Charles Gilbert Hine, Frederick Kelly, Rebecca Lepkoff, Chris Mackey, Ruth Orkin, Harold Roth, Kenneth Siegel, and Erika Stone.

: New York subway construction negative collection, 1901-1902, and undated; This collection of 41 negatives depicts New York subway tunnels under construction. The majority of the glass negatives bear dates from 1901 through 1902, just after the city awarded a subway construction contract in 1900. These negatives show work being done at unknown locations along the subway’s earliest route in Manhattan, which ran from City Hall to 42nd Street on the East Side, then west along 42nd Street to Times Square, and north along Broadway. Negatives show workers, trenches, tunnel entrances, horses hauling materials, and views of tunnel structures from above gound. None of the images bear captions or identification, only dates. The title of each negative is devised from what was written on the negative sleeves during collection processing. The seven film negatives probably date from a later period, and depict an unidentified elevated station.

: Seventh Regiment photographs, 1861-1947

: Subway construction photograph collection, 1900-1950; The Subway Construction Photograph Collection, 1900-1950, includes over 71,000 photographs taken by various New York City transportation agencies during the construction of the New York City subways. The Board of Rapid Transit, the Public Service Commission, and their successors photographed construction of the subway and its surface extensions in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens in a succession of contracts: Contracts One and Two were awarded to what later became the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT); Contract Three was also awarded to the IRT, and Contract Four was awarded to what became the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT); Contracts Three and Four were known as the Dual Contracts; additional lines were subsequently built by the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad (IND). The photographs were primarily taken for insurance purposes in the event that buildings shown would be damaged during construction. The photographs depict the streets as they appeared before construction began as well as actual construction shots. The digitization of the Subway Construction Photograph Collection was made possible by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

: Women in Sports Collection; This collection on women in sports history, including items from the Billie Jean King collection, was created for Education audiences at the New-York Historical Society.

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