New York City Municipal Archives

New York City Municipal Archives
Surrogates Court, 31 Chambers Street, New York, New York County
Surrogates Court, 31 Chambers Street, New York, New York County
Country United States
Type Archive
Scope New York City
Established 1950
Location 31 Chambers Street
Room 103
New York, NY 10007
Coordinates 40°42′48.7″N 74°0′15.5″W / 40.713528°N 74.004306°W / 40.713528; -74.004306Coordinates: 40°42′48.7″N 74°0′15.5″W / 40.713528°N 74.004306°W / 40.713528; -74.004306
Collection
Size 160,000 cubic feet (4,500 m3)
Other information
Director Sylvia Kollar
Website nyc.gov/records
Surrogates Court in Manhattan (detail)

The New York City Municipal Archives was founded in 1950. It holds historical records of New York City's government. The earliest record is from the seventeenth century.[1] There are 160,000 cubic feet (4,500 m3) of records on paper and microfilm. The collection has manuscripts, still and moving images, ledgers, vital records, maps, blueprints, and city directories.[2] The archives are located in the Surrogate's Courthouse on Chambers Street in Manhattan.[3]

Genealogy

The New York City Municipal Archives has a genealogy section maintains vital records (birth, marriage and death records) for all five boroughs as well as city census and city directories.

Preservation units

There are three preservation units at the New York City Municipal Archives: Conservation, Micrographics, and Photography.

Collections

In addition to major collections of historical interest for research on New York City, the New York City Municipal Archives also has a database of 870,000+ photos of the city.[4]

Internal collections

  • Artifacts and Memorial Collections of the World Trade Center Attack on September 11, 2001
  • Almshouse, 1758-1953
  • Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, 1789-1979
  • Board of Education, 1842-2002
  • Brooklyn Bridge, 1867-1938
  • Department of Buildings, 1866-1975
  • Census
  • City Cemetery, 1881-1950s
  • City Council, 1647-1977
  • Civil List, 1883-1967/68
  • Coroner and Office of Chief Medical Examiner, 1823-1950
  • Court Records, 1684-1966
  • District Attorney Records, 1895-1971
  • Genealogy, 1795-1948
  • Mayor Dinkins, 1990-1993
  • Mayors, 1849-present
  • New York County Court of General Sessions Grand Jury Indictments, 1879-1893
  • "Old Towns," 1663-1898
  • Department of Parks, 1850-1960
  • Website of Mayor Bloomberg, 2002-2013
  • Website of Mayor Giuliani, 1994-2001
  • WNYC, 1936-1981
  • WPA Federal Writers' Project (NYC Unit), 1936-1943

External collections

Lawsuits

Nearly all materials in the New York City Municipal Archives are subject to the New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), and copies of almost any document or microfilm can be requested by any member of the public. In 2015, a genealogist brought an "Article 78" lawsuit against the Archives in the Supreme Court of New York under FOIL, after her request to purchase copies of 48 rolls of microfilmed records was denied. The Archives attempted to claim that its holdings were not legally subject to FOIL, which was then disputed in a published Advisory Opinion[5] by the New York State Committee on Open Government (COOG), a statewide FOIL watchdog group funded by the state legislature. The Archives finally admitted its coverage and settled the lawsuit in September 2015, providing all the copies to the genealogist. That lawsuit, Brooke Schreier Ganz, et al, v. The City of New York, No. 101643/2015 [Sup Ct, NY Cnty], led to the founding of the national non-profit activist group Reclaim The Records.

References

  1. ↑ Adams Otis, Ginger (24 October 2015). "Exclusive: Municipal Archives offer rare glimpse into NYC's nearly 400-year history most people will never know". New York Daily News. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Dylan-Robbins, Sky (25 June 2013). "Video: The Department of Records". The New Yorker. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Municipal Archives". New York City Department of Records. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Taylor, Alan (27 April 2012). "Historic Photos From the NYC Municipal Archives". The Atlantic. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "Advisory Opinion # F19289" (PDF). Committee on Open Government. Retrieved 4 March 2018.


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