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Breaking the Color Line: Mayor LaGuardia and ...

On October 24th, 1945, newspapers announced that the Brooklyn Dodgers had signed Jackie Robinson to their Montreal farm team, effectively ending segregation in professional baseball. General manager Branch Rickey did not participate in the signing ceremony, but he quickly made sure that the press knew he was the one behind it.

What went underreported at the time were the behind-the-scenes efforts of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and the City’s Committee on Unity, led by Dan Dodson, a professor within the Educational Sociology Program at NYU…. The Mayor’s correspondence files and the records of the NYC Commission on Human Rights in the Municipal Archives help tell the little-known story of the political pressure at play in breaking the color line in baseball.

Horsepower: The City and the Horse

Question: What was once ubiquitous in New York City and now almost completely absent from the streetscape? Answer: The Horse.

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company’s Freight Depot at West and Barclay Streets, Manhattan, November 1910. Department of Docks & Ferries Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horses arrived with the first European colonial settlers and for the next three centuries powered the city’s transportation, construction, law enforcement, firefighting, street cleaning, ambulance, and delivery services. With related occupations and businesses—saddlers, blacksmiths, carriage manufacturers, harness makers, feed suppliers, stables, auction houses, etc. the City was dense with horses. This week, For the Record introduces the topic and features pictures selected from the Municipal Archives gallery that illustrate the preponderance of the horse in city life. Future articles will identify and explore resources in the Archives for further study of the horse in the City.

Team of 34 horses bringing steel girders for Municipal Building from dock at Battery Place, February 26, 1911. Photograph by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges, Plant & Structures Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Dutch brought horses to New Amsterdam to carry heavy loads and operate gristmills and sawmills. English settlers imported horses for racing. Soon after their arrival, references to horses appear in official records, most often as the subject of assorted regulations and taxation. An entry from The Minutes of the Common Council for October 15, 1670, provides a typical citation: “Ordered that all and every person that should ship from this place any horses, mares or geldings to Virginia, Maryland or any other outward plantations should pay for every horse, mare or gelding one shilling in silver or two guilders in wampum....”

Subsequent records document regulations about where and how horses could be bought and sold, watered and fed. And many rules focused on horse racing—most often the prevention thereof.

Police officer with his horse in Central Park, ca. 1915. NYPD Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Department of Street Cleaning snow removal team, n.d. Department of Sanitation Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The first horse-drawn omnibus in the nation operated along Broadway in Manhattan from Prince to 14th Street beginning in 1832. Horse-drawn passenger vehicles continued to ply city streets until 1918. Beginning in the 1860s, fire companies adopted horses to pull fire-fighting apparatus. Similarly, the Street Cleaning Department, and the Department of Public Charities and Hospitals hitched horses to their equipment.

The number of plans related to features of Central Park specifically dedicated to horses in the Department of Parks drawing collection points to their importance for leisure activities.

Central Park, shelter for carriages and horses, preliminary study, front elevation. Jacob Wrey Mould, 1871. Department of Parks & Recreation Drawings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horse Aid Society, Manhattan Bridge, October 18, 1917. Photographer: Eugene de Salignac. Department of Bridges Plant & Structures Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

West 44th Street, September 6, 1931. Photographer: Frank Savastano. Borough President Manhattan Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Other records reveal another consequence of the city’s reliance on horses. There are disturbing numbers of arraignments in the Police and Magistrate’s Court docket books for offenses related to animal abuse. In many cases, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) brought the charges. New York City’s branch of the ASPCA, founded in 1866, was the first in the U.S. based on a similar group that originated in Great Britain. More recently, the ASPCA monitors conditions of the City’s carriage horses.

By the early twentieth century, the number of horses in the city began to diminish. Technology, in the form of motor vehicles—cars and trucks, gradually reduced the city’s reliance on horsepower. Between 1910 and 1920, the number of horses in the City declined from 128,000 to 56,000.

Riders on Central Park Bridle Paths, June 1937. Photographer: E.M. Bofinger. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Although much reduced in number, the horse is not entirely absent from the City scene today. Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, the only racetrack located within New York City limits, continues to operate, generally from late October through April. Closure of the Claremont Riding Stables on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in 2007 greatly reduced, but did not entirely eliminate people enjoying horseback rides along Central Park’s bridle paths. And despite decades-long protests and controversy, horse-drawn carriages still meander through the southern portion of the park.

Highway maintenance, Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven Avenue, August 13, 1926. Borough President Queens Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Coney Island Hospital ambulance, n.d. Department of Public Charities and Hospitals Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Department of Street Cleaning rubbish wagon, Brooklyn, n.d. Department of Sanitation Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Teamster on West Street, Manhattan, February 10, 1938. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horse with feed bag, ca. 1936. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Village blacksmith, 33 Cornelia Street, Manhattan, August 6, 1937. Photographer: E.M. Bofinger. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Mayor Edward Koch at the Big Apple Stakes, Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens, April 26, 1980. Mayor Edward Koch Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Marriage Contracts

October is Family History month. In recognition of this popular pastime and the many valuable genealogy resources at the Municipal Archives, For the Record explores the origins and intellectual content of the Marriage Contract collection. There are 8,616 items in the series; the bulk of the material pre-dates 1908 when New York State instituted the marriage license requirement. Similar to license records, the contracts provide information essential for family historians. But they also reveal interesting data that illuminates the experience of new immigrants to the United States during the first decade of the twentieth century.   

But first, why were the contracts created? The records help provide the answer. Most of the contracts consist of pre-printed forms with information filled-in as appropriate. There are two forms, both titled “Marriage Contract.” On one of the forms pre-printed text reads, “Now, therefore, in pursuance of Subdivision 4 of Section 11 of Article II of the Domestic Relations Law, as amended by Chapter 339 of the laws of 1901, the said [name of groom] and the said [name of bride] do from the date of this contract become Husband and Wife.” 

 The Municipal Library’s New York State publication collection includes a copy of The Laws of the State of New York, 1901. Turning to Chapter 339, §11 the text states “Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned continues to be a civil contract . . . that must be “solemnized.” The 1901 law amended an 1896 statute which specified that a marriage may be solemnized by 1) clergyman or minister of any religion, or the leader of the society for ethical culture in the City of New York; 2) mayor, recorder, alderman, police justice or police magistrate; or 3) a justice or judge of a court of record, etc.   

Marriage contract no. 8501. NYC Municipal Archives.

The 1901 amendment added a fourth method to validate a marriage: “A written contract of marriage signed by both parties, and at least two witnesses.” The amendment added “Such contract shall be filed within six months after its execution in the office of the clerk of the town or city in which the marriage was solemnized.” The Governor approved the amended law on April 12, 1901, and it became effective on January 1, 1902. Shortly thereafter, the New York City Clerk began receiving marriage contracts.   

The contract series is a valuable resource for family historians. All of the contracts include basic data, e.g. names and dates. In some instances, additional information is provided, such as birthplaces and parents’ names.

Upon closer examination, the records also provide some fascinating insights into immigration. One notable feature of the series is that many of the couples have family names that point to origins in Southern and Eastern Europe. Given patterns of immigration at that time, the likelihood is that many were recent arrivals to the U.S. Further inspection shows that many were very new arrivals, i.e. marrying at Ellis Island on the day of arrival. As noted above, most of the contracts are pre-printed forms. One of the two forms that comprise most of the series was supplied by the “U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, Immigration Service,” according to a stamp on the forms. 

Examining marriage contracts that used the federal form reveals an interesting phenomenon. The grooms are almost always listed as residing in the U.S., mainly New York City. But the “residence” of the bride is frequently recorded as Ellis Island. For example, contract no. 2453: “We, Harry Askin, aged 25, residing at 357 E. 10th Street, N.Y.C. and Lei Stein, aged 18, arriving Ellis Island, S. S. Statendam on January 4, 1905, hereby agree to marry etc.”   

Marriage contract no. 5709. NYC Municipal Archives.

Over the years, patrons visiting the archives have sometimes been in search of documentation to support a family legend that their ancestors married on Ellis Island. City archivists replied that there were not records; Ellis Island was not considered part of New York City for vital record purposes, and reporting of birth, death and marriage events to the City’s Health Department was not consistent. Now, with the newly indexed marriage contract series, maybe the family stories are true – and there are records to prove it!  

A second observation about contracts using the Immigration Service form is that there are “witnesses” who signed multiple contracts. For example, during the last two weeks of August 1904, Helen A. Taylor, of 108 W. 84th Street, witnessed eleven marriages. All eleven brides “resided” on Ellis Island, having arrived on steamships within a day or two of the contract-signing. Although two grooms also listed Ellis Island as place of residence, all the rest resided locally. Similarly, Elizabeth A. Fitzgerald, of 404 E. 6th Street, witnessed five marriage contracts during December 1904. The newly-arrived brides all married U.S. resident grooms, often on the day the boat docked: “We, George W. Whitehead, 26 years, residing at 165 W. 21st Street, N.Y.C. and Edith Swain, 23 years, arrived at Ellis Island, S.S. Lucania, December 12, 1904, hereby agree to marry etc.,” signed December 12, 1904. (Marriage contract no. 2381.) 

Marriage contract no 8497. NYC Municipal Archives.

This leads to further questions. Were the “witnesses” representatives of an altruistic organization such as the Immigrant Aid Society, or were they operating some kind of business enterprise? Did having the marriage contract ease entry to the U.S. through Ellis Island?   

One possible answer comes from historical information supplied by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services division of the Department of Homeland Security. According to their website, “During its first decade [after 1892], the Immigration Service formalized basic immigration procedures and made its first attempts to enforce a national immigration policy. The Immigration Service began collecting arrival manifests (also frequently called passenger lists or immigration arrival records) from each incoming ship, a former duty of the U.S. Customs Service since 1820. Inspectors then questioned arrivals about their admissibility and noted their admission or rejection on the manifest records. Beginning in 1893, Inspectors also served on Boards of Special Inquiry that closely reviewed each exclusion case. Inspectors often initially excluded noncitizens who were likely to become public charges because they lacked funds or had no friends or relatives nearby.”   

Given this information, it seems apparent that having one of the two parties already residing in the U.S. probably assured quick passage through Ellis Island and a new life in America.  

Once again, basic bureaucratic processes and the resulting documentation available in Municipal Archives collections help tell a larger story. And future digitization of the series will greatly expand this utility. In the meantime, the index to the contracts can be accessed by clicking on the ‘External Documents’ link in the Collection Guide description of the collection. Patrons can visit the Archives to view the contracts, or order copies using the online order form for historical marriage records.    

The Closing of Sydenham Hospital

At the start of 2018, the Municipal Archives began digitizing its vast and varied audiovisual collections, including lacquer discs, films and tapes from municipal broadcasters WNYC Radio and TV, surveillance films created by the New York Police Department (NYPD) and early cable television programming from the City’s Channel L Working Group. Now, almost six years later, the Archives has made thousands of hours of this visual material available online, with even more being added in the next few months.

These four collections, WNYC Radio (REC0078), WNYC-TV (REC0047), the NYPD Surveillance Films (REC0063) and Channel L (REC0072) together provide uniquely detailed and multifaceted perspectives on the City of New York during one of its most difficult eras since the Great Depression. These municipal entities often covered the same issues facing New Yorkers, but through different lenses and motivated by different public interests. While WNYC Radio and TV mostly showed the City through a lens of journalism and culture, the NYPD had its eye on the safety and security of its inhabitants. Meanwhile, Channel L gave cable subscribers a window into the minutia of City government with a variety of call-in talk show programs, many hosted by City officials trying to explain their legislative efforts and amplifying the voices of activists and average New Yorkers invited on the air.

Sydenham Hospital, ca. 1940. Tax Photo Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

One issue that WNYC, the NYPD and Channel L all covered was the 1980 closure of Sydenham Hospital in Harlem. As discussed in a previous blog post, Sydenham Hospital was the first fully integrated hospital in the United States. It also served one of the most medically deprived areas of the country, with health outcomes for Harlem residents far below those of other New Yorkers. Still, the dire budgetary constraints of 1970s New York ultimately led Mayor Ed Koch to close the hospital.

WNYC-TV was on the scene documenting protests at the hospital over the years. The television journalists also covered official statements regarding the fate of the public hospital system from both Mayors Abe Beame and Ed Koch, as well as City Council President Carol Bellamy. This newly preserved and freely available footage shows the day-to-day news coverage from WNYC-TV that New Yorkers depended on to keep abreast of current events. Over the years, WNYC-TV employed journalists like Brian Lehrer, Maria Hinojosa, Bob Herbert, and Ti-Hua Chang to host talk shows like NY Hotline, and to critically investigate current events.

Like WNYC-TV, Channel L covered major metro-area developments, but rather than employing a cadre of journalists, Channel L gave hosting duties directly to the political figures that WNYC reporters often interviewed. City Council member Fred Samuels represented Harlem during the 1970s and 80s. He often hosted Channel L talk shows featuring doctors from Sydenham Hospital who expressed the importance of their healthcare facility to the people of Harlem. Samuels also featured other residents and professionals from Harlem on his repeat appearances, using the new format of cable television to highlight an array of issues confronting the community he represented, and his efforts to address the challenges of his constituents.

At the same time, the New York Police Department was also creating audiovisual records of social and political protest movements, including the ten-day occupation of Sydenham Hospital. Unlike Channel L and WNYC-TV, the NYPD never intended the footage to be released to the public. These films were created to further the efforts of the NYPD’s Bureau of Special Services (BOSS) to maintain the safety and security of New Yorkers during an increasingly tumultuous and physically dangerous time. Because of this different motive and method, the footage from this collection offers a totally different perspective on the same events covered by the journalists of WNYC-TV and the politicians of Channel L.

Through the work of archivists at the Municipal Archives, the perspectives of the City’s journalists, politicians, activists, police, and average New Yorkers come together to create a rich vision of one of the greatest cities in the world on the closure of Sydenham Hospital and countless other historical events and movements. The fight for LGBTQ+ rights, Caribbean migration, the rise of modern environmentalism, the Civil Rights movement, the Cold War, second wave feminism, the birth of hip-hop, the space race and so many other developments in the second half of the twentieth century are revealed in new ways through the sounds and visions of these never-before available collections. With holdings that dwarf every other city in the United States, the NYC Municipal Archives and its audiovisual collections serve a vital function of providing a communal memory of American culture, identity, and history, reminding us of our values as a society and the lessons our predecessors learned for our benefit. 

This is the last blog post by archivist Chris Nicols. After more than five-years of work dedicated to preserving the visual resources of the Municipal Archives, Chris is moving on to new challenges. We will miss both his technical know-how and the always intelligent perspective he provided on the content he worked so hard to preserve. 

The Entire Expense Should Be Borne by the Federal Government: A 1913 Report from the Commissioners of Accounts

A recent search for reports about immigration in the Municipal Library, showed that the earliest report in the collection was issued by the Office of the Commissioner of Accounts in 1913. Sent to the Honorable Ardolph L. Kline, Mayor, the subject was the treatment of indigent aliens, free of charge, at Bellevue and Allied Hospitals.

Report on Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, Care, Treatment and Maintenance of Indigent Aliens, Free of Charge, 1913. Office of the Mayor (Kline) Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Office of the Commissioner of Accounts (Accounts) was created in 1873 to investigate the City’s operations and financial controls after the Boss Tweed scandals. It evolved into the Department of Investigation and Accounts and today exists as the Department of Investigation. Reviewing files in the Office of the Mayor collections in the Municipal Archives, it would appear that the Commissioners of Accounts covered a lot of territory. In 1913, report topics ranged from the administration of the many courts within the City of New York, to an examination of Police Pension Fund accounts, to an investigation at the request of Mayor William Gaynor and Fire Commissioner Joseph Johnson into firefighters involvement in passing “two platoon” legislation and more.

One document in Mayor Kline’s Departmental Correspondence Received series resonates today: the aforementioned memo regarding the cost of hospital care.

According to the National Archives, more than 20 million immigrants arrived at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. Not all stayed in New York City, but many did. Seventy-five percent of New York City residents were immigrants or born to immigrants, the Library of Congress reports. New York was known, then and now, for the diversity of its population. Immigration and industrialization went hand-in-hand and New York’s immigrant residents made the City a manufacturing hub. The new arrivals also faced discrimination and endured harsh living conditions. Federal regulations permitted the deportation of immigrants who might become a public charge.

Report on Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, Care, Treatment and Maintenance of Indigent Aliens, Free of Charge, 1913. Office of the Mayor (Kline) Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

In 1913, there were three public hospital systems in the City. One operated by the Department of Public Charities oversaw operations at ten hospitals. The Health Department had oversight of six hospitals. The third, the Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, consisted of five institutions: Bellevue Hospital, Harlem Hospital, Gouverneur Hospital, Fordham Hospital and Emergency Hospital. A lengthy December 26, 1913 report from Accounts described this system as “archaic and ineconomical,”(sic) leading to “conflict of authority.” It reported horrific patient treatment, unsanitary conditions, and lax practices. The final sentence in the report comes under the heading Free Treatment of Aliens. “A report (file NO1852) upon the free treatment of aliens, and its very large cost to the city was submitted to the mayor under date of September 25, 1913.”

The Accounts report stated that 57,422 persons were treated at the Bellevue and Allied hospitals. A sampling of the 11,224 records of cases treated in a three-month period showed that “671 were less than three years in this country, and consequently were not citizens.” In the margin of the report is a handwritten calculation in pencil showing that the percent of noncitizens was 6% of those treated. We expect this was calculated by Mayor Kline. Further down, the Accounts report stated that using the percent derived from their sampling, “approximately 9,879 aliens, not citizens of this country, were treated without charge.” The average cost of treatment of each patient during these three years was $21.10, and on this basis the total cost of the aliens treated during the three years therefore amounted to $208,446.90. An inflation calculator shows this would be $6,464,510. in 2023 dollars.

Report, page 2. Office of the Mayor (Kline) Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Report, page 3. Office of the Mayor (Kline) Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The author took pains to note that the calculations were for people residing in the U.S. for less than three years and stated, “The inclusion of aliens of more than three years’ residence, who have been treated free of charge in these institutions, would considerably augment this sum... The imposition of this burden upon the municipal government it is contended is an injustice.” The report cites the then-existing federal law which provided that the Commissioner-General of Immigration was responsible for “the support and relief of such aliens as may fall into distress or need public aid.”

The report criticized the low reimbursement rates paid by the federal government and the process by which the payments were calculated. Payments were made only for cases in which deportation warrants were issued, which occurred after the individual was housed in the city hospitals while Immigration doctors determined whether they should be deported so they wouldn’t become a public charge, which triggered deportation.

Report, page 4. Office of the Mayor (Kline) Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

“The city is not reimbursed for expenses incurred for the care and treatment of these patients at the hospitals during the investigation, which often consumes several weeks before the issue of the warrant. If the investigation fails to develop facts sufficient to warrant deportation the city receives nothing for care and treatment during the period of detention.” Between 1902 and December 1913, the City was reimbursed only $1,149—far less than the Commissioners of Accounts calculated was fairly due.

The report recommended that the Trustees of the Bellevue and Allied Hospitals begin negotiations with federal authority “with a view to relieving the City of New York of the unjust share of this federal burden which it bears at the present time…”

It’s not clear that City officials acted on this recommendation. There are no letters in the Mayor Kline collection to the federal government requesting full reimbursement. It is clear, though, that the City took on the responsibility of caring for immigrants in poor health, even if not fully compensated.

The United Nations in New York City

This week, the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly convened at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. According to the official United Nations website, “World leaders gather to engage in the annual high-level General Debate under the theme, ‘Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all’.” 

For the Record looks at the many resources in Municipal Archives and Library collections for researchers interested in documenting the history of the United Nations in New York City.   

United Nations, aerial view, ca. 1962, transparency. Department of Ports and Trade photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The basic structure of the United Nations as agreed to in 1944 at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference did not specify New York City as headquarters for the new peace-keeping organization. The records of the LaGuardia and O’Dwyer mayoral administrations provide ample documentation of the headquarters competition that New York City eventually won in 1946. For example, on September 24, 1945, Mayor LaGuardia received a letter from John E. Mack, Chairman of the Poughkeepsie Chamber of Commerce, urging the Mayor to support the selection of Hyde Park, New York, for the honor. Mack wrote: “It is our belief that Hyde Park has a strong international appeal. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was born here; he lived his lifetime there and is buried there... the proposed site for the United Nations government would center around the Roosevelt home and burial place, in close proximity to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.” LaGuardia immediately replied: “I agree with everything you say... except I am trying to have the headquarters of the United Nations... here in New York City.”  

The competition continued into Mayor William O’Dwyer’s administration. On December 29, 1945, Bronx Borough President James J. Lyons wrote to the Mayor-elect: “Do not let the ‘Oberburgomeiser’ [Robert Moses] sell you in the idea that the Corona Dumps are the only place for the home of the United Nations. Bob has a good batting average, but he frequently strikes out... He proceeds on the main theory that if it is not the ‘Moses Plan’ it is wrong. He has certainly given you a read dud on the Corona Dumps.” 

United Nations Contract 161c, looking north from U.N. roof, April 12, 1950. Borough President Manhattan photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Finally, in 1946, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. contributed $8.5 million to purchase a six-block tract of land on the East River in Manhattan which he donated as the site for the United Nations. The City contributed additional land and spent $23 million for improvements and reconstruction around the site, and the deal was finalized.      

Cancellation of first United Nations stamp. L to R., Postmaster Albert Goldman, Eleanor Roosevelt, John Golden, Elizabeth Impellitteri, October 5, 1950. Grover Whalen records collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Invitation to Laying of Cornerstone for the Permanent Headquarters of the United Nations, Luncheon at Gracie Mansion, October 24, 1949. Grover Whalen records collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Researchers will find numerous folders labeled “United Nations” within the subject files of each succeeding Mayor. Much of the more recent correspondence focuses on costs incurred by the City in protecting United Nations personnel. For example, in February 1971, William B. Macomber, Jr., the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration in Washington, D.C., wrote to Mayor Lindsay: “As a result of the Administration’s review,... we are prepared to forward proposed legislation to the Congress which would authorize an appropriation in the amount of $1.3 million for payment to the City of New York in defraying the extraordinary expenses it incurred in affording protection to visiting chiefs of state and heads of government during the 25th United Nations General Assembly.” Lindsay replied that he hoped the legislation would support reimbursement for the full $2.6 in security expenditures. The result of this legislative action was not evident in the file, but similar correspondence can be found in later mayoral records.       

Invitation envelope, 1949, Grover Whalen records collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Library’s holdings of printed materials include several pertinent titles. The March 1947 Report on Foundation Investigation, by Moran, Proctor, Freeman & Museser, provides a detailed history of the site, dating back to the colonial era. More recent relevant content such as the United Nations Impact Report, 2016, can be found in the Government Publications Portal, hosted by the Library. The report is full of informative facts: e.g. “Overall, the UN Community contributed an estimated $69 billion in total output to New York City in 2014; approximately 25,040 full-and part-time jobs in New York City are attributable to the UN Community.”  

Researchers interested in how New York City organized and participated in the many ceremonial aspects of the United Nations will find the Mayor’s Reception Committee files a rich resource, particularly for the early years under the leadership of official city-greeter, Grover Whalen. In the 1960s, the Mayor’s Office established a dedicated office, Commissioner to the United Nations, that evolved into the New York City Commission for the United Nations, Consular Corps & Protocol. The  Municipal Archives collections include several accessions from the various mayoral United Nations-related offices.   

Researchers are encouraged to search in the Collection Guide for further details on available materials, including significant quantities of audio and video materials related to the United Nations and its home in New York City for more than three-quarters of a century.   

United Nations, ca.. 1985. New York City Convention and Visitors Bureau, NYC Municipal Archives.

Loew’s Canal Street Theater

For the Record has followed progress of the Manhattan Building Plans processing and rehousing project in several articles, most recently, Manhattan Building Plans Project - The Seaport and Financial District. This week, For the Record highlights the original plans for the Loew’s Canal Street Theatre identified by project archivists. 

31 Canal Street, Loew’s Canal Street Theater, 1940. Showing were the 1940 films Abe Lincoln in Illinois, a black & white bio-pic, and a Shirley Temple Technicolor fantasy The Blue Bird. Both films were box-office flops. Also showing was the racy 1940 crime drama Convicted Woman, and a 1939 comedy, Money to Burn. 1940s Tax Photograph Collection.

The Loew’s Canal Street Theatre is located between Essex and Ludlow Streets, in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Long since converted to other uses, the building is a surviving example of the lavish movie palaces built by the Loew’s company in the 1920s and 30s throughout the city. 

1934 Manhattan Atlas, showing block 297. Although the Theater auditorium fronted Ludlow Street, the narrow marquee entrance lobby was on Canal Street.

Designed by noted theater architect Thomas W. Lamb, it featured an elegant interior and a beautifully ornamented terra-cotta exterior. Although not as fantastical as the five “Wonder Theaters” built by Loew’s in the late 1920s, it does share many of the features Lamb used in his design for one of the Wonders, the 175th Street Theatre in upper Manhattan. The 175th Street venue retained its extravagant interior and has been featured in recent news stories as the site of the Tony Award ceremony this past June. 

Front Elevation, Vestibules and Lobby Details [Design], Loew’s Theater, Canal & Ludlow Streets. Thomas W. Lamb Architect, 1927. Department of Buildings collection.

Longitudinal Section [Design], Loew’s Theater, Canal & Ludlow Streets. Thomas W. Lamb Architect, 1927. Department of Buildings collection.

Half Cross Sections [Design], Loew’s Theater, Canal & Ludlow Streets. Thomas W. Lamb Architect, 1927. Department of Buildings collection.

Ceiling and Balcony Soffit, Loew’s Theater, Canal & Ludlow Streets. Thomas W. Lamb Architect, 1927. Department of Buildings collection.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Loew’s Canal Street Theatre in 2010. The report narrative places the building within the context of the golden age of movie palaces. It describes how Loew’s Inc. founder Marcus Loew, born on the Lower East Side in 1870, started his entertainment company with vaudeville theaters and nickelodeons. He bought Metro Pictures in 1924 and merged it with Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to form Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer (MGM), a Hollywood studio that dominated the film industry for decades.  

27-29 Canal Street, showing Loew’s Canal Street Theater marquee and sign. 1940s Tax Photograph Collection.

The building plans recently identified by municipal archivists depict the external features of the building described in the Landmarks report: “The ground floor consists almost entirely of a large rectangular opening that was once fitted with a series of doors flanking a central box office. The upper floors are completely clad in terra cotta with projecting piers running along the full height of the building’s corners. The blind openings on the second story, which are fitted with rare black terra cotta designed to mimic windowpanes, hide the mechanical equipment of what was originally the theater’s fan room. The most flamboyant ornamentation—which particularly distinguishes the Canal Street Theatre from earlier designs produced by Lamb’s firm—is reserved for the cornice line. Griffons, eagles, and fanciful sea monsters are interspersed with garlands, festoons, and other foliate motifs in an exuberant explosion of terra-cotta decoration.” The complete designation report  is available from the Publications Portal in the Municipal Library. 

In addition to the building plans, Municipal Archives collections also include the related Department of Buildings permit application file. The folder for the Loew’s Theatre (Block 297, Lot 1) contains New Building Application No. 404 of 1926, filed on August 23, 1926, signed by architect Thomas Lamb. The application specifications recorded the building would have a seating capacity of 2,324. 

New Building Application, front, 1927. Department of Buildings collection.

New Building Application, reverse, 1927. Department of Buildings collection.

There are no other applications in the folder for modifications to the building except an Alteration Application filed in November 1962. In the section asking the applicant to “State generally in what manner the Building will be altered,” owner Sidney Silberman wrote: “This building will no longer be used as a theatre. All seats have been removed. It is proposed to use the 1st floor spaces between aisles only, for storage of hardware. Part of 1st floor is now to be divided for Retail Store and Manufacturing. The marquise on Canal St. Side of building is to be removed.” The Landmarks report added to this sad ending by noting that the original entrance doors and frames have been removed and replaced with “an infill storefront covered by metal roll-down security gates.”  

Alteration Application, page 1, 1962. Department of Buildings collection.

Alteration Application, page 2, 1962. Department of Buildings collection.

31 Canal Street, ca. 1985. 1980s Tax Photograph collection.

Project archivists have processed other works by architect Thomas Lamb. In addition to the Loew’s Canal Theatre, his Loew’s State Theatre at 1538 Seventh Avenue, the Strand Theatre at 231 W. 47th Street (both demolished), and the Julian Eltinge Theatre at 236 W. 42nd Street (now an AMC movie theater, originally a burlesque theater) are available. Other buildings designed by Lamb in the collection are located at 421 W. Broadway, 101 Prince Street (U.S. Post Office), 78-80 Walker Street and 92-94 Walker Street. Plans for buildings he designed as the partnership, Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, are the Bankers Trust Building at 14 Wall Street, the Insurance Company of North America at 99 John Street, the Western Electric Building at 222 Broadway, and the Vladeck Houses. 

As noted above, the building received landmark status in 2010. Later that year, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation awarded $150,000 for a feasibility study to convert the space into a performance arts center. Ultimately, the project never came to fruition. The current status of the interior space is not known, but the original terra-cotta ornament around the Canal Street entrance is largely intact, hinting at the grandeur within. Perhaps the drawings in the collection will one day serve for a well-deserved restoration.