MAS – building research – links from week 4

GUIDEBOOKS

1866 Guide to New York: “Miller’s New York As It Is

King’s Handbook of New York – There are several editions of King’s guide to New York, and other King books related to the city. Remarkably detailed, excellent photos of 1890s New York.

Rider’s New York City and Vicinity

WPA Guide to New York City – There are three WPA guides for New York: 1) New York State, 2) New York City, and 3) New York Panorama – these are beautifully written and quite detailed

Links to many other guides to the city

PLEASE NOTE: The major architectural guidebook to NYC is the AIA Guide to New York City, now in its fifth or sixth edition (hard to keep track…). Not available on-line, but eminently worth having a copy on your shelf if you love New York architecture.

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)

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)