Tag: HISTORY
Earlier this year, archaeologists dug up a series of centuries-old artifacts at City Hall, including a douche made of animal bone that dates back to the 1800s. Now, that douche has a new home in Midtown. A new space called the New York City Archaeological Repository, at 114 W. 47th Street, will hold the feminine hygine product […]
The New York State Pavilion — that futuristic, dilapidated structure in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, originally built for the 1964 World’s Fair — is officially a “National Treasure.” The National Trust For Historic Preservation gave the pavilion the designation this week, placing it among the ranks of the bridges of Yosemite National Park, the National […]
Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue Tunnel — touted as the world’s oldest subway tunnel — closed to the public in 1861. In the 1980s, a man named Bob Diamond rediscovered the former LIRR passageway and began giving tours, but in 2010, the FDNY declared it unsafe and barred people from entry. Since then, Diamond has advocated for the […]
The New York Public Library just released an embarrassment of riches for cartography nerds everywhere: the institution’s collection of 20,000 vintage maps are now free to download and use in ridiculously high resolution. There’s plenty of vintage NYC goodness to peruse, and maps from other cities as well. The full-res section of this circa-1855 map […]
In 1937, Hitler’s Third Reich held two art exhibitions in Munich: one that showcased Nazi-approved art — mostly conservative, realist stuff — and another that displayed what the party termed “degenerate art,” with more forward-thinking painters like Klee, Kirchner, and Kandinsky. Now, the Upper East Side’s Neue Galerie is hosting “Degenerate Art: The Attack on […]
Over the last few hundred years, New York City has designated 54 honorary Squares. LeRoy McCarthy is in a fight with Manhattan’s Community Board 3 to make Beastie Boys Square the 55th. While many have debated the validity of this proposed honor, maybe it’s time to examine the previously named public spaces. Squares named after […]
After we posted this photo of British urban explorer sitting on the edge of the Chrysler building this week, a commenter gave some advice: “Look at Margaret Bourke-White doing the same thing 80 years ago.” They’re right. That’s Bourke-White, a truly badass photographer, perched on the edge with her camera in a photo from 1934 above. […]
And no, it wasn’t Mike Bloomberg packing up the last of his things from his office. Ba-zing! DNAinfo reports: An excavation at the city’s political center has unearthed a 3-inch artifact that initially baffled archaeologists — until they realized it was one of the earliest documented feminine hygiene products in New York. “At first we thought it […]
When Bill de Blasio addressed his decision not to close New York City schools for yesterday’s snowstorm, he pointed to history, noting that the city has only closed schools for snow 11 times since 1978. “Unlike some cities, we don’t shut down in the face of adversity,” he argued. “I’m going to make decisions based […]
The Victoria & Albert Museum just released a document under Creative Commons that catalogs all art seized by Nazi Germany and labeled “Entartete Kunst,” or “degenerate art.” According to the museum, most of the works were confiscated from public institutions between 1937 and 1938, and the inventory was created around 1942, after much of the […]
