On the cold afternoon of November 11, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson announced to the American people that the first global war was over. As with all armed conflicts, World War I had devastating consequences. From 1914 to 1918, more than 8 million soldiers were killed and 21 million civilians died, were injured or displaced. It was one of the bloodiest wars the world had ever witnessed.
Kristallnacht
On November 9th, 1938, Jews all across Germany were subjected to a night of terror now known as “Kristallnacht” for the broken glass of shop windows, homes and synagogues that were destroyed. In 1988, the Leo Baeck Institute produced a 1-hour documentary to mark the 50th anniversary, calling it Kristallnacht: More Than Broken Glass. Now, for the 80th anniversary, the NYC Municipal Archives has digitized over a dozen hours of previously unaired interview footage shot for the documentary. Those interviewed fled religious persecution in Germany as children and were some of the lucky Jewish refugees the United States accepted during the War. Most of them became New York City residents, adopting new Americanized names and losing their accents almost entirely, in turn forever changing the history of the City and America’s moral role on the world stage.
The 1940 Tax Photos—A Well-Traveled Collection
On November 1, 2018, the Municipal Archives announced that the long-awaited project to digitize the 1940 ‘tax’ photograph collection was complete and all of the 720,000 images now are online in the agency’s photo gallery.
It required more than thirty years, many thousands of dollars and hours of labor, plus two cross-country trips. But we think it’s fair to say that the tax photographs have now reached their full potential as one of the most important research resources in the Municipal Archives.
New Yorkers' Voice Their Dodgers Views: Missives to Mayor Wagner
Not so long ago, New York City had three baseball teams: The Dodgers, the Giants and the Yankees. Competition was fierce and team alliances were set in stone. But then, in the course of one year, only one remained: the others left town.
The end result is well known—in 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers decamped to Los Angeles, becoming the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team now in the World Series. The Giants also skulked away to San Francisco but without much hand wringing from fans or sports columnists or impassioned correspondence to the Mayor.
Manhattan’s Civic Center Plan, 1964
While selecting architectural plans of buildings in lower Manhattan for a display in connection with the recent Open House New York event, City archivists came across an over-size multi-page set of detailed plans and elevations for a “Manhattan Civic Center,” circa 1964. If implemented, this grand scheme would have demolished 31 Chambers Street (home of the Municipal Archives) and radically transformed City Hall Park and the blocks between Broadway and Lafayette Street, from Chambers Street north to Worth Street. The plan called for a 54-story office building that anchored a three-level landscaped platform with reflecting pool, restaurants, shops, and two levels of underground parking for 1,400 cars. Only the City Hall and Municipal Building remained; every other extant building would have vanished to accommodate this grand vision. But it never happened. Why? For answers we turned again to the always rewarding Municipal Library vertical files and publications, and Municipal Archives collections.
Mission Possible: Engaging Communities around Preserving Their History
It is perhaps not surprising that those of us who work at the NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) see the value in the services we perform preserving the records of City government and helping communities connect with that material. In a more recent development, many colleagues are extending the agency’s mission into organizations and communities across New York City. The agency is grappling with how to improve accessibility to the Archives and Library holdings, and reaching out to various communities. So it makes sense to look to members of our team for inspiration—people who are engaging with public history and living the mission through their volunteer work and extracurricular pursuits.