Kenneth Cobb
New York and President Jimmy Carter
NYC Municipal Archives
Happy New Year 2025!
Pauline Toole
Happy Holidays 2024
Cynthia Brenwall
Happy Birthday, Calvert Vaux!
Kenneth Cobb
Demonstrations, Disturbances, and a Papal ...

Women in Civil Society

The debate over women’s equal rights and full access to all areas of society is persistent, and the archival records at the MA repeat a single story of limited access for over three centuries. What is inspiring is the unrelenting struggle for education, property, labor rights, suffrage, and quality of life. And most unnerving is the history on repeat.

We’ve recently begun documenting and highlighting within our collection guides the unique instances in which women spoke and government responded.

The Flu Epidemic of 1918

We all have heard warnings about the flu season. It seems to be following a typical pattern as occurs almost every decade—1947, 1957, 1968, 1977…But there is an outlier in the routine: the flu pandemic of 1918 which killed 55 million people around the world and is considered the deadliest health crisis in modern history and perhaps, ever.

1918 began in a regular manner. New Yorkers were focused on the Great War that raged overseas, food rationing and other mundane issues. 

Bankrupt! The New York County Supreme Court Insolvency Assignments Records

Shortly after I began working as an archivist at the Municipal Archives in 2017, I was asked to write a finding aid for the “insolvency assignment” records. My first thought was… what’s an insolvency assignment? I had no idea. But I did notice that the date span of the records extended back to the late 18th century, so that was promising. With a little research I learned that an insolvency assignment was a legal process during which debtors and/or their creditors petitioned the New York State Supreme Court to appoint an assignee to manage the sale of the debtor’s property to pay off debts owed to his or her creditors.

NYC Celebrates Olympic Athletes

For almost a century, with receptions, special medals, gala dinners, and for some, the ultimate accolade—a ticker-tape parade—New York City has recognized American athletic achievement in the Olympic Games. The Municipal Archives and Library collections, notably the mayoral series and photographs, provide rich documentation of this happy tradition.

Got Milk (Regulations)?

Throughout the early and mid-1900s, dairy products were a significant source of foodborne illnesses. Hundreds of children died due to the consumption of milk, leading to the 1911 creation of milk stations that dispensed free pasteurized milk. During the 1930s and 40s the New York City Department of Health, under commissioners Shirley W. Wynne (1928-1933) and John L. Rice (1934-1942), took many steps to regulate the production and storage of dairy products, which were regularly consumed in high quantities by New Yorkers of all ages. Milk and ice cream were of particular concern.

The Grammys Return to the Big Apple

The Grammy Awards are returning to New York this weekend, which got us thinking about all the places here that are important to the history of music. From the days when jazz musicians dubbed New York “the Big Apple,” the City has been the place to make it big. A lot of the most famous music venues have been lost over the years to development and changing tastes, but many more always pop up, seemingly weekly in Brooklyn and Queens.