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Tag: great depression

Documenting New York ca. 1940 via ‘Tax Photos’

From 1939 until 1941, the New York City Department of Taxation collaborated with the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) to take photographs of each building in the five boroughs. Known then as the “Real Property Tax Card Record System for the City of New York,” the initiative started in 1938 when the Department of Taxation […]

    Richard Upjohn — A Missionary for the Gothic Revival

    British-born architect Richard Upjohn was born on January 22, 1802 in Sheffield, England. He moved to the United States in 1829, and in 1835 designed his first of many churches throughout the United States. He would go on to design over 50 churches in the Gothic Revival and Italianate styles across the country throughout his almost forty-year career. […]

    USPS’ Landmark Legacy: the Cooper Station Post Office

    On July 26, 1775 the United States Postal System was established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General.  Franklin, in his turn, put in place the foundation of many aspects of today’s mail system.  Today, the U.S. Postal Service is one the nation’s largest civil employers, with over 40,000 […]

    Squatters of the Depression

    As the city’s and nation’s economy works through its slow recovery, the New York public library reminds us how the last great national economic crisis affected our city. Though we commonly recall images of Depression-era squatters in Hoovervilles  in Central Park, various temporary encampments sprouted throughout the city during the 1930s — many of them […]