Finding Visual Images in Jefferson Market Library's New York Collection

[Compiled by Glenn Mills, November 2002]

The New York Collection at Jefferson Market comprises over 200 volumes on the history of New York City, and Greenwich Village in particular. It is a "special collection" in that most of the books were printed before the 1980's, beginning with "Valentines Manual of Old New York.", c.1916. Many are hard to find, rare, or out of print. Some sets are the only complete versions in the New York Public Library circulating collections. Contemporary material is represented in the collection, primarily in regards to the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, but the collections greatest value is in its holdings of older books, and their emphasis on times past. The New York Collection is a very rich resource for visual images. Most volumes have some visual content, whether center inserts or page illustrations. Some are devoted primarily to visual materials. Reproductions of paintings, cartoons, drawings, advertisements, photographs, and maps run through almost all subject areas of the collection. One of problems of finding visuals is in the area of indexing. Some books are indexed very well, with indications (frequently in italics) for pictorial content, and credits as to source or artist. Others have no indexes at all, or don't paginate illustrations, or if paginated, don't include them in the index. Some volumes are indexed according to larger subject categories, such as "bridges," "hotels," "saloons,"etc. Some really wonderful resources have no index at all. I will guide researchers to some of the best materials, and point out good resources that have problems for searchers. Take the time to browse this collection, and you will be greatly rewarded. Because of the depth of material in this collection, this bibliography cannot be considered comprehensive.

Finding Visuals Using the Catalogue and Subject Headings

Dewey Decimal Classification-(DDC): The Dewey Decimal system is used in the circulating libraries of the New York Public Libraries. The largest concentrations of books in this collection are in Dewey numbers 917.471and 974.71, designations for New York, New York. Subject Headings: These are some subject headings that will help you in your research. Search the library.s catalogue under these headings for materials related to New York City. Our online public access computer catalogue does not offer the collection designation "NY Collection" on public access terminals, only in staff emulations. Catalog entries will list only the branch location, and reference or circulating status. Please consult the information desk for help in finding locations. These heading apply for all NYPL libraries and reference as well as circulating collections.

New York (N.Y.) - Description and travel New York (N.Y.) - Pictorial Works New York (N.Y.) - Buildings, structures, etc. - Pictorial works New York (N.Y.) - History New York (N.Y.) - History . Pictorial works New York (N.Y.) - Tours New York (N.Y.) - Social life and customs New York (N.Y.) - Social life and customs - Pictorial works New York(N.Y.)- in art New York (N.Y.) - Guidebooks New York (N.Y.)- Politics and government Greenwich Village (New York, N.Y.) Gramercy Park (New York, N.Y.) - Buildings, structures, etc Brooklyn (New York, N.Y.) - History Architecture - New York (State) . New York Fire Departments - New York (State) - New York Historic Buildings - New York (State) . New York Fifth Avenue (New York, N.Y.) New York City House of Detention for Women

These are just a few of the many subject designations you might search. Search by neighborhood name, or by such keywords as "waterfronts," "buildings," "World Trade Center," or ethnic group ("Italian-Americans") etc. Follow "see" references in the catalogue, and use Related Works (RW) in item specific records. Ask the librarian for HELP.

Selected Bibliography

000 - 099 Reed, Henry Hope. The New York Public Library: its architecture and decoration. New York: Norton, 1986. This book examines the physical characteristics of the central research library building at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. It has a good index and illustrations are indicated by italics. (027.4747 R) 300 - 399 Schwarz, Judith. Radical Feminists of Heterodoxy: Greenwich Village 1912-1940. Lebanon, N.H.: New Victoria Publishers, 1982. This is a book about radical feminists in Greenwich Village. It contains many photographic portraits and political cartoons. It has good index, and photos, sketches and cartoons are indicated in parentheses. (305.4206 S) Bone, Kevin. Ed. The New York Waterfront: evolution and building culture of the port and harbor. New York: Monacelli Press, 1977. This is an excellent resource on the New York waterfront and its development. It contains many maps, photographs, design plans, satellite pictures, and aerial photographs. This is a great book, but unfortunately, it has no index. (307.1416 N) Diamonstein, Barbaralee. The Landmarks of New York. New York; Abrams, 1968. Photos and text. Excellent index. (363.6909 D) Roth, Andrew. Infamous Manhattan: a colorful walking tour of New York's most notorious crime sites. New York: Carol Pub. Group, 1996. This is a book of walking tours, chronicling hundreds of crime scenes. Each chapter covers a different neighborhood. Many maps and period illustrations are included. The index is good but does not indicate visuals. (364.9747 R) Rutkoff,Peter. New School: a history of the New School for Social Research. New York, London: Free Press, 1986. This history contains a picture section with photos of the painters Thomas Hart Benton and Orozco at work, and of their murals, and theatrical productions at the New School. There is no index to the illustrations. (374.9747 R) 600 - 699 Kramer, Vivian. Greenwich Village Cookbook. Illus. By Barbara Shapira. Fairchild Publications, 1969. Contains sketches of the interiors and exteriors of historic Greenwich Village restaurants. No Indexing. (641.59 K) Devorkin, Joseph. Great Merchants of Early New York: the ladies mile. New York: The Society for the Architecture of the city of New York, 1987. Wonderful drawings of Macys, Lord and Taylor's, etc. in the 1920's. Advertising, calendars, fashion drawings, and pages from Vogue and Bendel's Clothing catalogs. (658.87 D) 700 - 799 Kelly, Bruce. Art of the Olmstead Landscape. New York: New York City Landmarks Commission: Arts Publisher. (712.5097 Olmstead K> Kowsky, Francis R. The Architecture of Frederick Clarke Withers and the Progress of the Gothic Revival in America after 1850. Middletown,Conn.: Wesleyan Press, 1980. Withers was one of the architects who designed the Jefferson Market Courthouse, now the Jefferson Market Library. All illustrations are indexed with italics. (720.924 Withers) Huxtable, Ada Louise. The Architecture of New York; a history and guide. (alt. title: Classic New York). Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1964. This is an excellent resource and is fully indexed. Place names as well as subjects such as Balustrade are indexed. Illustrations are indicated. (720.9747 H) Gayle,Margot.Cast Iron Architecture in New York; a photographic survey.Photos by Edmund V. Gillon,Jr. New York: Dover Publications, 1974. This is an extensive study of the facades, and detail work of New York's Cast Iron Architectural Buildings. It features an excellent index by street and indicates illustrations in boldface. (721.0447 G) Weegee. Naked City. New York: Essential Books, 1945. This is a classic work by the famous photojournalist. Stark black and white photos of New York in the late 1930s, from the sublime to the gritty, to the ridiculous. There is no index, but this is a remarkable collection. (779.9974 Weegee) > 800 - 899 Edmiston, Susan. Literary New York; a history and guide.Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 1991. Good black and white portraits of famous New York writers (Thomas Wolfe, Carson McCullers, etc.) Good index, with all photos indicated in italics. (810.99 E) 900 - 999 Cohen, Paul E. Manhattan in Maps, 1527 - 1995. New York: Rizzoli, c.1997. This wonderful atlas explores the cartography of New York City from 1527 to 1995 in black and white drawings, etchings, photos, and color prints. It includes transit maps from 1904 to 1990, a mid-town "vice" map from 1973, a fireman's guide. and aerial surveys. It has an excellent index, and all illustrations are in italics. (912.7471 C) Abbott, Bernice. Changing New York; photographs by Bernice Abbott, text by Elizabeth McCausland. A publication of the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration of New York. New York: Dutton, 1939. This is an incredible photographic documentation of New York during the depression by renowned photographer Bernice Abbott. These are all high art black and white photographs. There is no Index. (917.471 A) Barlow, Elizabeth. The Central Park Book. New York; Central Park Task Force, 1977. A good book on the history of Central Park. Included are many black and white drawings, photographs, maps and geological charts. It has an excellent index, including 'blizzards', 'plants', 'birds', etc. Illustrations are indicated by italics. (917.471 B) Delaney, Edmund T. Greenwich Village, a photographic guide. New York, Dover Publications, 1976 (917.471 D) Gaylord, R. Bruce. The Picture Book Of Greenwich Village. New York: Gaylord's Guides, 1985. This is an excellent pictorial history of the village. Historic photos and maps are included, and the book is well indexed. (917.471 G) Kertesz, Andre. Washington Square; with an appreciation by Brendan Gill. New York, Grossman Publishers, 1975. Exceptional black and white photographs by the great photographer Kertesz. This is another wonderful art photography book with no index. (917.471 K) Kouwenhoven, John Atlee. The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York: an essay in graphic history. New York: Harper and Row, 1972, c.1953. This contains photos by Walker Evans, Jacob Riis, and Alfred Stieglitz, as well as many excellent drawings and engravings. All illustrations have attributions. It has an excellent general index and a street index. This volume is a gold mine for visual images. (917.471 K) Lederer, Joseph. All Around the Town: a walking guide to outdoor sculpture in New York City. Scribner, 1975. This has a good index that shows subjects in italics, sculptors in small capitals, and photographs in boldface. (917.471 L) Look: New York City, by the Editors of Look, in collaboration with Frederick Lewis Allen; a handbook in pictures, maps and text for the vacationist, the traveler and the stay-at-home. (alt. title: Look at America: New York City.) Cambridge, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1948. This is a wonderful book, culled from the files of the now extinct magazine, Look. This volume has great black and white photographs of every aspect of life in the city. Included are photos of the old Carnegie Hall, Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, New York.s famous Automats, the Savoy Ballroom, the Joe Louis Bar, the old Brooklyn Navy Yard, and an early television studio. Pictures are credited. The index is incomplete, but illustrations are indicated in italics. (917.471 L) Millstein, Gilbert. New York: True North. Garden City, N.Y.Doubleday, 1964. An unusual book of text and black and white photos. Indexes picture subjects such as coffee houses, United Nations, belly dancing, Latin Quarter, night clubs, etc. (917.471 M) McDarrah, Fred W. The Greenwich Village Guide: sixteen historic walks; includes Soho, Tribeca, and the East Village. Chicago, IL. A Capella Books, 1992. This is a walking guide, but it includes interesting pictures of Bob Dylan's final appearance in NY,. Andy Warhol's exploding Plastic Inevitable at the Dom, and closing night at the Cedar Street Tavern 1963. Poorly indexed, but good cultural history photos. (917.471 M) New York Historical Society. Old New York in Early Photographs, 1853 - 1901; 196 prints from the collection of the New York Historical Society. Dover Publications, 1973. Each page contains one photograph with a brief text. The book is arranged by geographical location. The introduction includes a wonderful panoramic view of N.Y.C in 1876. It has a good general index, and lists entries by plate number, not page number. (917.471 N) Whitehouse, Roger. New York: sunshine and shadow. A photographic record of the city and its people from 1850 to 1915. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. This is an interesting photo history of early New York, and has a very good index. Subjects indexed: sleighs, Dictaphone class, Edison phonograph, steamboats, etc. All photos are credited. (917.471 W Sullivan, Mark. Our Times: the United States, 1900 - 1925. 6v illus. New York London: C. Scribner's sons, 1926-35. This 6-volume work is not strictly about New York City. It is history of the US from the turn of the century through the First World War. It is of great interest because it was published contemporaneously with the period it covers. There is a wealth of drawings, photos, cartoons, and pieces of music. The index is good, with subject headings for actors, actresses, etc. (973.91 S) Mayer, Grace M. Once Upon a City: New York from 1890 to 1910. New York, Macmillan, 1958. This is an excellent photographic history of social life and customs in NYC at the turn of the century. It has a good index, and photos are in boldface. Examples of subjects indexed: 'scenes in a Turkish bath club 1902,' 'Barbershop of the Hotel Algonquin,' 'ballrooms,' etc. (974.71 M) Brown, Henry Collins, ed. Valentines Manual of Old New York. New York, Valentines Manual, Inc.: 1916. These 13 volumes collect articles and illustrations from Valentine's magazine, a popular periodical in New York in the late 19th century. There is a short index for each volume but not a general index of the whole set. There is a wealth of fascinating material here, but it is difficult to find except through browsing. It contains many engravings, photographs, and colored lithographs. (974.7 V) Witheridge, Annette. New York Then and Now. San Diego, Ca.: Thunder Bay Press, 2000. This interesting book contrasts physical aspects of New York over the course of time. The recto page depicts a black and white photograph of a site in New York's history, and the verso page shows the same building, street, etc. at a much later time in color. Each picture has a small caption, and the index is good. (974.71 W)

As mentioned in my introduction, this is far from an exhaustive bibliography. The Dewey designations 917.471 and 974.71 (New York City) are very rich in material on Greenwich Village, as well as on other parts of New York, such as Brooklyn, or the upper West Side. Many visitors are interested in the Jefferson Market building itself. Materials extracted from the New York Collection, and other sources have been collected and copied into two binders for your perusal. Please ask for the "Jefferson Market Library - a history," and "Jefferson Market Courthouse" binders at the reference information desk. A free pamphlet on the building and the New York Collection is also available at the information desk.