Buzz
The New York Public Library has just unveiled over 180,000 images from its archives, offering free access to high-resolution scans. This release includes documents from James Madison and Walt Whitman, New Deal-era artwork, Washington D.C. city plans, copies of The Green Book (a guide for African-American travelers during the mid-20th century), and manuscripts from the Japanese masterpiece The Tale of Genji.
Beyond a wealth of historical photos and records tied to New York City and the U.S., the collection also features extensive global historical materials, such as photographs of the Russian Imperial family and the German Reich. Here are 11 standout gems:
1. A HAND-DRAWN MAP OF WALDEN POND BY HENRY DAVID THOREAU FROM 1846:
Henry David Thoreau via NYPL // Public Domain
In 1945, the transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau settled into a house he constructed near Walden Pond. This map is one of his original sketches of the surrounding area.
2. PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE DEPRESSION ERA BY ARTISTS SUCH AS WALKER EVANS AND DOROTHEA LANGE:
Image Credit: Dorothea Lange via NYPL // Public Domain
Dorothea Lange’s photograph, titled Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age thirty-two. Nipomo, California, created for the Farm Security Administration under the New Deal, stands as a defining symbol of the Great Depression.
3. LEWIS HINE’S EARLY 20TH-CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS OF TENEMENT LIFE:
“Living rooms of a tenement family near Hull House, Chicago, 1910.” Image Credit: Lewis Wickes Hine via NYPL // Public Domain
Hine captured the harsh realities of tenement life on New York’s Lower East Side and around Chicago’s Hull House. His work in the NYPL collection also includes striking images from Ellis Island.
4. STEREOSCOPIC VIEWS OF THE KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH:
“Women prospectors on their way to Klondyke [Klondike].” Image Credit: B.W. Kilburn via NYPL // Public Domain
Beginning in 1896, a wave of hopeful individuals rushed to the Yukon in search of gold. Contrary to popular belief, not all were male prospectors, as evidenced by this 1898 photograph.
5. HISTORICAL MAPS OF THE EARLY UNITED STATES:
“Map of the Indian Territory, Northern Texas and New Mexico.” Image Credit: Sidney E. Morse via NYPL // Public Domain
The digital archives feature an extensive collection of antique atlases and maps, some dating back to the 1500s. This particular map illustrates the Indian territories near the Rocky Mountains, along with the borders of Texas and New Mexico as they were in 1842.
6. A VAST COLLECTION OF CIGARETTE CARDS:
Image Credit: NYPL // Public Domain
During the mid-1800s, tobacco manufacturers began including illustrated collector’s cards with their products, showcasing a wide range of subjects from Aesop’s fables to famous actresses of the time. The card above highlights Lynn Gilbert, a movie star celebrated as one of “Today’s Beauties” by the Abdulla & Co. tobacco company.
7. WORLD WAR II NAZI PROPAGANDA PHOTOGRAPHS:
“Besides the people's gas mask, there are also gas defenses created for German children.” Image Credit: Heinrich Hoffman via NYPL // Public Domain
Propaganda images from Heinrich Hoffmann, Adolf Hitler’s personal photographer, were compiled into four albums published annually from 1939 to 1942. The library discovered a partial set of these photos in their archives several years ago, organizing, translating, and captioning them. This image shows alternative gas protection methods designed for children during the war.
8. PHOTOGRAPHS OF EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
Image Credit: NYPL // Public Domain
The library houses numerous images of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, including this one from the 1920s featuring her with her husband, Eugen Jan Boissevain.
9. PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE CIVIL WAR ERA:
“Rebel fortifications in front of Atlanta, Ga. No. 2.” Image Credit: George N. Barnard via NYPL // Public Domain
This photograph of Atlanta during the Civil War is sourced from an 1866 publication featuring the works of George Barnard, the official military photographer. He documented General William Tecumseh Sherman’s campaigns in the South, including the notorious March to the Sea and the devastating advance through the Carolinas.
10. THE ORIGINAL DRAFT OF UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
Image Credit: Harriet Beecher Stowe via NYPL // Public Domain
The library possesses a portion of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s handwritten first draft of her iconic novel. This particular page is from the opening chapter.
11. MEDICAL PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE 19TH CENTURY
“Attitudes obtenues dans la catalepsie sous l'influence de diverses excitations.” Image Credit: Albert Londe via NYPL // Public Domain
This 1893 photograph, part of the library’s archive of historical medical imagery, depicts “attitudes obtained in catalepsy [a nervous disorder] under the influence of various stimuli,” including substances like chloroform and camphor.
Dive into the New York Public Library’s collections yourself here. For those passionate about archives and art, NYPL Labs is introducing a paid residency program for artists and designers to create new works using the public domain collection and other digital resources from the NYPL.
