GUIDEBOOKS
BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND REFERENCE
Gotham Center – resource directory
NYU Guide to New York City Resources
Stokes: Iconography of Manhattan Island – This is a seven volume set, published in 1928 – it is *the* classic resource for Manhattan.
Stiles: City of Brooklyn – Actually two books: City of Brooklyn and Kings County (these were not always coterminous); Stiles is to Brooklyn as Stokes is to Manhattan.
On-line book search
On-line books at U Penn
Internet Archive
City Hall Library/Municipal Reference Library – We will be visiting the Archive on our field trip once it gets rescheduled…
GENERAL RESEARCH RESOURCES INCLUDING PHOTO RESEARCH
Municipal Art Society
M.A.S. Archives/Library (index)
New York Public Library
Main page
Local history and genealogy room – This is the room for researching local history (and genealogy). Staff generally bends over backwards to be helpful.
Art and Architecture Collection – You’ll find this by going to the main reading room entrance, turning left into the left wing of the reading room, walking all the way to the back, where you’ll find the door leading to the art and architecture room. Among other things, they have access to the Avery periodical index.
Blog entry on conveyances
NOTE: as of March 2015, the below were incorporated into a unified digital collections site, but still operative as individual links.
NYC historic photos
Berenice Abbot’s “Changing New York” photos
Fairchaild Aerial photos
Apartment Houses of the Metropolis
World’s Loose-leaf Album of Apartment Houses
OldNYC (mapping historical photos from the NYPL)
Maps (American maps from 1800) (and here’s an article about the high-resolution map project)
New-York Historical Society
Main page
Library
Finding aids
Print room
Museum of the City of New York
Main page
Byron photo collection
General photo collections – explore
Explore by “highlights”
Explore by “themes”
Municipal Archives – tax photos
1939 Finance Department photos
1980s Finance Department photos
New York Times article about the 1980 photos
Gottscho-Shleisner photo collection is divided among three repositories
1) Library of Congress
2) Museum of the City of New York The G-S collection seems now to be integrated into the general collection.
3) Avery Library (Columbia)
Avery Library, Columbia University
Home page
Molitor Collection
Columbia University Library search engine: CLIO
Old York Library (ongoing digitization project)
Other
New York City maps (it has historic and current aerial photos – click on “Map Type” and then year desired (or return to “street map”)
New York Genealogical and Biographical Society
Mannahatta Project
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation digital photo archive
Urban Layers (on the opening page, click on “Get Started” to get to the map)
New York Transit Museum online digital resources
BOROUGHS
Bronx
Bronx Historical Society
Huntington Free Library
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Historical Society About to merge with the Brooklyn Public Library; the Brooklyn Collection will be transferred to the Society’s building.
Brooklyn Library – Brooklyn Collection
Queens
Archive at Queens Borough Public Library – from this page you can access other collections at the archive (which doesn’t seem to have a usable general landing page at the moment)
Greater Astoria Historical Society Images
Staten Island
Staten Island Museum
Staten Island Historical Society
Alice Austin House
MISCELLANEOUS
David Rumsey Map Collection
Oasis NYC
Sanborn Maps
US Census Bureau home page
Forgotten New York
Bowery Boys
Untapped Cities
Associated Press image site (not free, of course, but huge resource for photo research)
Browse the New York Transit Museum’s collections (including photos)
Urban Archive (also an app)
EXTRA LINKS YOU MIGHT ENJOY
Guide to former Manhattan street names
New York streets – honorifics (renamed for the famous)