Ca. 2000 photographic prints : silver gelatin, albumen, gum bichromate, platinum, cyanotype, some col.,; 14 1/2 x 21 in. or smaller.
Summary
Images of the New York Public Library, including the Astor and Lenox Libraries, and the Cathedral Library, New York Free Circulating Library and Aguilar Free Library. Includes interiors and exteriors of buildings, the site and construction of the Central Research Library (designated Center for the Humanities, 1995), including images of the Croton Reservoir, and the quarry in Vermont from which came the marble for the Central Building; construction and remodelling of branches, including work done by the W.P.A. or P.W.A.; library services to readers, especially children, including story hours, puppet shows, clubs, theater productions and lectures; special subject collections such as music, the Schomburg Collection, and the Print Room; services to special populations such as the blind and prison inmates; technical and support services including cataloging, shipping, the bindery; bookmobiles, including a soap box bookmobile; "travelling libraries," which were housed in fire stations, hospitals, businesses, settlement houses and other locations; the Bryant Park Open Air Reading Room, which operated during the Depression; galleries in the Central Building and Lenox Library and exhibitions throughout the system; the Krigwa Players, an African American theater group which performed in the 135th Street Branch (later Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture); use of library facilities by Americanization and English classes, Y.M.C.A, and other organizations.
Other views include New York neighborhoods and streets, in particular the neighborhood surrounding the Central Research Library, including 5th Avenue, 42nd Street, Bryant Park and environs; events held on the steps of the library or on 5th Avenue, including World War I book and loan drives and parades, an N.R.A. parade, Gen. Eisenhower waving from an open car in a parade; celebrations and anniversaries relating to the library are also depicted. Portraits include the founders, John Jacob Astor, Samuel J. Tilden and James Lenox; the architects of the Central Building, John M. Carrere and Thomas Hastings; administrators, including the library's first director John Shaw Billings; trustees, including Andrew Carnegie; and portrait and candid shots of staff.
The collection includes a wide variety of material including several albums. The albums contain clippings, postcards, photostats, lithographs and other materials not reflected in the item count above. Photostat surrogates of art work held in the Print Room are also part of the collection.
Related materials are held in RG10, Visual Materials, New York Public Library Archives, Rare Book and Manuscripts Division, and in separately cataloged collections in the Photography Collection.
Photographers include commercial and architectural photographers such as Frederick J. Stein and Wurts Brothers, newspaper and magazine photographers, other photographers working on contract such as Percy Sperr and Lewis Hine, staff members such as Miss K. Hardie, Laura V. Schnarendorf and William Gamble, interested amateurs, and others.
Access (note)
Restricted access;
Indexed in (note)
NYPL's photographic archives, including materials in the Photography Collection and in the NYPL Archives are described in Biblion, Vol. 4, No. 1, Fall, 1995.
Provenance (note)
Transferred from the General Research Division, and the vault; gifts of Mrs. Helen J. Zuckerman, 1982, and Anonymous, 1987.
Title
Photographs and other materials depicting the New York Public Library [graphic].
Imprint
185--1988; bulk 1870-1940.
Restricted access
Restricted access; Photography Collection; Permit must be requested at division indicated.
Indexed in:
NYPL's photographic archives, including materials in the Photography Collection and in the NYPL Archives are described in Biblion, Vol. 4, No. 1, Fall, 1995.
Finding aids
Detailed finding aid available: item level description.
Provenance
Transferred from the General Research Division, and the vault; gifts of Mrs. Helen J. Zuckerman, 1982, and Anonymous, 1987.