As summer 2024 draws to a conclusion, many New Yorkers will spend time in parks and park facilities throughout the city. Located on more than 30,000 acres of land—14 percent of the city—and comprising beaches, gardens, athletic fields, playgrounds, public pools, golf courses and historic house museums—the parks and related facilities are an integral and indispensable part of city life.    

Historical and contemporary records in the Municipal Archives and Library that document this vast infrastructure have been the subject of previous For the Record articles. Drives, Rides, and-Walks--Horses in Central Park and Conserving Central Park and Brooklyn Bridge Plans are two examples. Indeed, the more than 1,800 original drawings of Central Park are among the most beautiful items in the Municipal Archives. They have been loaned for exhibitions around the country, used for countless illustrations in books and other publications, and most recently, in 2019, featured in The Central Park: Original Designs for New York’s Greatest Treasure, authored by Municipal Archives conservator Cynthia Brenwall.    

What is less well known or acknowledged is that the Central Park drawings account for only about two-thirds of the Parks Drawings Collection. There are more than 1,500 items documenting fifty-six other parks, including Marine, Morningside, Forest, Fort Tryon, Riverside, Washington Square, Van Cortland and others throughout the city. Combined with the extensive correspondence files and photographs in the Department of Parks Record collection, particularly during the period when Robert Moses served as Parks Commissioner from 1934 to 1960, parks and park facilities are some of the most well-documented of all city infrastructure.     

This week, For the Record highlights several drawings of other parks. The collection includes design, presentation and working drawings; plans, elevations, perspectives and full-scale details, often in color, as well as bridges, roads, monuments, buildings and other structures located within the parks. The items in the collection represent a variety of mediums and supports including tracing paper, linen, and paper blueprints. Like the Central Park drawings, many date from the 1850s to the 1870s, and are of exhibit quality. 

For the Record readers are encouraged to consult the Department of Parks and Recreation website  to learn about activities in the parks. And perhaps when they return home, Record readers will take a few minutes to explore what historical information is available in the Municipal Archives and Library Library Collection Guides.