Locating Building Residents using the Municipal Archives

Last week’s blog demonstrated how to determine when a building was constructed using the Municipal Archives assessed valuation of real estate collection, a.k.a. the tax assessment ledgers. For illustration purposes, the blog focused on 50 West 13th Street, a three-story building located in Manhattan just east of Sixth Avenue.

As noted in the blog, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation had recently publicized their efforts to landmark and preserve the building (“Fighting to Save 50 West 13th Street,” Village Preservation News, Summer 2021).  According to the article, the building contains one of New York’s oldest off-off-Broadway theaters and had been the home of Jacob Day, a prominent African American caterer, during the 19th century.

This week, the blog will describe how other Municipal Archives collections can be researched to learn about the people who resided in buildings. Once again, we will use 50 West 13th Street as our example.  

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1890 Police Census, Book 198, 50 West 13th Street. NYC Municipal Archives.

1890 “Police” Census.

Census records are very useful records for documenting the residents of a house or building at specific points in time. The federal census, conducted every ten years, is accessible from many popular family history websites such as Ancestry.com or Familysearch.org. However, there is one notable gap in the federal census series—the 1890 enumeration was almost completely destroyed in a fire. In a fortunate coincidence that year, New York City conducted its own census to support the contention that the federal enumeration had undercounted the City’s inhabitants.  Although federal authorities ultimately did not accept the City’s re-count, the “Police” census (so-named because police officers served as the enumerators) was saved and accessioned by the Municipal Archives in the 1960s. 

The 1890 census lists the name, age, and gender of each person at a particular address. The information was recorded by a police officer in small lined notebooks; each book enumerated the residents of one election district.  A street address index available at the Archives provides the census ‘book’ number.  The 17 residents of 50 West 13th Street are listed in book number 198, including five people with the surname Day. Unlike the federal and state census records, the 1890 census does not indicate the relationship of one person to another.  Based on their ages, it appears the Day family consisted of Katherine Day, age 65, and four adult children.  And from the tax assessment ledgers we know that a Jacob Day purchased the house around 1860. He does not appear in the 1890 census and is presumed deceased.  Perhaps there are other records in the Archives that could help confirm this assumption.

Vital Records.

Which brings us to the vital record collection. The name and age information recorded in the 1890 census provides a good foundation for researching the vital record collection to learn more about the Day family and other persons in the building. Totaling more than 9 million items, the birth, death and marriage records are an essential resource.  The index transcription and automation projects conducted by members of the Long Island Genealogy Federation several years ago, and the Archives recent vital record digitization project, has greatly facilitated researching the collection.

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Jacob Day, death certificate, Brooklyn no. 1768, 1905. NYC Municipal Archives.

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Charles Sumner Day, death certificate, Brooklyn no. 10225, 1918. NYC Municipal Archives.

Starting with the names and ages of the residents of 50 West 13th Street as recorded in the 1890 census, several relevant records quickly popped up in vital record search results. One possible match was a Jacob Day, who died at age 56 in 1905.  The certificate confirmed his membership in the Day clan: father, Jacob; mother, Catherine E. Pease; and the clincher—his occupation—“caterer.”  According to the certificate his residence and place of death was 451 Halsey Street, in Brooklyn. Jacob’s brother, Charles Day, a caterer, also came up in the search results.  He, too, died at 451 Halsey Street, on April 24, 1918, of pneumonia. It is tempting to speculate whether his death was related to the 1918 flu epidemic.  The property card record described in last week’s blog noted that “J. Day” sold 50 West 13th Street in 1896. Based on these death certificates it appeared that at least some members of the Day family moved to Brooklyn after sale of the 13th Street house.

But what happened to Jacob Day, Sr.?  Using the age data from the 1890 census, the search for Jacob Day’s wife, Catherine, also proved fairly easy.  Her 1892 death certificate shows she died at 50 West 13th Street and her ‘widow’ status confirmed that the family patriarch, Jacob, had indeed likely died before 1890. With that knowledge, the vital record search for Jacob Day’s death certificate led to Manhattan cert. no. 488230 filed in 1884.  And once again, the occupation ‘caterer’ and place of death, 50 West 50th Street confirmed the record.  According to the certificate, Jacob Day was a life-long New Yorker and his occupation was “caterer.”

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Katherine E. Day, death certificate, Manhattan no. 7267, 1892. NYC Municipal Archives.

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Jacob Day, death certificate, Manhattan no. 488230, 1884. NYC Municipal Archives

A somewhat lesser known resource in the vital records collection that proves useful in identifying people in a specific location is the ‘geographic’ index to births, 1880-1909.  It is believed to have been created by Department of Health as an alternative to the name-based indexes at a time when names were often mis-interpreted or mis-spelled.  Presumably address information was more accurately recorded.  Searching the 50 West 13th Street address in the geographic index brought up a birth certificate for William Johnson, born April 4, 1884. On the certificate, his parents are listed as Arabella Turner and William Whitfield Johnson, both Maryland-born. Although the 1890 census does not list the Johnson family as residents of 50 West 13th Street, the 1884 birth certificate records William’s occupation as ‘caterer’ establishing a likely connection with the Day family.

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William Maurice Johnson, birth certificate, Manhattan no. 394340, 1884. NYC Municipal Archives

Manhattan Block 576, Lot 15. Department of Finance Property Card. Detail. NYC Municipal Archives.

Property Cards.

In the search for ‘names’ associated with a particular place property cards can supply useful information. Conveyance data recorded on the property card for 50 West 13th Street stated that “J. Day” had sold the property to “M. Lawson” on March 30, 1896.  It also recorded a second conveyance, on March 17, 1951 involving an “R. S. Lawson.” 

Building Records Collection.

One of the most relevant collections for information about buildings and their occupants are the several series from the Manhattan Department of Buildings (DOB). Although the application folders and associated architectural drawings in the collection include only buildings in Manhattan below 34th Street, the docket book series records at least basic information about buildings throughout the entire Borough. Fortunately for our purposes, 50 West 13th Street is located in Lower Manhattan and the collection does include a folder of alteration applications.

Folders in the DOB collection are arranged by block and lot number. 50 West 13th Street corresponds to Block 576, Lot 15. The earliest documents in the permit folder for Block 576, Lot 15 date from 1899 when the property owner, Mary E. Lawson, a resident of E. 11th Street, applied to build a shed at the rear of the property to be used for “modeling and plaster casting,” at an estimated cost of $250. From the property card we know that “M. Lawson” acquired the property in 1896, but based on her E. 11th Street address in the DOB application, it appears the building was an investment property.

The folder also contains another two minor alteration applications submitted in 1927 and 1941. Interestingly, in 1941 the owner submitting the application was “Mary Mallory of Douglaston, Queens, and Edith and Randolph Lawson, 400 Riverside Drive.” Again referring back to the property card notation involving “R. S. Lawson, administrator for G. L. Mallory,” it looks like the Lawson family had retained ownership from 1896 to 1951.

Alteration Application 1745 of 1958, detail. Department of Buildings Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The most recent application in the DOB folder dates from 1958. It is for an alteration to “…legalize present occupancy (Theatrical Club) on basement and first floors.”  The application specifications indicate the building was used as a “clubroom, auditorium and theatre,” with an apartment on the upper floor.  The listed owner was the 50 West 13th Street Corporation, John J. Repetti, President, and Laura Repetti, Secretary. The lessee of the space was Jack Jaglum, of the Washington Players Studio. The Greenwich Village Society had described the building as housing one of New York’s oldest off-off-Broadway theaters and the DOB collection in the Municipal Archives confirms this use at least as far back as 1958.

Do you wonder who lived at your address in New York City?  You can use the information in this blog to figure that out. The 1890 census is available on microfilm at the Municipal Archives. The property cards and DOB application folders are hard-copy materials. The Municipal Archives is open by appointment and you are welcome to contact research@records.nyc.gov for further guidance.  

How to Use Tax Assessment Records to Date Construction of a Building

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation recently publicized their efforts to landmark and preserve 50 West 13th Street, a three-story building located in Manhattan between Fifth and Sixth Avenues (“Fighting to Save 50 West 13th Street,” Village Preservation News, Summer 2021). According to the Society, the building was constructed in 1846 and contains one of New York’s oldest off-off-Broadway theaters. It had also been the home of Jacob Day, a prominent African American citizen, during the 19th century.

How did the Society determine that the house was built in 1846? Dating a building constructed after 1866, when the Department of Buildings (DOB) was established, is easy. Beginning that year, builders were required to file an application with the DOB to construct a new building or to alter an existing one. The resulting application files, docket books and plans serve to precisely date when a building was constructed. 

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Manhattan Block 576, Lot 15, 50 West 13th Street, 1940 Tax Photograph. NYC Municipal Archives.

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Manhattan Block 576, Lot 15, 50 West 13th Street, 1980s Tax Photograph. NYC Municipal Archives.

But if the building pre-dates 1866, what resources are there to figure out when it was constructed?

Using 50 West 13th Street as an example, this blog will demonstrate how to use the Municipal Archives assessed valuation of real estate collection, a.k.a. the tax assessment ledgers, to research when a building was constructed. Although this information is specific to Manhattan, it can be used for research throughout the Boroughs, depending on the availability of tax assessment records.

• Municipal Archives Tax Assessment Holdings by Borough

• Bronx: 1897-1994

• Brooklyn*: 1866-1975

• Manhattan: 1789-1979

• Queens*: 1899-1993

• Staten Island*: 1899-1979

 *Assessed valuation information for some Staten Island (Richmond County), Brooklyn (Kings County), and Queens County towns prior to consolidation in 1898 can be found in the Old Town records.

New York City has always relied on revenue from property tax collections. Consequently, the tax assessment records were carefully maintained. The Municipal Archives began accessioning the tax assessment ledgers from the Department of Finance beginning in the 1960s. They comprise one of the core collections of the Archives and have helped generations of researchers documenting the physical city.

The tax assessment ledgers record the owner, or occupant, of the property and include a description of the property (dimensions of the lot and building), as well as the assessed valuation.

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Manhattan Block 576, Bromley Atlas, 1934. NYC Municipal Archives.

Research tip #1. Begin the research by examining the most recent records and extant historical photographs. 

The first step is to determine the block and lot numbers. Although the City instituted the unique block and lot property identification system for Manhattan beginning in the mid-1890s, it is still useful to establish the building’s current block and lot numbers, even for research that will extend back to the early 19th century. We’ll see why shortly. Block and lot numbers can be found at the Department of Buildings and Department of Finance websites, but we recommend using Sanborn or Bromley land atlases. In addition to the block and lot numbers, the atlases provide building dimension information. The 1934 Bromley atlas for 50 West 13th Street places it in block 576, lot 15. According to the atlas, the lot measures 21-feet by 103-feet and 3-inches. The three-story building measures 21 by 38-feet with a basement and includes a separate three-story structure against the rear property line.

The building depicted in the 1940 Tax photograph matches the description from the atlas. The picture also confirms that the building was a unique structure, i.e. not part of a row of similar buildings. In the 19th century builders often put up a series of connected houses with matching cornices, windows, stoops, etc. The 1940 tax photograph shows 50 W. 13th Street sandwiched between a much larger building to the left and a similar three-story (but not a twin) building to the right.

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Manhattan Block 576, Lot 15. Department of Finance Property Card. NYC Municipal Archives.

The property card is also a 20th century record, but still useful. The Department of Finance created the cards in the late-1930s, but typically they record assessment information dating back to 1926, and sometimes conveyance (ownership) data from even earlier. The conveyance section on the card for Manhattan block 576, lot 15 notes that “J. Day” conveyed the property to “M. Lawson,” on March 30, 1896, for $16,000, corroborating the Greenwich Village Society’s research identifying Jacob Day as owner of the building during the 19th century.    

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Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, Block 576, 1897. NYC Municipal Archives.

Research tip #2.  Start the research by examining the tax assessment ledgers for 1895, 1896 or 1897. 

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Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, 15th Ward Map, West 13th Street. NYC Municipal Archives.

The City introduced the unique block and lot numbering system in the mid-1890s; beginning in 1895 properties are listed in the tax assessment ledgers by their new identification numbers. Prior to 1895, properties are listed by street address in ledgers according to the Ward. Although Wards were created as political subdivisions, the tax assessors also maintained their records by Ward. As the City’s population grew through the 19th century, new Wards were carved out from existing ones. In 1808, Manhattan was divided into ten Wards; by 1896 Manhattan (and annexed sections of The Bronx) had been divided into 24 Wards. There are Ward maps that can be used to identify in which Ward the property was located, but a better method is to research the tax assessment ledger for 1895, 1896 or 1897.  During this transition period from Ward to block and lot numbering, each property listing in the tax assessment ledger provides both numbers. The 1896 listing for 50 West 13th Street, a.k.a. Block 576, Lot 15, indicates it had been located in the 15th Ward of Manhattan with the “old ward” number 1539.      

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“The Assessments in 13th Street are all correct and much time have been spent and the most assiduous enquiries have been made to get the right owners names but in that we may have failed.”  Note appended to Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, Ward 15, West 13th Street, 1847. NYC Municipal Archives.

Research tip #3. Research the tax assessment ledgers in reverse chronological order. 

After identifying the Ward and old ward numbers from the 1895, 1896 or 1897 tax assessment ledgers, carefully work back in time. It should be noted that the “or occupant” information renders the tax assessment ledgers not entirely reliable for researching ownership. It can be done, but advisedly. The assumption has always been that the tax assessor recording information in the ledger was mainly interested in receiving the tax payment, not necessarily the name of the person on the deed. However, a note appended to the assessment page for West 13th Street, in 1847, attests to their “assiduous” inquiries made “to get the right owners names. . .”.

When researching in the ledgers, look for changes in the property description, name of owner or occupant, street address, “old ward” number and/or the assessed valuation. The information pertaining to 50 West 13th Street in the 15th Ward tax assessment ledgers for 1896,1890, 1885, 1880, 1875, 1870, and 1865, remains constant (with only a gradual decrease in the assessed valuation) until 1860. In that year the “owner or occupant” column lists William B. Fash, and in the “remarks” column, the name Jacob Day is penciled. As noted above, the tax assessment ledger are not a reliable source of ownership information but in this case, it seems fairly clear that Jacob Day bought the house from William B. Fash sometime in 1860. 

The next stop in the research is 1858. This is an important year because the ledger format changes to include the dimensions of the lot and building in feet and inches, and number of stories of the building. Prior to 1858, the description column indicates only “lot” or “house and lot.”

William B. Fash is listed as the owner in 1858, and the description of the house and lot is consistent with later years, but the house number is recorded as 54, not 50. And to complicate the search, in 1851, the “ward map no.” for the Fash house changes from 1339 to 1336. Researching back from 1850 to 1849, 1848, and 1847, the owner is listed as William B. Fash and the description is “house and lot” with a valuation of $2,500, compared to $1,500 for the properties listed as vacant lots.

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Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, Ward 15, West 13th Street, 1848. NYC Municipal Archives.

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Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, Ward 15, West 13th Street, 1847. NYC Municipal Archives.

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Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, Ward 15, West 13th Street, 1846. NYC Municipal Archives.

In 1846, there is a change.  The owner of ward map number 1336 is recorded as Gabriel H. Winter and the description of the property is one lot, but the words ‘house’ and ‘Fash’ are penciled along the entry.  In 1845, G. H. Winter is listed as the owner of 1336 and it is described as one lot assessed at $1,500. Short of climbing into a time machine and traveling back to 1846, the information recorded in the 1845, 1846 and 1847 tax assessment ledgers makes it reasonably clear that the house was built in 1846. It may not be possible to determine who built the house, Mr. Fash is a likely candidate, but at least the year of construction is known. 

Other collections in the Municipal Archives can be explored to learn more about the people who resided, or owned, 50 West 13th Street over the past 170 years—William Fash, Jacob Day, Mary Lawson, etc. as well as its conversion to a theater.  Look for future blogs that highlight these resources.

NYPD Surveillance of Organized Labor

The Municipal Archives’ digital gallery hosts a collection of more than 1,400 surveillance films created by the New York Police Department (NYPD)’s photography unit at the request of the Bureau of Special Services and Investigations. Dating between 1960 and 1980 they total more than70 hours of visually fascinating footage of one of the most tumultuous eras in American history. Among the highlights in the collection are footage of the first Earth Day march in 1970, a Nation of Islam rally, Young Lords building occupations, early protests by gay-rights advocates, and the massive anti-war marches and demonstrations after the Kent State shootings in May 1970.

Previous blogs have highlighted footage of the San Juan Fiesta in 1979, occupation of Sydenham Hospital in 1980, and protests during construction of Rochdale Village in 1963. This week the blog shines a light on the NYPD’s surveillance of organized labor demonstrations and strikes. Beginning in the 1920s, the NYPD targeted unions, socialists and communists, earning their surveillance wing the nickname ‘The Red Squad.’

During the 1950s and 60s, leaders of the Civil Rights Movement often used strikes to push for equal employment opportunities for people of all ethnicities. Black and Puerto Rican New Yorkers were routinely denied jobs available only to their white counterparts and unions found little success in negotiating fair treatment. Indeed, large umbrella labor organizations like the AFL-CIO remained split for decades on whether to become more racially inclusive. This 1963 NYPD surveillance film shows striking workers and their supporters protesting the use of all-white construction unions to build the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. When the demonstrators used civil disobedience tactics like obstructing traffic, NYPD officers quickly arrested them.

In 1969, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), backed by the AFL-CIO, went on their first national strike since 1947. AT&T had refused their demands for a cost of living adjustment as well as payments to cover health care premiums. Bad weather didn’t stop hundreds from picketing in downtown Manhattan for days on end, drawing on laborers from all parts of the City. The rain also didn’t stop a robust NYPD response. Just like with the Downstate Hospital construction site, the NYPD arrested scores of strikers. Unlike the Downstate strikers whose demands were not met, the CWA workers were successful. After 12 days, AT&T met their demands in full.

Transport Workers Union of America, N.D. The earliest NYPD surveillance film documents a TWU strike from the early 1960s. NYPD film collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

On his first day in office, January 1, 1966, Mayor Lindsay was confronted with a transit strike, one of the most consequential labor actions in City history. In 1958, Mayor Wagner gave public employees the right to collective bargaining. Wagner formed a close working relationship with Michael J. Quill, head of the Transport Workers Union, and together they avoided any significant stoppages in public transportation during his three terms in office (1954-1965). However, as a mayoral candidate in the 1965 election, John Lindsay campaigned against such arrangements, accusing the City and the unions of corruption.

The twelve-day1966 Transit Strike spurred creation of the Public Employees Fair Employment Act, more commonly known as the Taylor Law. The new Law introduced a framework for public employee unions to negotiate their demands with the City, imposing harsh penalties if they went on strike. The most recent City transit strike in 2005 resulted in fines to the Transport Workers Union of $1 million for every day of the strike. Laws like the Taylor Law exist in most states, severely curtailing the ability of public employees to strike for wage hikes and improved working conditions.

The NYPD was not above conducting surveillance on their own union, then called the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, now the Police Benevolent Association. In 1968 and 1976, the PBA demonstrated for higher wages and better hours. Along with signs making their demands clear, the demonstrators added effigies of Mayor Lindsay and coffins symbolizing fallen police officers and the dangerous working conditions that NYPD officers faced. In 1971, the NYPD engaged in a mass work stoppage involving 20,000 officers calling in sick when their request for a wage increase was denied. But why call in sick instead of striking? The answer is the Taylor Law. As described above, the law prevented police officers, like all public employees, from going on strike. And if they did take this action, they would face heavy fines and jail time.

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 The Municipal Archives transferred the surveillance films from the NYPD photography unit in 2015 as part of a larger collection of photographic materials including glass, nitrate, acetate and polyester-base negatives and silver-gelatin prints. Many of these images are also available in the digital gallery

Digitization of the NYPD films was supported by a grant from the New York State Archives’ Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund. The films were scanned to create digital video files in .mov and .mp4 formats for master and access versions, respectively. Future blogs will highlight newly digitized footage from the Archives’ moving image collection that will be added to the digital gallery beginning in October.  

Enjoy the weekend

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Looking south, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York, September 1937. WPA Federal Writers Project collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Hope you enjoy one of the last warm weekends before fall.

Transcribing the Messages Written on September 11 Memorial Supports

Archivists gather materials left in one of the temporary reflecting pools constructed on the footprint of the South tower of the World Trade Center. September 11, 2008. Photographer: Michael Lorenzini, NYC Municipal Archives

The New York City Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) offers internships to high school and college students throughout the year. This summer DORIS partnered with the New York City-based non-profit organization, PENCIL, to again participate in their internship program. PENCIL’s internship program matches interns with local organizations and businesses to provide career readiness training, connections to professional mentors, and a paid summer internship. In return, the organizations and businesses benefit from the work completed by the interns and from the relationships fostered with the intern and wider community.

The Municipal Archives hosted PENCIL intern Saadia Islam to begin the transcription of the messages written on supports from September 11 anniversary commemorations. The September 11 memorial transcription project is an ongoing project initiated this summer that will conclude when all of the written messages are transcribed.   

The Municipal Archives holds numerous collections documenting the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, including wooden beams inscribed with messages.  Comprising fifty-six pieces, they are the wooden supports for the temporary reflecting pools that were constructed on the footprints of the two World Trade Center towers destroyed by the attacks on September 11, 2001. Prior to the opening of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, anniversary the temporary pools were the location of memorial services held for the families who lost loved ones.  Attendees left mementos such as stuffed animals, notes and flowers.  They also inscribed handwritten messages on the wooden supports. Municipal Archives staff collected many of the items and supports annually between 2002 and 2009  after each commemoration concluded.

Saadia Islam, July 2021. NYC Municipal Archives

In 2020, DORIS hired photographer Stephen Mallon to document the messages written on the supports. In many instances the writing is fading and preserving the information in digital images was the best preservation strategy. In 2021, in preparation for the start of the transcription project, Digitization Specialist, Matt Minor, meticulously numbered each message inscribed on the supports. With each inscription assigned a number, Saadia worked within a spreadsheet to transcribe more than 450 messages.  The transcriptions completed by Saadia form the background of a banner that will be displayed at the non-profit Photoville event that opens in September, “Messages to Those We’ve Lost: 9/11 Memorial Railings.”

Staff archivist Patricia Glowinski talked with intern Saadia Islam about her project:

PG: Tell me about your background, how you became a PENCIL intern, and why you were interested in working at the New York City Municipal Archives for your internship? 

SI: I graduated from Boston University this May with a double major in International Relations and Linguistics. I originally went in as an IR major, but I was always intrigued by language and the power of it, so I took an introduction to Linguistics class. I fell in love with it and decided that the hassle of overloading on credits for 2.5 years was worth adding Linguistics as my second major.

I actually have worked with PENCIL in the past and first heard about it through a friend. It is a great program with incredible summer internship opportunities for students. Since I did not want to jump straight into a full-time job after graduating because I wanted to dedicate a good portion of my time to studying for the LSAT, I thought that finding an internship through PENCIL would be a good option. Through PENCIL, I was able to find the transcriber internship at the Municipal Archives. I was always aware of the deep and rich history of New York, being born and raised here. I knew that there were archives in the city, but I never ventured into it in the past since I never realized that it was open to the general public. When I heard about the position at the archives, I was ecstatic about getting a deeper understanding about archives and getting the experience working for one. Having the chance to work with texts and historical documents seemed like a dream job for me and I could not have asked for a better internship experience.

PG: You have previously worked at that Lighthouse Guild International as an intern/teaching assistant where you gained skills as a trained sighted guide, reader, and notetaker. Has this experience informed your work transcribing the handwritten notes on the memorial risers for the Municipal Archives?

SI: It definitely has! I developed many skills that could be translated into the work I did for the Municipal Archives through working with visually impaired adults looking to go to college (or go back in some cases). For example, it was imperative that I refrain from adding myself into anything that I may have been typing up or writing down for them when working with the adults. It is a task that requires a great deal of patience and cognizance because it is easy to input oneself into anything that one does without realizing it. I was able to translate this skill into my transcription work. Preserving the content in its original state without any sort of modification from myself meant that I had to pause and take care to authentically replicate what I saw whether it was incorrect spelling or a lack of punctuation or grammar rules.

PG: Tell me more about your project.  What has been the biggest challenge? What has been the most surprising/interesting?

SI: I worked on transcribing messages from loved ones of those who were lost during 9/11. There are wooden beams where family and friends can write messages every year on the anniversary. Since I was working remotely, I used high definition photos of the beams to transcribe what was written down.

The biggest challenge was the overwhelming sense of grief and the gravity of what I was transcribing. The families went through tremendous loss. Seeing pure grief and sorrow is always hard, I can only imagine the magnitude of it for those who lost someone. Something that I did not expect from this experience was to somehow get to “know” the victims through different family members or friends’ eyes due to there often being multiple messages addressing each person. I felt like this allowed memories of them to live on and never forget.

PG: Because of the Covid-19 pandemic your internship has been completely remote apart from one site visit and tour of the New York City Municipal Archives. How has this experience been for you? Has there been challenges and/or benefits?

SI: Shifting into working remotely has probably been strange for most people but it does have its benefits. I am grateful for the opportunity of being able to go in for a site visit and tour since it helped me ground my internship experience physically. Working completely online with digital images can become monotonous or tiring in long intervals and it is easy to lose sight of what one works on, but the tour helped solidify the feeling of actually working with archives.

One challenge I had was the legibility of the handwritten messages. There was a lot of messy handwritings which could be deciphered but the digital images sometimes limited the legibility of faded notes or smudged notes because of the pixilation. I am usually good at being able to read just about most handwritings, but I think it is a bit different and more helpful to be able to manipulate the object with the text physically. Nonetheless, the photos were of great quality for the most part and working remotely has been a good experience. I do like the added perk of working in pajamas all day!

PG: Now I am going to put you to the ultimate archivist challenge! During your internship you have been reading about what archives are and what archivists do. As archivists, we try to have an “elevator speech” ready to explain to others what archives are, what archivists do, and (most importantly) why archives matter. Basically, it’s a concise statement that could be expressed in the time it takes to ride an elevator with someone, say thirty seconds or so. What would be your elevator speech about what archives are and why they matter?

SI: Archives are generally somewhere where information, resources, and primary sources are gathered and preserved by archivists. There are many different types of archives and most contain sources of historical records and documents or anything of value that archivists organize and keep in as best condition as possible for anyone looking to access the information. It is essential for maintaining a comprehensive historical record and to learn about and from the past.

The Municipal Archives is grateful to Saadia for her work on the first phase of the transcription project.  We are recruiting volunteers to assist in transcribing the content of the remaining supports.  As she noted, the contents are very moving and important to preserve. We welcome volunteers to engage with the transcription project.

The 1968 Labor Day Parade

The NYPD Surveillance Film collection has it all—environmental activists, antiwar protestors, elected officials, Black Panthers. There is even a film documenting a Labor Day parade complete with burlesque performers, horses and political candidates.

Labor Day is a national holiday because at one point, our national leaders believed that honoring working people was the right thing to do, as well as smart politics. Labor unions were a force to be reckoned with. After peaking at 35% in 1954, union membership in the United States has declined to 10.8% in 2020, according to the latest estimate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In New York City, union membership has held at about 22%, partly thanks to Mayor Wagner’s 1958 Executive Order No. 49, which gave many municipal employees the right to collective bargaining. Likewise, participation in New York City’s annual Labor Day parade has waxed and waned in concert with the level of union employment.

Recently digitized film footage of the 1968 Labor Day parade in the Municipal Archives collection vividly illustrates this history. On September 3, 1968, the New York Times reported that 125,000 marchers participated “….in a long and spirited Labor Day parade up Fifth Avenue.” With the presidential election that year just two months off, Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey took the opportunity to connect with voters along the parade route. The Times article added that President Richard Nixon spent the day working in his apartment at 812 Fifth Avenue, “… within earshot of the day long marching brass, fife and drum corps and bagpipes.”

The parade occurred just days after the conclusion of the bloody 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Some New Yorkers were not happy that the “Happy Warrior” presidential candidate was walking in their midst.  Like true New Yorkers, they made their opinions known.

Take a moment or two this Labor Day holiday weekend to view footage of the 1968 Labor Day Parade in the Archives collection  gallery .