Federal Art Project

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) was created in 1935 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, to provide work relief for the unemployed. Under the auspices of the WPA, the Federal Art Project (FAP) was created specifically to aid visual artists by...

Jacob A. Riis

Danish-born Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was a journalist, social reformer, and social documentary photographer. He is best known for his 1890 book How the Other Half Lives, which brought public attention to New York's squalid housing, sweatshops, bars, and alleys. The...

Fans

The City Museum holds an exceptional collection of hand fans, which comprises more than 700 objects dating from the 18th century through the 1920s and includes examples of painted, printed, brisé, and folding feather fans, as well as hand screens. This selection...

Edmund V. Gillon

These photographs by Edmund V. Gillon (1929-2008) are a recent addition to the Museum's Photography collection. Gillon is best known for more than a dozen books on New York City for the Dover Publishing Company. The bulk of the collection is architectural in nature,...

Byron Company

For half a century, the Byron Company (1892-1942) was one of New York City's preeminent commercial photography studios. Two major areas of specialization - stage and ship photography - provided steady work for the firm while it pursued thousands of other commissions....

Currier and Ives

In 1857, Nathaniel Currier formed a partnership with James Merritt Ives, creating the printmaking firm of Currier & Ives. Located in lower Manhattan, the business was spectacularly prolific, producing an average of three or four new prints of a wide variety of...

Yiddish Theater

The City Museum holds a major collection related to theatrical productions performed or originated on New York's Yiddish stage. Highlights include works translated into Yiddish and performances of works originally written in Yiddish but translated into English....

Stanley Kubrick

Between 1945 and 1950, Stanley Kubrick worked as a staff photographer for LOOK magazine. He was not yet Kubrick, the famous film director; he was just Stanley, the kid from the Bronx with an uncanny photographic sensibility. Only 17 years old when he joined the...

Broadway Productions

The City Museum has received generous funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to digitize its theater production files--more than 30,000 photographs documenting over 5,000 Broadway productions. They'll be made available here as they're digitized...

J. Clarence Davies Collection

Bronx real estate mogul J. Clarence Davies (1868-1934) assembled his collection of New York City imagery over a forty year period, collecting voraciously and comprehensively. In 1929 he gave his collection to the City Museum. At the time, the gift was valued at...

Samuel H. Gottscho

As a young man, Samuel Gottscho (1875-1971) recorded the nighttime glories of Coney Island's early 20th-century amusement parks, but he became a professional success with the establishment of his own architectural photography firm in 1925. He received numerous...

Mid-20th Century Women's Garments

The Museum holds a striking collection of mid-20th century garments worn by notable New York women and created by celebrated designers. The women's costumes, ranging from jumpsuits to evening gowns, document the city’s arrival as a fashion capital, and date from...

1939 World's Fair

The 1939 New York World’s Fair was a significant marker in New York City history and American culture. It contributed to the physical development of the city through major infrastructure projects, but equally importantly, it captured the spirit of its era. The...

Posters and Patriotism

This selection of images from the World War I poster collection donated to the Museum by railroad executive and financier John W. Campbell (1880-1957) in 1943, is representative of many shown in Posters and Patriotism: Selling World War I in New York. When the...

Sophie Tucker Collection

Singer, comedian, and actress, Sophie Tucker was one of the most well-known entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Making her professional stage debut in 1907, Tucker’s big voice and even bigger stage presence were a hit on the vaudeville and burlesque...

Berenice Abbott

Born in Springfield, Ohio, Berenice Abbott (1898-1991) came to New York City at the age of 20, then began her career as a photographer during an extended time in Paris, where she worked as an assistant to photographer Man Ray. Returning to New York in 1929, she...

Wurts Bros.

Thanks to generous grants from the Leon Levy Foundation, the Wurts Brothers Collection is now available online. This collection gives visual life to the growth of New York’s built environment in the 20th century. The studio, founded by brothers Norman and Lionel...

Arthur Rothstein

Arthur Rothstein joined LOOK Magazine as a staff photographer in 1940 and, upon returning from serving in World War II, was named the Director of Photography, a position he held until the magazine’s demise in 1971. Before joining LOOK, Rothstein cemented his reputation...