NYC History Resources on the Web

General

Blackout History Project
Learn about the blackouts in New York City in 1965 and 1977.
blackouts.gmu.edu

Ellis Island
Read several immigrant families' stories and explore a timeline of U.S. immigration history. Now available online are ship manifests from 1892 to 1924 where one can search for relatives who passed through Ellis Island.
www.ellisisland.org

Forgotten New York
Explore New York City's past through lampposts, advertisements, bridges, buildings, signs, and other things you pass every day in the street.
www.forgotten-ny.com

Freedom Trail Project
Site covering the history of blacks in New York State.
www.freedomtrail.org

Gotham Center
Search this online compendeun of NYC historical resources. See exhibits, look for conferences and so much more!
www.gothamcenter.org

Great Buildings - New York
See photos and read brief descriptions of famous architectural landmarks of New York City. Contains bibliographies for more information on these sites as well as information on the specific architects.
www.GreatBuildings.com/places/new_york_city.html

Inventing Gotham: New York City and the American Dream
A virtual tour of New York City constructed for and by eleventh and twelfth grade students at the Fieldston School in the Bronx.
www.mapsites.net/gotham/

Louis Armstrong House and Archives
Visit information on the Armstrong archives and the Louis Armstrong House.
www.satchmo.net

Medieval New York
Visit this guide to examples of medieval architecture in New York City.
www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/medny.html

New York: A Documentary Film
This companion website to the documentary by Ric Burns shown on PBS features a 3-D virtual trip around New York City , a quiz game on New York City's history and an educational component for children on the history of New York City.
www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/

New York City Subway Resources
Unofficial site on the New York City Subway System. Includes the history of the various subway lines, pictures of trains through the years and old maps of the system.
nycsubway.org

New York Underground
From the National Geographic Society; learn about what goes on under the streets of New York.
www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/nyunderground/

Seneca Village
Contains access to primary and secondary sources regarding the history of Seneca Village, a joint project between the New-York Historical Society, the New York Public Library, and Columbia University.
projects.ilt.columbia.edu/seneca/start.html

The History Box
The History Box.com is a non-profit, educational website devoted primarily to New York City and New York State history, though it also contains an extensive exploration of American history in general.
thehistorybox.com

The September 11 Digital Archive
Collects, preserves, and presents the history of the September 11th events and public responses to them.
www.911digitalarchive.org

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Presented by the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University. Contains a history of the event along with primary materials including audio versions of oral histories.
www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire/

Books

How the Other Half Lives
Online edition of Jacob Riis's 1890 study of tenement life in NYC.
www.cis.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/title.html

The Tenant Movement in New York City, 1904-1984
Online version of the book by Ronald Lawson and Mark Naison, covering the history of the tenant movement from its origins at the turn of the century to its role today.
www.tenant.net/Community/history/hist-toc.html

Landmarks, Museums & Societies

BRONX

Bronx County Historical Society
www.bronxhistoricalsociety.org

BROOKLYN

Atlantic Avenue Tunnel
Photos and maps of the Atlantic Avenue tunnel, which was built in 1844 to relieve traffic in Brooklyn and closed in 1861.
www-tech.mit.edu/Subway/Tunnel/

Brooklyn Historical Society
www.brooklynhistory.org

Coney Island
Covers the history of Brooklyn's Coney Island. Features timelines, historic articles and photographs, interactive maps and lists of movies filmed at Coney Island.
http://westland.net/coneyisland

Old Stone House
Old Stone House is a replica of a colonial Dutch stone farmhouse. The original house, located beside the Gowanus Creek, was an important strategic site during the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776.
www.theoldstonehouse.org

Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History
One of the major African American settlements in New York, Weeksville was named after James Weeks, who purchased the site from the Lefferts family in 1838.
www.weeksvillesociety.org

Walk Around Brooklyn
Companion Website to the PBS show A Walk Around Brooklyn. Contains clips from the show, a brief history of the borough and an interactive map of Brooklyn.
www.thirteen.org/brooklyn/

MANHATTAN

Eldridge Street Project
Examines the history of the Eldridge Street Synagogue.
www.eldridgestreet.org

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
www.gvshp.org

Harlem 1900-1940
An online exhibit from the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Includes a timeline, biographies of important people and organizations, a section for teachers and a database of artists, writers, and musicians who worked in Harlem between 1900-1940.
www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/

Lower East Side Tenement Museum
Explores photos and stories about residents of tenements on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
www.tenement.org

Merchant's House Museum
Built in 1832, the Merchant's House is New York's only family home preserved intact, inside and out, from the 19th century.
www.merchantshouse.org

Museum of Chinese in the Americas
Documents the history of Chinese immigrants and their descendents in the Americas.
www.moca-nyc.org

Museum of the City of New York
www.mcny.org

New York City Fire Museum
www.nycfiremuseum.org

New-York Historical Society
www.nyhistory.org

South Street Seaport Museum
Resources about the Port of New York and its influence on the culture and character of the nation.
www.southstseaport.org

Walk Through Harlem
Companion Website to the PBS show A Walk Through Harlem. Contains clips from the show and an interactive map of Harlem.
www.thirteen.org/harlem/

QUEENS

Queens Historical Society
www.queenshistoricalsociety.org

STATEN ISLAND

Historic Richmond Town
www.historicrichmondtown.org

LONG ISLAND

Long Island History
Dedicated to the history of Long Island. Also contains essays and information relating to Brooklyn and Queens, including historical sites, preserved homes, burial sites, historical societies and archival collections.
www.lihistory.com