Municipal Library Notes - April 2019
Spotlight on New York City Beaches
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SPOTLIGHT ON:
Beaches of New York City
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By Christine Bruzzese, Director, Municipal Library
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February is a short month, then comes March and, finally, spring! This leads to thoughts of the upcoming summer and warm weather fun. While everyone waits for the warmth, here are some images of New York City beaches.
From the 1962 Department of Parks Annual Report
Note that the Bathhouse and Promenade at Orchard Beach was declared a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2006. Constructed from 1939 to 1937 during the administration of Parks Department Commissioner Robert Moses, the bathhouse and promenade were completed with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funding. Moses was especially interested in designing beaches and recreational facilities to be enjoyed by all New Yorkers. He wanted Orchard Beach to be open to the general public.
According to the Landmark Designation Report, the bathhouse is designed in a modern interpretation of various classical architectural styles. Here are some photos:
Remember: summer will be here sooner than you think!
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Vertical File Feature
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By Christine Bruzzese, Director, Municipal Library
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The "vertical files" at the Municipal Library can often contain fascinating, useful and interesting information. Named for the tall file cabinets in which the material is stored the vertical files hold thousands of facts. Newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, pamphlets, flyers and other materials can be found in these folders. The vertical files collections comprise: New York City, New York State, Neighborhoods, Public Health and World Trade Center Disaster 9/11.
Here are some examples from the Public Health vertical file on Nurses/Nursing.
A recruitment brochure for nurses in the New York City public hospitals from the Lindsay administration. Both the work and personal advantages are shown for prospective nurses:
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| A petition from New York City Department of Health nurses asking for better salaries. This dates from 1916. The first page compares salaries at public hospitals with the wages for nurses at private employers. |
Here is a breakdown of the expenditures for the average New York City nurse for food, clothes, lodging
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The Central Park
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By Valerie Warner Parish, Marketing Consultant
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In spring, New Yorkers flock to Central Park - the most frequently visited urban park in the United States. Now, a remarkable new book uses drawings from the Municipal Archives to tell the story of how the great park came to be. The Central Park Book: Original Designs for New York's Greatest Treasure by Cynthia Brenwell (Abrams, 2019) features scores of original drawings and plans, including the original winning entry for the park's design by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calbert Vaux. Featuring over 65 design projects, ranging from the two magnificent museums on either side of the park down to the carefully detailed benches and lampposts; The Central Park is a magnificent art book and a lesson on what visionary urban planning can do for a great city.
The Central Park, with 230 pages, 250 color photographs and illustrations, can be purchased at major retailers and your local, independent book store beginning April 16th. The price is $50.00. To learn about how to pre-order from available outlets, visit
https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/central-park_9781419732324/#0000
Join us May 2nd at 6PM at 31 Chambers Street in Manhattan for a book talk and signing with the author. A selection of original drawings will also be on display.
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You've Never Seen a New York like this: the 1940s Building Photos
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By Commissioner Pauline Toole
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The Municipal Archives has recently completed a long-awaited project—digitization of the 1940 building photographs. The results are spectacular, and we are highlighting special purchasing opportunities. The newly digitized 1940s tax photos are crisp and the details are clear. It was a New York where horse-drawn carts and automobiles moved alongside each other. Buy a picture of your house or business. Or give a friend a unique gift.
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The Municipal Archives Update
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By Sylvia Kollar, Director, Municipal Archives
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Archivists and reference staff at the Municipal Archives are thrilled to announce the launch of ArchivesSpace (AS). AS is a tool that will assist research across collections by person, place, subject, or search terms. For the last four years, archivists gathered, organized, and standardized our paper and electronic documentation of the archival collections. Currently, the application is available in our Reading and Reference rooms onsite, and we hope to launch an external site in the next year.
We've also been very busy preparing our off-site collections for a relocation to a temperature- and humidity-controlled space in Industry City, Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The new space will include a reference and research room for the public and a gallery showcasing some of our object collections.
Access to our collections is growing in other ways too! With funding from a Local Government Records Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) grant, our A/V archivist is digitizing NYPD surveillance film documenting an important time in NYC history from 1960-1980. We are also preserving and describing the Department of Buildings' architectural drawings and reproductions of Manhattan buildings. Beginning in 1866, architects and engineers (or all persons) planning to construct a new building or alter an existing one were required to submit an application, including plans, to the newly created Buildings Department. Applicants then had to receive approval before commencing the proposed work. The collection of plans includes sections, elevations, floor plans, and details, as well as engineering and structural diagrams, as appropriate, of all buildings on 965 blocks of Lower Manhattan (from the Battery to 34th Street).
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Monthly Conservation Update
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By Lindsey Hobbs, Head of Conservation, Preservation
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Occasionally the conservation lab at the Municipal Archives is faced with caring for some unsavory aspects of New York City's history. A recent treatment project started by Archives Conservator, Luda Bua, concerns an early record of enslaved people in the Town of Flatbush in Kings County around the turn of the 19th century. The volume contains statements attesting to the children born to enslaved women in Flatbush between 1799 and 1826. One example in handwritten script reads, "I Phebe Lefferts of the town of Flatbush in Kings County Widow, do certify that a Female Child named Grace aged five months, was born the eleventh day of August last, of a slave belonging to me. Witness my hand this eleventh day of January, One thousand eight hundred and three."
We've also been very busy preparing our off-site collections for a relocation to a temperature- and humidity-controlled space in Industry City, Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The new space will include a reference and research room for the public and a gallery showcasing some of our object collections.
There are approximately 300 birth statements. At some point subsequent to the 1820s, the statements were glued to backing paper and the pages bound together to form the book. The now-acidic backing paper and other materials used in the binding are causing damage to the documents, thus meriting conservation treatment. Ms. Bua has mapped out a treatment plan to remove the documents from the old backing and create a new, more stable binding that will help to ensure their safe storage and handling in the future. I hope to share the results of the treatment in a future edition of the newsletter. Stay tuned!
Cover of volume
Page from volume before treatment. After pictures will follow in a future newsletter!
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Government Publications Portal
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By Martin Batey, IT Project Manager
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The Government Publications Portal (GPP) is a web application developed to make City of New York government publications accessible, as required by the City Charter. It is a permanent, searchable digital repository for all of New York City's agency publications and is part of the New York City government's ongoing effort to be open and accessible for all residents. The portal provides access to City agency publications in a streamlined, centralized, multi-platform system.
The New York City Charter, Section 1133, requires city agencies to submit copies of any publications to Department of Records for permanent access and storage. Users can search and view the publications that have been submitted to the Municipal Library. The Library staff manages the submission of these publications from City agencies. GPP is a simple, direct way to comply with the Charter requirements and provide more public access to agency information.
Based on an earlier version of the portal released in 2014, development of the updated GPP project began in 2017. The initial launch of the revised GPP was on March 30, 2019. This included the submissions function for city agencies but does not yet include an updated document search function. Work is underway on a public facing search feature. This was completed in early April 2019.
Onboarding and training for the submissions version of GPP began in April 2018 for six pilot agencies. This was followed by additional training sessions for City agencies through July. The use of GPP has resulted in an overall increase in ease of submissions by City agencies. A total of 57 agencies are currently using the portal to submit publications. In 2019, over 3,300 publications were submitted to the portal.
To see the current version of the Government Publications Portal, please go to https://a860-gpp.nyc.gov/
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