Pauline Toole
The Policy of the Club: Ralph Bunche, the U.S. ...
Melissa Minnich
Commemorating September 11th
Kenneth R. Cobb
Parton Is Such Sweet Music
Kenneth R. Cobb
New York Goes Wild Welcoming Trudy Home
Lauren Gilbert
The Dog Days of August in the Municipal Library

New Project: Processing and Digitizing Records of the New York City Commission on Human Rights

Project Overview

An Equal Chance booklet, published by New York State Commission Against Discrimination, 1951. NYC Commission on Human Rights Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The NYC Municipal Archives has launched a new processing and digitization project, Processing and Digitizing Records of the New York City Commission on Human Rights. It is supported by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the National Archives as part of their Documenting Democracy initiative. The project will enhance public access to a significant series of records created by the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Key activities of the project include rehousing and processing 268 cubic feet of records, digitizing the earliest 53 cubic feet, publishing digitized materials, an online finding aid, social media content and blog posts, and curating a digital exhibit that showcases both the collection and the project’s progress. Project activities commenced in March 2025 and will be completed in March 2026.

About the Collection

The collection spans 268 cubic feet and covers the years 1944 to 1976, bringing together the records of the New York City Human Rights Commission (1962–1976) and its predecessor organizations—the Mayor’s Committee on Unity (1944–1954) and the Committee on Intergroup Relations (1955–1961). It provides a comprehensive record of the research, policymaking, investigations, legal actions and studies that shaped New York City’s efforts to address discrimination over three decades.

The Mayor’s Committee on Unity (1944-1954)

In 1944, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia created the Mayor’s Committee on Unity by Executive Order in response to citywide concerns about race relations following riots in Harlem during the 1930s and early 1940s. The Committee focused on:

Mayor’s Committee on Unity Program and Purpose Document, October 18, 1946. NYC Commission on Human Rights Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

  • Recommending and endorsing legislation beneficial to the causes of race relations.

  • Investigating and recommending action in New York City neighborhoods where tensions were acute.

  • Advising groups and agencies on how to adapt their programs to meet demands created by racial and religious conflict.

  • Exerting the pressure at their disposal to bring about desired changes in agency programs.

  • Extinguishing the little fires of conflict before they reach conflagration proportions.

  • Conducting research and investigations to determine the causes of intergroup differences.

These early materials consist of The Mayor’s Committee on Unity’s meeting minutes, topical reports, original research, surveys, correspondence, speeches, programmatic planning, interviews, press coverage, financial reports, conference proceedings, and legal documents. 

The Commission on Intergroup Relations (1955-1961)

Does the Light Reach Harlem? pamphlet, published by City-Wide Citizens’ Committee on Harlem, 1950. NYC Commission on Human Rights Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

In the mid 1950s, the Mayor’s Committee on Unity evolved into the Commission on Intergroup Relations. The Committee had been privately funded and relied on donations. It lacked permanent city agency status. As its mission became more essential and long-term sustainability grew uncertain, the city formalized its work by establishing the Commission on Intergroup Relations as a permanent, city-funded agency.

The Commission on Human Rights (1962-Current)

In 1962, the Commission on Intergroup Relations was renamed the Commission on Human Rights. With the passage of the New York City Human Rights Law in 1965, the Commission gained the authority to prosecute discrimination in private housing, employment, public accommodations, and equal pay. This is the largest series in the collection, comprising 215 cubic feet of case files used in legal proceedings. Due to concerns about protecting personal privacy, this series will not be digitized.

Step 1. Surveying

Before the collection can be processed it will be surveyed. Surveying involves looking through a sampling of the boxes to determine a general timeline and content themes. The archivists aim to create a potential organization scheme for the collection during the survey. In the initial survey of the NYC Commission on Human Rights Collection, the archivists determined that the collection would be broken down into three main series that represented the three different entities and eras highlighted above.

The Puerto Rican Migration... a Report, published by The Committee of Puerto Ricans in New York City, 1955. NYC Commission on Human Rights Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Step 2. Processing and Re-Housing

Descriptive Information

Archivists identify and record key details about each folder’s contents, including topics and date ranges. This information is written on the physical folders and entered into a spreadsheet that  forms the basis of the online finding aid’s inventory.

Prejudice pamphlet, by Willard Johnson, National Conference of Christians and Jews, 1952. NYC Commission on Human Rights Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

As noted above, only the first series of the collection—totaling 53 cubic feet—will be digitized during this project. The digitization specialist will scan, review, and edit the digital files for quality, then name and upload them to the online repository. The materials will be accessible to the public, after the full collection has been processed and open for research.

Step 4. Writing the Finding Aid

The finding aid brings together all the information gathered during   collection processing and transforms it into a structured, accessible guide for researchers. The finding aid provides essential context, including a historical overview of the collection’s development, a narrative of the Commission’s evolution, profiles of key individuals, and documentation of the Commission’s major contributions. The finding aid also situates the collection within broader historical movements, highlights themes relevant to current research trends, and includes comprehensive subject terms to support discovery.

Step 5. Publishing the Finding Aid and Uploading the Inventory Online

The final step is to publish the finding aid and folder-level inventory in the Municipal Archives’ online repository for public access. The online finding aid includes introductory material such as historical and biographical notes, a description of how the collection is organized, and a detailed inventory of folder titles and dates. This final product will help researchers understand the collection’s historical context and include a folder inventory.

Conclusion

Keep Your School All-American poster, published by the Institute for American Democracy, 1950. NYC Commission on Human Rights Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights collection holds immense value for understanding how one of the nation’s most dynamic cities confronted systemic injustice across multiple decades. Comprised of meeting minutes, topical reports, original research, surveys, correspondence, speeches, programmatic planning, interviews, press coverage, financial reports, conference proceedings, and legal documents, the records document New York City’s governmental response to racial unrest, religious intolerance, and discrimination from the World War II era through the height of the civil rights movement. As a city at the forefront of social change, New York City’s Commission on Human Rights played a significant role in shaping national conversations around equity and democratic values. The Municipal Archives expects the collection to attract a wide range of users—from students and scholars to advocacy groups and public agencies—who are invested in exploring the roots and ongoing impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Its interdisciplinary relevance spans history, sociology, public policy, law, urban planning, critical race theory, gender studies, and beyond, offering deep insights into both historical and contemporary struggles for justice.

Look for future articles that will update project progress.

The War Memorial of the City of New York

As Memorial Day approaches, we are looking back at a 1923 plan for a never-built war memorial in Central Park. In November 1918, at the close of the First World War, Mayor John H. Hylan created the Committee on Permanent War Memorial, which was tasked with producing a plan for an appropriate monument. In 1923, a design from landscape architect Thomas Hastings of the firm Carrère and Hastings was accepted by the Committee and presented in a report to the Mayor and the Board of Estimate. A copy of this publication (see below) is housed in the Municipal Library. 

The Report of the Mayor’s Committee on Permanent War Memorial, 1923. NYC Municipal Library.

The plan, which was approved by the Department of Plants and Structures, the Art Commission, and the Department of Parks, called for a permanent memorial in Central Park between 79th and 86th Streets on the 37-acre site of the lower reservoir of the Old Croton system, which had been superseded by the Catskill Water System (see map below). 

The Report of the Mayor’s Committee on Permanent War Memorial, Plate I: General Map of the Central Park, New York City. NYC Municipal Library.

Along with removing the reservoir walls, the plan called for a long lagoon bordered by trees on either side, “similar to the one in the Mall in Washington, which leads to the new Lincoln Memorial.” The monument itself would be reflected in the water approach and feature statues representing allegorical or historical features of the “Great War,” along with war relics and inscriptions (see below). 

The Report of the Mayor’s Committee on Permanent War Memorial, Plate VI: Perspective of Lagoon and Memorial. NYC Municipal Library.

Though $300,000 was initially allocated by the Board of Estimate under Mayor Hylan, the project met with a storm of protest from civic groups opposed to any encroachment of public park space. By 1927, the new Mayor, Jimmy Walker, rescinded the former allotment in a cost-cutting measure, and the plan stalled completely. The space that had been designated for the war memorial is now occupied by the Great Lawn and Turtle Pond.

Lauren Gilbert is Director of the Municipal Library.

Delicious Apples: Department of Public Markets Photographs

The initial inquiry arrived via email in July 2024. The correspondent, a representative from the O’Malley family in Los Angeles, California, asked if the Municipal Archives would be interested in a collection of photographs that depicted public markets in New York City during the 1920s. The photographs had been in the personal files of Edwin J. O’Malley, Commissioner of the Department of Public Markets from 1919 through 1926. The representative said the photographs had been passed on to Edwin O’Malley’s son, Walter O’Malley, former owner of the Dodgers baseball team.

Edwin J. O’Malley, Commissioner, Department of Public Markets with fruit vendor, 1922. Photographer: Jack Sussman. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

City archivists replied in the affirmative, and the collection arrived at the Municipal Archives shortly thereafter. There are approximately 200 prints in the group, ranging in size from small snapshots to large-format 8x10 prints. Most are in good condition. The pictures document public markets throughout New York City during the 1920s; the bulk are dated July 1922.

Farm to City

Getting food from farmers to New York City residents has been a concern of the municipal government from the earliest days of colonial settlement. Two For the Record articles, From Marketfield to the Greenmarket, Part I, and From Marketfield to the Greenmarket, Part II: The Market Man, explored the history of this essential service from the Dutch and English colonial periods through the 19th century. In 1918, the “Bureau of Markets,” first established in 1850 as part of the Department of Streets and Lamps, and later under the Finance Department, became a separate agency, Department of Public Markets.

Thompson Street Market, at Spring Street, Manhattan, July 1922. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Mayor John F. Hylan appointed Edwin J. O’Malley as Commissioner of the Department of Public Markets on December 3, 1919. Mayor Hylan’s papers in the Municipal Archives provide good documentation of how Commissioner O’Malley helped set in motion Hylan’s plans to modernize the City’s food distribution system.

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Public Markets, Edwin J. O’Malley, 1923. Mayor John Hylan Records Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Hylan correspondence files include a copy of Commissioner O’Malley’s 1923 Report to the Mayor. O’Malley referenced Hylan’s “early farm life” and acknowledged how the Mayor had “set about cleaning the Augean stables of waste and corruption which had for years cluttered the path to a successful handling of the food problem.”

O’Malley’s report went on to detail the “food problem” and the strides toward its solution made under his leadership. Some of the photographs in the donated collection appeared in the 1923 report. It seems likely that Commissioner O’Malley commissioned the pictures to depict conditions “before” his planned improvements to the market system.

O’Malley’s 1923 Report supplies ample statistical data to illustrate “...the immensity of the City’s food problem.” For example, “About 40,000,000 chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks come into the city markets in a year.” Average daily consumption of other foods included 664,000 pounds of butter, 2,093,425 pounds of white potatoes, 209,562 pounds of sweet potatoes, and 1,302,986 pounds of apples, etc. Additionally, “New York City consumes more than 3,000,000 quarts of milk every day, drawn from over 40,000 farms... located in seven neighboring states... some even from over the Canadian border.” Plus, “New York City eats more than 1,250,000 loaves of bread daily and about 9,000,000 eggs.”

The Hot Loaf Baking Company market, ca. 1922. Photographer: Byron Studio. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Although these are certainly big numbers, they are reasonable given the City’s population of six million in the 1920s. What is more remarkable, perhaps, is the way in which the food made its way from farms to City tables at that time—via railroad. “The fact is that 1,300 or more carloads of eatables enter the City every day,” according to the Report.

Revenue Chart, Department of Public Markets, 1923. Mayor John Hylan Records Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Commissioner O’Malley went on to write that “the terminal markets will be an added incentive to the development of motor trucking from farms and producers within a radius of 80 to 100 miles of the City.” His prediction that this would result in “...a tremendous increase... in the number of motor trucks which will bring the products of the farms into the City of New York,” proved true over the ensuing decades.

Plan for Bronx Terminal Market, Department of Public Markets, ca. 1923. Municipal Library.

Edwin J. O’Malley’s term as Commissioner of the Department of Public Markets ended with the election of Mayor James J. Walker in November 1925. On December 23, 1925, one week before his departure from civil service, O’Malley wrote a detailed four-page letter to Mayor Hylan describing the many accomplishments of his five years as Commissioner. “In conclusion,” he wrote, “the success of this department is now an assured fact; and not only is this true of it as a revenue producer, but also in the advancement made toward solving the problem of food supply and its distribution.” Edwin O’Malley died on April 10, 1953, at age 69.

Commissioner O’Malley’s Public Market photographs are a valuable addition to the Municipal Archives collection. They are slated for processing and digitization in the near future. In the meantime, researchers are invited to examine Municipal Library and Archives collections to explore the long and fascinating history of New Yorkers and their food markets.

Food vendors with police officer, location unknown, ca. 1922. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Washington Market, Manhattan, ca. 1910. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Callan’s Baby Carriage Entrance, 121st Street, ca. 1922. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

East Houston Street Market, at Orchard Street, July 1922. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Orchard Street Market, between East Houston and Stanton Streets, Manhattan, July 1922. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Eighth Avenue Market, at 143rd Street, Manhattan, July 1922. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Fifth Avenue Market, at 134th Street, July 1922. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection.

Manhattan Avenue Market, Manhattan Avenue and Siegel Street, Brooklyn, July 1922. Department of Public Markets Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Jane’s Walk 2025: Walking the Streets of New Amsterdam

For Jane’s Walk (named after urban historian Jane Jacobs), the New York City Municipal Archives participated in two events, a tour of the Archival storage facility in Brooklyn, and a walking tour of lower Manhattan tracing the path of New Amsterdam. The tour will live on in an app, but you too can follow it virtually. The following is a transcript of the author’s tour.

On the Waterfront: A Dip Into New York City’s Most Valued but Least Understood Real Estate

New York City is a seaport. Always has been. Even before Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed into the harbor in 1524 and declared it “a very agreeable place [where] a very wide river, deep at its mouth, flowed out into the sea,”(1) the Lenape had established trading centers along the shore. The City’s shoreline has played a vital role in the regional, national, and global economy. With more miles of shoreline (520!) than the harbors of Boston, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco combined,(2) New York’s waterfront has been the site where goods got loaded and unloaded, where a slave market existed, where immigrants arrived by the millions, and where ships got built, fish were landed, people swam, and water to make beer was piped in while sewage was piped out—sometimes in appalling proximity. Our shoreline has been used for many things over the centuries and has expanded significantly through the use of fill.

Good Letters

The New York City Charter explicitly directs that mayoral records must be transferred to the Municipal Archives. Thanks to dedicated librarians and archivists over the past century, the Municipal Archives has become the repository of a significant quantity of records documenting the executive office of City government. The mayoral “collections” in the Archives have served as an essential resource for generations of researchers.  

Letter to Mayor Ed Koch from Jackie Kennedy Onassis, 1983. Mayor Koch Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Mayoral collections date to the mid-nineteenth century. They consist of correspondence between the mayor’s office and municipal agencies and departments as well as state and federal government entities. Beginning in the 1920s and 30s, Rebecca Rankin, Chief Librarian of the Municipal Reference Library, began acquiring and cataloging extant mayoral records she found in City offices. As a member of the Common Council prior to 1834, early mayoral records can found in the papers of the legislative body, also acquired by the Municipal Reference Library. Since establishment of the Municipal Archives in 1952, mayoral records have been transferred directly to the Archives.  

There are a few instances, however, when mayoral correspondence took a more circuitous route to the Municipal Archives. Mayor Edward I. Koch provides an example. Koch served the city as Mayor for three terms, from January 1, 1978, through December 31, 1989. One unusual aspect of the Koch administration is that his clerks and/or assistants transferred records to the Municipal Archives on a rolling basis throughout his term in office. For most other administrations, the mayoral records have been transferred upon conclusion of the term in office.  

The Mayor Koch records date from the pre-digital age. He, and his many deputies and assistants created a lot of paper documents. In terms of quantity, it far surpasses any other mayoral administration, totaling hundreds of cubic feet. 

Mayor Koch returned to private life after his third term ended on December 31, 1989. He became a partner in a law firm, an adjunct professor at New York University, a visiting professor at Brandeis University, and served as a commentator and movie critic on multiple radio and television programs. He died on February 1, 2013, at age 88.  

Letter to Mayor Ed Koch from Norman Mailer, 1986. Mayor Koch Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Several months later, the administrators of his estate discovered a trove of correspondence at his residence. The original signed items had been placed in folders labeled “good letters.” They dated from the 1970s through the early 2000s. The administrators intended to sell the collection at auction. The auctioneer selected for the sale divided the correspondence into nine “lots” labeled Political Figures, Entertainment and Literary Figures, Bill Clinton, Vice Presidents, Cardinal Joseph O’Connor, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Jimmy Carter.   

When City archivists learned of the upcoming auction, they contacted the auction house and arranged to examine the items. They discovered that many of the letters were addressed to Koch as Mayor of the City of New York and dated from his term in office.   

Letter to Mayor Ed Koch from Jeane Kirkpatrick, US Ambassador to the United Nations, 1982. Mayor Koch Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Which seemed odd. Mayor Koch had been a strong supporter of the Municipal Archives and certainly knew of his obligation to place his records at the institution. He took office shortly after establishment of the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) in 1977, and his administration helped build the Archives and the agency. His good friend and political supporter, Eugene Bockman was the first DORIS Commissioner. The conversion of space in the Surrogate’s Court at 31 Chambers Street to accommodate the Municipal Library and the Municipal Archives with climate-controlled storage, conservation, processing and microfilm laboratories all took place during his administration. Staffing in the Archives increased from three people during the fiscal crisis of the mid-seventies, to about two dozen during the Koch years. Mayor Koch also faithfully attended all the exhibits and special events staged by the Department during his tenure.   

In other words, he should have known better. One likely scenario is that he wanted to refer to the letters for his autobiographies. Or, perhaps he thought that copies had been made for the Archives. We’ll never know. When representatives from DORIS contacted the auction house and informed them of the Archives’ charter-mandated responsibility, they agreed to pull the Mayoral-era items from the sale and relinquish them to the Archives.     

Here are several examples of Mayor Koch’s “Good letters.”

Letter to Mayor Ed Koch from John Cardinal O’Connor, Archbishop of New York, 1985. Mayor Koch Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Letter to Mayor Ed Koch from Mother Teresa, 1989. Mayor Koch Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Letter to Mayor Ed Koch from former President Jimmy Carter, 1984. Mayor Koch Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Letter to Mayor Ed Koch from Menachem Begin, Former Prime Minister of Israel, 1985. Mayor Koch Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.

Letter to Mayor Ed Koch from Katherine Hepburn, 1988. Mayor Koch Papers, NYC Municipal Archives.