Seward Park Library

The Walking Tour:

The Seward Park Branch of the New York Public Library (192 East Broadway) is known to have an archive collection documenting the stories of the Lower East Side; from general historical books to individual cases of immigrant life in the Lower East Side.  The Seward Park Library has played an important part in the life of immigrants ever since its opening in the early 1900’s.

“A four-story red brick Renaissance Revival building with high ceilings and arched windows, the branch is located at the eastern edge of the park for which it is named. The branch’s origins can be traced to 1886, when the Aguilar Free Library Society opened several libraries, including what would become the Seward Park Branch. The library, designed by the firm of Babb, Cook & Welch, opened its doors on November 11, 1909. The building houses adult, reference, and young adult collections on the third floor; a children’s room on the second floor; adult, media, and world language collections on the first floor; and a literacy center on the lower level. In its first renovation since 1953, the branch reopened in 2004 with a restored exterior and interior, central air-conditioning, new technology infrastructure and computers, and ramps and an elevator that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, among myriad improvements. In its early days, the Seward Park Branch served an immigrant Jewish population. Today, the community is home to a mixture of Jews, Hispanics, African Americans, and an ever-increasing Asian population.” (taken from nypl.org)

From NYPL Digital Library:

 

Skimming through the Archives Section on the Lower East Side at Seward Park Library, we came upon a book called Life On the Lower East Side, which contained a collection of photographs documenting what the Lower East Side looked like in the 1930’s and 1940’s. All the photographs were taken by Rebecca Lepkoff, a photographer that specialized in the Lower East Side.

 

Photographs of the Lower East Side: