NYPL Blogs: Posts by Carmen Nigro

Wiki Gangs of New York: Editathon Recap

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:07:38 -0400

It was time to represent New York City and the Wikipedians showed up in force to do so! Wiki Gangs of New York was a Wikipedia editathon which took place at the Stephen A Schwarzman building on April 21, 2012 using the specialized collections of the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy and the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division. With so much great material on hand to reference, Wikipedia grew with specialized local information about New York.

Wiki Gangs of New York is the second editathon that NYPL has coordinated with the Wikimedia New York City chapter, following the success of Wikipedia! The Musical! which took place at the Library of the Performing Arts. Wikipedia volunteer and liaison Richard (Wikipedia user ID Pharos) was on hand again to coordinate with NYPL. A healthy mix of expert Wikipedians and newbies edited a total of twenty-two Wikipedia articles. The Queens Borough Historian, Jack Eichenbaum, even dropped by for a couple of hours to assist with specific questions.

There was a great deal of interest in subway lines and parkways, neighborhoods in Queens, Coney Island attractions of the past, as well as public spaces in New York. Check out the impressive work done on these articles and see if there is anything you'd like to add:

Direct Me NYC: NYPL Helps You Find New Yorkers in the 1940 Census

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 07:19:40 -0400

The genealogy world is buzzing with today’s release of the 1940 Federal Census, but some have been disappointed to discover that the newly released data cannot yet be searched by name. Never fear, NYPL to the rescue!

NYPL Labs has created a fantastic new online tool to help you locate New Yorkers in 1940. In conjunction with the Milstein Division, One-Step, and the National Archives, our tool will help you find any New Yorker listed in the telephone directory. Direct Me: NYC will help you get from the name in the directory to the census information by using One-Step to convert the address to enumeration district and opening up the corresponding census pages.

Read more about Direct Me: NYC in the Wall Street Journal: "City Library Eases Way For Searching 1940 Census"

Find out more about searching the census for genealogy reasons: Everyone Counts: Using the Census for Genealogy Reasons

Learn more about Direct Me: NYC by visiting our FAQs

Behind the Scenes of the Milstein Suspense Trailer

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:57:52 -0500

History has secrets... but secrets don’t stay hidden if you know where to look...

The Library's Milstein Division staff are very excited to present a movie trailer-style promotional video, which debuted this week on YouTube. We've loved the videos that other NYPL divisions and neighborhood libraries have made — especially Jefferson Market Library’s Haunted Library video — and were inspired to make our own. After writing the script, we contacted some great people in the film and television industry, and they were willing to help us out.

Our hero, played by actor Ronan Babbitt, uses several Library resources to help him discover his family secrets. We first see him receive Library materials from our page, Sarah, which means he filled in a call slip after consulting the Library's catalog. Our hero then flips through the card catalog drawers. Since we no longer use the old card catalog drawers for our collections, what you will find here are three sets of indexes: one for coats of arms, one for images of passenger ships, and one of New York City illustrations.

Our hero also uses many of the Library's visual collections and ephemera, including postcards, New York City clippings files, and the Scrapbook of Original U.S. Army Shoulder Patches. He makes a note to look for a Coroner’s Inquisition. (Coroner's inquisitions were conducted in cases when a person met a sudden, violent, unnatural or suspicious death.) Some of the interesting books that our hero consults include Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution, The Confederate Soldier in the Civil War and books on heraldry.

We see that he has picked up the latest issue of NOW, the Library's guide to NYPL programs, classes, and events, and he circles the class description for Clues From Family Photos so that he will remember to attend.

Our hero consults many of the Library's online resources, including the Genealogy Research Tips: Breaking Through Brick Walls and Getting Past Dead Ends post from the Milstein blog channel. He uses Fold3 to view images of the Vietnam War and Matthew Brady’s Civil War photos, Ancestry Library Edition to check out the U.S. Naturalization Index, and HeritageQuest to search people in PERSI. His search in PERSI must have been a success since we see him reference several genealogy and local history periodicals, including Pennsylvania Legacies, Kentucky Ancestors, Oregon Historical Quarterly, and The Genealogists’ Magazine.

Genealogy and history research is detective work. Researchers are often trying to solve a mystery, and everyone’s mystery is different. What will you find?

Telling Time on New Year's Eve: Why the First Ball Was Dropped in Times Square

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:18:30 -0500

On New Year's Eve all clocks are synchronized for the epitome of countdowns. The clinking of champagne glasses and the first kiss of the New Year will all be coordinated to the descent of a 12-foot-wide glowing geodesic sphere stationed on top of One Times Square. When all of its 11,875 pounds reach the bottom of its pole, we will know that the New Year has officially begun.

It wasn't always that way. But thanks to a time-honored tradition involving a lowered ball, a one-shot opening celebration has morphed into a spectacle that attracts one million revelers to Times Square each year.

One Times Square, formerly the headquarters of the New York Times, stands on an isolated triangle of land at Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. It has been the site of a major New Year's Eve party every year since the building opened in 1904, the same year the first subway line opened in Manhattan. The inaugural celebration was to fête the opening of the brand-new Times Building, which at the time was the second tallest skyscraper in Manhattan. However, the New Year of 1905 was kicked off with a display of more traditional fireworks set off from the top of the imposing building.

The great success was the party itself. Times Square instantly replaced downtown's Trinity Church as the new go-to place for New Year's jubilation. But shooting fireworks off the building ended only two years later when the city banned them, forcing the Times to find a different symbol for starting the New Year.

In an era of wind-up time keeping, a daily adjustment was needed to keep your clock in harmony with real time. The Western Union Company on Lower Broadway dropped a metallic ball from a spire atop their building every day at noon so that people on the street and in ships in the harbor could synchronize their watches. Similarly, a ball drop happened every day at England's Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

Therefore, in 1907, the association of a dropped ball with time-keeping was commonplace. The Times adopted the custom and even took it a step further by adorning its ball with 100 20-watt bulbs so that it could be seen at night from the ground far below.

Since 1907, the ball drop has signified the start of the New Year in all but two years, 1942 and 1943. During those war years, New York was subject to a "dim-out" of lights intended to protect the city from Axis bombings. But even in wartime, enormous crowds still gathered in Times Square to usher in the New Year.

The New York Times no longer occupies the building at One Times Square, but the tradition they started now extends far beyond the geographic boundaries of the square or even the Eastern time zone. It is estimated that over one billion people around the globe watch the ball drop each year.

This article was originally published in the Huffington Post on December 27, 2010.

Sources:

Lee, Nancy, ed. The Century in Times Square. 1999.
Nevius, Michelle & Nevius, James. Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City. 2009.
Tell, Darcy. Times Square Spectacular: Lighting Up Broadway. 2007.
Times Square Alliance. "New Year's Eve — All About the Ball." Retrieved on 15 December, 2010.
Times Square Alliance. "New Year's Eve — History." Retrieved on 15 December, 2010.

Everyone Counts: Using the Census in Genealogy Research

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:58:45 -0500

—You should always start your genealogy research by interviewing your relatives. Carefully record all of the names, dates, and places that they tell you. Don’t worry if Uncle Joe and Aunt Joan have a different story about where grandma was born, write it all down. With that step complete, it is time to start looking into the United States Federal Census. Census takers assiduously attempt to include all Americans, and they typically do a good job at this task. This is what makes it such a valuable genealogical tool. With few exceptions, the census is generally complete, but not always easy to search.

The United States Federal Census is constitutionally mandated and occurs every 10 years. Its purpose is to count the number of people living in the United States in order to apportion Congressional districts. For the first censuses, beginning in 1790, getting a count of people is almost all that it did. As years passed, the census became a way to gather even more data about the nation, such as health, housing, employment, growth, and other statistics. Census results are released in two ways. Almost immediately, statistical data is released. This is how we know the ethnic make-up of an area, population counts, and other demographic information to use for analytics and congressional apportionment. The other information, called population schedules, is withheld for 72 years. Population schedules contain a wealth of information about the residents of the United States. These documents include names, ages, and relationships of everyone in a household, amongst other details, such as whether they rent or own their home, their language spoken, and birthplace of their parents. It is a jackpot for genealogists.

The best strategy for searching the census is to start with the most recent available census and then work backward in time. Begin genealogy searches with the census if your ancestors were in the United States before 1930. In April of 2012, the 1940 census will become available, and this will be the new threshold for U.S. federal census information. You will most likely find your ancestors in the census, and these can be the first documents that you will use to add evidence to your family stories. To help interpret what you find, use Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records or Your Guide to the Federal Census for Genealogists, Researchers, and Family Historians.

When you do find your ancestors in the census, you will find other significant facts about them. This will further help you locate and interpret other documents. Censuses record family members as a group, so this will be key in connecting one generation to another. This is where you will find out whether it was Aunt Joan or Uncle Joe who was correct about Grandma’s birthplace. You can search the census by name in databases such as Ancestry Library Edition, HeritageQuest, and Fold3. The census is also available on the web through FamilySearch Record Search (only some years) and The Internet Archive (not indexed by name).

There’s a common story told when someone cannot find their ancestors in the census. Usually it involves some sort of outlaw activity such as bootlegging, bank robbery, or a general distrust of the government. However, these ancestors are usually listed in the census. It might just require some search savvy to track them down. The important thing to remember is to be flexible and try many different searches. Creativity and persistence are good qualities to use in census searching.

Here are some tips for searching for your ancestors:

Do not fill in every search box — this may exclude legitimate results that include your ancestors. Broadening your search will mean more search results to sort through, but it's more likely that the results will include your ancestor.
If there is a unique or less common name in your family, start with only that name.
If the name you are searching is extremely common, e.g. “Michael Davis,” then you should add more information to help focus your search.
If you do not immediately find your ancestors, do not give up. Use alternative spellings of names and be open to new information.

Further notes on spellings:

Census takers did not check identification papers: mistakes, variations, and complete misunderstandings are extraordinarily common.
Our ancestors may have been semi-literate or illiterate.
Our ancestors could have used different spellings of their own name, or completely changed their names between two different census years.
Abbreviations may throw off your search results — “Rbt” for Robert, “Ptk” for Patrick, “Chs” for Charles, etc.
A person that is known by a nickname in their youth could change to a different version of the name: Molly might become Mary, Bobby might become Bert, etc. This is especially common in homes where a child is named after a parent. For more information on nicknames, consult a name dictionary, which will usually list variations of names.
There may be more than one person with the same name in the same family: Mary Catherine and Mary Elizabeth might be sisters, but will the census taker record them both as Mary or as Catherine and Elizabeth?
A person may Anglicize the spelling of a name over time: Roberto in one year of the census may become Bob in the next.
A person using a different writing system or alphabet, such as Hebrew, Cyrillic, or Chinese, may have no say in how the census taker interpreted and recorded their name using the Roman alphabet.
Initials may interpreted as a name: “J.M.” may have been recorded as “James,” even if the “J” actually indicated Joseph or Jedediah.
Reading the handwriting used in the census may be difficult.

Another strategy is to search the census geographically. You can often find an address for your ancestor in a city directory and then search for the address in the census. The Library has an extensive collection of city directories on microfilm, and there are also directories available in Fold3. If your ancestor lived in a small town or rural area, you may want to search everyone in that area with their last name.

Every year of the census is slightly different from the next. You can view a complete index of questions for every year of the census, and this will help you determine what type of information you can expect to find.

Some notes on particular census years:

1790-1840 censuses include the names of the heads of households only. Everyone else living in a house is listed by approximate ages only.
1850 is the first federal census to include the names of all members of a household, including children.
1870 is the first census after the Civil War and therefore is the first census to list all African Americans.
1880 is the first census to included street addresses.
1890 census was mostly destroyed in a fire. Only a fragment of the census remains.
States and territories joined the United States at various time periods. You should have some idea of the history of the state you are investigating to know what years it was included in the federal census. For example, you will not find Kansas in the census until 1860.

There are other censuses besides the federal census. Many states conducted their own censuses for their own purposes. New York has several years of state censuses, and the Library owns a complete set of the surviving census data. For a complete list of New York state censuses, consult New York State Censuses & Substitutes. New York City even conducted its own census in 1890 using police officers as census takers because it believed that the federal census had undercounted its population. This is a familiar accusation, and luckily this census exists because the federal census for that year was destroyed. Although Ancestry Library Edition has added some of the data from the New York City and New York state censuses, it is currently incomplete and includes only a few books. The Library has a complete set on microfilm.

Other censuses include a separate census of veterans for 1890, separate censuses for American Indians, and Mortality schedules, which are lists of people who died in the year before a census was taken. References such as the Red Book and Census Substitutes and State Census Records include suggestions for census alternatives for each state — which may include ideas for searching tax lists or voter registrations when you can not find an ancestor in the federal census. If you have hit a brick wall in your research, you may want to try alternate strategies.

View this pdf for a list of The New York Public Library’s census holdings, or stop by the Milstein Division in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building for more help with census research.

The Great Obituary Hunt: A Genealogy Research Guide

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 05:43:59 -0500

Like all good detective work, genealogy research benefits from organization, patience, and procedure. One of many tools in the researchers toolbox is the obituary. Obituaries are small articles in a newspaper that offer a posthumous piece of the story of a person’s life. They can also be very useful to those who are researching genealogy, adding details that would otherwise be unknown. The names of relatives, location of birth, final resting place, occupation, religious affiliation, volunteer work, and other details of how someone spent their life are but a few examples of the wealth of information that can help a researcher or genealogy hobbyist flesh out the details of the life of someone from the past.

A great place to start finding obituaries is in digitized newspapers by searching the names of the deceased. One helpful database is ProQuest Historical, which contains newspapers for many major American cities, often the full run of the newspaper. Major newspapers in this database include the New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Washington Post. The London Times has its own database. But even with all this access, the problem that often occurs with big city papers is a lack of obituaries. Papers such as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times often only run obituaries for prominent people, such as this obituary for Albert Einstein.

Smaller newspapers, such as town, neighborhood, and religious affiliation newspapers, do a much better job at chronicling the deaths of the citizens of their communities. The Chronicling America website, sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, features thousands of digitized local newspapers that you can search for free. The site also includes the extremely useful U.S. Newspaper Directory, where you can determine exactly what newspapers were being published in an area during a specific time period, and the newspaper’s location if it is not digitized. Chronicling America is an expanding project, so you can expect to see it grow with more digitized newspapers as time passes. There are also several papers covering New York towns throughout New York state digitized in the free website Old Fulton Postcards. For help locating these types of newspapers at NYPL, please see this blog post for researching historical newspapers.

New Yorkers might be particularly interested in searching papers like the Staten Island Advance, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and Bronx Home News, as well as the dozens of other specialized local papers listed in the Periodicals and Microform Division’s list of New York City Newspapers. Note that there are also papers for particular neighborhoods, such as Harlem and Greenwich Village. Various ethnic and immigrant populations are represented in papers like the Irish World and Swiss American, and there are newspapers in different languages, such as the Amerikai Magyar Nepszav for Hungarian Americans and El Diario La Prensa, the largest Spanish language newspaper of New York City (and oldest, if you include its predecessor, La Prensa, which the library has holdings that date back to 1917). For research in recent ethnic newspapers, you can also use Ethnic Newswatch, which has periodicals that date from 1990 to the present year.

It is also possible to search for obituaries in newspapers that are now defunct. NYPL has several historical newspaper databases featuring older publications, including many from the colonial era. Many people start this type of search with America’s Historical Newspapers. Another interesting approach is to search for obituaries in trade journals — for example, Library Journal publishes obituaries for librarians who have passed away. You can find trade journals for many types of professions, from farmers to pharmacists. Many of these are searchable in databases, such as JSTOR, Academic Search Premier, and American Periodical Series.

Another tactic for locating an obituary is to find an index for the obituaries that appeared in a certain area. Obituaries are usually published in the week following a person’s death, but they can sometimes be published weeks or months afterward. An index can help you locate an obituary that was not published immediately after a person’s passing. Sometimes these lists are compiled into books that you can locate in the Library’s Catalog, such as this index of Dutchess County obituaries. You can also check for birth and marriage announcements as you search for obituaries. For example, this index to the Queens County Sentinel includes birth, marriage, and death announcements. Sometimes genealogical and historical societies will compile these lists and publish them in their periodicals. You can find those by searching JSTOR or PERSI, which is accessible through the HeritageQuest database.

If you are unable to locate an obituary, you might try to obtain a death certificate. In New York City, you can use the online death index and then contact the Municipal Archives for a copy of the certificate. For other locations, consult the Red Book or Handybook to find where these vital records are stored in the United States, or the International Vital Records Handbook for other countries.

Genealogy Research Tips: Breaking Through Brick Walls and Getting Past Dead Ends

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:02:34 -0400

Genealogy research may now be among America’s favorite hobbies, but it certainly is not the least frustrating. Stamp and coin collecting may start to look more attractive after you spend a few days combing through Ancestry Library Edition and can’t find any new records to help add details to your family tree. But don’t despair for too long, the following tips and tricks may help you get past the dreaded brick wall in genealogy research.

I would be remiss if I left out some basic but absolutely necessary steps:

Don’t give up! You will be able to find more information with patience and diligence than without it.

Organize your research:
- Chart your family tree.
- Make duplicates of primary documents.
- Create folders or binders for different branches of your family tree.
- Create a database on your computer just for your genealogical research.
- Create a research log to help you remember what you searched and what resources you used.
Review your previous research.
- Verify your information with primary documents.
- Cite the source for each of your documents — including what type of document it is and where you obtained it.
- Analyze your records both separately and as a group. Often when records are gathered over a period of time, new answers, perspectives or clues can be found.
- Sort out records that contradict each other, but don’t discard them. Make note of contradictions and see if you can determine why there is conflicting information.
Look at other case studies to find similar cases to your family research. The trials of others often will give you clues for how to proceed in your family’s cases.
Share your information with other members of your family. They may have leads for you based on the research you have already done, but the information will need to be organized for someone else to understand it.
Remember that genealogy research is a lot like detective work. You are using clues to unlock a larger story. You will occasionally follow false leads and have to retrace your steps and you may have long intervals before another promising lead develops. Embrace your role as a sleuth!

After you have completed these basic steps, you may find that you still have a brick wall in the way of your research. Here are some of the next steps towards a genealogical breakthrough:

Do not rely on internet resources alone. There are many, many documents that are not found in popular databases like Ancestry. That being said though, Ancestry continues to add new genealogical records regularly so you should always check for new information every few months.
Read how-to guides — they are extraordinarily useful. You may find some information without any training at all but eventually you will need to learn more about genealogy research as a field. Some recommended resources:
Consult some of the best references. There is a reason that these books are some of the most heavily used by visitors to the Milstein Division — they organize invaluable information about genealogical research and will often open a path for you after you’ve hit the brick wall with internet resources:
Visit multiple places for your research.
- E.g. In New York City, many people will need to research here at the NYPL Milstein Division and also visit the NYC Municipal Archives, the National Archives at NYC, the New York Historical Society and sometimes also a Family History Center.
  - We have a Conducting Research guide and a FAQ for the Milstein Division and many other archives and libraries do too. Browse their websites before your visits.
  - Create a research plan if you are traveling to do research away from home. This will help you budget your limited time.

Use resources for specialized research. The following are examples of resources in our collections, but there are many more for many types of specialized research. Be sure to also check for genealogy groups that specialize, there are many!
- Women / Matrilineal research
- Native American
- African American
- Asian American
- Jewish
- Hispanic
- International Roots
  - Irish, Italian, Latin American, Swedish, German, English, etc.

Branch out from census and vital records by looking at different types of records:
Consult problem solving books for advanced problems:
Search for genealogies already written about branches of your family. Your family does not have to be famous for someone to have compiled genealogical data about them.
- In the NYPL catalog, searching for “family” and the surname will yield good results, e.g. “Tilden family.”
- Local histories are also rich in genealogical information - they can cover small areas such as neighborhoods, e.g. Flushing, Queens or broad areas such as counties, e.g. Broome County.
  - Local histories can also cover abstracts and lists to help in your research, e.g. Abstracts of wills, Carroll County, Maryland
- Search in WorldCat to see books that other libraries own.
- Search in Google Books to read books that have been digitized (some from our own collection!)
- Use HeritageQuest to access some digitized genealogies and local histories and to use PERSI to search genealogy periodicals for surnames and place names.
Contextualize your research in the history of the corresponding era:
- History for Genealogists: Using Chronological Time Lines to Find and Understand Your Ancestors

Lastly, there are always the pros.

The Board for Certification of Genealogists and The Association of Professional Genealogists both offer a service to find a genealogist to help you in your research.
You can also have a look at Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians for some pro tips or if you are considering the profession for yourself.

Good luck in your research and remember that Patience and Fortitude are not only mascots of the library, but great qualities to maintain when researching.

History on the Half-Shell: The story of New York City and its oysters

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:22:32 -0400

Blue Points, Saddle Rocks, Rockaways, Lynnhavens, Cape Cods, Buzzard Bays, Cotuits, Shrewsburys -- raw on the half shell. Fried oysters, oyster pie, oyster patties, oyster box stew, Oysters Pompadour, Oysters Algonquin, Oysters a la Netherland, a la Newberg, a la Poulette, oysters roasted on toast, broiled in shell, served with cocktail sauce, stewed in milk or cream, fried with bacon, escalloped, fricasseed, and pickled. If you have spent any time transcribing for NYPL's What’s on the Menu? project, you’ve seen a lot of ways to prepare this humble bivalve.

It surprises some that oysters are such major players on these historic menus, but the oyster reigned supreme as the quintessential New York City food long before pizza, hot pretzels, bagels, and hot dogs were known to our shellfish-encrusted shores. When Henry Hudson first sailed into the river that would one day bear his name, the Lenape people had long been plucking its supple oyster beds. Archaeological evidence gathered from tremendous mounds of oyster shells called “middens” indicates that the New York Harbor oysters were not only plentiful, they were much larger than the kind familiar to us today. Harbor oyster shells from these middens measured up to 10 inches, and early European travellers describe the shellfish as being about a foot in length1.

In a comprehensive history of the oyster in New York, The Big Oyster, author Mark Kurlansky wrote, “the history of the New York oyster is a history of New York itself -- its wealth, its strength, its excitement, its greed, its thoughtfulness, its destructiveness, its blindness, and -- as any New Yorker will tell you -- its filth.” It was pollution and over-harvesting that killed the oyster industry in in New York, a surprising feat considering that the lower Hudson estuary once had 350 square miles of oyster beds and some biologists estimate that the New York Harbor contained half of the the world’s oysters2.

Though the Dutch were disappointed that the harbor oysters were not pearl producers, they recognized their abundance; the settlers even called Ellis and Liberty islands “Little Oyster Island” and “Great Oyster Island” because of the sprawling oyster beds surrounding them. Pearl Street, once a waterfront road, was named for a midden and later even paved with oyster shells. Early in New York history, the oyster became world-renowned. Kurlansky explained, “Before the 20th century, when people thought of New York, they thought of oysters. This is what New York was to the world -- a great oceangoing port where people ate succulent local oysters from their harbor. Visitors looked forward to trying them. New Yorkers ate them constantly. They also sold them by the millions.” He also wrote, “The combination of having reputably the best oysters in the world in what had become unarguably the greatest port in the world made New York City for an entire century the world’s oyster capital.”2 Charles Dickens, during his American sojourn, was one of those foreign visitors who made it a point to stop at the city’s oyster cellars, which advertised “Oysters in Every Style”3. Dickens even commented on the “wonderful cookery of oysters” within New York1.

The oyster cellar was a ubiquitous eatery in NYC from early in city history until the closing of the oyster beds. Downing’s Oyster House, a celebrated oyster cellar of the early 1800s, was located at the corner of Broad and Wall streets. Proprietor Thomas Downing was an African-American businessman (rare in pre-Civil War America) who listed his occupation as “oysterman” in the city directory. Downing’s Oyster House was well known amongst the city’s well-to-do, and as a result Downing himself became famous and affluent. The Oyster House did not limit its offerings to raw, fried, and stewed -- Downing’s menu included scalloped oysters, oyster pie, fish with oyster sauce, fish with oyster sauce, and poultry stuffed with oysters4. Delmonico’s, easily the vanguard restaurant of NYC and en vogue Francophiles, set the trend of serving oysters raw on the half-shell2. They are also responsible for the trend of menus littered with mots français, many examples of which you can espy in the menu collection.

Oysters were by no means limited to nice restaurants, or even oyster cellars. Street vending of oysters, along with hot corn, peanuts, and buns, was part of New York’s regular food distribution system. While visiting New York in the 1790’s, the Frenchman Moreau de St. Mery commented, “Americans have a passion for oysters, which they eat at all hours, even in the streets.” Oysters were regular fare at cheap eateries, and it was claimed that the very poorest New Yorkers “had no other subsistence than oysters and bread.”1 Fortunately, oysters are nutritious - rich in protein, phosphorus, iodine, calcium, iron, and vitamins A, B, and C.5

An interesting specialty that also appeared on New York menus was terrapin. The terrapin, considered exotic even in an age when calf brains were regularly seen on menus, was “unique among turtles because it lives in the same brackish tidal waters as the clams and oysters upon which it feeds.” Later served in upper class restaurants with wine sauce or a la Maryland, terrapin was once served in taverns cooked in the style that the Lenape had used: roasted whole over an open fire2. Naturally, the terrapin disappeared off of menus when their own diet of New York harbor oysters became polluted.

Though the original oyster population was capable of filtering all of the the water in New York Harbor in a matter of days, it was not an unlimited resource. In 1658, New Amsterdam’s Dutch Council had already limited when and from where oysters could be gathered because of over-harvesting. As early as 1704, residents of Rockaway attempted to regulate oystering in their waters to locals only. New Yorkers made a lot of mistakes with oystering - for example, it took a remarkably long time to figure out that the best thing to do with oyster shells is to dump them back onto oyster beds. Previously they had been burned, placed in piles, or turned into mortar paste to aid NY’s building boom. Trinity Church is an example of a building built with oyster-shell mortar paste.

Burdened by over-harvesting, sewage pollution, and landfill -- Manhattan added over 60 acres to its land area with landfill -- the oysters of New York harbor were not on a sustainable track. In 1927, the last of the New York oyster beds was closed, primarily because of toxicity. Following that year, “New Yorkers continued to eat oysters, though not as many, and oyster bars remained popular, though not on the same scale. New ones opened all the time, like the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal that debuted in 1913. But they weren’t serving local oysters.”2 New York was no longer an oyster capital.

New York’s oysters were too polluted to eat by 1927, and pollution only increased in subsequent years. It was not until after 1972’s Clean Water Act that any improvements were seen, but the oysters are still not edible almost 40 years after the passage of that act. Dredging stirs up centuries worth of pollution lying thickly upon the harbor floor. But one thing is certain, replacing the oyster beds will only help aid the rehabilitation of the harbor. Though the oysters can do nothing about harmful PCBs and heavy metals (which is why we still shouldn’t eat them), they can quickly cleanse organic wastes from the water. Major efforts to restore New York’s oyster population are underway.

* * *

Join the menu transcription effort at What's on the Menu?

Sources for this article:

1. Gastropolis: Food and New York City.

2. The Big Oyster by Mark Kurlansky

3. "Before there were bagels, New York had the oyster" by William Grimes, New York Times; retrieved via Gale Group New York Times 1985-present.

4. "Mr. Downing and his oyster house: the life and good works of an African-American entrepreneur" by John H. Hewitt, American Visions; retrieved via Academic OneFile.

5. "Oyster" - via Grolier Online.

A Helluva Town: The Origins of New York’s Hellish Place Names

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:22:29 -0400

"New York, New York, a helluva town. The Bronx is up but the Battery's down." —On the Town

With at least three "Hell" based place names within its boundaries—Hell Gate, Hell's Kitchen, and Hell's Hundred Acres—New York City is indeed a helluva town. But in spite of name and reputation, these places are now far from infernal.

Hell Gate

Hell Gate is the oldest place name of these three. Dating back to New Amsterdam's Dutch colonial period, Hell Gate is a corruption of the Dutch name "Hellegat" which meant "hell channel." It refers to the narrow and treacherous strait of water separating Astoria, Queens, from Ward's Island, and connecting the Long Island Sound to the East River.

The Encyclopedia of New York City tells us that Hell Gate earned its name from sailors navigating the shallow channel's strong currents and rocky reef. Hundreds of ships have sunk into Hell Gate, including the British ship Hussar, which in 1780 shipwrecked whilst carrying a significant amount of silver and gold. Its treasure is still sought by divers.

The Army Corps of Engineers widened and deepened the channel in the nineteenth century using "the greatest quantity of explosives ever attempted in a single operation." The feat drew over fifty thousand spectators to the shores of the East River to watch the geyser-like spectacle caused by the detonation.

Spanning the waterway is the Hell Gate Bridge, a picturesque railroad bridge which links New York City to New England. Although some places in the city take their name from Hell Gate, such as the Hell Gate Station Post Office, Hell Gate officially refers to the waterway and its bridge, not to a neighborhood or other piece of land.
Hell's Kitchen

Bounded by Eighth Avenue to the east, the Hudson River to the west, 59th Street to the north, and 30th Street to the south is a neighborhood that some might say is "Midtown West." A taxi map will tell you that it is called "Clinton," but almost any New Yorker will still refer to this place as Hell's Kitchen.

The Encyclopedia of New York City opens its entry for Hell's Kitchen by referring to it as an "obsolete term," though we certainly still hear it in pop culture. The area acquired this name sometime in the mid-nineteenth century, either from a neighborhood gang or the local police. By the time of the American Civil War, Hell's Kitchen was known as violent, impoverished slum. It has been home to several different ethnic groups over the years: Irish, Scots, Germans, African Americans, Greeks, Eastern Europeans, Puerto Ricans, and others. Gangs such as the Gophers and the Westies have domineered there. In fact, it was a gang-related murder in 1959 that prompted local officials to begin calling the neighborhood "Clinton" in efforts to improve its image. The name was derived from De Witt Clinton Park, located at Eleventh Avenue between 52nd and 54th Streets.

Nonetheless, the Hell's Kitchen moniker persists in common parlance. Its mean past is remembered in films such as West Side Story, countless murder-mystery books, and invoked in chef Gordon Ramsay's books and television programs. Currently the neighborhood is home to a diverse and rich restaurant scene along Ninth Avenue, Comedy Central's Daily Show Studios, CBS Broadcast Center, the Hearst Tower, and the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. This abundant array of cultural and commercial establishments affirms that tourists are definitely not afraid to wander there. Whether or not they call it "Clinton," "Midtown West," or "Hell's Kitchen," only taxi drivers know for sure. Hell's Hundred Acres

Unlike the previous two areas, the nickname Hell's Hundred Acres was actually born of fire. Following a series of terrible fires in the environs, some of which cost the lives of several firefighters, Fire Commissioner Edward Cavanagh coined the name to express his feelings about the major fire hazards and deteriorated conditions he considered perilous.

Today the neighborhood is remembered for its stylish dwellings and innovative art scene—and it is called SoHo. You can follow the neighborhood's transition in the New York Times Historical database by searching the term "Hell's Hundred Acres." If you read the resulting articles in chronological order, you'll see the stories shift from reports of fire violations, warnings from Cavanagh, and descriptions of hazards, to stories of artists organizing, urban renewal, and eventually creation of the term "SoHo." In late 1962, the City Planning Commission called for a "South Houston Street survey," a study that surprisingly showed the neighborhood to be economically thriving despite its run-down reputation. Subsequent articles use the term "South Houston Industrial Area," and by 1970, "SoHo." Unlike "Hell's Kitchen", the moniker "Hell's Hundred Acres" practically disappears.

Beware of Zombies: The Grim Origins of Washington Square Park

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:21:16 -0500

Centered on Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village is a neighborhood made legendary by the world famous artists, musicians, and writers that have flourished and created within steps of its arch. However, what lies beneath that splendid, recently re-landscaped and renovated outdoor sanctuary is a bit more morbid.

In his 2003 book Around Washington Square, Luther S. Harris posed the question, “What had made Greenwich Village such an important seedbed for the growth and flowering of culture in New York City, the United States, and indeed the world?” Could it perhaps have been the fertilizing effects of the 20,000 or so human corpses that still lie beneath the park?

In its 2005 Archaeological Assessment of Washington Square Park [PDF download], the New York City Parks and Recreation Department confirms that corpses “possibly numbered as many as 20,000 and it appears these burials remain under varying depths of fill.” In the popular guidebook Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City by Michelle Nevius and James Nevius, the authors detail, “While estimates vary, it seems likely that over 20,000 people were buried in the land.... The bulk of the bodies were never disinterred, which means that they remain to this day under the grass and pavement of Washington Square.”

So, how did those bodies get there? In 1797, the quickly expanding New York City government purchased a portion of an old farm for $4,500 to create a potter’s field—a burial ground for the indigent, poor, criminals, and victims of epidemic. The potter’s field operated for almost thirty years and occupied what is now the eastern two-thirds of Washington Square Park. It also happened to be adjacent to several established church cemeteries, adding to the area’s body count. In Around Washington Square, Harris commented that this area was a “natural choice for such bleak facilities because it was a rural northern suburb of the city and already the site of cemeteries owned by downtown churches.”

Hundreds of people who could not afford to be buried privately were laid to rest in the field. Soon, the city sheriff erected a public gallows, near the current location of the Square’s fountain. Three-quarters of a mile away was a prison on the Hudson, which Harris describes as “another source of supply for field and noose.” What ultimately put the burial ground over capacity were the series of epidemics of yellow fever which struck in the years 1797, 1798, 1801, and 1803. This caused the city to seek and create a new, larger potter’s field at the current site of Bryant Park. (The bodies in Bryant Park were however relocated to Ward’s Island, and may still be there...)

Soon after the ground reached its capacity for human burials, mayor Philip Hone initiated his strategy for transforming the potter’s field into a public square. His intent was to raise the property values adjacent to the square, and it was related to a scheme to raise funding for a charity called Sailor’s Snug Harbor—but that is a story for another time. Hone’s models were prestigious London squares such as Belgrave Square. But instead of a private space like London’s squares, the mayor wanted to create a free public space. In 1827, courts agreed with him and Washington Square was legally declared a “public space.”

Initially called the Washington Military Parade Ground and used to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the square’s moniker was soon shortened by the press to “Washington Square.” Naming public facilities after George Washington was extremely popular at the time, especially in conjunction with an Independence Day celebration. Landscaping, street work, and construction of fine houses soon followed. Some skeletons were even unearthed during this process, although there were no wide-scale efforts to completely disinter the crowded burial site.

The square did achieve Mayor Hone’s goal of raising the property values around it. Properties purchased by New York University (NYU), then known as the University of the City of New York, provide a striking example. In 1832, before the square was even completely finished, the school purchased the lots on the entire eastern block facing the square between Waverly and Washington Places. The price of the land had already risen steeply, and the university paid $40,000 for lots that had been evaluated at one-tenth that price only six years earlier, an act that completely wiped out their accounts. Harris says that after purchase NYU had only $66.46 in capital funds, while Nevius and Nevius say $6.40. Nonetheless, it was not enough money to run a university or fund the construction of the buildings. The school sank into debt, professors were not paid, and even the university’s book collection was mortgaged.

The real estate investment paid off very quickly. Within five years there was a 240% increase in property value and Washington Square was transformed from a Golgotha to a tranquil public space that continues to lend prestige and value to the surrounding neighborhood.

Regardless, in the event of zombie apocalypse, you now know one area to especially avoid.

For more information on some of the artistic, literary, and influential giants of New York culture that were nurtured in the “seedbed” of Greenwich Village, follow these links:

So, why do we call it Gotham anyway?

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:49:25 -0500

New York is a city of nicknames—the Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, Empire City, The City So Nice They Named It Twice... but let’s just concentrate on one: Gotham.

For some, the term Gotham City is forever tied to the Batman comic universe. But writer Bill Finger was inspired by an entry in a telephone book for Gotham Jewelers. Finger explains in the Steranko History of Comics that changing the locale from Manhattan to the fictional Gotham City made the setting of Batman more vague. In fact, the nickname goes a lot further back than 1940, when in Batman issue number four, Gotham City is named for the first time.

For a history of the term “Gotham,” one doesn’t have to go much further than Edwin Burrows’ and Mike Wallace's Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. Always one of our most popular reference books in the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy, Gotham is a massive but fascinating chronicle of New York City history. It is here that we learn that the term Gotham is tied to the author Washington Irving, famous for his short stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “Rip Van Winkle.” It’s also here that we learn Irving was being less than flattering when he nicknamed the city in 1807.

Irving was sort of a ringleader of a group known as the Lads of Kilkenny, a group Burrows’ describes as “a loosely knit pack of literary-minded young blades out for a good time.” The Lads made their rounds of the Park Theater and the Shakespeare Tavern, and some of them eventually organized to create the literary magazine called Salmagundi (full text available in Google Books). In Salmagundi, Irving and the Lads published essays concerning events in “the thrice renowned and delectable city of GOTHAM,” thereby creating a nickname for New York which is now over two hundred years old. Irving, coincidentally, also coined the term “Knickerbocker” with his book A History of New York, From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty ... by Diedrich Knickerbocker (full text available in Google Books), which Irving attributed to the fictional Knickerbocker.

The word “Gotham” actually dates back to medieval England. NYPL has some of these resources, including an 1866 reprint of The Merry Tales of the Mad Men of Gottam. Gathered Together by A.B. of Phisicke, Doctor, 1630. There is also a digitized version available on site at the library and a Google Book version. English proverbs tell of a village called Gotham or Gottam, meaning “Goat’s Town” in old Anglo-Saxon. Folk tales of the Middle Ages make Gotham out to be the village of simple-minded fools, perhaps because the goat was considered a foolish animal. Some tales describe the denizens of Gotham as only playing the fool, a ruse used to avert the wrath of the sinister King John. Burrows’ poses that “it was doubtless this more beguiling—if tricksterish—sense of Gotham that Manhattanites assumed as an acceptable nickname.” Burrows’ also notes that the term “Gotham” as a nickname “has gone in and out of favor, having great currency in one decade, falling into desuetude the next” when he discussed the resurgence of the term as it is associated with Batman. He quotes an [unnamed] Batman editor in saying that “Gotham is New York’s noirish side... whereas Superman’s Metropolis presents New York’s cheerier face.”

It’s without doubt that New Yorkers have indeed embraced the nickname, Gotham. It no longer invokes a foolish village of goat herders, and sometimes invokes the darkened noirish version as popularized through Batman, but it can be referencing New York in several ways. From the Gotham typeface font to the Gotham Center of New York History and all of the businesses with Gotham in their names in between, the moniker remains a permanent part of New York City’s character.

Thanksgiving Ragamuffin Parade

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 10:01:59 -0500

When searching for Thanksgiving images in our Digital Gallery, you might be surprised to find a set of about 20 images of Thanksgiving "ragamuffins." Who are these young beggars and what do they have to do with Thanksgiving?

Before Halloween was the holiday known for dressing up in costume and begging for candy (this practice did not become common until the 1940's and 50's), children in NYC often participated in what was called Ragamuffin Day. On Ragamuffin Day - which was Thanksgiving Day - children would dress themselves in rags and oversized, overdone parodies of beggars (a la Charlie Chaplin's character "The Tramp"). The ragamuffins would then ask neighbors and adults on the street, "Anything for Thanksgiving?" The usual response would be pennies, an apple, or a piece of candy.

The New York Tribune ran an article on November 21, 1909 which dated the tradition 40 years back to about 1870. Reverend James M. Farrar said, "Those of you who have always lived in New York do not think of this Thanksgiving game of ragamuffin as a strange custom, but the strangers coming to our city are greatly surprised, and ask what it means." Farrar thought that the tradition of "dressing in old clothes, many sizes too large, painting their faces or putting on masks" was "here to stay."

However, by 1930, articles were appearing in The New York Times calling for the end of the practice. William J. O'Shea, Superintendent of schools at the time, sent a circular to the district superintendents and principals which stated that "modernity is incompatible with the custom of children to masquerade and annoy adults on Thanksgiving day." Shea also stated, "many citizens complain that on Thanksgiving Day they are annoyed by children dressed as ragamuffins, who beg for money and gifts."

O'Shea's plea to end the tradition must have carried some gravitas because that year The New York Times reported that "Parading Thanksgiving Ragamuffins Scarce, Except Out Where City's Subway Lines End." A Times Square policeman interviewed in the article stated, "all I've seen is just about six kids dressed up like we used to dress in the old days. Things ain't the way they used to be." The article also seems to lament the loss of the "splashes of color" and stated, "instead of the usual droves of hilarious youngsters in false faces and outlandish garb... one encountered only one or two every half hour. The ragamuffin is vanishing."

The Ragamuffin tradition was much more difficult to quash in the outer boroughs. The Times reported that "in Flatbush, the Bronx, Greenpoint, and other places where the subway lines end, the ragamuffin tradition persists somewhat more tenaciously."

In 1936, The New York Times' only mention of the ragamuffins is to state:

"Ragamuffins Frowned Upon: Despite the endeavors of social agencies to discourage begging by children, it is likely that the customary Thanksgiving ragamuffins, wearing discarded apparel of their elders, with masks and painted faces, will ask passers-by, 'anything for Thanksgiving?'"

The tradition was definitely waning through official statements of disapproval.

In 1937, organizations such as the Madison Square Boys Club were reported as having Thanksgiving parades as an effort "to discourage the Thanksgiving ragamuffins." By 1940, that parade had grown in size to over 400 children and sported the slogan "American boys do not beg." Though the parading boys still dressed in costume as ragamuffins, many donned costumes of other things and people - such as alarm clocks and Michelangelo.

The Ragamuffin parade continued to grow and annual mentions of it appear in The New York Times. In 1943, there is a mention of a 25 year-old man who was arrested while "attired in an ill-fitting assortment of women's clothing over khaki Army trousers peeping from under a drab gray dress." His wife had to explain to the magistrate that he was dressed for a Thanksgiving Ragamuffin party.

The last mention of the Thanksgiving Ragamuffin parades - as one had appeared in the Bronx as well - is in 1956. At some point the Ragamuffin parade was ceased and it had been overshadowed by the larger, balloon-oriented, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that gained nation-wide populatrity after the success of the film Miracle on 34th Street. Ragamuffin traditions were ceded to the rise Halloween which fostered the "begging" of candy again through trick-or-treating and brought costuming to a whole new level. Hopefully, no official social agencies will try and squash this costumed holiday, but I imagine that if they did, they would receive greater resistance.