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New-York Historical Society pictorial archive

Call Number

NYHS-RG 5

Date

1804-2009 (bulk 1900s-1970s), inclusive

Creator

New-York Historical Society

Extent

30.63 Linear feet in 29 document boxes and 41 boxes of negatives, and oversize folders

Language of Materials

Documents in the collection are photographic but any text is in English.

Abstract

The New-York Historical Society Pictorial Archive (NYHS-RG 5) primarily includes photographs of N-YHS's buildings, galleries and other interior spaces, exhibitions, collection objects, programs, and people, such as trustees, officers, and staff. Portions of the record group have been digitized and can be viewed on flickr.

Historical Note

Timeline of Homes of N-YHS

1804-1809 The City Hall, Northside of Wall Street at the head of Broad Street
1809-1816 The Government House, Facing Bowling Green
1816-1832 New York Institution, in City Hall Park
1832-1837 Remsen Building, Southwest corner of Broadway at Chambers Street
1837-1841 Stuyvesant Institute, 639 Broadway opposite Bond Street
1841-1857 New York University, East Side of Washington Square
1857-1908 170 Second Avenue, Southeast corner of 11th Street
1908-present 170 Central Park West at 77th Street

History of N-YHS:

"For without the aid of historic records and authentic documents, history would be nothing more than a well-combined series of ingenious conjectures and amusing fables." From an 1805 address of the New-York Historical Society

The New-York Historical Society is New York's oldest museum. At the time of the Society's founding in 1804, only 75,000 people lived in New York City, Alexander Hamilton had just been killed in a duel with Aaron Burr, and New York still spelled its name with a hyphen (thus the hyphen in the museum's name). On November 20, 1804, merchant John Pintard met with ten other New Yorkers to create an organization that would, according to its Constitution, "collect and preserve whatever may relate to the natural, civil, or ecclesiastical History of the United States in general and of this State in particular." This was a broad mission statement but since there were very few museums at the time, and only one other historical society in the nation, the founders decided it was imperative to collect an inclusive range of materials before they were lost.

The first meetings of the Society were held rent free in City Hall because New York City's mayor, DeWitt Clinton, was a founding member. The Society's library grew significantly in 1809 when Pintard sold his own book and manuscript collection to the New-York Historical Society. As the library and museum continued to grow, its members soon realized that it needed a home. Unable to find a permanent space, the Society moved five times between 1809 and 1857, until it was able to construct its own building on Second Avenue and Eleventh Street.

In the mid-19th century, the Society's membership increased along with its library and art collections. Between 1858-1867, the Society acquired the collection of the New York Gallery of Fine Arts, the Abbott collection of Egyptian Artifacts (now at the Brooklyn Museum), and 433 watercolor paintings of John James Audubon. Soon the art and the library were competing for space and it became apparent that the Society had once again outgrown its home. In 1908, N-YHS moved into a newly constructed building at its present location at 77th Street and Central Park West. Renovations in the 1930's added two new wings and a fifteen-story stack area to the building. Today, the museum and library continue to provide access to collections relating to the political, legal, cultural, mercantile, and social history of the United States and New York in particular.

For more detailed history see: Vail, R.W.G. Knickerbocker birthday : a sesqui-centennial history of the New York Historical Society, 1804-1954. New York : New York Historical Society, 1954.

Administrative History of the Pictorial Archive

The specific source of the pictorial archive is uncertain, but the bulk of it appears to have been compiled from various sources, mostly N-YHS in-house photographers, but also outside sources. The archive was likely compiled by the staff of N-YHS's Department of Prints, Photographs and Architectural Collections, known as the Print Room. The pictorial archive as it existed in 1998 was documented in Helena Zinkham A Guide to Print, Photograph, Architecture & Ephemera Collections; it is recorded as PR 46 at page 114.

Since 1998, the Pictorial Archive was transferred into N-YHS's institutional archive, and assigned a new call number (NYHS-RG 5). Although the core content of the Pictorial Archive appears to have remained consistent over recent decades, the arrangement and description of the content has changed somewhat over time. Also, additional material has continued to be integrated into the Pictorial Archive, while some material, especially architectural plans and Field Exploration Committee negatives, have been moved to other record groups within N-YHS's institutional archive. Going forward from 2015, the Pictorial Archive is expected to continue to accrue additional images, but not in a centralized manner as in the past. Most images collected in the future are expected to be archived with their department or other such contextual records.

Arrangement Note

The New-York Historical Society Pictorial Archive is organized in the following series:

Series I: Buildings

Series II: Exhibitions

Series III: School Programs

Series IV: Public Programs

Series V: Events & Publicity

Series VI: Staff Events

Series VII: Trustees, Officers & Staff

Series VIII: (Series not used)

Series IX: Object Images

Series X: Architectural Plans and Drawings

Series XI: Negatives

Scope and Content Note

The New-York Historical Society Pictorial Archive (NYHS-RG 5) primarily includes images of N-YHS's buildings, galleries and other interior spaces, exhibitions, collection objects, programs, and people, such as trustees, officers, and staff. The bulk of the images date roughly from the early 1900s into the 1970s, though there are images from earlier and later periods. Most of the record group includes black and white photographic prints, but there are also negatives, color slides, and some color prints. There are also a relatively small number of non-photographic formats, including drawings, posters, and architectural plans for building renovations after 1965.

Many of the photographic prints found in the record group have a control number noted on the back; this number corresponds to negatives, many of which are still extant and found in Series XI. The envelopes holding the negatives often include descriptive information that goes beyond that found with the print.

There are many highlights in the record group. The Buildings series includes rich sets of photographs documenting the construction of the Central Park West building in the early 1900s and the major expansion of 1937-1938. There are many photographs of galleries, the library, and other spaces in both the Central Park West building and N-YHS's earlier home on 2nd Avenue and 11th Street. The Exhibitions series includes installation and related object and publicity photographs. Photographs for exhibitions and programs also include the opening receptions and other events held at N-YHS, such as the annual Strawberry and St. Nicholas festivals, Eleanor Roosevelt attending the 1952 Votes for Women exhibition, and noted clown Emmett Kelly attending the 1968 exhibition Circus Posters from the Days of the Big Top. The Staff Events and Trustees, Officers and Staff series provide glimpses of some of the people from N-YHS over the years.

Access Restrictions

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Use Restrictions

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation Note

This record group should be cited as the New-York Historical Society pictorial archive (NYHS-RG 5), The New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Related Material

This finding aid relates to just one record group of the New-York Historical Society archives. For information about the other record groups and for overall information about the archives, please see the Guide to the New-York Historical Society Archives (NYHS-RG Archives).

Existence and Location of Copies Note

Some of the images in the Pictorial Archive have been digitized and can be viewed on flickr. The user should be aware that the box and folder numbers associated with certain images on flickr may no longer be precisely accurate because of additional processing done in 2015 with the photographs.

A large number of deteriorating negatives documenting the 1937-1938 expansion and renovation of Central Park West were digitized in 2015 by Eleanor Gillers. Information about the digital versions can be found in the Series I (Buildings) description, specifically at the folders concerning the expansion. Other than the digital versions, Series I (Buildings) holds prints of many, though not all, of the original negatives.

Accruals Note

The Pictorial Archive will occasionally receive accruals of new material, although most photographs and other images are expected to be retained in the future with their contextual documents within a record group associated with the department creating the images.

Collection processed by

Maurita Baldock (2005), with revisions and additions by Celia Hartmann (2007) and Larry Weimer (2015)

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:46:37 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Finding aid is written in English

Processing Information Note

Until the early 2000s, the Pictorial Archive was maintained as a Print Room collection (PR). In the early 2000s, it was transferred to the institutional archive. Many of the photographic prints were processed by Maurita Baldock in 2005. In 2007, Project Archivist Celia Hartmann integrated a substantial amount of additional prints and made some changes and additions to the organization of the material. In 2015, Project Archivist Larry Weimer added a new series for the related negatives from the Print Room files, removed architectural plans into two new record groups (NYHS-RG 3 and NYHS-RG 4), integrated additional prints, and made other, minor changes to the arrangement and description.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024