Harry Tarzian Photograph Collection
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Abstract
The collection contains 40 photographs of the World Trade Center and World Trade Center site, taken by Harry Tarzian.
Biographical Note
Harry Tarzian is an amateur photographer who has lived in Brooklyn, Maryland, and New Jersey.
Arrangement
Photographs are arranged chronologically. The number of photographs for each year is in parentheses.
Scope and Content Note
The Harry Tarzian Photograph Collection spans the period from 1976 to 2003 and contains 40 photographs of the World Trade Center in New York. Nineteen of the photographs are silver gelatin prints. The remaining 21 are inkjet prints made from scanned negatives. They were printed on an Epson Inkjet Printer in 2006.
The photographs of the towers were taken from the New Jersey waterfront, the Brooklyn waterfront, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Others show the towers more close up; several series of images were taken on the vast plaza that surrounded the Trade Center. There are several night views, but most images are daytime views. The earliest photograph was taken on July 4, 1976, during the Bicentennial celebration. A photograph of the plaza from 2000 shows large three-dimensional letters that spell out "Peace on Earth." Several photographs were taken inside the Trade Center. Two of these highlight the large windows in the lobby areas. One photograph shows the shopping mall and entrance to the Path train below the towers. Another shows a newsstand in the New York City subway E train World Trade Center station.
Tarzian was living on a houseboat that was docked in Jersey City when the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 occurred. Nine photographs show the World Trade Center both after the first tower had been hit by an airplane, after the second tower had been hit, and as the towers collapsed.
One photograph dated 2004 revisits the site of the newsstand in the subway; it has been closed. An undated photograph shows St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was demolished when the Trade Center collapsed.
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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
This collection should be cited as: Harry Tarzian Photograph Collection, PR 255, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
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Provenance
Gift of Harry Tarzian, 2006.