New York City Municipal Archives Digital Galleries
The Department of Records & Information Services preserves and provides public access to historical and contemporary records and information about NYC government. The Municipal Library & Archives are open by appointment only.
For Family history research, please contact familyhistory@records.nyc.gov
For general research inquiries, please contact research@records.nyc.gov
Celebrating the Erie Canal Bicentennial 1825-2025
Get Involved: Transcription at the Municipal Archives
The Municipal Archives currently has nine volumes of digitized records from towns in Brooklyn, Queens, and Westchester counties, dating from 1660 to 1838, containing documents of children born to enslaved women and manumission records. The volumes range from 200 to 500 pages, including both original documents and hand-written original transcriptions of records. Using From the Page — a platform designed for transcription — volunteers will enter information from each volume into a form that DORIS will then add to a searchable database. The transcribed data will be easily searchable and will help researchers and the general public locate and view records of thousands of formerly enslaved New Yorkers who lived in New York City that would otherwise be difficult to trace. Click here for more information.
New Amsterdam Stories is a shared cultural heritage partnership seeking to bring 17-century archival collections to wider audiences and to establish opportunities for greater research, knowledge-sharing, and storytelling. On April 8th, 2019 the New York City Department of Records and Information Services welcomed Femke Halsema, the Mayor of the City of Amsterdam, to celebrate the shared cultural heritage of two great cities—Amsterdam and New York City. Learn more about the first citizens of New Amsterdam in our new gallery.
31 Chambers Street, ca. 1940.
The NYC Municipal Archives added over 720,000 photographs from the 1940s Tax Photograph collection to their digital collections. The collection consists of photographs of every building in the 5 boroughs, ca. 1940, taken for tax assessment purposes. Read about how we did it in this blog, and go behind the scenes with the 1940s photographers in this blog.
In 2019 the New York Times published a story about the 1980s Tax Photograph collection. See more of those photographs in our online digital collections.
Exhibits
Currently on view at 31 Chambers St. (Monday - Friday, 9:30am-4:30pm, except holidays):
New York City’s Story: the city on record
NYC’s Story: The City on Record showcases visual records from the Municipal Archives and Library collections. Selected images are arranged by borough and capture both defining events and everyday moments in New Yorkers’ lives. The exhibit also premieres a new interactive map highlighting audio clips from Neighborhood Stories, a DORIS storytelling initiative that gathers and permanently preserves interviews with New Yorkers. The interviews “put the community in the archives” by depicting everyday experiences that illustrate how government action, or inaction, impacts city residents.
A related interactive online exhibit featuring over 100 items from the collections within the Municipal Archives can be found at RememberNYC.nyc. Both exhibits celebrate city history during 2026—the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.
Revisiting the World of Tomorrow: The 1964-65 World's Fair
Explore the first-floor alcove at 31 Chambers Street to discover a captivating display on the 1964-1965 World’s Fair, featuring images from the Municipal Library and Archives’ collections. The exhibit showcases three key areas of the Fair—transportation, religion, and commerce—through original brochures and ephemera, offering visitors a nostalgic journey back to childhood memories.
FROM THE VAULTS
Explore highlights from our collections.