December 1950: Ralph Bunche, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in resolving global conflicts including the 1949 Middle East peace accord.

July 1959: United Nations Under-Secretary-General Bunche inquires about membership in the Westside Tennis Club so his son, Ralph Jr., can continue lessons from the Club’s tennis pro. The Club president, Wilfred Burglund dismisses the possibility because “the policy of the club was to exclude Negroes and Jews.”

On July 8, 1959, Bunche publicized the Club’s rejection and triggered a firestorm. As reported by Philip Benjamin in The New York Times, having been told by friends that the Club discriminated, Bunche called Burglund to inquire about membership and was told that “there were no Negroes or Jews… and there were not likely to be.”

The Times quoted the statement released by Bunche:

“I deliberately revealed this experience only because I find it to be rather shocking in New York City and think citizens of the city and of the country generally are entitled to know about it.

But I keep the story in perspective. Neither I nor my son regard it as a hardship or a humiliation. Rather it is a discredit to the club itself.

It is not, of course, in the category of the disfranchisement, deprival of other rights, segregation and acts of intimidation suffered by many Negroes in the South and of discrimination in employment and housing suffered by most Negroes in the North as well as the South.

But it flows from the same well of racial and religious bigotry. It confirms what I have often stated, namely that no Negro American can be free from the disabilities of race in this country until the lowliest Negro in Mississippi is no longer disadvantaged solely because of race; in short; until racial prejudice has been everywhere eliminated. I am in fact glad to have this unpleasant but necessary lesson made real in this way to my son.”

City officials weighed in. Mayor Robert Wagner, in Los Angeles to attend the Conference of Mayors, cited the City’s leadership in anti-discrimination efforts, telling The New York Times, “It is certainly no credit to the tennis club to discriminate against anyone.” Incidentally, Wagner was on the Board of the Town Tennis Club, headed by ex-Wimbledon champion Sidney Wood, which offered Dr. Bunche club membership.

With the Mayor away, the President of the City Council[1] Abe Stark, stepped up. The Times reported that in his capacity as the “acting mayor,” Stark threatened to force the West Side Tennis Club to give up hosting both the Davis Cup and the U.S. National Championship, among other measures. The flamboyant Stark, who operated a clothing store, famously had a sign under the scoreboard in Ebbets Field promising a suit to any player who hit the sign. Although Walter O’Malley and the Dodgers had decamped to Los Angeles in 1957, Stark claimed the new owners of Ebbets Field would happily host both the 1959 Davis Cup and the national championship, as reported by The New York Times.

Losing these premiere events would have been a big blow to the West Side Tennis Club which had a contract with the United States Lawn Tennis Association to host the National Championship—now the U.S. Open.

Originally located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (hence the name), the club moved to Forest Hills, Queens in 1914 to better accommodate the growing audience of tennis spectators. The club hosted the U.S. Open sixty times between 1915 and 1977, although not continuously. Some early years saw the championships in Staten Island or Philadelphia cricket clubs. In 1957 and 1958, tennis great Althea Gibson won the women’s national championship playing there—the first Black athlete to do so, making the Club’s membership policy even more galling. Despite the international outrage at the discriminatory response, the West Side Club leadership remained silent.

Bunche’s announcement galvanized the Commission on Intergroup Relations (COIR). Established by local law in 1955, COIR replaced the Committee on Unity established by former Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and was succeeded by the still extant Commission on Human Rights. The establishing law cited New York City’s “great cosmopolitan population consisting of large numbers of people of every race, color, creed, national origin and ancestry” and stated the agency “officially may encourage and bring about mutual understanding and respect among all groups in the city, eliminate prejudice, intolerance, bigotry, discrimination and disorder occasioned thereby and give effect to the guarantee of equal rights for all assured by the constitution and the laws of this state and of the United States of America.”

COIR meeting minutes from this period show that the body largely focused on housing discrimination matters. Typically, the commission would designate its members to serve on sub-committees that convened fact-finding hearings with the parties involved.

On July 15, 1959, COIR convened a special meeting to review the club’s decision, subsequent developments and determine a course of action. Meeting minutes show that Dr. Alfred L. Marrow, Commission Chair, said the meeting was “called to determine the course to be pursued by COIR, since, in spite of newspaper reports of a change in position by the Tennis Club, the club has failed to respond to the telephone calls, a letter and telegrams sent by COIR requesting the appearance of representatives at a hearing to explain the club’s position in this case and its general membership practices or policy.”

The minutes show that COIR established a five member “Hearing Tribunal” that was instructed to “hold two hearings—with Dr. Bunche and with the West Side Tennis Club—and, after due consideration of the facts and record… determine what further action COIR should take.”

Also, on July 15, the week of negative publicity, sponsorship threats and denunciations by prominent people had an effect. Burglund resigned from the club and its Board announced they would review a possible Bunche membership.

The club’s capitulation and Bunche’s response was reported by Time magazine on August 27.

For Ralph Bunche, Negro, Nobel Peace Prizewinner and United Nations Under Secretary, it was a peaceful moral victory. Only a week had passed since Bunche disclosed that his 15-year-old son had been barred from membership in New York City’s fashionable West Side Tennis Club (in Forest Hills, Queens) because of his race (TIME, July 20). Club President Wilfred Burglund, the Manhattan public relations man who had told Bunche that the club excludes Negroes and Jews, resigned last week amidst public clamor for his singed scalp. Then the club’s governors were moved to announce: “It is the policy of the club to consider and accept members without regard to race, creed or color.” But Dr. Bunche had no plans to push Ralph Jr. through the West Side’s newly opened door. He had amply proved his point. “This has not been a pleasant experience, and I’m glad it is over,” said Bunche Sr. “In this community, happily, bigotry cannot long stand the heat of public exposure.”

The club’s announcement would seem to resolve the matter. But it did not deter COIR’s investigation. On July 17, the committee met with Dr. Bunche; on July 21, they met with the tennis club representatives. The tribunal also acted quickly to expand the inquiry by adding another session on August 13 to hear from the leadership of the United States Lawn Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association). By convening an additional hearing, COIR moved beyond the initial incident. They began reviewing compliance with anti-discrimination laws at events open to the public throughout the City.

COIR issued a report on the investigation in December 1959. Titled, “INQUIRY INTO ALLEGED DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES BY THE WEST SIDE TENNIS CLUB OF NEW YORK,” it recaps portions of the testimony. Bunche recounted a portion of his discussion with Burglund about how the membership would view the possibility of him joining. He said Burglund replied that “he felt sure that if the boy were taken in there would be 200 or 300 resignations because of the admission of a Negro.”

 “When Dr. Bunche inquired as to whether there was any likelihood that this policy might change, “he (Mr. Burglund) indicated that he felt that it was unlikely that it would.”

On July 21 a representative from the West Side Tennis Club testified, replacing Burglund who had resigned as club president. He provided COIR with the Board’s statemen that its policy was “to consider and accept members without regard to race, color or creed.”

After questioning, the representative “conceded that there were no Negro members in the Club and—although stating that there were Jews on the membership roster—he was unable to give the name of any member who was of the Jewish faith.”

Despite the stated policy, the Commission’s report stated it “is strongly impressed by the fact that no Negro is a member of the organization and no case of a Negro ever being proposed for membership could be cited.” It also reiterated the club’s inability to name a single Jewish member and promised further scrutiny. “In view of the statements made by the Club’s counsel and representative, we expect the future policy of this organization to reflect the non-discriminatory principles which are consistent with its status in our community.”

The report then focused on its role in enforcing anti-discrimination laws. Distinguishing between private entities and entities that involve the public interest. “In this report we are not dealing with the “private” club whose activities are of such a nature that the public interest is not affected. The right of people to assemble for any lawful purpose, in groups of their own selection, is not questioned—but when the activities of these groups are extended into fields where the public becomes involved, as in this case, the group ceases to be only “private,” and assumes a nature that must clearly bring it within the area where certain definite standards of public policy are involved.”

The report concluded that organizations that sponsor events open to the public and charge the public admission fees “should not pursue a discriminator policy either in the selection of members or in admission to their public events. Foreshadowing further action, the report notes that COIR was studying several national fraternal orders compliance with anti-discrimination laws. “The Commission will maintain a continuing interest in the observance of a non-discriminatory policy by all organizations, clubs and associations which are, as in this case, affected with the public interest. They constitute important segments of the social structure of the community, and as such influence the opportunities for full and equal development of our citizens.

Pauline Toole is a former DORIS Commissioner.

[1] Since 1993, the office has been renamed “Public Advocate” because Council Speaker Peter Vallone thought the title led to confusion about who actually headed the Council.

On September 11, 2026, New York City will commemorate the lives of the 2,983 men, women, and children killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. This historic moment transformed both New York City and the nation in ways both big and small, and messages of hope, encouragement, love, and resilience poured in from across the country.

Throughout the month of September, LinkNYC kiosks throughout New York City will feature some of these heartfelt messages—specifically, children’s artwork and letters. Sent to City officials from school classrooms across the country, the handwritten letters express encouragement and gratitude to New York City’s firefighters, police officers, and New Yorkers citywide. They have been preserved in the Municipal Archives as a testament to the powerful impact that day had on lives both near and far.

As we recognize the 25th anniversary of this horrible incident, we also recognize the incredible hope, strength, and resilience that people brought with them to a place of tremendous grief and pain.

As part of the 25th annual 9/11 Day of Service & Remembrance on September 11, 2026, DORIS is inviting volunteers to commemorate the 25th anniversary of September 11 by helping to preserve the heartfelt messages left by family members and loved ones at the annual Ground Zero memorial services. Volunteers’ participation will help preserve these historical records and contribute to the future creation of a searchable, publicly accessible digital archive that will ensure every message can be discovered, remembered, and shared. 

This virtual transcription event will take place on From the Page, a crowdsourcing platform which will host photos documenting handwritten messages inscribed on the wooden supports that surrounded the temporary reflecting pools installed annually at the site of the City’s 9/11 memorial services. The supports were collected and preserved by the Municipal Archives, and the messages they bear contain deeply personal expressions of remembrance, love, and loss.

The 9/11 transcription project will extend beyond September 11, and all volunteers participate remotely. To learn more, visit Messages of Memory: Transcribing Words of Remembrance.

Press release: https://www.nyc.gov/site/records/about/press-releases.page

Early in the afternoon of August 21, 1978, on the steps of City Hall, Mayor Edward Koch presented Dolly Parton with the key to the City. In his remarks at the ceremony the Mayor addressed Dolly directly:  “Dolly, you may be the only entertainer in America who has what it takes to turn New York City into a small town.” 

According to the transcript of his remarks, before he presented Dolly with the Key, he asked: “When can we do this again?”

Dolly Parton’s reply to Mayor Koch is lost to history, but thanks to the Mayor’s photograph collection we know they did meet again, nine years later at Gracie Mansion, on August 31, 1987. 

This week, For the Record posts a selection of photographs from Dolly Parton’s concert at City Hall in 1978, and her rendezvous with the Mayor in 1987. 

The photograph files in the Mayor Koch collection are arranged by date. They usually include additional written information about the event. The file for Dolly Parton’s appearance at City Hall in August 1978 is typical. From a press release issued by Dolly Parton’s Public Relations firm, Solter & Rosin, Inc., we learn that her appearance at City Hall coincided with her sold-out engagement at the Palladium the following day, August 22. It also provided the information that Dolly had “donated her time to perform for the citizens of New York.”  

Also contained in the file is the press release issued Mayor Koch’s Office of Special Events. It stated that following the concert, the Mayor will be “happily acceding to one of Dolly’s fondest wishes of holding a ‘People Press Conference’ to thank her legions of fans in New York.” The release added that “Dolly’s last album, Here You Come Again, was the first album in history by a female country star to go Platinum for sales in excess of $1,000,000.”

The Koch photograph collection series reveals a second Dolly Parton appearance with the Mayor. It took place on August 31, 1987, at Gracie Mansion. The folder contains photographic prints and negatives but does not include any written record of the reason for their rendezvous. However, online sources provide the answer. From September 1987 through May 1988, Dolly Parton hosted “Dolly” a television variety show on ABC. The series began production on August 14, 1987, and featured music, comedy skits and guest stars. A description of the first episode (via Wikipedia) lists Mayor Koch as a guest star, appearing with Dolly in an on-location segment called “Out and About.” The show premiered on September 27, and ranked in the top five of the Nielsen ratings.  

Returning to the transcript of the Mayor’s remarks at City Hall in 1978, the Mayor opened the ceremony by saying “A special occasion like this calls for a quote from Shakespeare, so here it is:  

“Parton is such sweet music.” 

-New York City Journal, August 27, 1926

One-hundred years ago, on August 27, 1926, New York City honored 19-year-old New York-native Gertrude Ederle with a ticker-tape parade for her record-breaking swim across the English Channel.

Her 14-hour, 31-minute time beat the five previous successful crossings, all made by men, and was not bested until 1964. Ederle’s accomplishment inspired countless female athletes and brought her world-wide fame, far greater that the accolades she received for winning three swimming medals in the 1924 Olympics. 

This week, For the Record reprises the article first posted in 2023, celebrating Gertrude Ederle’s achievement and the ticker-tape reception.

Soon after news of Ederle’s swimming triumph on August 6, 1926, reached the city, Mayor James Walker asked Grover Whalen, Chairman of the Mayor’s Committee on Receptions to Distinguished Guests, to welcome her home with a ticker-tape parade. While not credited with inventing the ticker-tape parade, Whalen perfected the unique New York celebration and presided over some of the most iconic parades for notable achievements—most famously, Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight in 1927.

Ticker-tape parades may appear spontaneous, i.e. the honored guest rides in an open limousine up Broadway from the Battery to City Hall for an official welcome by the Mayor, showered by shredded paper and confetti (or in the pre-digital age, ticker tape), along the way. Examining Whalen’s records shows that staging a ticker-tape parade was anything but spontaneous. The Municipal Archives collections include the files Grover Whalen created during his multi-decade career as the City’s official greeter. The eight folders generated for the Gertrude Ederle celebration are a good example.

After receiving the green light from Mayor Walker, Whelan assembled a committee with representatives from city departments (Police, Fire, Docks, Street Cleaning, and Plant & Structures), news media, and people from organizations relevant to the honored guest. For Ederle, this included many athletic clubs and groups such as the New York Athletic Club, Millrose Athletic Club, and the Women’s Swimming Association.

Although Whalen and his committee could take advantage of the several-day ocean voyage before Ederle returned to America, they needed to move quickly. He summoned committee members by telegram and held the first meeting on Monday, August 23. The “Minutes of Meeting” are included in his files. Whalen opened the meeting: “We have come together this afternoon on a very interesting and, I am sure, a very pleasing occasion—to plan for the welcome of one of New York’s own….” But then he added, “I am sure that we all feel very proud of Gertrude, and we call her by her first name because we feel that she is very close to us and because she has done so much to make us realize that after all young womanhood today [is] not giving all of its time to smoking and drinking.” The surviving records do not say what prompted that statement.

Whalen then returned to the purpose of the meeting and noted that the U.S. Treasury Department had kindly consented to “permit Miss Gertrude Ederle and party to leave the S. S. Berengaria at quarantine” and bypass immigration protocols.

Whalen’s files show that within two days he and the committee had finalized a timeline for the event on August 27. It would begin at 9 a.m. when the committee and members of the Ederle family were instructed to assemble at Pier A, and board the steamer “Macom,” [a city-owned vessel]. By 10 a.m. they expected to tie up alongside the S.S. Berengaria, bring Ederle aboard the Macom, and return to the Battery for the start of the parade. The parade would depart at 11:45 and reach City Hall by 12:15. After the formal ceremonies, “Miss Ederle will be escorted to her home on Amsterdam Avenue.” Later in the day, Mayor Walker would host Ederle, her family and invited guests for a formal dinner at the Hotel Commodore.  

Whalen’s correspondence includes a letter from Charles A. Oberwager, President of the United German Societies of the City of N.Y. Mr. Oberwager was also apparently a City Magistrate and used his official stationery for the correspondence. Oberwager wrote: “The German Americans of New York City are keyed up to the highest pitch; their enthusiasm for Miss Gertrude Ederle of New York knows no bounds and thousands of men and women are eagerly awaiting the moment to greet her upon her arrival here and to cheer her to the echo.” He then listed no less than fifteen special “requests” such as, “That, if in or about the City Hall there should be decorations containing flags of foreign nations, that the German flag be also displayed.” And, “That a number of ladies, not more than twenty-four, be permitted to wear sport caps, black skirts and white sweaters.” 

A carbon copy of Whalen’s response is also in the file. Whalen politely acknowledged Oberwager’s enthusiasm but also let him know that “...We plan to welcome Miss Ederle... first as an American citizen and secondly as a New York girl whose marvelous achievement in conquering the English Channel has brought to her country, her city and to her people untold glory.” He added “...since the official escort must represent the spirit of the City, only the American and municipal flags may be carried.”

Gertrude Ederle’s day proceeded as planned. When asked why she undertook the swim, she said she wanted to bring honor to the United States. She also added that her father had promised her “a small roadster” if she succeeded. After losing her hearing in 1930 and suffering a debilitating back injury in 1933, she spent many years teaching deaf children to swim. Gertrude Ederle died at age 98 on November 30, 2003.

Many years later, Grover Whalen wrote in his autobiography, Mr. New York [G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1955] about receptions he organized and said that there had been so many only a few stood out in his memory. And one that did was the Gertrude Ederle’s welcome parade. “Well do I recall that day in August of 1926 when all New York turned out to welcome home the first women to swim the Channel.” He recalled that the Police Department had underestimated the crowds that would turn up for the event. “After the official ceremony Mayor Walker escorted Trudy to the front steps of City Hall in response to the request of the press for a picture. They did not tarry there long, however. A tidal wave of citizenry burst upon them. One burly patrolman rushed to Trudy’s rescue, lifted her bodily, and carried her back inside City Hall. Two other policemen ran interference for the slim Mayor, one on either side of him, and finally got him back into the building.”

Just two weeks after Gertrude Ederle enjoyed her triumph, on September 10, 1926, the City held a ticker-tape parade for another cross-channel swimmer, Mille Gade Corson. Billed as the “First Mother and Second Woman to Swim the Channel,” the 27-year-old Danish-American Corson explained her motivation: “I’ve got to make some money for my kids.”

In 2013, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation opened the Gertrude Ederle Recreation Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at 232 West 60th Street near the Ederle family home at 110 Amsterdam Avenue. More recently, the Trudy Ederle Foundation was established to preserve her legacy. The organization focuses on movement, prevention, and inclusion, using her historic athletic mindset to support youth programs and athlete transitions.

• https://www.nytimes.com/1925/08/19/archives/the-start-from-grisnez.html?smid=url-share

• https://trudyederlefoundation.org/en/trudy-story/

• https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/west-59th-st-rec-ctr-and-pool/

• https://www.nycgovparks.org/news/daily-plant?id=18503

In honor of National Dog Month, we are taking a look at the history of rules, recommendations, and practices surrounding dog ownership in NYC through the collections of the Municipal Library.

There has been a law on the books since 1859 requiring all dogs in “any street or public place, in either the cities of New-York or Brooklyn,” to be “properly muzzled, or unless being led by a chain or string” as recorded in the 1866 Code of Health Ordinances from the Metropolitan Board of Health. (This was, of course, before the consolidation of New York City’s five boroughs in 1898.)

In 1878, as reported in the daily City Record, Mayor Smith Ely, Jr. issued a proclamation establishing a dog pound at 16th Street and the East River, where all seized dogs would be delivered by the appointed dog catchers. Rather harshly, any dog “not claimed within forty-eight hours, and redeemed by the owner, by paying the sum of three dollars” was to be “killed and destroyed by drowning.”

A small 1919 pamphlet from the NYC Department of Health, Information for Dog Owners: Why Dogs Must Be Muzzled When at Large, cited a new sanitary code Section 17, which stated that “no unmuzzled dog shall be permitted to be … in any public park or place in the City of New York.” The reasoning for this new mandatory muzzling provision was that rabies, which was “almost always caused by the bite of rabid (mad) dogs,” was an “absolutely fatal disease.”

The 1919 pamphlet also reminded dog owners that they were required to “procure a yearly license and pay the sum of two dollars for each dog” and provide their dog with a collar bearing the license number. Failure to comply could result in seizure of the animal, followed by the same severe penalty noted in 1878: “if not claimed and redeemed within forty-eight hours thereafter, they may be destroyed.” Fortunately, while the licensing requirement remains on the books, the enforcement provision now simply states that officials may issue “notices of violation for failure to comply.” (Since at least 2017, as recorded in their annual reports, NYC shelters have completely stopped euthanizing healthy animals.)

Beginning in 1934, an amendment to the Sanitary Code specified that all dogs in public should be restrained by a leash of less than six feet in length, with muzzling no longer required. As reported in the New York Times that year, the Health Department believed this would be easier to enforce than the struct muzzling provision, and that greater compliance would reduce the then-growing number of dog bites in the city. The leash law remains in effect today, except in designated dog runs and during off-leash hours in public parks.

In 1918, the sanitary code was amended to require dog owners to prevent their pets from “committing any nuisance upon any sidewalk of any public street, avenue, park, public square, or place in the city of New York.” This provision, which came to be known as “curb your dog,” became the target of public campaigns beginning in the late 1930s. By 1946, according to that year’s annual report from the Department of Sanitation, there were 9,047 “curb your dog” signs placed in all five boroughs.

Pet ownership grew in the post-war period, and by 1961, the “curb your dog” campaign was deemed insufficient to address the growing piles of dog waste on streets and sidewalks. At the requests of Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Municipal Library Director Eugene Bockman compiled a report “concerning the methods used by other large cities to control dog nuisance.” While researching practices in cities across the country, he found that “very little has been accomplished elsewhere which would help New York City with its problem.” While most cities had nothing on the books beyond a leash law, Milwaukee was then going so far as to propose an ordinance that would “forbid owners to have pets anywhere in the city… except in their own premises.” This was expected to be met by “loud protests from dog lovers and the humane society.”

Even in NYC, according to Library Director Bockman, former Sanitation Commissioner Paul R. Screvane believed that “dogs should be toilet-trained inside the house and continue that way instead of using city streets. In his opinion, it is inconsistent with modern hygiene to allow such a mess in the streets where many children play and people walk.”

In 1973, the city’s Environmental Protection Agency published a charmingly illustrated Dog Owner’s Guide to Scooping. While “pooper scooping” had not yet been codified into law, the small pamphlet appealed to pet owners’ “respect of property and good manners,” explaining how to clean up after ones dog with newspapers or a scoop, either homemade or purchased. A note from the EPA Administrator added, “Thanks for helping us make New York City a cleaner, more pleasant place to live.”

It was not until August of 1978 that a New York State law took effect in cities with a population of 400,000 or more, requiring dog owners and handlers to clean up after their dogs on public sidewalks, streets, gutters, and other public areas. Clipped articles from that era in the Library’s “Dogs” Vertical File highlight the controversy surrounding the new law. Those opposed to it, largely dog owners and even the ASPCA, argued that it would either be unenforceable or would lead to pet abandonment. Supporters insisted that it would change habits and create a climate of respect.

A July 28, 1978, article in the Westsider described the new scooping gadgets then on sale, as well as what must have been a short-lived, city-provided “Doggie Flush” at 207 West 10th Street—a 45-inch bowl set into the sidewalk that the owner flushed “by stepping on a conveniently located valve handle.” According to an August 2 article in the New York Times, a young woman in Greenwich Village who was openly flouting the new law intended to “read Thoreau to my cocker spaniel and teach her civil disobedience.”

A press release issued by Mayor Ed Koch in 1979, on the first anniversary of the “pooper scooper law,” announced that 1616 people had received summonses for failing to clean up after their dogs, following a 3-month grace period during which 7000 warnings had been issued. The Mayor took this as proof that the law was enforceable and noted that public peer pressure had also been effective in encouraging compliance. By 1985, on the seventh anniversary of the law’s passage, a joint statement from the Commissioners of the Sanitation and Parks Departments reported that 18,230 summonses had been issued, resulting in fine revenues exceeding $435,000. Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern called the law “one of the best things that ever happened to New York City parks.”

Of course, as any New Yorker could tell you, the original “pooper scooper” law did not completely solve the problem. Just last week, the City Council passed an additional package of four bills known as the SCOOP (Safe and Clean Outdoor Ownership Practices) Act, aimed at combatting “rising complaints about the poop smeared across the city’s streets.”

After 9/11, as the city turned its attention to disaster preparedness, the NYC Office of Emergency Management issued a 2002 guide to Disaster Preparedness for Animals in New York City. A 2015 version, called My Pet’s Emergency Plan, is now available in multiple languages through the Library’s online Government Publication’s Portal.

As reliance on “emotional support” animals has increased over the last decade, the NYC Commission on Human Rights issued a 2020 FAQ about Emotional Support Animals in Housing. It explained that “housing providers… must permit residents to keep emotional support animals as a reasonable accommodation for a disability,” and that emotional support animals are exempt from “no dog” policies.

Dog bites have remained a problem in NYC into our current century. The July 2017 issue of NYC Vital Signs, a monthly publication of the NYC Department of Health, was devoted to Preventing Dog Bite-Related Injuries among New York City Residents. Vital Signs revisited the topic in April of 2026, declaring that the rate of reported dog bites to New York City residents was at a ten-year peak.

While some issues remain constant, others transform over time, reflecting changing notions about public health, animal welfare, and the nature of our relationship with our pets. The Municipal Library’s collections offer a glimpse into that evolution through laws and official reports, as well as pamphlets, newspaper clippings, guides, and other everyday documents that capture how New Yorkers have been asked to coexist with their canine companions.

Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz: Julie, Ken may already know this, but I’m new. Tell us what brought you into the Municipal Library.

Julie Robbins: I worked as a lawyer for many years until I finally smartened up and realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing. I was already quite mature and decided to go to library school. I think I may have been by far the oldest in my class, but it was great. Then I noticed an internship posting for the Municipal Library. I applied, and I never left. 

Ken Cobb: The Municipal Library is a library, obviously, and it is open to the public. But it is not a public library. Tell us how that informs the operation of the library and or the services.  

JR: The last commissioner, Pauline Toole, had a very strong commitment to having the Municipal Library be fully open to the public. That does inform how we handle the reading room, for instance, because walk-ins are still allowed and encouraged to come in. There were times when that made us more like a branch of the New York Public Library. Our rules and regulations for use are informed by what a regular public library has to put in place for safety, and so on.  

SSC: Tell us about the GPP. What is it? What is it good for? And what have you done for it?  

JR: The Government Publications Portal! I’d say I’m “cheerleader in chief,” probably. Joel Castillo was the head of applications development. He started here when he was in college and went on to head the applications development team. Early on in his tenure, he wrote the code to create a digital library. And so, the government publications portal is a digital library. And we are actually tasked by the charter to maintain a digital library of the City’s publications. It used to be that the charter required every agency to send us four copies of every single thing they published. But the agencies gradually phased out paper publications, and we started not having room for all the hard copy.  

SSC: What’s the status of the GPP now? How can it grow? 

JR: Oh, it can get a lot better. Our search is a little wonky. It’s a little too thorough, but better too thorough than not, I suppose. Our user experience, both for the agency submitters, and for the public, is in need of a tune up. We haven’t linked WorldCat to the digital items. Our regular catalog Koha, which is powered by Bywater, is available in WorldCat. At some point, syncing the GPP would make both discoverable. I don’t have the technical chops to do that myself, but somebody probably does. 

SSC: I'm curious about reference work. Explain to me the reference ecosystem.  

JR: Differently than archives, as it relates to the library, it’s actually fairly straightforward. You show a researcher the library catalog. We either have it or we don’t. We pull it for them. One thing we do find often is that researchers access our collections through the Archives. They know the Municipal Archives. It is better known than the Library. So sometimes we have to, like, chivvy our Archives’ colleagues into making sure that researchers know that there are published materials from the agency that they want, and it’s not just the archival material.  

KC: The Municipal Library is more than just the GPP. Maybe you could tell us about some of your favorite library publications or items you think our readers would be surprised to know are in the library.  

JR: I would say one interesting thing is that almost every mayor had a sort of a “pet topic” or nurtured a particularly fun thing. For example, [Mayor William] O’Dwyer, liked the fashion industry. And LaGuardia has this whole section about civil defense activity because he served during wartime and the Feds appointed him to do emergency work.  

KC: And then there are the vertical files! 

JR: The vertical files are so cool!  

SSC: I know about this collection.  

JR: Yeah, yeah! The librarians gathered campaign brochures and informational materials. The political ones I find particularly amazing, all the way from 1927 to the ’80s. Here’s an example you can research: what role did the German Bunds play in the 1920s political situation in New York? 

KC: The neighborhood files are good, too. 

JR: And the neighborhood files are really good, too. Yeah. 

KC: And the biographical, they have a whole section. 

JR: You know, hardly anybody ever looks at those. It’s so interesting. We have clippings about almost every prominent New York City agency employee or politician. It usually includes at least the obituary, and if some police captain gets promoted to a district captain, there’s that. They’re all in binders. They got glued onto pieces of paper, a preservation nightmare, of course; the glue is giving out on a lot of it. 

SSC: Are there any biographies or stories of people that have stood out to you during your time as Deputy Librarian? 

JR: I have a standing coffee date with a previous researcher here, Gil Tauber, who is part of a group called the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group. He’s 91. And when he started coming here when he was 87, he was creating a database of street names in New York and building a website, Old Streets, New York. He physically tracked through the entire Board of Aldermen series and wrote down the origin for all street names. We saw a fair amount of him, and I realized that he lived in the neighborhood, so I would run into him on the street, and eventually, Gil and I started having coffee together pretty much every week now.  

SSC: That’s wonderful that you generated this personal relationship! 

JR: The personal relationships in any job are a big part of it. Getting to know the people who are so knowledgeable about, and so committed to City government, and making City government accessible. People like Ken Cobb, and Pauline Toole, and Lauren Gilbert, and, you know, many of my colleagues, has really been wonderful.... I really like being able to help people figure out how to access different city materials. That’s one of the things I’m going to miss.   

KC: Well, is there anything else that you would want to share with the world?  

JR: No.  

SSC: You’ve done it all.  

KC: You said it all.

JR: I’ve said enough. Yeah. Yeah.  

SSC: What’s next for you?  

JR: I’m gonna be traveling! Both on my own, you know, for pleasure and also to visit my, my daughter and granddaughter. Grandma stuff. That’s pretty much the agenda. I’m gonna become bicoastal.  

KC: Nice. And I’ll see you at the farmer’s market.  

JR: And you’ll see me at the farmer’s market. I go in the early morning.  

The cover image was too compelling to ignore, and its contents were even grimmer than expected. This “Survival Guide” contains nine “tips” for, well, surviving a vacation in the Big Apple. As you can see when you click inside the pamphlet, the tips are ominous, foreboding warnings such as “do not walk,” “avoid public transportation,” “Remain in Manhattan,” and “stay off the streets after 6 P.M.”

I was baffled as to who would create this brand of menacing travel brochure, but the reasons for its existence are clearly stated in the pamphlet: “By the time you read this, the number of public safety personnel available to protect residents and visitors may already have been still further reduced. Under those circumstances, the best advice we can give you is this: Until things change, stay away from New York City if you possibly can.” 

Here’s some back story.

The fiscal crisis in 1975 led New York City to enact extreme budget cuts; city workers experienced reductions in salaries and pensions, and more than 50,000 people (one-sixth of the workforce) were laid off. On July 1, 1975, 5,000 police officers, many in radio-car patrols, were furloughed, along with 1,600 firefighters—20% of the city’s entire department, 7,000 teachers, and many highway, sanitation and bridge workers. Initially, some unions reacted strongly. Highway workers picketed during rush hours, teachers went on strike for one week at the beginning of the school year, and sanitation workers left 48,000 tons of garbage on the street for two days. There are also accounts of bridge workers walking off the job with three drawbridges still raised.

New York City police officers took a different approach. The Council for Public Safety (a consortium of municipal labor unions but mostly NYPD and FDNY) created and distributed the Fear City “survival guide” pamphlet to deter tourists from visiting the city, citing high crime rates and an increasingly dangerous environment. They printed one million copies and distributed them over a few days at JFK airport. Authorship of the pamphlet is attributed to “uniform” unions, but Ken McFeeley, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association in New York City, was the man behind the campaign.

This pamphlet was not designed as public policy guidance from City Hall. It was dystopian propaganda and one of the boldest public pressure campaigns in the City’s history.

This stated, the facts remain. Across the city, crime and violent crime was on the rise and had been for years. The number of murders, car thefts and assaults had doubled (or more) from 1965 to 1975. The rate of burglaries and rapes had more than tripled. (The Guardian, 2015)

Despite the increase in crime, 10.5 million tourists still visited each year. Many New Yorkers couldn’t fathom why the unions who were hired to protect the city (and paid with tax dollars) would try to reduce any streams of income during the fiscal emergency that led to their members layoffs.

The Municipal Archives WNYC moving image collection also includes a video of elected officials discussing the campaign.

REC0047_1_3339: Feedback On Pamphlet, “Welcome To Fear City”; Council President Paul O’Dwyer, Council Member Reverend Gigan, June 13, 1975. WNYC-TV collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

As you’ll see in the video, there was a sentiment that this campaign only added insult to injury to a city already in crisis. Council President Paul O’Dwyer called the campaign “the worst piece of propaganda” and “a certain kind of madness.” He even said it should be considered “criminal libel” due to its “false and deliberate” nature. He sponsored a residency bill to make sure people who work for the city also live here. The video contends that the general population, including members of the unions in the Council for Public Safety, did not support the Fear City campaign. In fact, the Police Department’s Captains Endowment Association, Lieutenants Benevolent Association, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association publicly stated they did not support it. And, ultimately, the city’s unions wound up essentially risking their retirements by investing $2.5 billion in pension funds in the city’s bonds, which helped the city regain solvency. 

The pamphlets were distributed for two days but the effects of using fear as political leverage and spreading information with harmful intent are long-lasting. This artifact is a reminder of how perception can shape public policy and that propaganda doesn’t only come from the government.  There are many implications for today’s media consumers; this resource is definitely worth a closer look.

The Welcome to Fear City: A Survival Guide for Visitors to the City of New York is housed in the Municipal Library Vertical Files under the subject “Safety.”

Sources:

• https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/18/welcome-to-fear-city-the-inside-story-of-new-yorks-civil-war-40-years-on

• https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/18/archives/fear-city-booklet-rights-again-upheld.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/11/archives/the-city-layoffs-raise-questions-were-the-cuts-real-or-for.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/06/nyregion/fiscal-crisis-still-haunts-the-police.html

I was lucky enough to join colleagues as we continued to process plans for buildings located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The first home for many immigrants to the United States, this neighborhood experienced rapid growth during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as evidenced by the large volume of “new building” (NB) applications submitted to the Department of Buildings to construct multi-family dwellings, usually described as tenements. Likewise, requests for permits to add plumbing, fire escapes, and other alterations illustrated the ongoing work necessary to make tenements safer for their residents.

I also discovered plans for many other aspects of city life such as entertainment venues, community service organizations, schools, and places of worship. The plans chart the ebb and flow of the neighborhood, as immigrant communities moved out and others moved in, and as city officials created parks and public housing.

Here are some highlights of what I discovered along the way. 

Entertainment:

Block 416, Lot 20

This plan shows a swanky restaurant called Jack Silverman’s Old Romanian with space for 500 diners, dancing, and an orchestra. The Crystal Lounge wound around the curved bar.

Block 416, Lot 8

A short-lived radical theater, the plan depicts a classic black box theater, with seating around a central stage. The “People’s Drama” appears to be most famous for a run of a play, Nat Turner a highly fictionalized dramatization of the uprising led by the enslaved Nat Turner in 1831.

 Block 427, Lot 27

This theater was one of many ventures by the Minsky brothers, famous for staging burlesque shows. Designed by theatre architect Thomas Lamb, it became the home for Yiddish productions and burlesque shows. The NB plans show the orchestra seating area and the curtain line that would hide backstage.

Block 420, Lot 39

A luxury hotel in the heart of the Lower East Side? I was confused when I came across plans for a twelve-story building, seemingly out of place amongst the walk-up tenements I had been cataloging. The Libby Hotel and Baths, built in 1924 for a staggering $1.3 million, was the passion project of Max Bernstein. Unfortunately, the venture was short-lived. The property was foreclosed and the hotel was demolished in 1934. The City took the property via eminent domain, along with seven blocks along Houston and Canal Streets to build the Sara D. Roosevelt Park.

Community Spaces:

Blocks 418 Lot 1

Sara D. Roosevelt Park is named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mother, the first Presidential mother to be alive for her son’s inauguration since George Washington took office in 1789. One of the first projects completed by Robert Moses after his appointment as Parks Commissioner by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1934, the plans include wading pools, playgrounds, “comfort stations” (bathrooms), and landscaping. My favorite plans show a diagrammatic view of the park benches, and the textures used for different stones in the paving and landscaping.

Block 415, Lot 18

The University Settlement House was the first settlement house in the U.S. Created by reformers during the Progressive Era of the early 1900s, settlement houses served poor immigrant communities. The plans show the organization’s library, lecture hall, and nursery.

Block 415, Lot 20

Designed by McKim, Mead and White, the Rivington Street branch of the New York Public Library branch was built in 1904 with funding from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The plans show both a custodian apartment and roof garden on the top floor which must have been a nice place to get fresh air and relax while reading. Together with the University Settlement House next door, this block became a hub for community services. The building survived only a few decades before becoming home to a church. It was later converted to condos. 

Synagogues:

Block 414, Lot 27

One of many synagogues of the Lower East Side, Kehila Kedosha Janinae is unique as the only Romaniote rite synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. Romaniote refers to a specific tradition of Greek-speaking Judaism. The plans show front facade details, including a Star of David in stained glass, as well as the main floor space, with pews for men, and a mezzanine level for women. The building is a New York City Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

Block 419, Lot 49

Designed by J. Cleaveland Cady this synagogue is located at the corner of Delancey and Forsyth Streets. Cady also designed the American Museum of Natural History. The plans, dated 1889, show alterations to convert the building into a synagogue for a group of Jewish immigrants from the same town in Lithuania. The plans show the beautiful building facade, including large stained-glass windows and a dome, and the intricate Torah ark at the front of the congregation.

Housing:

Block 426, Lot 6

The Bowery was known for its “flophouses,” or places where you could rent a small cubicle by the night. In just one block, the Sunshine Hotel, Bowery Mission, and Salvation Army Hotel all provided this kind of housing. Plans for the Salvation Army Hotel show small rooms packed together to maximize the number of available beds (64-67 per floor, with nine floors of rooms). This type of housing later became known as Single Room Occupancy.

Block 430, Lot 10

The First Houses take their name from the fact that they were the first public housing development built in New York (and the United States) by Mayor LaGuardia’s newly created New York City Housing Authority. The property was assembled through a combination of eminent domain and donations by prominent New Yorkers. To keep costs low, builders reused materials from the demolished tenements. While plain in appearance, the First Houses reflect the perceived benefits of open air and large courtyards. The plans show the squat rectangular buildings at elevation, a common floor plan showing four apartments, and the city run health center in one of the first-floor storefronts. Each apartment was spacious and full of amenities especially compared to the cramped tenements they replaced. Every room had a window, and each apartment had separate bathrooms and kitchens, fireproofing, electricity, and radio connectivity. More than 3,000 families applied for just 120 apartments, underscoring the enormous demand for public housing. 

 Blocks 430, 431, and 432, Lot 1

The Village View Houses, originally called the FDR Houses, had their groundbreaking ceremony in 1964, on the 25th anniversary of the First Houses, showing how far public housing had come, all while sharing the same block of New York. Built as co-op apartments under the State-sponsored Mitchell-Lama program there are seven buildings with 1,236 units. Plans include a font used on signs throughout the buildings, a common layout for a floor, with ten apartments, and a site plan showing the three blocks the buildings were spread across.

A book titled Grounds For Play: The Movement that Built Playgrounds for the People of New York traces the origins of the playground movement in the late 19th century, when the city had no municipal playgrounds. As immigration surged, families crowded into squalid tenements, leaving children with little place to play beyond the congested streets. Reformers argued that public playgrounds would promote children’s health, provide safe spaces for recreation, and keep them away from the temptations of street life.

A 1911 annual report from the newly created Bureau of Recreation illustrates how quickly these ideas took hold. Citing Children’s Court statistics showing that more than 10,000 children were arrested annually for trivial offenses, many stemming from what the report described as “an outburst of suppressed energy” that “if committed in the playgrounds, would not be a violation of law,” the report made the case that recreation was an essential public service. By then, the Bureau oversaw 30 park playgrounds, attendance had doubled over the previous year, and organized athletics had flourished. The Commissioner of Parks proudly described “the largest baseball league in the history of the national game,” in which 6000 boys played a series of elimination tournaments around the city, culminating in the City Park Playground Championship before a crowd of 10,000 spectators at Jasper Park.

Playgrounds in this era reflected the social values of their time. Facilities were divided into separate sections for boys and girls, and activities were organized accordingly. While boys competed in athletic leagues, girls participated in events such as amateur theatricals featuring costumes, song, and dance. Referring to a Thanksgiving week pageant, the Commissioner noted approvingly that “the little ragamuffins had the time of their lives.”

A 1914 Board of Education photo album documents that year’s playground activities including the city’s Tercentenary celebrations, commemorating 300 years since the Dutch established the first permanent trading post in New York. Among the festivities was an enormous “Melting Pot,” which girls entered wearing the traditional costumes of other nations. Emerging dressed in red, white, and blue, they were presented as transformed into “real Americans,” a vivid illustration of the era’s attitudes towards immigration and assimilation.

During World War I, organized recreation took on an increasingly patriotic character. In September 1918, the Mayor’s Committee of Women on National Defense organized “Patriotic Play Week,” built around the idea that “play promotes patriotism.” The organizers asserted that the program would transform “the liabilities of adolescent leisure into the asset of juvenile citizenship.” The week featured parades, games, exhibitions, and entertainments, culminating in a grand march led by the American flag and the flags of allied nations.

The educational value of recreation remained a central theme into the 1930s. A 1930 Manual for School Playgrounds outlined plans for summer “vacation playgrounds,” designed to prevent idleness and maintain discipline during the long recess. The manual offered detailed guidance on everything from decorating playgrounds and maintaining equipment to organizing tournaments and, notably, instructing supervisors to “seek out bullies and eliminate them.”

Similarly, a 1932 Board of Education fact sheet promoted a summer “play program” combining free play with games, assemblies, drills, civic training, quiet hours, handwork, and housekeeping activities. The stated goal was to guard the children against “the loss of discipline,” “the tendency toward idleness,” and the dangers caused by heat, illness, and traffic accidents.

Recognizing that many neighborhoods still lacked adequate playground facilities, especially in low-income areas, the Department of Public Works launched an innovative “Play Streets” program in East Harlem in 1934. Streets were temporarily closed to traffic and staffed by trained recreation leaders equipped with sports equipment and other supplies for games and crafts. According to the 1937 volume Play Streets and Their Use for Recreational Programs, the initiative sought to not only provide recreation but also to “train the people to use leisure time properly.” Organizers credited the program with giving children “a truly good and healthy play life” while reducing juvenile delinquency.

That’s same year, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia consolidated the city’s five separate borough departments into a unified Department of Parks under Commissioner Robert Moses. After World War II, Moses oversaw an unprecedented expansion of neighborhood parks and playgrounds, particularly in the rapidly growing communities on the outskirts of the city. Collections of press releases, plans, and photos along with a volume of construction schedules in the Municipal Library document this postwar playground building boom.

A 1956 report, Jointly Operated Playgrounds, described the long-running partnership between the Department of Parks and the Board of Education to build and operate playgrounds adjacent to public schools. First launched in 1938, this cooperative model continues through the present day with the “Schoolyards to Playgrounds” initiative.

By the mid-1960s, however, attention shifted from expansion to quality. In a 1965 report, Mayor John Lindsey lamented, “Today when a park is even halfway decent we are stunned.” He proposed creating new playgrounds in underserved communities while replacing traditional asphalt surfacing and immovable equipment with European-inspired “Adventure Playgrounds,” where children could build, climb, and rearrange play structures themselves. Lindsey also advocated expanding the use of play streets as neighborhood parks.

The 1970s brought another significant shift, as the emerging disability rights movement influenced playground design. In 1975, the Board of Estimate set aside $100,000 for the design of an integrated playground that would serve children both with and without disabilities.  The city published A Playground for All Children in 1976, followed by a companion resource guide in 1978 that established design principles for inclusive playgrounds. The resulting playground, which was the first of its kind in the city, opened in Flushing Meadows Park in 1984.

By the 1990s, public discussion increasingly centered on playground safety. A 1993 report by Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman noted that the city had paid $7 million in liability claims for playground injuries between fiscal years 1988 and 1992. Inspectors found that every playground they visited contained at least one condition that failed to meet Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) guidelines or otherwise posed a potential hazard.

A 1998 report by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) documented additional safety concerns, including deteriorated equipment, inadequate protective surfacing, chipped lead paint, and excessive fall heights. The report urged the city to adopt national safety guidelines and encouraged parents, educators, and park personnel to use standardized inspection checklists to identify hazards and advocate for improvements.

Today, the Municipal Library continues to collect and preserve this history through the Government Publications Portal (GPP), where city agencies now submit publications electronically rather than in print. Recent additions include a 2022 estimate of the cost of extending public access to school playgrounds outside of school hours (for those not already participating in the Schoolyards to Playgrounds program), and a 2025 report on playground inspections.

Taken together, these records trace more than the history of playgrounds. They document a century of changing ideas about children, public space, and the many roles that play has been expected to serve in public life.

Located between 70th and 76th Streets, the 20-acre Central Park Lake connects the varied landscapes of the southern end of the park to the more pastoral vistas in the north. Park designers Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned the Lake as a way to provide an escape from urban life by creating an oasis within the city.

In winter 1858, the Lake became the first area in Central Park to be opened to the public. Called the “Skating Pond” on Vaux and Olmsted’s Greensward plan (their winning-design for the park competition), the Lake shows how the designers developed natural-looking waters throughout the park landscape.

A Feat of Engineering 

The first stop on the Lake tour begins at the shoreline on the north side of Bethesda Terrace. In a significant engineering feat, Olmsted and Vaux devised an elaborate system of pipes, hydrants, and dams to divert water from the Croton Aqueduct to fill the 20-acre lake.

The perimeter of the Lake is edged by a two-and-a-half-foot quarry-stone wall and the structure is equipped with waste weirs (to lower water levels) and sluice gates (to raise water levels) that could be opened and closed to adjust the water levels as needed. Kept at seven feet deep in the summer to accommodate boaters and three feet lower in the winter as a safety measure for ice skaters, these mechanisms were carefully hidden below ground.

Another unique feature of the Lake is a series of eighteen hydrants, or valves used to create a fresh sheet of ice each night during the skating season. In summer, the valves are completely submerged, but when the water was lowered to its winter depth, the valves were exposed and available to flood the ice at night creating a fresh surface for skaters the next day.

The Boathouse 

The Boathouse is the next stop on the tour. Boating on the Lake during the summer months quickly grew in popularity. By 1870, boat rentals reached more than 125,000 annually and led to the need for a facility to dock the vessels. Calvert Vaux designed the Boathouse as frame building with decorative details throughout. Completed in 1875, Vaux wrote that he “arranged this design, with the roof in the form of a terrace, with two flights of steps to it so that the ordinary visitor, on arriving at this structure, instead of being shut out from a close view of the Lake, is provided with an elevated promenade, from which a view of the water can be obtained, with a special charm of its own.”

After more than 70 years of continuous use, the building, in disrepair, was demolished. The current boathouse is in a similar location to the first and was constructed during Robert Moses’ overhaul of the park in the 1950s.

Boat Landings 

Continuing around the Lake, there are six small, black walnut boat landings constructed in a rustic style. As with most of the architectural elements added to the park, each landing is unique and designed to be unobtrusive. The wooden landings were often repaired and rebuilt during the 19th and 20th centuries, but by 1970, none of the structures remained. With the help of the Municipal Archives collection of original parks drawings, teams from the Parks Department and later the Central Park Conservancy were able to recreate the landings.

Skating

During the 19th century skating was immensely popular. It was one of the few socially acceptable activities that could be enjoyed in the mixed company of men and women. It was estimated that some thirty thousand people entered the park daily just to skate.

With the large crowds, it became clear that the park needed amenities. Built in chalet style, a three-story “skate tent,” as it was called, was put up and taken down at the south end of the lake each year during the winter season. It had concessions as well as changing areas and a place to warm up on cold winter nights, with a refreshment stand, cloak room, and skate room on the first floor. The second story provided windows for spectators to view the skating while enjoying a beverage, and finally the third level was reserved for a “ladies look-out exclusively.”

Drinking Fountain for Horses 

Moving away from the skating area, there is a peaceful area known as Cherry Hill, named for its spring-blooming cherry trees. The paved concourse on the crest of the hill was originally intended as a scenic turnaround for horse-drawn carriages. In the center, there is a stunning fountain. Designed for watering horses by architect Jacob Wrey Mould in 1867, it was constructed of polished granite, wrought iron and bronze, and decorative Minton tiles, with eight colorful saucers for birds to drink from.

Swan’s Nests 

One of the most unusual additions to the Lake were a gift of twelve swans from the city of Hamburg, Germany, in the spring of 1860. Long famous for its swan population, the city even sent a handler to help domesticate the animals. In May, the Board of Commissioners received a letter from George Kunhardt of the Hamburg Consulate with advice on the care of the new park residents, for example when to clip their wings and how to winter them over. The letter included a drawing for the construction of two types of floating nests for the comfort of the birds. One was specifically for use in quiet water while the other was suitable for nests that were exposed to the “action of waves.” The letter went on to say that their design, “may of course be varied ad libitum.” Sadly, within the first few weeks of their arrival nine of the swans died. Upon receiving the news of the birds’ demise, Hamburg replaced them with ten more, which was followed up by two dozen more sent by the city of London.

Gondolas 

From the earliest days of the park, visitors in leisure boats enjoyed floating on the Lake. With awnings to provide shade on sunny days, the larger passenger boats carried up to twelve people. Other vessels for hire included rowboats and pleasure boats that featured large carved white swans.

Gondolas were another option for enjoying an excursion on the Lake. Former Park Commissioner John A.C. Gray donated the first gondola in 1862, sent directly from Venice. Without trained gondoliers, the gift sat unused for months until 1864. Despite some challenges in adding to the fleet, by 1870 several gondolas were afloat on the Lake with gondoliers decked out in sweaters with the word Venetzia emblazoned across their chests. 

Bow Bridge 

The final stop on the tour is the sweeping Bow Bridge, the longest and most famous of architect Calvert Vaux’s bridges. Named for its graceful arch reminiscent of an archer’s bow, Bow Bridge was the first of the seven cast-iron bridges in the park, and is the only one to span a body of water. 

The low-slung construction connects Cherry Hill and the Terrace on the south shore of the Lake to the Ramble on the north shore. The bridge features a 140-foot ornamental iron balustrade pierced with Gothic cinquefoils and a floral motif on the spandrels which continues in the shallow niches set into the pillars. The design includes large cast-iron urns to hold flowering plants and vines throughout the summer.

Cynthia Brenwall is the author of The Central Park: Original Designs for New York’s Greatest Treasure, Abrams Books, 2019.

On May 16, 1691, in a drizzling rain, two middle-aged men climbed gallows erected at present-day One Pace Plaza near the Manhattan entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. Before the largest crowd yet gathered in the small city of 5,000 inhabitants, Jacob Leisler and his newly wed son-in-law, Jacob Milborne, were hung until half-dead then beheaded. Their alleged crimes were “levying war” against King William and Queen Mary, counterfeiting their Majesties’ great seal, murdering one Josiah Browne, and “other high misdemeanors.” The executions traumatized the onlookers. The “shrieks of the people were dreadful, some were carried away lifeless, and some rushing forwards, almost ere the life of their beloved ruler was extinct.” The political repercussions reverberated throughout New York’s colonial period and still echo today. Historians focus on Jacob Leisler as the central figure of the turmoil. Yet, the events that came to be known as “Leisler’s Rebellion” were a result of broader international and local circumstances.

The Municipal Archives opens a window into these events. Following England’s final acquisition of New Netherland in 1674, New York City underwent rapid economic development. Agricultural and tobacco exports replaced the fur trade as economic drivers as city merchants also expanded into transporting enslaved Africans and finished European goods into the West Indies and the Chesapeake in exchange for rum, salt, and sugar. Population growth increased social stratification. In 1683 a representative assembly passed the Charter of Liberties and Privileges, which established self-government, declared that no taxes could be levied without the consent of a general assembly, trial by jury of one’s peers, and tolerance for all who “professe ffaith in God by Jesus Christ” (see REC0081, vol 1, pp. 175-176, 265). On April 27, 1686, Governor Thomas Dongan issued a patent that incorporated New York City, granted control of surrounding underwater lands, and formally created municipal offices including mayor, recorder, sheriff, aldermen, and assistants (inserted in REC0081, vol 2, p.7). 

New York in 1689 remained very much a part of the European world. For a century and a half, religious wars had torn Europe apart. Theological disputes further divided congregations. In February 1685, the openly Roman Catholic James II replaced his brother Charles II on England’s throne. Particularly irksome to New Yorkers were James’s interference in New York’s economic development. In August 1685 the king banned New York City merchants from participating in the East Indies and slave trades by granting monopolies to the East India Company and Royal Africa Company (REC0081, pp. 275-282).

These acts were immediately followed by James’s disallowance of New York’s Charter of Liberties (REC 0081, pp. 284-285). In October 1685, James’s cousin King Louis XIV of France revoked the Edict of Nantes granting religious toleration and instituted a violent persecution of French Protestants, known as Huguenots, in his realms. French West Indian Protestants sought sanctuary in New York, accelerating fear of a Catholic French-Canadian invasion. In 1686, James incorporated New York into the megacolony of the Dominion of New England, with Boston as capital. Now, all official business was to be conducted there. The rapid competitive rise of the new city of Philadelphia added economic stress. As the council minutes relate, on August 11, 1688, Dominion Governor Sir Edmond Andros officially annexed New York to New England (REC0081, p. 329). 

James’s actions created a fuse for an explosion. It was anticipated the king’s Protestant daughter Mary, wed to Dutch stadholder William III, prince of Orange, would be heir. On June 10, 1688, however, Queen Mary of Modena gave birth to a Roman Catholic male heir. Andros ordered August 24 as a day of thanksgiving in New York for the prince’s birth (REC0081, vol 1, pp.330-331). In England, Protestant notables, fearing a Roman Catholic dynasty, invited James’s daughter and son-in-law to seize the throne. In the wake of England’s Glorious Revolution, Boston revolted in April 1689 against James II’s government. The uprising rapidly spread across New England and into the east end of Long Island. The Suffolk County militia resolved to seize New York City’s fort. Militias of other towns joined them on their march toward the city. Alarmed by these events, New York Lieutenant Governor Francis Nicholson appointed the city’s militia captains to his expanded council (See, New-York Historical Society Collections (1868) 1: 272-290). 

The city’s militia captains took turns guarding Fort James. But confrontations between local militiamen and English regulars resulted in the militia seizing the fort on behalf of the new king and queen, William and Mary. When militia Colonel Nicholas Bayard refused to assume control, the rebels turned to second in command, Jacob Leisler. The collapse of the Dominion of New England government with the Boston uprising and Francis Nicholson’s flight from New York on June 11 left the provincial government in a vacuum. Believing they did not have “a title to govern” without the “Peoples Resolutions,” the militia captains decided to follow Massachusetts’ precedent and call for a convention of the provincial towns. The New York militia captains sent a circular to the counties asking them to send two delegates to New York City on June 26 to consult “for the welfare of the country & the protestant religion.” The provincial Committee of Safety began deliberations on June 27. The following day, the convention reorganized the militia with Leisler as captain of the fort (PRO: CO5/1081, p. 69). 

Leisler, a son of the Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, French Reformed church pastor Jacob Victorian Leisler, was among New York’s wealthiest inhabitants. His ancestors had served as chaplains to the House of Nassau, family of the Prince of Orange, and were active in the European Reformed movement. Following their example, Leisler was active in New York’s Reformed communities and, after 1685, in the settlement of Huguenot refugees. Appointed captain of the fort, Leisler managed militia correspondence, strengthened defenses, and took responsibility in administering to four-hundred men a loyalty oath to the “Prince of Orange and protestant interest.” Meanwhile, the Committee of Safety took immediate steps to coordinate provincial hegemony. On August 16, the committee appointed Leisler commander in chief of the province with full civil and military powers (NHi BV Sect. L “No. 7,” 1-3).

To remove opposition, throughout late summer and fall of 1689 the Committee of Safety ordered elections by male “protestant freeholders.” Particularly irksome was that Andros’s common council continued to meet in New York City. On October 7, the Committee of Safety ordered the mayor, sheriff, clerk, and common council “be chosen By the Major vote of the freeholders.” (REC 0081, pp. 340). On October 14, Leisler, following the form of government as established by the 1686 Dongan patent, confirmed the new council with Peter Delanoy as mayor, Johannes Johnson as sheriff, and Abraham Gouverneur as clerk (REC0081, p. 344). Forty-year-old Delanoy, born in the Huguenot refugee community in Harlem, Netherlands, was a prominent figure in the city government, serving as alderman, bookkeeper of the port, and city treasurer (REC0081, p. 267 ff). In 1689 he became the first and only elected mayor of New York City prior to 1834.  

Confirmed in their offices, the new city government ordered the former magistrates to deliver up all city and county books and papers in their custody. While most complied, former Mayor Stephen van Cortlandt was nowhere to be found. When Van Cortlandt’s wife, Gertrude Schuyler, received the order, the council minutes state she threw it away and retorted, “take it with force in Caise they would have it” (REC0081, p. 347). In desperation to obtain the necessary records to operate the city, the council petitioned Leisler to invest them in their offices. Meanwhile, Van Cortlandt had fled to Albany, which had formed its own convention at the outbreak of the disorders. Dominated by the relations of Leisler’s wife’s stepsisters, who had battled Leisler in an acrimonious inheritance dispute for over a decade, the former New York City officials cast themselves as a government in exile and organized a campaign to subvert his government.

In mid-December, a royal letter arrived addressed to “whomever was taking care of the government.” The Committee of Safety voted Leisler the correct recipient and disbanded. Leisler, aware of the legal situation of his lacking personal royal designation, named himself “lieutenant governor.” Believing that James II had illegally revoked the 1686 Charter of Liberties, he reestablished the provincial government according to the Charter, including an elected provincial assembly. According to a 1683 “Act of Assembly entitled An Act to Settle Courts of Justice,” Leisler instituted a four-tier system: town courts for minor issues, county courts for civil and minor criminal cases, a court of oyer and terminer for treason and major criminal cases, and the Court of Chancery to oversee matters of equity (N. 36: 14265). Records were kept in separate books, of which fragments survive.

Extant pages of Leisler’s administration reveal that the city government and its courts continued to operate in 1690. For example, loose pages of council minutes for April 26 confirmed the court resolution of a dispute between Albert Bosch and Adolf Pieterse (NNMA); those of August 9 dealt with the nuisance of a tar pit and selling of liquors (NNMA); and those of October 11, address the repairing of the Bowery Road to Fresh Water Pond (NHi: NY Misc. Mss. Box 2, No. 25). City court records during Leisler’s administration are found scattered throughout numerous archives such as in the Municipal Archives, New York Historical, Pennsylvania Historical, and the State Archives. 

Leisler’s administration created several firsts. His erection of a battery in front of the fort, known as “Leisler’s Half-Moon” or “Leisler’s Battery,” is the origin of greatly expanded Battery Park. In reaction to a French and Indian raid of the frontier community of Schenectady in February 1690, Leisler called for the first intercolonial conference independent of British authority. On May 1, 1690, representatives from New York, Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut met in New York City for the first inter-colonial congress in American history (Maryland representatives arrived late, while Pennsylvania and Virginia refused to send delegates). At this gathering, the first military action independent of European authority was organized against French Canada with a two-pronged attack by sea and land (N. 36: 42; RPAB. Ms. 4822; Ct. Colonial; M-SS. 36: 47).  

Jacob Leisler funded much of his administration out of his own pocket. But economic stress and the failure of the Canadian campaign caused him to become increasingly paranoid and erratic. The arrival of Leisler’s opponents’ lobby in England before his case was heard— his initial packets captured by the French—resulted in the crown’s appointment of a governor favorable to the opposition. Unfortunately for Leisler, the governor departed just as the crown heard Leisler’s version. The arrival in January 1691 of royal troops without official papers caused Leisler to refuse to turn over the government. His supporters flocked to his defense, resulting in armed conflict between the parties. Leisler’s subsequent refusal to immediately turn over the government upon Governor Richard Sloughter’s arrival in March 1691 due to the military practice of waiting until daylight resulted in his government’s arrest.

Thirty-seven members of Leisler’s government were confined and brought to trial for treason. But it was Lesler’s in-laws who most actively urged for his execution. Only Leisler and Milborne were condemned to “be severall[y] hanged by the Neck and being Alive their bodys be Cutt Downe to the Earth that their Bowells be taken out and they being Alive burnt before their faces that their heads shall be struck off and their Bodys Cutt in four parts and which shall be Deposed of as their Majties’ Shall Assigne.” It is this verdict that elicits the most attention. Governor Sloughter, however, commuted the sentence to hanging and beheading. Eight months later the crown repealed the charges and in May 1695 the king and Parliament overturned the treason sentences against Leisler and Milborne and restored their properties to their heirs.

Leisler is best understood in the context of a Calvinist political ideology emanating from the Dutch Republic and applied to English law. An ideology that emphasized decentralized government as the “ultimate way to safeguard civic liberties and economic freedoms.” Leisler thus emerged as a proponent of a unique form of populism at a time when New York was undergoing rapid change. The contest between those favoring a strong centralized government versus Leisler’s decentralized popular form subsequently evolved into a sharp political difference that has remained a characteristic in America culture ever since. 

David William Voorhees (Ph.D., New York University, 1988) is Director of both the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History and of the Jacob Leisler Papers Project, and is also Managing Editor of de Halve Maen, a scholarly journal devoted to New Netherland studies published by The Holland Society of New York.

Sources: 

• Common Council records, circa 1670-1831; REC0081; vol. 1 & 2; Municipal Archives, City of New York. 

• Lamb, Martha J. History of the City of New York: Its Origin, Rise and Progress. 

• Jacob Leisler Papers Collection, Jacob Leisler Institute, Hudson, NY. 

• New York State Archives’ colonial records series, Albany. 

• The New York Historical, Manuscripts. 

• New-York Historical Society Collections (1868) 1: 272-290. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006664838

Before 1776, New York was sharply divided between Loyalists and Patriots, but revolutionary fervor was high. It was in the Merchant’s Coffee House at Wall Street and Water Street that New York’s merchants expressed their opposition to British taxes such as the Sugar Act of 1764. Even wealthy New Yorkers made their own homespun wool clothing rather than purchase British goods. In 1765, word of a new tax, the Stamp Act, infuriated New Yorkers. In October, the Stamp Act Congress met in New York’s City Hall (then on Wall and Broad Street) to develop a unified colonial objection to the Act. Some two thousand New Yorkers tried to prevent British boats containing the stamps from landing at the Battery. They were unsuccessful, and the stamps were delivered to Lt. Governor Cadwaller Colden at Fort George. On November 1, a crowd marched down Broadway and gathered outside the Fort. Colden and his family retreated to a British warship leaving Major Thomas James in charge. While James threatened to unleash his cannons, the mob burned a gallows with an effigy of Colden in Bowling Green Park. A faction marched north to the Vauxhall estate, the home of Major James. They trashed his belongings, made a bonfire of the furniture, drank his liquor and destroyed the gardens.

The Stamp Act was eventually repealed in April 1766, and the Sons of Liberty erected a “Liberty Pole” in the Commons (now City Hall Park) on May 21, 1766. A sign on top read: “George 3rd, Pitt – and Liberty.” This thank you to the King and British Prime Minister William Pitt for repealing the Stamp Act was seen differently by British soldiers barracked nearby. That August a group of redcoats tore down the pole. Another pole was soon erected, which was again torn down. These back-and-forth actions culminated with a violent bloody clash on January 19, 1770, six weeks before the Boston Massacre, when redcoats armed with sabers fought the radical Liberty Boys led by Isaac Sears in what was called the Battle of Golden Hill. Soon after the fourth pole was dismantled by the British. A fifth pole was erected in February on a small plot of land purchased by Sears; it lasted until October 28, 1776, after the British army seized Manhattan.[1]

After 1775, the City’s population dropped precipitously as many Loyalists fled Manhattan to avoid harassment by Patriots. In the spring of 1776, after they drove the British out of Boston, General George Washington and the Continental Army moved into New York City. They intended to defend it against an anticipated British invasion led by General William Howe. New York Mayor David Matthews was arrested in May 1776, accused of participating in a plot to assassinate Washington.[2]

On June 29, 1776, 45 British troop ships anchored off Staten Island. Within a week there were 130 ships. On July 3, they landed on Staten Island without a shot being fired. On July 9, Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence read to his troops and the public in the Commons. Some citizens and soldiers took it upon themselves to rush down to Bowling Green where they pulled down the gilt lead statue of King George. Pieces of the statue were sent to Connecticut to be melted down for musket balls. By August, more than 400 British ships had arrived in New York Harbor, and some had made it up the Hudson to secure Tarrytown.

On August 22, 15,000 British troops left Staten Island and landed on Long Island, joined by 5,000 Hessians two days later. The Battle of Long Island, the largest battle in the Revolutionary War, was fought in present day Brooklyn from August 26-28, 1776. The Continental Army was routed, suffering heavy losses before falling back to Brooklyn Heights. Through the night of August 29, and the foggy morning of the 30th Washington saved the revolution by ferrying 9,000 troops across the East River to Manhattan.[3] Although his troops were safely back in Manhattan, Washington knew his position was untenable and he led the bulk of them to the northern part of the island. On September 15, British and Hessian troops landed at Kip’s Bay on the East River, quickly dislodging the American troops forming the rear guard. Washington then led a fighting retreat up to Harlem Heights (now called Morningside Heights) where he successfully repelled the overextended British troops the following day. After a month of little engagement, Washington grew concerned that the British were planning to outflank him and began a retreat to the north, leaving 1,200 men behind in Fort Washington. On October 18th the Continental Army engaged with a British landing party in the area of what is now Pelham Bay Park while the main force retreated to White Plains. Fort Washington was captured on November 16, 1776, by the Hessian commander Lt. General Knyphausen and renamed in his honor.

New York City was now completely under British military control and would remain so until 1783. The Continental Congress vetoed Washington’s plan to burn the City in his retreat. Nonetheless, on September 20-21, 1776, a quarter of the City burned in the Great Fire, probably set by Patriot spies or allies, perhaps by British soldiers. Although never connected with the fire, Nathan Hale, one of Washington’s spies, was arrested on the 21st and hung the following day.

As a British stronghold, New York now became a haven for Loyalists from other colonies. Additionally, the British advertised freedom to any enslaved person who fled from a Patriot and could make their way to British lines.[4] The population boomed. Many of the refugees set up tent cities in the rubble left from the fire.

Although never again the site of a battle, the war was still omnipresent.[5] Most of the American troops captured in the war were imprisoned in New York, many in the infamous prison ships anchored in Wallabout Bay in Brooklyn. More than 10,000 prisoners died, more than died in battle throughout the entire war. Ordinary New Yorkers also suffered during the occupation, as British troops seized food, cut down trees and broke up furniture for fires. Loyalty began to wane and Washington’s spy ring infiltrated officer’s households and reported on troop and ship movements.

All this ended on Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783, when the last British troops and Loyalists left the City and General Washington triumphantly returned. Amongst the Loyalists that left that day was Mayor David Matthews. Under the Confiscation Act, passed in 1779 by the New York Legislature, he was subject to summary execution if found in New York. The war had longer lasting effects. Throughout 1784 and 1785, properties “forfeited” by Loyalists were resold and subdivided, changing the face of the City and creating some of the neighborhoods we know today such as the Lower East Side. New York then became the nation’s first capital. From 1785-1790, Congress met at New York’s City Hall, renamed Federal Hall, and George Washington took the oath of office on its balcony in 1789.[6] Washington lived in Manhattan during these years at Franklin House on Pearl and Cherry Street.

In many ways the revolution began here and ended here. Since 1784, New Yorkers have been celebrating on July 4th, as revealed in Grog, Punch and Wine: New Yorkers Celebrate Independence Day. We hope you do the same this weekend.

[1] A flagpole to the west of City Hall commemorates the Liberty Poles, with this marker: “Here in the ancient commons of the city, where before the time of our national independence five liberty poles were successively set up, this flag pole of 1921 is placed in grateful remembrance of all lovers of our country who have died that the liberty won on these shores might be the heritage of the world.” For more on Liberty Poles see: https://www.gothamcenter.org/blog/monuments-roundtable-george-iii-and-liberty-poles

[2] Although Matthews later escaped captivity, the British had by then placed the City under military rule, and the Common Council disbanded. For more on Matthews see: https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2019/7/3/the-missing-common-council-records-of-the-revolutionary-war

[3] Although some accounts say Washington had planned to use the fog to aid the evacuation, it seems to have been a matter of luck that a heavy fog rolled in on the morning of the 30th concealing the small boats still evacuating the Heights. See: https://archive.org/details/ldpd_11290380_000/page/n243/mode/2up?q=fog

[4] In the waning days of the occupation, from May to August of 1783, a joint British and American Commission headed by Brigadier General Samuel Birch reviewed the claims of Black Loyalists. Over 3,000 were granted freedom and allowed to emigrate to British lands.  https://www.frauncestavernmuseum.org/birch-trials-at-fraunces-tavern

[5] The Battle of Van Cortlandt’s Woods occurred on August 31, 1778, in what is now The Bronx, but it was not then part of New York City. It was a devastating defeat for the Stockbridge Militia, an Indigenous infantry unit made up of Mohican, Wappinger, and Munsee men from Stockbridge, Mass.

[6] The 2nd City Hall of New York was torn down in 1812. The current building, Federal Hall National Memorial, was built in 1842 as a customs house. A topic previously explored in “The Dutch & the English Part 5: The Return of the Dutch and What Became of the Wall.”

Sources:

• Johnston, Henry Phelps. The Campaign of 1776 around New York and Brooklyn. Brooklyn, NY: Long Island Historical Society, 1878.

• McCullough, David. 1776. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.

• “New York in Summer of 1776, a Vulnerable City Preparing for Attack by the Redcoats,” New York Times, July 4, 1976. https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/04/archives/new-york-in-summer-of-1776-a-vulnerable-city-preparing-for-attack.html

• Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson. Father Knickerbocker Rebels. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948.

In his community remarks, he told the story of Joan Nestle and her close companion, Mabel Hampton. Nestle is a Jewish fiction writer and co-founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, a non-profit, volunteer-led community archive in New York City. Hampton is a Black lesbian dancer and entertainer, who had met Joan as her employed caretaker. By the end of Hampton’s life, in addition to being her dear friend, Nestle acted in many ways as Hampton’s biographer: capturing her life through oral histories, leading to film and writing. The archive reveals Hampton as holding court for younger dykes to learn about lesbian life in 1920s Harlem, or for her cataloguing of the pulp fiction collection, affectionately branded as “survival literature.” Mayor Mamdani illustrated the impact of their connection: 

I think of a story told by Joan Nestle, an archivist of queer history in New York City. In the 1950s, her mother had briefly employed a woman named Mabel Hampton. Mabel was an activist, a domestic worker, and a dancer during the Harlem Renaissance. One day, Joan's mother approached Mabel and said, “I don’t know what to do.” She suspected that her daughter was gay.... Mabel turned to Joan’s mother and said, “So what?” Mabel was a lesbian, too. She took Joan under her wing as a second mother.

In his retelling, the mayor referred to Joan and Mabel’s home in the upper west side, at 215 West 92nd Street, now otherwise occupied, and earmarked as an LGBT historic site. This site later became the home to the Lesbian Herstory Archives, the largest and oldest lesbian archive in the world. The organization is now located in Brooklyn, at 484 14th Street, also designated as an historic site.

Mayor Mamdani ends his story of Nestle and Hampton with:  

I cannot help but think of how many acts of protection and guidance, like Mabel to Joan, have taken place throughout New York City history in the apartments, the dance halls, the ballrooms, the bars where queer New Yorkers gathered. I think too of Joan’s commitment to preserving queer history, of keeping Mabel’s memory alive.

Currently residing in Australia, Joan Nestle learned of this storytelling and was overjoyed. She was happy to share her excitement with For the Record:  

My world stopped, I could not believe what I was hearing, the Mayor of New York, Mayor Mandani speaking in a caring voice about the importance of Ms. Mabel Hampton and our friendship in the rich tapestry of New York history, said Joan Nestle as a response to hearing Mamdani’s June 9th Pride speech. “At 86 [years old], I heard respectful words that I never believed would be said by a powerful person. Ms. Hampton is truly a New York legend, and how she would have loved our new Mayor. I thank him so much.

For the Record is thankful that Pride has encapsulated the archive, and that we can use our historic markers in place and time, to share the history of this celebratory moment of NYC history.

To learn more about what we hold in the Municipal Library and Archives related to Pride, check out the many blogs on the history of pride:

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2019/6/21/nypd-surveillance-of-lesbian-and-gay-power   

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2017/6/15/contributions-and-controversies-the-complex-history-of-mayor-koch-and-the-lgbt-community   

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2019/6/28/the-mayors-and-the-gay-pride-parade   

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2025/6/18/love-counts-nyc-lgbtq-history-in-the-municipal-library   

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2023/6/23/the-battle-for-gay-rights   

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2023/6/30/the-battle-for-gay-rights-continued   

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2022/6/17/lgbtq-teachers-parents-and-children   

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2022/6/24/new-york-city-celebrates-pride

We also have videos and additional mechanisms for finding out about being queer in NYC in the 1980s and 1990s. Searching “gay” “lesbian” or “AIDS” within the WNYC-TV Video collection will yield a lot of content.

Some stand outs include:

• REC0047_2_013_0229 | NYC Municipal Archives : about lesbian + gay families 

• REC0047_2_013_0231 | NYC Municipal Archives : about lesbian + gay activism re: HIV/AIDS 

• REC0047_2_014_0244 | NYC Municipal Archives : about “outing” 

• REC0047_2_006_0041 | NYC Municipal Archives : partially about expanding the women’s movement to include lesbians

And there are so many others! The Hotline Episodes about Arts + Obscenity, Gay Bashing, and Gay Greenwich Village are also rich.

For 200 years, from 1627 (when the Dutch West India Company warship Bruynvisch arrived in Manhattan carrying 22 enslaved Africans), until 1827, slavery was very much a fact of life in New York. By the 1790s, New York City’s population of enslaved people was second only to Charleston, South Carolina. New York had the largest number of enslaved people of any state in the North and was the second-to-last to abolish slavery (New Jersey was the last state). Even after 1827, when slavery ended in New York, free Blacks were not safe on its streets. Runaways from the south and even free Black New Yorkers could be kidnapped by marshals and sent to a slave state using the Fugitive Slave Clause as cover.  

Not only do Municipal Archives records document this dark history, the Hall of Records (now the Surrogate’s Courthouse and DORIS headquarters) was built on the edge of what was the African Burial Ground. After rediscovery of the Burial Ground in 1991 during construction of a new federal office building, New York City’s Percent for Art program commissioned artist Lorenzo Pace’s monument “Triumph of the Human Spirit” in Foley Square. The Mayor’s Office of Communications recently interviewed Pace about the project in this short film that includes references to the Municipal Archives’ records. 

Lorenzo Pace: Triumph of the Human Spirit. NYC Mayor’s Office.

For more information on the records of enslavement in the Municipal Archives, see:

• https://www.archives.nyc/slavery-records

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2025/11/14/mr-george-rex-the-last-slave

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2019/3/15/jury-census-records-digitized

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2022/7/6/the-genealogical-possibilities-of-manumissions-in-the-old-town-records

• https://www.archives.nyc/blog/2021/2/26/enslaved-persons-in-the-kings-county-old-town-records

Last week, For the Record informed readers that “Father Knickerbocker” dribbling a basketball was the team logo from 1946 to 1964, and told the story of who was the real Father Knickerbocker. 

Research in the collections also yielded ten historical images that featured the team stars of an earlier era. This week, For the Record posts the press release DORIS issued on Wednesday promoting the archival photographs and the opportunity to purchase copies from the Municipal Archives, or postcard versions of the pictures that are available in the CityStore.  

For Immediate Release: June 10, 2026  

Archival New York Knicks Photos Now Available 

New York, NY – Walt Frazier, Patrick Ewing, Dave DeBusschere. While these basketball legends may no longer spend their time on the courts, their names live on in both sports and New York City history as celebrated players for the New York Knicks.  

As the New York Knicks prepare to take on the San Antonio Spurs for Game 4 of the NBA championship tonight at Madison Square Garden, the NYC Department of Records & Information Services (DORIS) is taking a look back at previous Knicks victories through a collection of archival photos. The pictures feature celebrated players, mayors, and communities throughout New York City—the story of both a team and the city they represent.   

“These photos capture something every New Yorker knows: sports bring us together in ways few things can. No matter what borough you’re from or which baseball team you root for—Go Mets—we’re united when we’re cheering for the Knicks,” said Mayor Mamdani. “For generations, this team has created moments that have connected neighbors and strangers, reminding us that our city is strongest when we come together. Thanks to DORIS, New Yorkers can revisit that history and celebrate the stories that belong to all of us.”

“This project will allow New Yorkers to celebrate the legacy of the Knicks who have shaped our city for decades,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Julia Kerson. Through the creative and dedicated work from DORIS, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to look back at the teams that paved the way and call a small piece of this city’s history their own.”  

“Sifting through images directly from the Municipal Archives allows New Yorkers and other connoisseurs of New York City history an opportunity to explore from the comfort of their homes a repository of timeless moments where sports has shaped government,” said Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, Commissioner of the Department of Records and Information Services. “We’re excited to offer the opportunity to purchase a glossy print, to sit on your wall or to gift a loved one.”   

 “Knicks history is New York City history and this limited-edition collaboration is a small token of our admiration for the home team,” said Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Yume Kitasei. “These postcards, created in-house by our talented designers and available only at CityStore, are historic one-of-a-kind pieces—a must-have for any true fan.”

The full collection of archival New York Knicks photographs is available to view online and will be available as postcards starting Thursday in the NYC CityStore, located at 1 Centre St, New York, NY 10007. To order digital or print  copies to ship worldwide, please visit DORIS’ online order page and add the image record number or title.

Herman Knickerbocker was from an old Dutch New York family. As a young lawyer, he befriended the struggling writer Washington Irving. In 1809, Irving pulled off the 19th Century equivalent of a viral media stunt. Borrowing the name of his friend, he placed several missing persons advertisements in New York newspapers saying he was looking for Diedrick Knickerbocker, whom he described as a Dutch historian missing from a Manhattan hotel. Posing as the hotel proprietor he said Knickerbocker had left behind a manuscript, which he would publish if the man did not come forward. The story of the missing historian created a buzz. On December 6, 1809, Irving published A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Diedrich Knickerbocker. The book was a satirical look at the history and politics of New York and America, and it was an instant success.

The name Knickerbocker, and the character of an old Dutchman from the frontispiece, caught the 19th Century public’s imagination. Soon after “Knickerbocker” became shorthand for a resident of Manhattan and was adopted as the name of an Albany newspaper, a New York literary magazine, a publishing house, a hotel built by the Astors, the baggy short trousers popular with young men, golfers and liberated women, a baseball franchise, a posh club, a beer brand and any number of other businesses. Washington Irving later marveled:

“When I find after a lapse of nearly forty years the haphazard production of my youth still cherished among them [New Yorkers]—when I find its very name become a ‘household word’ and used to give the home stamp to everything recommended for popular acceptance, such as Knickerbocker societies, Knickerbocker insurance companies, Knickerbocker steamboats, Knickerbocker omnibuses, Knickerbocker bread and Knickerbocker ice—and when I find New Yorkers of Dutch descent priding themselves upon being ‘genuine Knickerbockers’—I please myself with the persuasion that I have struck the right chord.’[1]

In 1877, Puck magazine first published a cartoon featuring the character “Father Knickerbocker” as a symbol of New York City in the way that Uncle Sam is used to represent the United States. By the 1900s, Father Knickerbocker was a familiar character used in editorial cartoons, sheet music, and in NYC government publications. The Department of Health published a weekly series of articles “Dr. Knickerbocker Says” to inform New Yorkers in the 1930s and 40s.

So, in 1946, when Ned Irish was looking for a name for his new basketball franchise, the “Knickerbockers” won the vote. The Father Knickerbocker logo was drafted by sports cartoonist Willard Mullin.

But soon a walking talking Father Knickerbocker appeared. His name was James J. O’Brien, a professor of modern languages at Fordham University. O’Brien started working for Mayor O’Dwyer in 1947 as an assistant and then became secretary to the Department of Public Works. In 1949, he adopted the colonial garb of Father Knickerbocker and embarked on a 17-day global trip to promote “World Trade Week,” and New York City as a trading capital. His return was captured in an interview by the newly formed WNYC Film Unit.

Through the early 1950s he continued to make public appearances as Father Knickerbocker, including on February 1, 1953, when New York marked the 300th anniversary of the incorporation of New Amsterdam. O’Brien went on to become the Deputy Chairman of the Mayor’s Reception Committee (1954-1955), Manager - Business Government Liaison of the Department of Commerce and Public Events (1955-1961), and then Deputy Commissioner of Commerce and Public Events (1962-1968). He gave tours of City Hall, handed out “keys to the city” and greeted distinguished guests under four mayors, William O’Dwyer, Vincent R. Impellitteri, Robert F. Wagner and John V. Lindsay.

REC0047_1_0016: “Father Knickerbocker’s Return,” April 16, 1949. WNYC-TV collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

According to a 1952 New York Times article, the City never purchased an outfit for O’Brien, they rented one from a costumer. “Dr. O’Brien still rents, either from Brooks, or from Eaves, at $15 a rental. He gets his gray periwig from Birnstein & Migliore, and he owns two pairs of square-rimmed spectacles done to his prescription by Schoenig & Co.”[2] The article also mentioned that there was another Father Knickerbocker “who poses for beer ads—actor chap named O’Neill...” O’Brien was dismissive of this rival, “He’s a commercial Knickerbocker.... We don’t recognize him down here at City Hall.”

O’Brien (aged 65) died in Ireland in 1968, while on vacation. His correspondence from 1946 to 1961 is preserved in the Municipal Archives and consists of thousands of letters to and from civic and trade groups, congress members, presidents, and prime ministers. A few bulging folders are correspondence with soldiers from New York stationed in Korea whom, upon request, he would send a New York State Flag to. He is usually addressed in the letters by his official title, but some of the letter writers added “Father Knickerbocker.”

[1] Landmarks Preservation Commission, Designation List 127, Knickerbocker Club Building, 1979.

[2] About New York; Father Knickerbocker Puffing in Rented Rig https://www.nytimes.com/1953/05/29/archives/about-new-york-father-knickerbocker-puffing-in-rented-rig-city.html

Sources:

• https://www.nytimes.com/1953/05/29/archives/about-new-york-father-knickerbocker-puffing-in-rented-rig-city.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/1949/05/18/archives/father-knickerbocker-in-paris.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/1968/06/04/archives/james-j-obrien-a-city-host-dies-was-father-knickerbocker.html

• James J. O’Brien correspondence from 1946 to 1961, NYC Municipal Archives. https://a860-collectionguides.nyc.gov/agents/people/758

• James J. O’Brien papers, New York Public Library. https://www.nypl.org/research/research-catalog/bib/b12396697?originalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Flegacycatalog.nypl.org%2Frecord%3Db12396697

• https://nycrecords.access.preservica.com/?s=father+knickerbocker

• Landmarks Preservation Commission, September 11, 1979, Designation List 127, LP-1025. Knickerbocker Club Building, 2 East 62nd Street, Borough of Manhattan. https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1025.pdf

Recently, archivist Cynthia Brenwall resumed transcribing descriptions of documents in the Early Mayors’ collection. This series comprises correspondence and documents from New York City mayoral administrations from 1826 through 1897 and totals 157.5 cubic feet. The collection had been assembled by Rebecca Rankin during her 32-year tenure as the Director of the Municipal Library between 1920 and 1952. This was a core collection in the Municipal Archives when it opened in 1952, and remains one of the most important series documenting nineteenth-century government and policies.

One feature of the correspondence noted by Ms. Brenwall during her work in 2020 and again more recently, is the elaborate commercially produced stationery and letterheads used by businesses and governments. This week For the Record takes a closer look at these wonderful works of art that defined an era of letter writing.

Technically, the term letterhead did not appear until 1890. Before then, it was simply called “letter paper.” The rich illustrations depicted on the stationery corresponds with industrialization in America. By the 1860s, the images became more detailed and creative. It was a period when Americans could see their growing nation reflected in the artwork on their bills and correspondence.

The primary role of these illustrations was publicity. The images show busy factories, bustling street corners, and bold bank buildings. Government agency and department correspondence visually conveys the nature of their responsibilities.  

While the content of the letters in the Early Mayors’ collection might be standard government business, the stationery offers a delight for the eye and creates a window into the business and government culture of a time gone by. For more examples, readers are also invited to review two For the Record articles published in 2020:  The Transcription Project, Early Mayors’ Collection and Early Mayors Collection Part 2