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Searching for the Marquis

This week, For the Record interviews archivist Rossy Mendez about her work assisting a patron researching the 18th-century French statesman, the Marquis de Lafayette.   

Portrait, Marquis de Lafayette, n.d. Public Design Commission photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

FTR: What was the nature of the inquiry?

RM: An organization called the American Friends of Lafayette is making plans to celebrate the bicentennial of his tour of the United States in 1824. A member of the Friends group contacted us for help in documenting Lafayette’s six-day stop in New York City.  

FTR: How did you start the research?

RM: As we do with most inquiries, we contacted the patron to confirm the topic and learn any details that might help us guide the research. Then, my first stop was the Municipal Archives’ Collection Guide, our online catalog of the holdings. I entered “Lafayette” into the search box.

FTR: What did the results look like? 

Resolution, Common Council, 1824, Common Council collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

RM: Well, it turns out there are a lot of things and places named for Lafayette in New York City, but the results did not pop up with any collections or series about the man himself.   

FTR: Did you have a plan B? 

RM: Yes. I knew the specific date of his visit, so I thought, “what collections do we have with records documenting that time period?” Our mayor’s papers, which are well-indexed always seem to have something pertinent to every topic you can think of, but only date back to 1826, so that was a dead end. But then I considered the other branch of government—the legislature—and their records. Which brought me to the Common Council papers.  

FTR:  How did you research possible records in the Common Council papers? 

RM:  The Common Council papers is just one of many series created by the various legislative bodies. But luckily, for the early 19th-century period, there is an inventory we created when the papers prior to 1832 were processed and microfilmed a few years ago. And there he was. The inventory listed two folders, one from 1824 labeled “Special Committee for General Lafayette” and a similar one for 1825. Apparently, he came back for a second visit in 1825. 

Letter, Marquis de Lafayette to Common Council, October 12, 1825, page 1, Common Council, 1824, Common Council collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Letter, Marquis de Lafayette to Common Council, October 12, 1825, page 2, Common Council, 1824, Common Council collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

FTR: What did you find in the folders? 

RM: It was great. I found all kinds of correspondence and documents about preparations for his visit, and several about a portrait of the Marquis—or General, as they referred to him. And as I read through the documents it became very clear that he was held in very high regard by the people of New York.

FTR: What about the Proceedings of the Common Council?  

RM: I went to the Common Council papers first because this collection has documents received by the Council, such as petitions and letters which I thought would be more interesting than the Proceedings which is a written transcription of its activities. But I did also check the Proceedings. We have both the original handwritten minutes plus the transcribed and printed version. The printed edition is well-indexed. One of the entries referenced a painted portrait of the General.   

Resolution, Common Council, 1824, Common Council collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

FTR: Many of the documents are about the painted portrait of the Marquis. Is there anything more in the Archives about this artwork?

RM: I knew we have a photograph collection from the Public Design Commission. It used to be called the Art Commission and they are in charge of all artwork in City-owned buildings. I went to our photograph gallery and typed Lafayette into the search box. It resulted with more than 2,500 pictures! Turns out there are a lot of streets named Lafayette and we have pictures of every house and building along those streets in the Tax photo collections. But then I noticed a photograph of a full-length painted portrait of Lafayette and another picture of a statue.

Statue Marquis de Lafayette, n.d. Public Design Commission photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

FTR: Circling back to the Collection Guide, is it accurate to say that the Common Council papers collection did not come up in the Guide when you searched for “Lafayette” because the inventory where you found his name listed has not yet been linked to that collection in the guide? 

RM: Yes, but we’re working on doing just that. Adding inventories and lists to the Guide is one of our current customer service initiatives. It’s a big job, though. 

FTR: Good to know. And this is an excellent reminder that the knowledge and experience of our archivists is itself an essential resource of the Municipal Archives.

New York’s First Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, nearly one million New Yorkers paraded, marched, and strolled up and down a car-free Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, from 59th Street to 14th Street, and along 14th Street between Second and Seventh Avenues. The one-day event recognized the first Earth Day when New Yorkers joined with Americans across the country to bring awareness to the emerging consciousness about air and water pollution.

Earth Day, Fifth Avenue and 51st Street, April 22, 1970. New York Police Department photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Environmental Action Coalition, a national organization, planned the first Earth Day. The group encouraged activities to educate people about air, water, noise and radiation pollution. They urged creative use of parks, preservation of natural resources, population control, support for mass transit, as well as the treatment of lead poisoning and recycling waste materials.

Earth Day, Fifth Avenue, April 22, 1970. New York Police Department photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

In a press release issued on March 18, 1970 announcing the street closures, Mayor John Lindsay stated, “We in New York are proud to participate in the Earth Day demonstrations . . . to preserve and protect the vital resources which are of critical importance to all Americans.” The release further added that Lindsay had designated a top-level Interagency Task Force to plan and coordinate the City’s participation in Earth Day. 

Mayor Lindsay’s subject files include correspondence he received supporting the street closures. On March 16, 1970, architect James T. Burns, Jr. wrote: “With your help, I am positive that this day will be the beginning of the real involvement of New Yorkers in their own fate as either creators or victims of their environment. The closing of the street is vital to this beginning.”

Earth Day, Union Square, April 22, 1970. New York Police Department photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Earth Day celebrations in Union Square Park included cleanup crews composed of school-aged children such as those from the Convent of Sacred Heart. Con Edison, a company often criticized for their environmental policies, donated brooms, mops, and other supplies for the cause. Other events in the park included Frisbee games and a massive plastic bubble filled with “fresh air.” Events went on until close to midnight. The clean-up activities also extended to other boroughs like Brooklyn where school children assisted in cleaning a beach.

Earth Day, Fifth Avenue, April 22, 1970. New York Police Department photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The New York Police Department Special Investigations Unit (a.k.a. Handschu) collection in the Municipal Archives provides excellent visual documentation of Earth day with both surveillance films and still photography. Here are three of their films recorded on Earth Day, April 22, 1970:

Contemporary newspaper accounts described the Earth Day scene: “Mood is Joyful as City Gives Its Support,” read the New York Times headline on April 23, 1970. “Huge light-hearted throngs ambled down auto-less streets here yesterday as the city heeded Earth Day’s call for a regeneration of a polluted environment by celebrating an exuberant rite of spring.”

In the intervening decades Earth Day has been celebrated every April 22. It is now observed throughout the world in more than 193 countries. The official theme for 2023 is “Invest in Our Planet.”

Find of the Week

This week, For the Record, revives the “Find of the Week” feature to highlight something surprising, exceptional, unusual, or unexpected in Municipal Archives or Library collections. 

Recently, while bar-coding containers in the Municipal Archives, archivist Katie Ehrlich noticed a box labeled “Department of Parks & Recreation – Artifacts.” She discovered it held about three dozen envelopes containing an eclectic assortment of ephemera. Paperwork appended to the envelopes indicated the contents had been separated from the Department of Parks & Recreation General Files series. In accordance with standard archival practice, photographs, over-size, and other non-paper materials are separated from paper correspondence files and re-housed appropriately.

“Junior Fisherman,” badge, 1959, Department of Parks & Recreation General Files Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Parks Department series had been transferred to the Municipal Archives in 1984 from a Parks Department storage facility beneath the 79th Street Boat Basin along the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan. Archivists processed the collection in the late 1980s and since then this rich collection has served countless research projects.

Here are two items found in the “Artifacts” box. Look for future For the Record posts that highlight other finds.  In the meantime, readers can ponder what circumstances would result in an “Official Three Stooges Fan Club Franchise” certificate filed in Parks Department correspondence.

Three Stooges Official Fan Club Franchise Certificate, 1960, Department of Parks & Recreation General Files Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Theatre Matron Permits

On September 13, 1936, residents and passersby on Third Avenue near 103rd Street in Manhattan witnessed the dramatic, but orderly, evacuation of 400 children from the Eagle Moving Picture Theater where there was a fire. Contemporary newspaper accounts of the emergency noted that Miss Mary McCord, “a matron licensed by the Health Department,” had escorted the children to safety.   

Theatre Matron License Application, Mary McCord, 1936. Theatre Matron License Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Later that year, McCord received a special commendation from Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at City Hall.  The New York Times reported LaGuardia’s remarks at the December 23rd ceremony: “I’m particularly pleased that in the first emergency arising in the administration of the law providing for the supervision of children in a theatre, that you were the supervision provided by the law. . . . You justified the sponsorship of this law and in administering it you typified the woman with the ability to take care of such situations.” (December 24, 1936.)    

Reading about this event today might prompt a question about what matrons did an who they were.  Is there possible documentation in the Municipal Archives about the matrons “licensed by the Health Department.” Regular followers of For the Record will know that the answer is yes, and this week’s article will highlight the recently indexed “Theatre Matron Permit” collection.

The provenance of the collection dates to State legislation passed in 1937 that required motion picture theaters to provide special seating sections exclusively for children, and mandated supervision by licensed matrons. The legislation arose from earlier laws that prohibited children under the age of 16 from entering a theater without an accompanying adult.

Theatre Matron License Application, Lillie Dawkins, 1946. Theatre Matron License Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The subject files in the Mayor LaGuardia collection provide a context for research about children in theaters. In January 1935 the Bronx County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children reported to the Mayor that several theaters “permit children to congregate around the cashier’s booth and ask patrons to buy tickets for them and take them in.”  Contemporary newspaper accounts further illustrate the situation. On January 7, 1936, the New York Times quoted Harry Brandt, president of the Independent Theatre Owners Association of New York:  “The present law makes a beggar of a child who has money to pay his way in, but lacks a proper guardian,” he said. “Their practice of waylaying adults near the box-office and asking them to buy their tickets has its evils.” The Times story continued with an additional quote from a spokesman for the RKO chain, “Anything that would improve the present condition of bootlegging minors into theatres would be welcome.” 

Mayor LaGuardia’s papers also include a letter from Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine, dated February 19, 1935, to the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Commenting on the proposed legislation, Valentine supported a suggestion that “A competent person, preferably a women, should be assigned for such supervision [of children in theaters], and should not have charge of more than 40 children.”

The legislation was enacted, and the City’s Health Department was charged with licensing the matrons prior to their employment by theaters. The Health Department devised a form recording the applicant’s name, home address and years lived there; date and place of birth; marital status and name of husband (if married or widowed); names and ages of children; places, dates, and other information regarding past employment; level of education; a brief physical description; and general health questions. Each application also includes the name and location of the theater, and a small passport-sized black and white photograph of the applicant. Many files also contain physical exam reports.

The Municipal Archives Theatre Matron Permit collection consists of the original applications filed and approved by the Board of Health. There are about 4,000 records in the series. They date from 1936 to 1949, and the total quantity of the series is 35 cubic feet.  In the late 1960s, New York City ended the requirement that theaters hire matrons. The Municipal Archives accessioned the Theatre Matron Permit collection from Department of Health in 1990. 

Theatre Matron License Application, Diana Tompkins, 1936. Theatre Matron License Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

“Mother Gives Birth to Girl at Boro Movie,” read the Brooklyn Citizen newspaper headline on April 3, 1940. “Child weighed six pounds eight ounces born in office of theatre.”  The story went on to describe how the “… young mother had gone to the Alba late in the afternoon and watching “The Fighting 69th “with James Cagney, when she found it necessary to ask for help. Mrs. Diana Tompkins, theatre matron, and Max Scheiring, assistant manager, helped her to the office, police were notified, and an ambulance was summoned from Beth Moses Hospital.

And then there is Marguerite Girardot. A 1940 profile published in the Brooklyn Eagle described Girardot as a “… suffragette, civic and social worker and charter member of the 16th A.D. [Assembly District] Democratic Organization.”  The story noted that “at a time in life when most people take it easy, Girardot is employed as a movie theatre matron …”  The story continued, “For 12 years she has held this position in Century’s Triangle Theatre, Kings Highway and E. 12th Street. ‘And I’ve never been late for work once!,’ she stated with pride.”

Theatre Matron License Application, Marguerite Girardot, 1936. Theatre Matron License Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

While the daily routine of the many hundreds of theatre matrons may not have been as dramatic as that of Diana Tompkins or Mary McCord, the information about their lives as documented in the Theatre Matron Permits collection is a unique treasure. Genealogists will discover a wealth of data, and a photograph, of their ancestors. Historian will use the demographic information about the women’s occupations, birth places, education and family relationships as a valuable resource for topics such as the Great Migration, and the educational and employment opportunities (or lack thereof) for women. 

Future digitization of this series will expand access to the series. The finding guide, and series inventory is available in the Municipal Archives online Collection Guide.    

Honoring Miriam Friedlander

Council member Miriam Friedlander, undated portrait. Miriam Friedlander Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives

In celebration of Women’s History Month, the NYC Department of Records and Information Services recently presented a panel discussion honoring the life and legacy of former Council member and trailblazer Miriam Friedlander. Panelists included Miriam’s close friends and colleagues Tommy Loeb, Lisa Kaplan, Frieda Bradlow and Margarita Lopez. Commissioner Pauline Toole moderated the discussion that highlighted Friedlander’s lasting impact on NYC municipal government and local communities.

The program took place on the evening of March 16, 2023, in the public reading room at DORIS’ 31 Chambers Street headquarters. 

Miriam Sigel Friedlander was born in Pittsburg, in April 1914, and moved with her family to the Bronx and then Manhattan. Her brother Paul Sigel died in 1938 fighting for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. She married Mark E. Friedlander in 1939. Ms. Friedlander studied at New York University, and in 1973 she won a seat on the City Council representing the Second Council District, which then included Stuyvesant Town, SoHo, Chinatown, the East Village and the Lower East Side.

Miriam Friedlander and constituents, ca. 1980. Miriam Friedlander Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

During her nearly two decades on the City Council, Ms. Friedlander advanced the diverse and sometimes conflicting reform and leftist traditions of her district. In 1974 she urged the Council to change what members of the Council should be called noting that four of the 43 members are women: “We can no longer go along with the concept of Councilman.” Eventually the Council agreed to change the designation from Councilman to Council Member. Ms. Friedlander’s advocacy on behalf of women, tenants, and the LGBTQ community were hallmarks of her service on the City Council. She was narrowly defeated in 1991. She died on October 4, 2009, in Manhattan, at age 95.

The Municipal Archives collection also includes film and video of Miriam Friedlander participating in televised Channel L programs, accessible at Manhattan at Large: Honoring Miriam Friedlander.

Left to right: Carol Greitzer, Alair Townsend, Carolyn Maloney, Miriam Friedlander. Miriam Friedlander Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Miriam Friedlander with constituents in the Chinatown neighborhood, ca. 1975. Miriam Friedlander Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives

Bella Abzug and Miriam Friedlander, 1974. Miriam Friedlander Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives

Mayor David N. Dinkins greets Miriam Friedlander, City Hall, 1990. Miriam Friedlander Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives

Preserving Mali’s Motion Picture Film Heritage

In November 2022, the New York City Municipal Archives hosted two visitors from Mali as part of a United States State Department grant meant to aid the development of a Malian national film archive at the Centre National de la Cinématographie du Mali (CNCM). Written by the non-profit group XFR Collective, this grant funded Malian filmmaker Alassane Poudjougou and Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana of the CNCM’s trip to learn about archival standards in film and tape preservation by touring facilities in the City of New York, including Columbia University, the Museum of Modern Art and New York University. At the Municipal Archives, they cleaned, repaired and digitized some films they brought with them that featured post-colonial life in Mali in the 1960s and ‘70s. With thousands of films like these discovered in the 1990s by Professor Fofana, the Municipal Archives recognizes that sharing the lessons and processes that we have learned could help them preserve their historic record.

Alassane Poudjougou inspects the NYC Muncipal Archives film scanner while Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana takes pictures.

For generations, the Empire of Mali was the thriving, preeminent power in Western Africa and its most famous ruler was Mansa Musa in the 14th century, possibly the wealthiest man to ever live. But in 1672, weakened by internal divisions, the Malian Empire succumbed to invasion by the neighboring Bemana Empire, splitting Mali into smaller kingdoms. By the end of the 19th century, France had established a colonial government, forcibly relocating thousands in the hopes of turning the area into a cotton growing powerhouse to rival India.

The end of French colonial rule in 1960 brought freedom to the inhabitants of the new Republic of Mali, as well as new connections with the Soviet Union and the adoption of socialist policies under President Modibo Keïta. Keïta was overthrown in a military coup in 1968, when Lt. Moussa Traoré took over as head of a military dictatorship until calls for democracy in the 1990s grew strong enough to force reforms. The first peaceful transition took place in Mali in 2002 when Traoré was voted back into power after years of absence. Today, Mali is still wracked by the impact of colonialism and its legacy of division, with a civil war currently playing out between the north and south, nearly derailing this grant.

Bouna Cherif Fofana discovered thousands of films chronicling the early history of the Republic of Mali.

In the 1990s, Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana of the CNCM discovered over 2,000 films from the turbulent period of the 1960s and ‘70s, documenting the early years of post-colonial life in the Republic of Mali. However, the CNCM did not have the resources needed to preserve these films. Hearing of this situation, NYC-based artist Janet Goldner, members of the non-profit group XFR Collective (in which the author is a member) and Malian film maker Alassane Poudjougou worked together with Professor Fofana and the CNCM to apply for a U.S. State Department grant that would help them get started. Delayed by ongoing turmoil in Mali, Fofana and Poudjougou were finally able to visit the New York City Municipal Archives in November, 2022 to tour the facilities and receive essential training on moving image preservation.

Bouna Cherif Fofana and Alassane Poudjougou also got an overview of magnetic tape preservation methods

This visit was only the first leg in a long journey to establish a national film archive of Mali. In the future, Poudjougou and Fofana hope to raise funds to create a climate-controlled storage facility and a digitization lab like the one at the NYC Municipal Archives center in Industry City. However, Mali is not a wealthy nation, with 80% of the country living on less than $5.50 per day and many working in gold mines owned by international conglomerates. An upcoming documentary from Alassane Poudjougou investigates the terrible conditions Malians work in while mining gold and the litany of broken promises that foreign corporate entities have made to Mali. A film archive of Mali would not only preserve the thousands of films Professor Fofana discovered, but also new productions of Malian filmmakers like Poudjougou that expose powerful entities continuing to abuse the people of Mali.

Professor Bouna Cherif Fofana practices film inspection and cleaning methods in the Municipal Archives’ digital lab.

Since the end of French colonial rule, thousands of people from Mali have moved to New York City, home to the largest population of Malians living in the United States. Many came during the 1960s and ‘70s, escaping turmoil that some of Professor Fofana’s films may yet document. Even more came after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s when the films were first discovered. Over 20 years later, the Municipal Archives hopes that by fostering its relationship with the CNCM in Mali, we might help shed light on how the Republic of Mali came into being and how thousands of Malians also became New Yorkers.