At the New York Historical Society today we looked at photographs that allowed us to visualize the ways that New York City has changed over time. Lefebvre’s excerpt attunes us to the way that these changes in urban space reflect social change.
Photographs, though, are only a few of the kinds of sources we can use to track historical changes in urban structure and social relations in New York City. Choose one of the sources listed below. Do some research into New York’s past using one kind of these materials. As you explore the sources, think about what this particular source base (or art form) might be able to tell us about how the city looked between 1850 and 2016? Likewise, what can they tell us about what it felt like to live in the city in this time period (i.e, What was the “texture” of the city? What did it feel like to move through the city? What kinds of social relations defined key areas and neighborhoods in the city? What were the cultural and social institutions that defined city life?)
Then find a way to assemble evidence from your selected source base to illustrate how New York City has changed in some period between 1900 between 2016. Your presentation should include examples from your selected source base as well as a short text (500 words). The text should provide a narrative description of the changes you’ve discovered as well as an argument about how these changes might reflect larger economic, demographic, social, and cultural shifts in New York City during the time period.
Sources
- Music about New York City (Listen to the Spotify list that Denisse and I created here)
- Movies set in New York City (a quick google search will show lots of options)
- Television shows set in New York City (a Google search will provide ample options)
- Menus (Check out: What’s On the Menu)
- Historic Maps of New York City
- Old Guidebooks (E-mail me if you want to pursue this option)
- Advertisements of local attractions (Search on Google)
- National Register of Historical Places in New York City
- NYC Historical Subway Maps; the New York Transit Museum is another source
- Interior Design (see the collections at the Met 5th Avenue and Cooper-Hewitt)
- Material Culture (think creatively!)
You are welcome to suggest another kind of source base, but please e-mail me to confirm first.
I encourage you to check out E. Burrow’s Gotham to provide some sense of the wider historical shifts occurring in New York as part of your research. A non-circulating copy of the book is available in the Reference section on the 2nd floor of Baruch’s Newman Library (F128.3 B87 1999)
I also invite you to check out The New York Times archives to further supplement your research. The New York Times archive can be accessed through the Database page for Baruch’s Newman Library.
Post your work to the course blog site.
After the deadline has closed, please read the blogs of your classmates, with particular attention to 2 classmates whose work you have not read before. Then write a short comment in which you reflect on the way that the work of these two classmates offers you a different perspective of the city’s history that enhances, challenges, or complements your analysis or, alternatively, that you find simply fascinating. Name one thing from each of their works that will shape the way you look at the city in the future.
Deadline for blog: Sunday, November 12th at 5:00 pm
Deadlines for comments: Monday, November 13th at 11 pm
