Sorting Through the Municipal Archives

This week the New York City Municipal Archives made 870,000 pieces available to view on its online archives, and it’s just about as cool as you could imagine–which is probably why the site has been difficult to access since they made the announcement. I finally managed to get through, and while you’ll be able to find some cool pieces of history that you can order prints of, it might take a lot of searching to find anything beyond the obvious.

You want an amazing photo of the Manhattan Bridge being built? You got it. You want one from your street in our neighborhood? That’ll take a few more clicks and some creative search terms, and then you might only find documents from the past few decades.

That’s not to say there aren’t some gems from our area, like the aerial view of the Parade Ground, a Kings County Hospital ambulance, and people playing tennis in Prospect Park seen above. So go check it out, and if you find a good one, let us know.