Guide to the Geographic File ca 1800-present (Bulk 1850-1950) PR20 The New-York Historical Society 170 Central Park West New York, NY 10024 Descriptive Summary Title: Geographic File Dates: ca 1800-present (bulk 1850-1950) Abstract: The Geographic File includes prints, photographs, and newspaper clippings of street views and buildings in the five boroughs (Series III and IV), arranged by location or by type of structure. Series I and II contain foreign views and United States views outside of New York City. Quantity: 135 linear feet (160 boxes; 124 drawers of flat files) Call Phrase: PR 20 Note: This is a PDF version of a legacy finding aid that has not been updated recently and is provided “as is.” It is key-word searchable and can be used to identify and request materials through our online request system (AEON). PR 000 2 The New-York Historical Society Library Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections PR 020 GEOGRAPHIC FILE Series I. Foreign Views Series II. American Views Series III. New York City Views (Manhattan) Series IV. New York City Views (Other Boroughs) Processed by Committee Current as of May 25, 2006 PR 020 3 Provenance Material is a combination of gifts and purchases. Individual dates or information can be found on the verso of most items. Access The collection is open to qualified researchers. Portions of the collection that have been photocopied or microfilmed will be brought to the researcher in that format; microfilm can be made available through Interlibrary Loan. Photocopying Photocopying will be undertaken by staff only, and is limited to twenty exposures of stable, unbound material per day. Researchers may not accrue unused copy amounts from previous days. On-site researchers may print out unlimited copies from microfilm reader-printer machines at a per-exposure rate; see guidelines in the reading room for details. Permission to reproduce or quote in publication Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to the Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 2 West 77th Street, New York, NY 10024-5194. Permission to reproduce or quote text from this collection in a publication must be requested from and granted in writing by the Library Director, The New-York Historical Society, 2 West 77th Street, New York, NY 10024-5194. Citation This collection should be cited as: Geographic File, PR 020, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society. PR 020 4 Scope and Content Notes The Geographic File is an artificial collection created over the course of many years in the Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections. Small donations of prints or photographs of views of geographic locations have been filed here. The collection contains, in addition to prints and photographs, some newspaper clippings, some reproductions of paintings and other items in the N-YHS Museum collection, and some ephemera. The collection is divided into four series: Foreign Views; American Views; New York City Views (Manhattan); and New York City Views (Other Boroughs). Within each series, material is separately housed by size. Boxes hold material smaller than approximately 12 x 14 inches. Larger material is housed flat in folders in drawers. Oversize material is generally larger than 30 x 40 inches. Boxed material is described to the folder level. Some larger material has been described to the item level. Oversize material is all described to the item level, to facilitate use and reduce unnecessary handling. See individual series descriptions for more cataloging information. Series I. Foreign Views is arranged alphabetically by country. Current (as of 2006), and not contemporaneous, names of countries were used. Each country for which there is a view is listed. In the boxed views, if five or more views of a city within a country exist, that city received its own folder. Series II. American Views is arranged alphabetically by state. Within states, views of cities are also arranged alphabetically. In the boxed views, if five or more views of a city exist, that city received its own folder. Within each city, additional folders were also created for buildings, etc. with five or more views. Series III. New York City Views (Manhattan) is arranged in an organizational structure by topic of the view. GENERAL views include aerial views (those taken from airplanes or from the top of a tall building) and birds-eye views (generally 19th-century prints). Aerial views of lower Manhattan include views of the World Trade Center. Aerial views of midtown include views of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Aerial views of uptown include images of Central Park, Grant’s Tomb, Riverside Drive and Riverside Park. Harbor views are those which show the shore and skyline of Manhattan from the water, or from across some body of water. Some river and harbor views that show more than one borough are filed here. If the view is mainly of another borough, it will be filed therein. For views of the Manhattan harbors and piers from within the city, look under Rivers and Piers. RIVERS, ISLANDS, and BRIDGES are arranged alphabetically. All bridges that connect the 5 boroughs are filed here. Bridges within another borough should be found in Series IV. Most buildings on islands (for example, asylums on Roosevelt Island) are filed under general Buildings headings. It behooves researchers to look under both headings to be sure of complete coverage. STREET SCENES are views along streets and avenues. Some show a small portion of one block, some show several blocks. For views that specifically spotlight one building, search under BUILDINGS. However, researchers should also search the street scenes for other images of a specific building, especially those which may also show surrounding buildings and street and sidewalk traffic. Street scenes are arranged alphabetically or numerically. A few named squares have their own folder (i.e. Herald Square and Times Square). For more Times Square images, see Night Views in GENERAL views. Researchers interested in those areas should also consult surrounding streets, such as Broadway, the avenues, and the appropriate cross streets. PARKS and GARDENS include images of parks and gardens, some now defunct, throughout Manhattan. A few gardens run as commercial enterprises, such as Elgin’s Botanic Garden can be found here. BUILDINGS are prints or photographs that spotlight a specific building. Churches are filed alphabetically by name following the organization provided in David Dunlap’s encyclopedic work From Abyssinian to Zion, which is available for reference. Government buildings include police and fire stations. Residences are filed alphabetically by the last name of the owner, or by their own name, if applicable. Cross- PR 020 5 references have been provided in those cases. Named apartment complexes are filed in alphabetically with residences, and unnamed apartment buildings can be found at the end of the run. TRANSPORTATION includes images of all sorts of transportation found within the boundaries of New York City. For more general transportation (i.e. generic railroad images), look in the Subject File (PR 068). This category mainly includes images of buses, carriages, elevated railroads and subway images. Images of shipping boats can sometimes be found in Harbor Views, and also in the Maritime History File (PR 100). EVENTS include views of special events, such as parades, funeral processions, celebrations, and xxx. Researchers looking for parade images should also check street scenes for those streets that are often parade routes, such as Broadway and Fifth Avenue. For example, the Madison Square folder contains panoramic views that show banners for the Pan-Am Exposition. Material housed in boxes includes many photos by Beecher Ogden, and also a great many images (most copy photographs) collected, and donated, by George Bagoe. Material housed flat has been separated into two categories based on format: Prints and Photographs. Within each format, material has been arranged into the above categories. Each image filed under the Buildings categories is separately listed in the finding aid below. In other categories, attempts have been made to provide more specific information about images in each folder, to reduce browsing and encourage more specific use. Series IV. New York City Views (Other Boroughs) follows the same general organizational structure as Series III. For bridges and some general harbor views, see Series III. Related Materials in the Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections Additional printed views of New York City can be found in the Boyd Collection (PR 007) and in Fine Art Prints of New York. City (PR 229) Additional photographs can be found throughout the photographic collections of the Department. All bound volumes of New York City and other views are catalogued in the Library’s catalog, BOBCAT. More general (not specific to NYC or a specific geographical location) images of firefighters, transportation, and occupations can be found in the Subject File (PR 068). PR 020 6 Box Folder Series I. Foreign Views, BOXED MATERIAL Arranged alphabetically by country. 1 Algeria Austria Bahamas Barbados Belgium Bermuda China Canada Alberta General Banff British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Nova Scotia Ontario General Ottawa Toronto Quebec General Montreal Quebec City 2 2 Miscellaneous Cuba Curacao Denmark Ecuador Egypt El Salvador England PR 020 7 Box Folder Series I. Foreign Views, BOXED MATERIAL France [2] General Paris Versailles Germany Gibraltar Greece Greenland Guatemala Haiti Israel 3 Italy General Naples and Pompeii Venice Jamaica Japan Liberia Mexico Monaco Mozambique Netherlands New Zealand (Transit of Venus, 1874) Panama Philippines Portugal Puerto Rico Russia Spain PR 020 8 Box Folder Series I. Foreign Views, BOXED MATERIAL Switzerland [3] 2 General 4 Davos Turkey General Armenia, 1919 United Kingdom General Channel Islands London Oxford Scrooby PR 020 9 Box Folder Series I.