New York Public Library

37 years. That’s what it was, 37 years working at one job. She came to NYC from Strawberry Point, Iowa in 1970 and started working at New York Public Library in 1972 (can you believe that name "Strawberry Point"?, note there is a new book that was recently reviewed in the NYTimes Book Review, titled Methland – it recieved a good strong review too- the town that is the focus of that book is 20 miles outside Strawberry Pte! Dorothy, I guess you can never go home again.). She worked everywhere, in every condition and in every capacity; trudged through blizzards to make it to work, broke an arm doing it too and at another time she was relegated to taking a ferry to a train and finally a bus to the outer regions of Staten Island. She even tried to get to work in the debacle of 9/11, only to learn that there was no work to go to that day. Instead the decision to heed the call to help others was greater than staying home and watching the disaster unfold on TV. Marie trekked all the way to the east 90’s on foot from Alphabet City to donate blood. She made it there waited and waited until sadly she learned as the whole city learned that there would be no need for blood on that day. She made her way home in the wee hours of the night, satisfied she tried.

Marie is quirky, even scary. She has a reputation as being a bear, most stay away from her. She has a personality as obtuse as a funhouse mirror, a will as strong as tempered steel and a depth of intellect as great as the information contained in the authoritative works she dispensed with on a daily basis at the reference desk. Her character was unequaled. Her loyalty unwavering. Her integrity was of the highest standard. When a co-worker had a baby, Marie was at the hospital to welcome the new face to the world before anyone else. When another co-worker was stricken by a stroke, Marie maintained a vigil by this person’s side long after others stopped going. Quietly she showed herself to be one of the finest people I have ever worked with.

Marie could be abrasive. She would often bark at co-workers. She saw nothing wrong with how she went about her life. Her life was full and rich. She breezed through life like everything was copasetic. She lived in essentially the same apartment she had when she came to the city so long ago. Her place on east 7th street, directly across the street from Tompkins Square was once a hotbed of civil unrest in the 80’s and before that it was destination of drug addicts. I often asked Marie to talk about the tough times of Alphabet City. To listen to her talk about squatters that would often occupy the foyer of her apartment building, was funny. The thought of Marie taking care of bad guys on the Lower Eastside is surprising and humorous to me, but she did just that. With her red and white gingham shirt and sensible denim culottes and a topper of a Gilligan’s Island hat, Marie cut a striking figure amongst the downtrodden that once occupied her area. With a paper under her arm and a packed lunch in her bag, Marie traveled about without fear. She believed she earned the right to be where she was and somehow she coexisted with others that would surely make most of us crumble. Marie can now enjoy the fruits of her longevity in a once crime controlled area, in her rent controlled, no doubt book filled apartment. Right outside her second floor living room window, flowers adorn well tended park side gardens where once bald covered hills, pocked with little islands of weeds, strewn with the human detritus of broken glass, discarded needles and other garbage were the visual delights of the 70’s and 80’s in Tompkins Sq Park. Now Marie has only beauty and for the most part safe streets to deal with.

The quality of Marie’s work was unequaled at New York Public Library. When at work, she worked. Her specialty behind the scenes was the detail of cataloging records and her ability to order the best in any subject. She knew respected works of criticism from reliable publishers, as well as the best translations of any work. Her strength at the reference desk was her willingness to go the distance with a patron. Generally though, she was so good she could size up a patron and give him three or four of what he wanted before he even knew what he wanted. She could talk about this and that edition of Shakespeare, or American theatre, or Joyce, or Hemingway, or French Literature and Greek literature and histories like it was happening right now. Her mind was keen, her memory astonishing. Marie had it all stored behind that big eyed face of hers, full warmth and humor if you only took the time to see it.

I was once at the reference desk when a patron came up to me and pointed out as Marie walked by that as a child he was her librarian at Hamilton Fish. He said she was the best librarian there was and he learned the love of books from Marie. Marie Zwanziger you will be sorely missed at the library.

Last week with a dinner among friends, we bid our brilliant colleague a fond farewell from the grand institution she so loved.

I recently wrote about an old favorite of mine, the fantasy novel Time and Again, by Jack Finney. It is the story of a man who travels back in time to New York in the 1800s. Once there, the story is compelling, precise in its details, and completely believable, the only far-fetched element being his actual methodology for returning to the past--he looks at old pictures and sort of thinks himself back through time. At least I thought this was far-fetched, until I got a look at the photographs I’ve reproduced here.

We can pretend that our work lives are a linear progression, day after day, neatly punctuated by weekends, with a summer vacation splitting each year down the middle. The truth, as usual, is far messier. If you work long enough at the same job, your experiences become layered like geological sediment. As of this past April I’ve worked in the General Research Division of the New York Public Library for thirty-two years. When it occurred to me that the library itself will be celebrating its centennial in 2011, I realized how much of its history I’ve actually participated in. Now, there are people--I’m sure you know a few--who seem to dwell principally in the past, always reminiscing about the old days and the peculiar characters who used to inhabit them…while their stories might hold your interest for awhile, it doesn’t take long before the tedium sets in. For the most part, I try to stay on the surface of the present moment, like a skater on a frozen lake; but with these photographs I’ve cracked through the skin of ice and gone plunging down and down. . .  read more »

Realistically we know no relationship is perfect, especially the relationships we have with our families. They say you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family. My father has not talked to his siblings in years and three out of the five are dead and the rest are in their late 80’s. My father can’t accurately state what it was that drove them apart. The wedge that was forced into the heart of my father’s family was powerful enough to keep the siblings apart forever. I see elements of regret, even remorse when my father speaks about his family, even after so many years, the hurt is still there. Perhaps because it is family. They say blood is thicker than water and a hurt within family hurts deeper than any other. In one sense, you can never walk away from your family, even if the steps you take, take you clear across the country and to a far distant city. Your family is still with you, by way of shared experiences and at some point shared values and a shared intimacy, even if that all ended, when as young person you decided to walk away and never looked back. Blood is blood.

What is it about a family relationship that creates such a hotbed of tension? In the case of my father, he talked about money, jealously and dysfunction that began with his parents. Sometimes it can be a slight or it can be the marriage to a person who will never be accepted into the family fold, which causes the destruction. Whatever the cause, nothing displays this tragic disarray better than Brooke Astor’s family. Plastered all over the papers, from the revered New York Times to the daily rags, we are witnessing the unraveling of Brooke Astor’s family. It is hard to believe that Brooke Astor, truly one of the most beloved philanthropic individuals in New York Society, could have been the catalyst for the manifestation of such vitriol unfolding in the papers.

Anyone who had a chance to meet Brooke Astor, not only felt anointed but also felt the caring and warmth that she shared the littlest of people. Well into her 80’s, Brooke Astor was still at the focal point in the elite social circles of New York Society. Many parties were given in her honor over many years, simply because tagging her name to such an event caused much money to be donated. She knew it and she used her power to generate millions of dollars for charities across the city. She treated New York Public Library as her home and for a long time, when you talked of one, you naturally talked of the other. It was Brooke Astor’s money that helped turn the library around after a very bleak period in the 70’s. Mrs.Astor and New York Public Library were as one. She was like that to a lot of institutions, namely the Metropolitan Museum.

Interestingly the maxim “you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family” rings like a clear bell when talking about Brooke Astor. It is her friends who remained loyal to her during her declining years and now even in death. Fiercely, they stand by her symbolic side to protect her integrity and intentions. The fight that is currently taking place in court today, is a brutal one. It pits family against family, severing a bond of familial love that will never be mended. It also pits Brooke Astor’s son Anthony against Brooke Astor’s closest and devoted friend Annette de la Renta. Always one to be the center of attention, it is hard to imagine what Brooke Astor might think of about the legal battle being waged in her name.

Please join Meryl Gordon as she discusses her book Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach on Monday June 1st at 6:30 PM, at the Mid-Manhattan Library.

In July 2007, The New York Public Library was able to expand hours of service to at least six days per week at all of its locations, adding over 260 extra hours of service per week to its 91 library locations – hours that had not been available since budget cuts made after September 11, 2001. Funding from the 2007 New York City budget permitted the popular Bronx Library Center to be open from 9am to 9pm everyday, seven days a week.

These hours are critical to users, especially now. As Dr. Paul LeClerc, President of The New York Public Library, said recently:

New Yorkers are facing a time of crisis, and we see people dealing with the ill effects of the economy in our libraries every day, taking advantage of the free programs, services, and materials we offer at locations throughout Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

Throughout the Great Depression, The New York Public Library was able to maintain seven days of service. In fact, annual reports of the Library from 1929-1939 confirm that the Central Building was open 365 days per year and a total of 82 hours per week. Most branches were open 313 days per year and a total of 72 hours per week. The Library’s contract with New York City at that time required that all branch libraries in Carnegie buildings (39 in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island) remain open 12 hours daily, except Sundays.  read more »

On today's map you wouldn't have a clue as to where the Crystal Palace at Reservoir Square was located. Looking at a William Perris' fire insurance map from 1853 however reveals that, where now stands our magnificent central library on the corner of 5th Avenue & 42nd Street, once stood the huge Croton distributing reservoir, gravity feeding the thirsty city from near the top of Murray Hill and a spectacular Crystal Palace, seen here as the large purple shape on the top left.

You can see both the reservoir and the Crystal Palace here.

An even closer look reveals a handwritten note reading "50,000". This is a fire insurance map which probably means that the fire insurance policy taken out for the Crystal Palace was $50,000 or about $1.5 million in today's dollars.

That seems like a shockingly low price for such a spectacular building.

Especially considering the fact that in 1858 it burned to the ground.

The story goes that the morning after the fire, in typical New York City fashion, street hawkers were selling still warm pieces of the melted Crystal Palace.

Fall 2008 has been a busy season for Map Division staff and media related activity. NYPL’s "Treasures" video series features Matt Knutzen and Alice Hudson in a 7 minute presentation about our paper and computer maps.

On Nov. 12 we were featured in USA Today, the Life Section: N.Y. Public Library puts its 'Treasures' online.

New York 1 Television filmed Paul LeClerc, Alice Hudson and Rebecca Federman in November, and aired this presentation the week of November 24 on NY1.

It may well be picked up by CNN, but that is not known at this point.

Visit these sites to get a fun introduction to maps at the Library!

New York Public Library is a business but a business like no other. The library’s sole purpose is to transact in materials not money. Ours is a business based on trust. We lend. The library has millions of dollars in materials and we trust that the people who borrow these materials will return what they take. We hope in as good as condition as possible. Naturally there is wear, that is expected.  read more »

Everyday here in the Milstein Division, we get questions from all over the city and around the country about the history of New York City. Questions range from the very specific, “What was the weather in Manhattan on May 7th 1864?” to the dauntingly vague, “My great-grandfather lived in New York, his name was Patrick Murphy. Could you send me information on him?” Fortunately, the library’s collection of reference material on New York City history is astounding and rare is the question that goes unanswered. But for those who don’t have direct access to our print collection and are interested in researching the history of our great metropolis, I invite you to a free research class at the library this week.  read more »

Love might be a many-splendored thing. Sex and the City is another. Where the two intersect is the interesting moment in the new film where one of the women characters ends up in bed with one of the men (no names: no spoilers) and begins to read from a book of collected love letters. In a movie full of products like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Skyy vodka, and Mercedes Benz, it is this book that the musty old librarian’s attention focuses on. (I’m the guy sitting across from you on the bus who just has to know what book you’re reading.)  read more »

I know its awfully unseasonable to post a wintry scene but I wanted to point something out to you in this image. It is the cover of a holiday card depicting the Humanities and Social Sciences Library on a very snowy day. You'll also notice two flags on the card. When my uncle received it last Christmas he asked me why the library would fly a French flag. I thought to myself "that's a good question."  read more »

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Nostalgia for the past is what leads many of us to pour over our old pictures. Recently The New York Public Library posted several thousand old baseball pictures on its website. Known as the NYPL Digital Gallery, the website contains millions of digital images of pictures taken from books and archives found throughout the vast collections of the NYPL.One of the more recent image collections to go live in the NYPL Digital Gallery was the Albert G. Spalding Collection. While not all of the A.G. Spalding Collection is currently available online, we at last have a window through which to see some of the incredible things that Spalding, who must have been a real packrat, collected. The Manuscripts and Archives Division at NYPL posted a description of the A.G. Spalding collection, and although they describe things that are not in the NYPL Digital Gallery, their site has information about Spalding and all of the stuff that he collected during his time as a ball player, manager, and promoter of the sport.A word about the image, above. It is photograph of the trophies collected by the Atlantics of Brooklyn (1857-1875). The wooden frame holds a baseball from every game won by the team. The A.G. Spalding Collection contains only the photograph, not the baseballs.

It’s always exciting to see citations to the holdings of the Music Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in newly published books and articles. But it’s even more exciting when a newly-published score is based on one of our manuscripts.
The latest volume of the new Works of Gioachino Rossini edition (entitled “Chamber Music Without Piano”) contains several works, among them the Serenata. Composed in 1823 “for his friend Vincenzo Bianchi” (and first published in 1828) there are only two manuscript sources for this work, neither in the hand of the composer. The earlier (and primary source) is located in the Biblioteca del Conservatorio “G. Verdi” in Milan. The editors of the Works of Gioachino Rossini edition describe our copy as being a copy of the earlier manuscript. In fact, the two manuscripts are “linked” in that markings in the Milan manuscript correspond to page turns in our manuscript.
Our manuscript probably stems from the latter half of the 19th century (based on the highly acidic paper on which it is written). The property stamp of Sam Franko (of the family that began the Goldman Band, still active today in New York City) indicates that it was probably picked up by him on one of his sojourns in Europe. As stated in the critical notes, he never appears to have played it for his concerts, and donated the manuscript to The New York Public Library’s Music Division in 1919, where it was first cataloged the following year.

Even in my brief time as curator, quite a number of people have expressed interest in this work. So the Works of Gioachino Rossini edition have satisfied a great need by publishing it in an excellent new edition.