Behind the Historic Image Archive: Women Who’ve Captured History

Countless women have made important contributions to the arts in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. Many have made direct contributions of their art to Village Preservation’s Historic Image Archive, documenting decades of architectural and cultural history. Today we explore some of the earliest contributions to our archive. These women were not just artists or photographers, but often advocates or architects, and served in many other critical roles in our community and beyond.

Jean Polacheck

Jean was a freelance photographer and worked in the darkroom at LIFE magazine in the 1940s-50s. In an era when women were often discounted as equal members of the workforce, her life’s work was also overlooked until after her passing. We are lucky to maintain an incredible representation of her collection. See them all here.

Claire Tankel

Claire and her architect husband Stanley were involved in several important preservation campaigns including battling Robert Moses over a highway through Washington Square Park and the preservation of the Jefferson Market Courthouse.

Doris Diether

Doris was a long time Villager who became involved in community engagement over a Robert Moses plan to end free Shakespeare in the Park. She later became President of the advocacy group Save the Village and served on Community Board 2 for over 50 years. See her full collection here.

Agnes Balcer

Agnes Balcer was a WAVE, the Women’s Reserves (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the Navy during World War II, stationed at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. On her time off she would visit Greenwich Village and her small collection highlights the Village Barn at 52 West 8th Street. See here for more history of the Village Barn, which later became Electric Lady Studios.

Evelyn Haynes

Last but certainly not least, Evelyn’s contributions play a outsize role in our archives with a large image collection, smaller South Street Seaport Image Archive collection, and extensive Neighborhood/ Preservation History Archive collection. She was an editor at Vogue and served on the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in its earliest days. Her work had a large and direct impact on what would become the Greenwich Village Historic District.

Click here to access all collections. Click here to read more about Women’s History Month.