Scope and Contents note

Series I consists of 1,885 gelatin silver photographs measuring 8 x 10 inches or smaller, depicting a wide range of New York buildings, institutions, parks and squares, theaters, signs, and street scenes. Photographs are arranged alphabetically into the following subject-based subseries: Advertising; Aircraft and Aeronautics; Apartment Buildings; Banks and Financial Institutions; Browning, Irving; Chinatown; Churchs and Synagogues; Construction and Construction Workers; Depression, the Great; Eagles; Factories and Industry; Harbor and Waterfront Views; Hospitals; Hotels; Lower East Side; Monuments and Statues; Night Views; Occupations; Office Buildings; Parks and Squares; Photomontages; Police Stations; Portraits; Public Buildings and Institutions; Rain Views; Residences; Restaurants; Roofs and Roof Gardens; Ships, Boats and Ferries; Shoes; Shops and Shopping; Skylines and Cityscapes; Sports and Recreation; Streets and Avenues; Television and Radio; Theaters; Tourists; Transportation; Utilities; Winter Views; and Miscellaneous/Unidentified. This series contains architectural photographs taken for clients, such as construction progress photographs of art-deco theaters and skyscrapers, as well as more documentary photographs that portray with a touching grace the lives of New Yorkers during the Great Depression. Browning's photographs depict the city in an era that began with a prosperous postwar economy, struggled through the Depression, and ended in the second World War; they document both the glamorous and the destitute environments that existed simultaneously in the city during this era.

Most photographs have been briefly labeled and bear one or more of several Irving Browning studio stamps; some photographs also have "Browning" and a negative number printed into the photograph. It is unclear which of the photographs may have been taken by Sam Browning or other photographers in Browning's employ; all credits refer to "Irving Browning" or the "Studio of Irving Browning." The majority of the photographs bear no dates. Approximate dates for buildings in this finding aid were researched during processing and are generally related to dates of building construction as established by the American Institute of Architects in the AIA Guide to New York City, 4th edition (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000). Photographs in this collection bear only very brief descriptions on the verso or no description at all; descriptions listed in this finding aid were generally assigned or expanded by N-YHS staff and are not titles assigned by the Browning Studio.

The Advertising subseries primarily focuses on billboards and other large signs, many of which were taken around the Times Square area. Several of these advertising photographs also appear in Browning's photomontages.

Aircraft and Aeronautics includes mostly unidentified photographs of early aviators, airplanes, airships (blimps), and members of high society posing with aircraft at small airfields in the greater New York area. Included are portraits of several society women posing near airplanes; several of these were taken were at private aviation clubs such as the Aviation Country Club in on Long Island. Identified individuals pictured in this series include Beckwith Havens, Howard Hughes, Joe McLaughlin, Evelyn Seversky, and Mrs. Felix William Zelcer.

Apartment Buildings primarily contains views of newly constructed apartment buildings in a variety of neighborhoods in Manhattan and nearby suburban areas. The largest group of photographs depicts the interior and exterior of buildings in the Tudor City Apartments complex.

Banks and Financial Institutions holds basic architectural views of Manhattan bank exteriors, including several prominent bronze clocks.

The Irving Browning subseries includes views of Irving Browning's office interior as well as promotional posters for his photographic services, one of which features a portrait of Irving Browning.

Chinatown views show the streets of the Chinatown area in Lower Manhattan, including businesses and institutions such as the Rescue Society, the Old Chinese Theatre and the Nan Yang Association.

Churches and Synagogues contains views of a variety of well-known Manhattan religious structures. Popular churches depicted including Riverside Church, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and the Church of the Transfiguration ("the Little Church Around the Corner") in Manhattan, as well as a large series of photographs of St. John's Lutheran Church in Englewood, New Jersey. Also included are a few synagogues: Ezrath Israel Synagogue and Inwood Hebrew Congregation, which was located not far from Irving Browning's longtime home in Upper Manhattan.

Construction and Construction Workers includes views of workmen and construction sites. Most are entirely unidentified, but tend to focus on small details of construction or very specifically on the workers.

Depression, the Great, includes a variety of photographs focusing on the troubling economic and social consequences of the Great Depression. Photographs depict the homeless, desperate men and women lined up to look at job boards or to enter employment agencies, shantytowns or "Hoovervilles" constructed by the homeless, and a jobless man in a business suit selling apples in the street.

Eagles consists of a few photographs of unidentified eagle sculptures, artworks and illustrations.

Factories and Industry consists of photographs of unidentified factory workers, machinery, and equipment. Most photographs are not specifically identified. A number of views of factory smokestacks are included in this subseries.

Harbor and Waterfront Views depict the waters around Manhattan, often with the buildings of various shorelines or bridges on the horizon.

Hospitals consists of a few views of Bellevue and Lenox Hill hospitals and a larger series of views of New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.

Hotels includes views of many classic historic New York sites including the Hotel Pennsylvania, and the Plaza, Ritz-Carlton, and Waldorf-Astoria Hotels, among others. Some views of grand interiors are available in this subseries. Views of Cooks Falls Lodge in Roscoe, New York, and the Grand View Lodge in Greenwich, Connecticut are also included.

Lower East Side photographs consist of quintessential neighborhood views frin this period. Included are crowds in the street markets, street views with a variety of clothing stores, children in the street, and tenement buildings with clothes hung on lines to dry.

Monuments and Statues consists of photographs of the Civic Virtue, seen from the entrance to City Hall, (it was relocated to Queens Borough Hall in 1941); the Washington Irving monument in Bryant Park which was relocated to East 17th Street in 1935, and the Statue of Liberty, as well as a few unidentified statues.

Night Views consists of a variety of photographs taken at night around the city, showing off such sites as the New York Public Library, the Empire State Building, the lighted signs of Times Square and elsewhere, and a variety of street and skyline views that capture the lights of urban nighttime.

Occupations includes informal portraits of unidentified people engaging in their work. Many of the occupations represented are at the lower end of the economic scale, and are obviously people suffering from the affects of the Depression. Included are shoe shiners, newspaper vendors and carriers, a street cleaner and a variety of peddlers. Also included is one unidentified violinist.

Office Buildings is the largest subseries, and includes much of Browning's commissioned work. Most photographs show off newly constructed buildings, and some include construction progress photographs, with the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, the Daily News Building, the Cities Services Building, the New York Life Insurance Building, and Salmon Tower particularly well represented. This subseries includes photographs of the work of a great variety of architects of the period including William Van Alen, Raymond Hood, Joseph Urban, and George B. Post & Sons, among others.

Parks and Squares consists of a variety of views of a variety of public spaces, with Central Park, including Grand Army Plaza and Columbus Circle being represented by the most photographs. Bryant Park, situated adjacent to the New York Public Library is also well documented; included are views of the 1932 replica of Federal Hall under construction in the park.

Photomontages contains the busy compilations Browning developed primarily for his print advertising clients. Most incorporate many images on a particular theme, such as shop windows, transportation, clocks, restaurants, grand buildings, or industry. Many images included in the photomontages can be found as individual prints elsewhere in the collection.

Police Stations includes both interior and exterior views of suburban police stations in East Rockaway, Lindenhurst, and Valley Stream, New York. Included are views of jail cells, offices and police vehicles.

Portraits includes a Time magazine cover bearing a portrait of New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman by Irving Browning, a group of portraits of renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead, and many unidentified portraits.

Public Buildings and Institutions includes a variety of major recognizable Manhattan institutions and government buildings such as the Municipal Building, City Hall, the New York Public Library, and the American Museum of Natural History.

Rain Views include a variety of locations seen during rain storms or clouds, especially St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Empire State Building through fog, and 42nd Street.

Residences include interiors and exteriors of mostly unidentified residences, especially in the suburbs of New York City. Identified residences include the interior of Fanny Brices's home, the residence of movie mogul Marcus Loew in Glen Cove ("Pembroke"), and houses in the Arbor Close and Forest Close developments in Queens.

Restaurants includes many lunch counters and inexpensive chain restaurants, such as Foltis Fischer and Wil-low Restaurant. A photograph of Blake's Doughnut Parlor in Bryant Park features hand-painted Depression-related signs in the window.

Roofs and Roof Gardens includes views of rooftop patios and gardens as well as clothes hung to dry on apartment building roofs. A view of a man mowing the lawn on the roof of a Park Avenue penthouse, a series of photographs of an unidentified woman lounging with her dogs while being served drinks by a servant on the roof of a private residence, and photographs of residents enjoying the roof of the London Terrace (decorated to look like an ocean liner deck) allow a glimpse of the lifestyle of wealthier New Yorkers.

Ships, Boats, and Ferries includes views of a variety of ferries, ferry terminals and ships in New York harbors and rivers. Well represented are Coney Island and Staten Island ferries, as well as the S.S. Leviathon. A few photographs depict a Chagres River ferry in Panama. Several photographs included in this subseries depict the Sailors' Snug Harbor home on Staten Island. Also included are a large number of mostly unidentified photographs depicting ships, boats, sailors, and shipping activity.

Shoes is a small subseries focusing on shoes on display, the feet of those walking on the street, and one timely shot of a shoe that has just stepped in fresh, sticky chewing gum.

Shops and Shopping includes views of a variety of mostly clothing and department stores as well as a number of photographs of fashionable window shoppers peering at displays and their own reflections in the windows. The Stroheim & Romann and Weber and Heilbroner stores are particularly well represented.

Skylines and Cityscapes includes a variety of views of Manhattan from various vantage points, filed by Lower Manhattan skylines, Midtown Manhattan skylines, or skylines/rooftop views within Manhattan.

Sports and Recreation consists of a people engaging in a variety of leisure time activities. Most activities depicted are past times of wealthy Manhattanites, such as polo, tennis, and golf. A large series of photographs focuses on a group of young, well-dressed, wealthy New Yorkers traveling on a cruise aboard the Queen of Bermuda. A few spectator scenes and swimming and diving or beach scenes depict participants across a broader economic spectrum.

Streets and Avenues consists of views of New York Streets in a variety of neighborhoods, from the signs and theaters of Broadway to shops along Fifth Avenue to the streets of Harlem. Streets and Avenue views are arranged into the follow subdivisions: Named Streets and Avenues, Numbered Avenues, and Numbered Streets; thereunder they are arranged alphabetically or numerically accordingly.

Television and Radio consists of photographs of microphones, equipment, studios and broadcasters from the early days of radio and television.

Theaters includes a few grand Broadway theaters of the era, but focuses heavily on the great movie palaces of the late 1920s and the 1930s, such as the Earl Carroll and the RKO Roxy Theatre. A heavy focus on interiors, and especially art-deco design elements, is evident. Also included are some views of burlesque and less legitimate venues, such as the Salon des Arts. Several theaters in this subseries were heavily documented by Browning, probably working on commission; some construction progress views are included.

Tourists consists of photographs of crowds looking through telescopes, gathered on the streets, and standing on viewing platforms.

Transportation contains a variety of views of public transportation in the New York area, including buses, elevated railroads, railroad stations, street railroads, and subway station entrances. Especially notable are Browning's photographs of Grand Central Terminal and McKim, Mead & White's Pennsylvania Station.

Utilities consists of photographs of power lines, power plants, electric transformers, ash shoots, and gas tanks. Included are Consolidated Edison facilities, but most of the photographs in this series do not bear specific descriptions.

Winter Views depict a snow-covered Central Park framed by the towers of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South and West. They are mostly quiet, unpopulated landscapes; the few people in view are a man and child holding hands as they walk down a snowy path, a group of men gazing at the scenery from a horse-drawn carriage, and distant figures walking along a white-on-white horizon. Also included are a few night views that contrast the gleaming snow against a darkened sky.

Miscellaneous and Unidentified Views includes a traffic light, unidentified gravestones, unidentified landscapes and buildings, a man exhaling smoke profiled in a doorway, and some unidentified architectural details.

Two boxes at the end of the collection contain duplicate vintage prints of photographs from Series I which are being held in reserve.

Scope and Contents note

Series II dates from consists of the contents of a scrapbook compiled by Irving Browning including ephemera and correspondence relating to Browning's career as a photographer and cinematographer. During processing, items were removed from acidic scrapbook pages, and the former page number was written on the verso of each item so that the original arrangement could be reconstructed if necessary. Materials are arranged alphabetically by format or genre, as described below.

Advertisements includes posters for events in which Irving Browning was involved, including an exhibition of his photographs at the First Annual Motion Picture and Costume Ball of the Film and Photo League on April 27th, 1934 and speaking engagements at DeWitt Clinton High School and the Film and Photo League.

Clippings includes items related to Irving Browning's exhibitions, a clipping of his published photograph of an elevated railroad, and a news photograph of Browning directing child actors in a film.

Correspondence includes several letters from Browning's colleague Lars Moën, regarding experiments with color film, a few letters regarding membership in professional societies such as the American Television Society and the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, as well as correspondence from the Film and Photo League, the manager of The Film Daily, Carl Louis Gregory, and S. Barret McCormick of RKO Radio Pictures. Also included is a correspondence from RKO Radio concerning details of construction and equipment for the RKO Roxy Theatre.

Identification Cards and Membership Cards are primarily from professional organizations and conferences in the 1940s and 1950s. These include several Universal Newsreel Field Cameraman identification cards (which include most of the few photographs of Irving Browning in this collection), union membership cards for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators, a New York State drivers license from 1946, and other miscellaneous cards.

Pamphlets includes a Code of Ethics for the Society of Photographic Illustrators and an pamphlet about the New Film Alliance. Ribbons includes several exhibitor's ribbons from the Third Annual Exhibit of Professional Photography held in Rochester, New York. Tickets and a pass for the 1940 New York World's Fair are also included in this series. Photocopies of the original scrapbook pages are also in this series.