Archives
Archives
American Jewish Historical Society Archives
The AJHS has a small collection of holdings: the institutional records of United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York, 1909-2004; the archive of the American Soviet Jewry movement (circa 1960s - 1991); a database of American Jewish Portraits... Perhaps most useful, however, is a Portal that functions as a "one-stop" gateway for information on American Jewish history, aggregating the records of a number of historical societies, digital collections, and archives throughout the country.
Opened in 1970 to showcase the Essential Cinema Repertory collection, Anthology has grown far beyond its original concept to encompass film and video preservation; the formation of a reference library containing the world’s largest collection of books, periodicals, stills, and other paper materials related to avant-garde cinema; and a remarkably innovative and eclectic film exhibition program. The organization screens more than 900 programs annually, preserves an average of 25 films per year (with 900 works preserved to date), publishes books and DVDs, and hosts numerous scholars and researchers.
A non-profit music library and research center founded in 1985 with more than 3 million sound recordings from 1950 to the present, books, magazines, videos, films, photographs, press kits, newspapers clippings, memorabilia and ephemera relating to the history of popular music. Partnered with Columbia University since 2009.
The main repository for the records of the Archdiocese, whose cornerstones are the papers of New York’s bishops and archbishops.
Archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora
Established to "identify, collect, preserve and make available primary sources that document the Puerto Rican community in NYC." Holdings include personal papers, photos, organizational records and oral histories, among other things. Bulk of documents are Puerto Rican-oriented, but some records are on Cubans, Dominicans, Mexicans, too. 3,744 linear feet. Records are from 1898 to 1992.
Archivists Roundtable
of Metropolitan New York
Founded in 1979, A.R.T. is a non-profit representing more than 650 archivists, librarians, and records managers in the metropolitan area. It is one of the largest local organizations of its kind in the United States, representing more than 160 repositories.
After a decade of research, the Mannahatta Project at the Wildlife Conservation Society un-covered the original ecology of Manhattan. The Welikia Project goes beyond Mannahatta to encompass the entire city, discover its original ecology and compare it to what we have today.
The final repository for the historical records of Barnard College, from its founding in 1889 to the present. BASC is also building a Special Collection of materials related to issues of feminism; Women’s, Sexuality, and Gender Studies; the history of the education of women and female-identified individuals in the United States; and the history of dance.
Founded in the spring of 2002 in collaboration with the Bronx County Historical Society, the BAAHP has conducted over 300 full length interviews with African-American political leaders, educators, musicians, social workers, business people, clergy, athletes and leaders of community organizations who have lived and worked in the Bronx since the late 1930s, along with a small number of their Latino and white neighbors and co-workers. The collection documents the mass migration of African Americans and West Indians from Harlem to the Bronx in the 1930-50s and the emergence of large black communities in the Morrisania and Hunts Point; the growth of multiethnic musical cultures; the founding and growth of churches, political clubs and civil rights organizations; the role of public schools and community centers in guiding and mentoring Bronx youth before and after the arson wave; the role of community activism, hip hop culture, and West Indian and African migration in revitalizing once devastated Bronx neighborhoods; and many other subjects.
Founded in 1863 as the Long Island Historical Society, the BHS-precursor's mission was to discover, procure, and preserve materials related to general history, especially the natural, civil, literary, and ecclesiastical history of the United States, the State of New York, and more particularly of the counties, towns, and villages of Long Island. By the mid-20th century, it had narrowed the focus of the collections and began to seek out materials specifically relating to what is today known as Brooklyn. Today, the Library & Archives is a nationally recognized repository comprised of physical and born-digital collections, including manuscripts, personal and family papers, business records, newspapers and other periodicals, books and pamphlets, maps and atlases, artifacts, paintings, photographs, films, oral histories, and genealogies.
Center for Jewish History Archives
Archive and library collections consist of 500,000 volumes in multiple languages (e.g., Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, German, Polish, French) from many time periods, as well as over 100 million documents, including organizational records and personal papers, photographs, multimedia recordings, posters, art and artifacts.
City Limits Archives (digital)
Founded after the fiscal crisis, this magazine has won numerous awards for its investigative journalism. Thanks to a grant from the New York Community Trust, its archive is also digital and free. The collection includes some of NYC's most recognized leaders.
Digital Harlem: Everyday Life 1915-1930
Employs digital technology to integrate a range of sources — the case files of the Manhattan District Attorney, probation files, prison records, undercover investigations, social surveys, census schedules and the two major newspapers published in Harlem, The New York Age and The New York Amsterdam News — to visualize and explore the spatial dimensions of everyday life in Harlem during its heyday.
Columbia University Archives
The Avery Library, Department of Drawings & Archives consists primarily of drawings and architectural records by American architects of the 19th and 20th centuries. We hold a diverse range of original and reprographic drawings, photographic materials, project and building files, business papers, correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, and faculty and personal papers.
The Burke Library Archives at Union Theological Seminary consist of over 300 separate collections of personal papers and institutional records covering a broad range of themes of interest to the researcher. The Archives reflect the Seminary's leadership in social issues, religious morals and theological thought.
The University Archives preserve the institution's history.
The Rare Books & Manuscript Library is Columbia’s main repository for primary sources. The range of collections span 4,000 years and comprise some 500,000 printed books and 14 miles of manuscripts, personal papers, and records. One can find literary manuscripts from the 14th century to the papers of Herman Wouk and Erica Jong, and archives as varied as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Random House, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International-USA. The history of printing, graphic arts, and the performing arts are strengths.
Ellis Island Records (digital)
Among other things, visitors can search the online records for all entries at Ellis Island between 1892-1924, more than 51 million.
Episcopal Diocese of New York Archive
Documents related to the history of the religious organization and its many parishes, as well as the historical and architectural records of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
Fales Library (NYU)
355,000 volumes of books and other printed items, 11,000 linear feet of archive and manuscript materials, and 90,000 media elements. Includes rare books and manuscripts in English and American literature, the Downtown Book Collection (documenting the arts scene that in SoHo and the Lower East Side from the 1970s-90s), the Riot Grrrl Collection, and Marion Nestle's Food & Cookery Collection, which includes 12,000 volumes and 5,000 pamphlets from Cecily Brownstone's private collection and over 55,000 cookbooks, documenting the evolution of cuisine and food practices in 20th century America, with a focus on NYC.
Gilder Lehrman Collection
Archival collections and public exhibits on Early American history and culture.
Institutional Archives of LaGuardia Community College
These archives purpose is mainly to preserve the institutional histories of CUNY and in particular LaGuardia Community College. Adverts, artifacts, correspondence, catalogs, meeting minutes, newsletters, photos, audio tapes, and more. Material dates to 1970.
LaGuardia and Wagner Archives
Established in 1982 to collect, preserve, and make available primary materials documenting the social and political history of NYC. The Archives serves a broad array of researchers, journalists, students, scholars, exhibit planners and policy makers. And holds the personal papers and official documents of Mayors Fiorello H. LaGuardia, Robert F. Wagner, Abraham D. Beame and Edward I. Koch, the records of the New York City Housing Authority, the piano maker Steinway & Sons, The New York City Council and a Queens Local History Collection.
LGBT Community Center National History Archive
Founded in 1990 by volunteer archivist Rich Wandel, the archive provides a look into the lives and experiences of LGBT people throughout the years. The Archive contains a wide range of media from as early as 1920, including photos, correspondence, news clippings, radio, video, and personal journals.
Lesbian Herstory Archives
Home to the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities.
Leo Baeck Institute Archives
Preserves family papers, community histories, personal correspondence, genealogical materials, and business and public records that touch upon virtually every aspect of the German-Jewish experience, "the foremost repository of collective memory for Central European Jewry... [and] key aspects of Europe’s modern social and intellectual development." Includes 2000 memoirs from 1790 to the post-WWII era. The vast majority of LBI’s archival collections have been digitized.
Margaret Sanger Papers Project
A non-profit hosted by NYU, formed by Esther Katz in 1985 to locate, arrange, edit, research, and publish the papers of the noted birth control pioneer. The project has a microform edition, and is working on a four-volume book. There is a blog on the homepage.
Metropolitan Opera Archive
The MetOpera Database is updated five days a week during the opera season.
Casts of the previous evenings performance, or the previous weekends, should be current by 11:00 am Eastern Time the next day.
Municipal Archives of the City of New York
Collections of records range from documents on the Brooklyn Bridge to coroners records to district attorneys since the 18th century to census figures.
Museum of the City of New York Archives
Currently in the midst of a long term project to provide increased access to all of its holdings. Digitization began in 2008, starting with the vast collections of photographs, prints, and other works on paper depicting the changing city over time.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Archive
Established in 1989 to organize, preserve, and make accessible records relevant to the Museum's history (minutes, committee reports, departmental papers, photographs, sound recordings, and videotapes); personal papers of curators and directors; papers of individuals related to Museum interests, such as Trustees and former staff; oral histories; twentieth-century primary resource material, including papers, manuscripts, and photographs; and a photographic archive comprised of tens of thousands of images.
National Archives at NYC
The Northeast branch of the United States Archives. Holds archival records from federal agencies and courts in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
New School Archives
Encompass the archives of individuals and organizations (primary source materials in design, philosophy, music, and more), the university history collections (student work, event photographs, course bulletins, posters, and more) and special collections (unique or hard-to-find publications, including artist books, by New School faculty).
New York Academy of Sciences
Rare Book & Manuscript Collection
Contains a wide range of archives and manuscripts documenting the history of NYAS since its founding in 1847, the papers of a variety of medical organizations and societies, personal papers, letters, student notebooks, diaries, and physicians' case records.
New York City Ballet Archives
Created by Lincoln Kerstein in 1999. Contains a range of documents, photographs, and videotapes, costumes, musical scores, and scenic designs, correspondence and original print media. Limited public access to scholars, students, and professionals in the field of dance. A vast amount of work remains to be accomplished, but the Archives has a rich and comprehensive trove of dance treasures, including the Ballet Society Collection, New York City Ballet Collection, School of American Ballet Collection, George Balanchine Trust Collection, and Tanaquil Le Clercq's Personal Archive.
New York County Clerk Records
The Clerk is responsible for receiving papers initiating actions and special proceedings and maintaining the official case files of the New York County Supreme Court, which contain all papers filed with the court in each case. Anyone who wishes to do so may examine the case files. However, by law the files in all matrimonial cases are confidential and are available only to the parties in the case or their attorneys, and by law a Justice of the court may, upon an adequate showing of certain circumstances (e.g., where trade secrets are involved), order that a file in a particular case be sealed in whole or in part or that a portion of the file be impounded by the County Clerk.
New York City Parks Department Photo Archive
A repository of more than 200,000 images created by the Department from 1856 to the present. The majority were taken after 1933, and the collection is especially strong in the era when Robert Moses served as Commissioner (1934–1960).
New-York Historical Society
NYHS holds over 2 million items of archival materials, including family papers and organizational and business records. Digitized collections include Manuscripts Relating to Slavery, Children's Aid Society Images, Foundling Hospital Images, The New York African Free School Collection, the Alexander Hamilton Digital Project, and the New-York Historical Society Quarterly.
New York Philharmonic Archive
Every concert since December 7, 1842.
New York Preservation Archive Project
A non-profit dedicated to documenting, preserving, and celebrating the history of preservation in NYC.
New York Public Library
The Manuscripts and Archives holdings date from the 3rd century to the 1990s: cuneiform tablets, medieval manuscripts, and renaissance material. Its real strength, however, are the papers of individuals and families, and political and social organizations, from the New York region in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. This is a very cursory and incomplete representation of what is available.
New York Public Radio Archives
This department of WNYC provides a repository for thousands of audio recordings, photographs, memorabilia, reports, news items, program guides, institutional records, and promotional materials. Among its holdings are more than 50,000 recordings in a variety of formats, from early lacquer and acetate discs, to reel-to-reel tapes, to digital audio tapes and compact discs.
New York State Archives and Records Administration
The main state archives for New York, located in Albany.
Redstockings Women's Liberation Archive Project [digital]
The volunteer group's catalog makes available some of the founding documents of feminism’s “second wave,” in the late 1960s and 1970s.
New York Transit Museum Archives
Collects and preserves materials about the region's land-based public transportation systems, past and present. Over 10,000 photographs, posters, maps, and artifacts from the museum’s collection can now be viewed online.
Office for Metropolitan History
The Office locates historic photographs, original architectural, structural and mechanical drawings, and data on use and occupancy for engineers, architects, lawyers and anyone interested in the evolution of New York's built environment. It maintains a collection of 40,000 4x5 film negatives, 18,000 photographs, and 8,000 architectural drawings, many of which date back to the late 19th century.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
A formidable array of resources about African and African-American culture, history, religion, and cultural production.
September 11 Digital Archive
More than 150,000 digital items, a tally that includes more than 40,000 emails and other electronic communications, more than 40,000 first-hand stories, and more than 15,000 digital images. In September 2003, the Library of Congress accepted the Archive into its collections, the library's first major digital acquisition.
Weill Cornell Medical College / Center Archives
Approximately 150 collections of personal papers and manuscripts from individual physicians, faculty, nurses, students, and administrators who have been associated with the medical center. Included are the early cytology slides prepared by Dr. George N. Papanicolaou, developer of the "Pap" smear; the papers of Dr. Vincent du Vigneaud, the 1955 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, including his research notes scribbled on napkins and correspondence with other Nobel winners; Walsh McDermott's reports on a program for improving the health of the Navajo at Many Farms, Arizona; the diaries of Major Julia C. Stimson, head of the Army Nurses Corp during World War I; David Rogers chronicle of the AIDS crisis, and the response of government and the medical community; and Benjamin Harrison Kean's papers on the field of tropical medicine and parasitolgy. The Archives also hold patient medical records from New York Hospital, Bloomingdale Asylum/Hospital, Lying-In Hospital of the City of New York, and several other institutions. (There are restrictions on the use of these records.)
Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
A center for research on labor history and the history of socialist, anarchist, communist and other radical political movements. Also Utopian experiments, women's movements, civil rights and civil liberties. Focused, but not limited to U.S. since 1865. The Wagner archives include historically significant non-current records of NYC's labor organizations since 1977. There are also non-print collections, oral history collections, and various exhibits and programs.
Woody Guthrie Archive [digital]
Archive of the folk singer's correspondence, lyrics, art work, manuscripts, and photographs.
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Archives
1,900 record groups and over 17,000 linear feet gathered since the Institute's inception in 1925: manuscripts, correspondence, printed materials. Various other media are organized under Music Archive, Sound Archive, Photo Archive, Film and Video Archive, and Art and Artifacts Collection. The primary languages of the documents are Yiddish, English, Hebrew, Russian, Polish, French, and German. The archive is concentrated on East European Jewish history; the history of the Jews in the United States; Yiddish language, literature, and culture (including theater and the press); and the Holocaust.