1947 Henry Morgan Rafael Soriano Artist Old Photo Negative by famous photographe

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176269159345 1947 Henry Morgan Rafael Soriano Artist Old Photo Negative by famous photographe. 1947 Henry Morgan Rafael Soriano Artist Old Photo Negative 123A ...  authentic 4x5 original negative as shown. This negative is from the PM New York City Daily News between 1940 – 1948.  ORIGINAL NEGATIVE BY PHOTOGRAPHER MORRIS ENGEL . MEASURES  APPROXIMATELY 4X5 INCHES. This negative is from the DEFUNCT PM New York City Daily News active between 1940 - 1948. Fine condition a vivid, sharp, high quality negative . Morris Engel was an American photographer, cinematographer and filmmaker best known for making the first American film "independent" of Hollywood studios, Little Fugitive, in collaboration with his wife, photographer Ruth Orkin, and their friend, writer Raymond Abrashkin. Pierrepont Burt Noyes was an American businessman and writer. He was brought up in the Oneida Community, a religious Utopian group. Noyes later became the head of Oneida Limited, a position he held for many years. Pierrepont Burt Noyes (August 18, 1870 – April 15, 1959) was an American businessman and writer. He was brought up in the Oneida Community, a religious Utopian group. Noyes later became the head of Oneida Limited, a position he held for many years.
In the early days of cinema, before the rise of the Hollywood studios with their artificial, controlled environments in the form of sets and sound stages, movies took advantage of real locations as narrative backdrops. These could be cityscapes, as in some of the early work of D. W. Griffith, or the great outdoors, as in the innumerable westerns that were a staple of pre-modern cinema. While there was clearly an economic motive in shooting this way, there was also a sense of connecting with audiences in a realistic way as the stories they saw unfolded in recognizable environments. In spite of the hypnotic power of the studio "look," which was often somehow plush even in gritty genres like film noir, it never entirely replaced the natural setting. (Even the studios continued to take advantage of the impact of some locations, for example, in a slum street in a Warner Bros. pre-code gangster film.) Italian neo-realism was one of several filmic styles that depended on reality for a sense of immediacy that could not be obtained otherwise. In the late 1950s, the nouvelle vague resurrected this approach as crucial in capturing the reality of people’s lives. Between neorealism and the nouvelle vague stand Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin, whose independent feature Little Fugitive (1953) has been credited — by Francois Truffaut, who ought to know — with providing both spiritual imprimatur and nuts-and-bolts strategies for the French New Wave. Engel and Orkin were both still photographers, with Engel particularly distinguished as a colleague of Paul Strand and a pioneer photojournalist with magazines like PM, Fortune, Collier’s. Orkin also had ties to Hollywood and cinema in general — she had worked for MGM, her mother was a silent star, and she had edited some experimental shorts, an experience that would be crucial in the pair’s future collaborations. Engel and Orkin provided a production template for future independent filmmakers by doing double and triple duty on their films. For their first feature, Engel, Orkin, and Ray Ashley are credited with direction, Engel and Ashley with production, Ashley with screenplay, Orkin and Lester Troob with editing, and Engel with photography. The verite photographic style can be attributed to an unusual camera designed by Engel and produced by Charlie Woodruff. This camera was small and portable, attached by a single strap to the shoulder, allowing Engel to shoot unnoticed in crowds, from inside dicey spaces (like a baseball batting cage), and even from a moving amusement park ride — all the while maintaining a steady image indistinguishable from the professional tripod-style cameras. In this sense the device could be seen as a prototype for the steadicam. Little FugitiveIt’s not hard to see why Little Fugitive, Engel and Orkin’s most famous and successful film, was so inspiring not only to the French but also to American auteurs like Cassavettes (Shadows) and Scorsese (Who’s That Knocking on My Door?). Like the two features that would follow it, Little Fugitive is a paean to the sights, smells, and sounds of New York, from the cramped but somehow comforting streets of Brooklyn to the dazzling chaos of Coney Island as seen through a child’s eyes. Engel and Orkin extrapolate the universal from the personal in this Homeric story of a little boy’s heroic trek alone through the vastness of an urban amusement park. The "fugitive" of the title is Joey Norton (Richie Andrusco), a 7-year-old from Brooklyn who’s left in the care of his 12-year-old brother Lennie (Ricky Brewster) when their mother is called away on an emergency. Lennie and his friends are droll pranksters, and they pull what turns out to be a potentially deadly joke on Joey: they let him shoot a real gun and convince him that he’s killed Lennie and that they cops will soon be after him. Far from the cliché imagery of sweet, obedient 1950s children, these kids have a vicious black-comic edge: "They’ll sure give Joey the electric chair — he’ll fry!" one says. The terrorized boy grabs the money his mother left for him and Lennie, and runs off to Coney Island. When Engel interviewed Richie Andrusco for the part of Joey, he noticed what he called an "animal strength" that made him right for the part. This quality is certainly evident as Joey, dwarfed by the teeming crowds, whirling neon, and boundless expanse of sand, moves through his ordeal with what can only be called aplomb. Not that there are overt threats — the crowds are mostly indifferent as he marches along collecting bottles to redeem for pony rides, or wriggles into a group of adults throwing balls at milk bottles, demanding his chance to play. Witty anecdotal touches abound. In a bathroom reference of a kind that was de rigeur in Italian neorealism, Joey drinks too much Pepsi and is desperate to relieve himself; when he comes upon a sign that says MEN, he gratefully traces each letter. The film’s sometimes painterly visuals add resonance to the tiniest details — two toddlers grappling with each other on the beach; a couple making out on a blanket, their faces unseen; a mother spilling her baby’s milk. These shots seem at once casual, real, and artful, as if in recording the simple truth of an event the filmmakers have stumbled upon art. There’s a stunning sequence of a sudden, violent storm that clears the beach, and the filmmakers take great delight in observing the chaos. Among those scrambling toward shelter are a group of black kids delicately stepping through the huge puddles on the street just beyond the beach. In a lovely wordless passage, Joey wanders across the beach after the storm, at night, dwarfed by the enormity of the world around him and, one feels, by his own future. During the film’s initial release, some reviewers compared Richie Andrusco to Jackie Coogan, another way of reminding us that Little Fugitive recalls silent film. His wonderfully affecting performance, surely one of the reasons the film won Venice’s Silver Lion award in 1953, showed that it was not only possible but desirable for filmmakers to seek out "amateur" talent without the tics and mannerisms of trained actors. This strategy is verified in the freshness of the other performers, particularly Ricky Brewster as Joey’s initially nasty but eventually redeemed brother, Lennie. In spite of the commercial and critical success of Little Fugitive, the filmmakers had trouble getting financing for their next work but somehow managed. Anyone who saw Little Fugitive would recognize Lovers and Lollipops (1955) as the work of the same team, even without the credits. Again we see the milieu of New York, rendered in gorgeous black-and-white compositions, and again there’s a child at the center. This time it’s a girl, Peggy (Cathy Dunn), who recalls Joey Norton in her tenacity and willfulness. Both are imaginative kids with an active inner life who can entertain themselves and are well-equipped to deal with any adults who get in the way of their fun. Joey had no visible father, only brief, shadowy substitutes like the pony-ride man; Peggy’s father is dead, and she feels compelled to resist her mother Ann’s (Lori March) threat to replace him with a new one in the form of Larry (Gerald O’Louglin), an old friend who’s visiting. The story is an alternately sweet and sad triangle — Ann and Larry’s precarious relationship and Peggy’s simultaneous attempts to thwart it and find her place in it. Lovers and LollipopsIn Little Fugitive, Joey’s interactions were mostly brief encounters with strangers on the beach. Lovers and Lollipops focuses closely on Peggy’s relationships with the adults in her life — her mother; Larry, a sarcastic babysitter; and a photographer who’s taking pictures of her for a book. In the process of coming to grips with her mother’s romantic life, she torments the indulgent Larry in the guise of spending "quality time" with him. During a scene where he reads to her, she crawls all over him, mimics and laughs at him, and interrupts him. This is a rehearsal for other, more cutting scenes where she causes endless grief by hiding from him in a parking lot (later she complains to her mother, "he lost me too!"). Any attempt at romance by Ann and Larry is usually met with force by Peggy, who eventually offers a litany of Larry’s "crimes" in the martyred mode of a child: "He gave me a rotten sandwich and made me eat all of it!" Peggy’s convention busting is at once enchanting and nerve-wracking; it filigrees the film, most notably in a scene where she insists on carrying her toy sailboat into a museum rather than checking it. She sneaks it in and sails it on one of the museum’s small pools, creating a poignant symbol of her own potential drifting away from her mother. Naturalistic performances make Lovers and Lollipops as vivid and fresh today as when it was released, but the true star here, more even than in Little Fugitive, is the city. Engel and Orkin’s observations are again both casual and calculated, the camera unobtrusively recording images that seem unrelated to plot but hint at the imaginative life behind the faces and streets of the city. These take the form of detailed set-pieces, as in a long sequence on the Statue of Liberty; and of throwaway moments like the scene of a little Chinese boy spanking another one in the background. The filmmakers insist on the validity and fascination of everyone’s lives, even those whose details we never see. Weddings and BabiesWeddings and Babies (1958) marked the end of a cycle — the third in what could loosely be called the filmmakers’ "New York Trilogy" — but also featured a second technological breakthrough that allowed Engel and Orkin to create a movie with an immediacy rarely seen in movies. In a September 1958 Harper’s article, noted documentarian Richard Leacock described it: "Engel’s earlier films had been dubbed — that is, they had used a system perfected by the postwar Italian film-makers of shooting a scene with a silent camera and then fitting dialogue to it in the studio. This made it possible to photograph anywhere, without being chained to the big clumsy sound cameras or upset by `extraneous noise.’… To my amazement, Weddings and Babies was not dubbed… Here was a feature theatrical film, shot on regular 35-mm stock, with live spontaneous sound…. [it] is the first theatrical motion picture to make use of a fully mobile, synchronous sound-and-picture system." Leacock theorizes that what spurred this invention was the fact that the filmmakers were used to taking their still cameras to various sites, a kind of mobility impossible with traditional equipment. They wanted to replicate this ease in their film, and the result, Weddings and Babies, is as remarkable as their earlier efforts, if not quite on par with Little Fugitive. Part of its freshness today is because of the "live spontaneous sound" — from the noises of a street fair to the rising voices in a domestic squabble. The sometimes clumsy effect of post-dubbed dialogue in the earlier films is absent here. Weddings and Babies, like its predecessors, is a highly personal film, a kind of insider view of working-class life that resonates with the filmmakers’ sweet sensibility. Engel seems to have written himself discreetly into both Little Fugitive and Lovers and Lollipops in the form of minor characters who were photographers. In Weddings and Babies, the main male character can be read as a virtual double. Al (John Mhyers), like Engel, is a commercial photographer whose hunger to "do something important" is frustrated by the compromises of his business, which only survives because he’s willing to spend most of his time shooting "weddings and babies." Al’s girlfriend Bea (a radiant Viveca Lindfors) wants precisely the thing that he’s come to hate: a wedding and babies. Added to the mix is Al’s aged widowed mother, Mama (Chiarina Barile), who like him is restless, unsatisfied. Just as Al roams the streets with his camera, trying to find something that eludes him in the bustle of street crowds and fairs, his mother wanders away from her rest home and eventually disappears at a key moment in her son’s life — just as he’s resigned himself to marrying Bea. Mama embodies the film’s theme of the inability of people to communicate in the most literal way possible — she speaks not English but Italian, and in a low voice that’s barely audible. In all these films, awesome natural forces are always nearby, waiting to remind the characters that there are larger elements of life that must be respected. In Little Fugitive, it’s the rainstorm that sends the beach revelers running, bringing a sense that happiness is short-lived and therefore precious. In Weddings and Babies, it’s more overt in an extended sequence in a cemetery, where a frantic Al finds his "lost" mother sitting glumly among the tombstones. These scenes assert the importance of noticing the pleasures of everyday life, of living in the moment. This is the lesson the "fully mobile, synchronous sound-and-picture system," wedded to the filmmakers’ gentle sensibility, brings home. In a sense, these films are all about coming to grips with mortality and recognizing how important other people are. It’s only after a serious loss is threatened — the disappearances of Joey, Larry, and Bea in, respectively, Little Fugitive, Lovers and Lollipops, and Weddings and Babies — that the value of the individual is recognized and the recovery of something irreplaceable occurs. This is what Truffaut, Cassavettes, and Scorsese recognized, and what makes these films fresh, timeless works of art today. Morris Engel, the New York photographer and filmmaker whose 1953 film, "The Little Fugitive," established a model for independent moviemaking that influenced directors like John Cassavetes and François Truffaut, died Saturday at his home on Central Park West. He was 86. The cause was cancer, said his son, Andy Engel. "The Little Fugitive" tells the story of a 7-year-old Brooklyn boy, played by Richie Andrusco, who mistakenly believes he has killed his older brother and runs away to hide at Coney Island. The movie was made on a budget of $30,000 using a lightweight 35-millimeter camera that Mr. Engel had developed with a friend, Charlie Woodruff. The small, unobtrusive camera allowed Mr. Engel to film his tale with an intimacy and realism that seemed revolutionary in a time when the Hollywood dream factory was functioning at its fantastic height. The simple, disarming film, with its street-level views of ordinary New Yorkers going about their lives, proved to have an international appeal. It won the Silver Lion at the 1953 Venice Film Festival, and its story, by Mr. Engel, his soon-to-be wife, Ruth Orkin, and Ray Ashley, a journalist who had been a colleague of Mr. Engel's at the newspaper PM, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1954. The movie's success encouraged other young filmmakers to circumvent the Hollywood system and finance their own resolutely personal films. In 1957, the young actor John Cassavetes borrowed $40,000 to make "Shadows," a partly improvised drama whose success opened the door to other New York independent filmmakers. In 1959, the French film critic François Truffaut drew on Mr. Engel's childhood themes and production techniques to create "The 400 Blows," the film that introduced the French New Wave. "Our New Wave would never have come into being if it hadn't been for the young American Morris Engel, who showed us the way to independent production with his fine movie, 'Little Fugitive,"' Mr. Truffaut later told Lillian Ross in an interview for The New Yorker. Dig deeper into the moment. Special offer: Subscribe for $1 a week. Born in Brooklyn in 1918, Mr. Engel took courses as a teenager at the Photo League, a cooperative founded by a group of socially engaged photographers, where one his teachers was Berenice Abbott. He had his first show at the New School for Social Research in 1939, worked briefly for PM and then entered the Navy, where as a combat photographer he covered the Normandy landing. After the war, Mr. Engel became a busy photojournalist, working for a wide range of publications including McCall's and Collier's. With Ms. Orkin, herself a gifted photographer, Mr. Engel made two more independent features: "Lovers and Lollipops" (1956), about a small girl struggling with the idea of her widowed mother's remarriage, and "Weddings and Babies" (1958), an autobiographical study of a photographer whose artistic ambitions are thwarted by his fiancée's dreams of domesticity. Neither enjoyed the success of "The Little Fugitive." Mr. Engel returned to his work as a commercial photographer and did not make another feature until "I Need a Ride to California" in 1968, a drama about East Village hippies that remains unreleased. Later in life, he worked on video documentaries, including "A Little Bit Pregnant" (1993) and "Camelia" (1998). "He was a street photographer his whole life," said his daughter, Mary Engel. "Through the 90's, he shot wide, color panoramas of the streets that have never really been exhibited, and we are working on that." The writer-director Joanna Lipper recently shot a remake of "The Little Fugitive," which Ms. Engel co-produced. Besides his son and daughter, Mr. Engel is survived by two sisters, Pearl Russell and Helen Siemianowski, and a grandson. Ms. Orkin died in 1985. Morris Engel (American, b. April 8, 1918 – d. March 5, 2005) was born in Brooklyn to immigrant parents from Lithuania. An early interest in photography led him to enroll in a class at New York’s Photo League, a group dedicated to raising social consciousness through modern photography. Some of the most influential photographers of the time were associated with the Photo League; Engel worked closely with Aaron Siskind on the project “Harlem Document” from 1936-40 and later assisted Paul Strand in filming Native Land. Like many Photo League photographers, Engel documented life in New York City, producing and exhibiting photo essays on Coney Island, the Lower East Side and Harlem. In 1939 he had his first exhibition at New York’s New School. In 1940 he joined the staff of the newspaper PM, but he left the publication one year later to sign on with the U.S. Navy as a member of a combat photo unit. He participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. In 1951 Engel momentarily quit still photography to pursue a career in filmmaking. He made a series of low budget films with a custom 35 mm camera. His first feature film, Little Fugitive (made with his wife, the renowned photographer Ruth Orkin), earned an Academy Award nomination in 1953 for Best Original Screenplay and was screened in more than 5,000 theaters across the United States. Engel’s photographs are widely exhibited and found in the collections of the International Center of Photography (New York), the Museum of the City of New York, the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.). His films continue to be screened at venues such as the Whitney Museum of Art (New York), the Brooklyn Museum and the American Museum of the Moving Image (New York). 1918-2005 Morris Engel was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 8, 1918. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School and joined the Photo League in 1936, where he met Aaron Siskind, Berenice Abbott and Paul Strand, who invited him to work on his film "Native Land.” Engel became a staff photographer on the newspaper "PM" before joining the Navy in 1941. As a member of Combat Photo Unit 8 that landed on Normandy on D-Day, he received a citation from Captain Edward Steichen. After his return, Engel worked for many national magazines including "Ladies Home Journal", "McCall's", "Fortune", "Colliers" and others. His initial interest for motion pictures reached a new level when he built a lightweight hand-held 35mm camera with Charles Woodruff. This camera was a major factor in the production of his first film, Little Fugitive. One of the first successful American "independent films," Little Fugitive earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story and a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Engel was married to fellow photographer, Ruth Orkin. He died of cancer in 2005. Post-WWII American independent cinema pioneer Morris Engel co-directed 1953 cinéma vérité-inspired classic Little Fugitive More than any other post-World War II filmmaker, Morris Engel deserves the title of “father of the (non-avant-garde) American independent cinema.” The case rests on a single movie: the cinéma vérité-inspired, Coney Island-set 1953 boy’s tale Little Fugitive, whether directly or indirectly one of the most influential motion pictures ever made. Of course, Little Fugitive wasn’t created in a cinematic vacuum. Morris Engel himself had been clearly influenced by predecessors in the United States and elsewhere. Among them: Robert Flaherty’s faux documentary (“docufiction”) Louisiana Story (1948) and Sidney Meyers’ Academy Award-nominated naturalistic documentary The Quiet One (1949) – both centered on young boys. The Italian neorealist movement, minus the socially conscious themes, possibly in addition to Luciano Emmer’s Sunday in August / Domenica d’agosto (1950), a portrait of disparate people spending the day at the beach in Ostia, just outside of Rome. Silent/dawn of the sound era releases like F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise (1927), which, however stylized and studio-bound, features a lengthy, plotless mid-section partly set at an amusement park; Paul Fejos’ Lonesome (1928), a thematically simple but technically ambitious, Coney Island-set love story; and Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer’s slice-of-life, Berlin-set People on Sunday / Menschen am Sonntag (1930). Below is a brief overview of Morris Engle’s Little Fugitive and its lasting impact. From photojournalist to filmmaker Born in Brooklyn on April 8, 1918, at a young age Morris Engel began working as a bank clerk to help support his widowed mother. In 1936, he joined the Photo League, which combined the art of photography with social awareness, later landing a job as a photojournalist at the liberal New York City daily PM. During World War II, Engel worked as a combat photographer for the U.S. Navy, being present at the D-Day Normandy landing. After the war, he returned to PM, where fellow photographer and future A Clockwork Orange director Stanley Kubrick became a friend, and worked on assignments for name publications like Collier’s and McCall’s. Engel had become acquainted with filmmaking while helping out photographer Paul Strand create the pro-union documentary/fiction mix Native Land, released in 1942. His chance to finally make his own movie would materialize once he and fellow WWII combat photographer Charles Woodruff developed a portable 35mm camera. The light, compact device prevented jittery images without the need for a tripod, at the same time giving its user the ability to film people without being noticed. Just as importantly, Engel would be able to make his own professional-caliber motion picture on a small budget and with a skeleton crew. Little Fugitive: A big-city boy’s cinéma vérité story Morris Engel conceived Little Fugitive with photographer Ruth Orkin, who became his wife during the 1952 shooting of the film, and former PM colleague Raymond Abrashkin (billed as Ray Ashley). The trio was credited for the film’s direction and story, with Abrashkin/Ashley named the author of the actual screenplay. Engel and Abrashkin also wore producer hats, while Orkin shared editing duties with Lester Troob (who doubled as sound/music supervisor in his sole screen credit). Future Emmy nominee Eddy Manson (the DuPont Show of the Month episode “Harvey,” 1957) was responsible for the low-key, mood-enhancing harmonica score. Along the lines of Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves and Roberto Rossellini’s Paisan, nonprofessionals were cast in the lead roles. The simple plot – if it can be called that – revolves around a seven-year-old boy (Richie Andrusco, in his only film appearance) who runs away from home after mistakenly believing he has shot dead his 11-year-old brother (Richard Brewster, also in his film debut/swan song). With a little grocery money in his pocket, the boy eventually finds himself immersed in the sights and sounds of Coney Island. Little Fugitive was produced for a reported $30,000 (one 1954 source pegged its cost at $87,000), raised from friends. Engel shot the film himself, with his portable camera strapped to his shoulder. Sound and dialogue were added in post-production. Little Fugitive vs. Hollywood ‘realism’ Little Fugitive was hardly the first postwar American feature to take the action far away from Hollywood studio lots. At least partly influenced by Italian neorealism, Jules Dassin had filmed the cop drama The Naked City (1948) in the streets of New York while Elia Kazan had shot the thriller Panic in the Streets (1950) on location in New Orleans. Yet The Naked City, Panic in the Streets, and other such “naturalistic” Hollywood productions were also traditional big-studio fare, featuring formal storylines, name actors, studio-schooled behind-the-scenes talent, and sizable budgets. In that regard, the cheap, independently made, marque-nameless, loosely threaded Little Fugitive was a unique product that would require “specialty” handling. That job fell to Polish-born indie distributor Joseph Burstyn, who previously had, at times in partnership with Arthur Mayer, brought to the United States European imports such as Jean Renoir’s slice-of-life A Day in the Country, and the neorealist works of Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves, Miracle in Milan) and Roberto Rossellini (Open City, the polemical L’Amore). Through Burstyn’s efforts, Little Fugitive was screened in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it was one of the recipients of that year’s Silver Lion.[1] Little Fugitive Richie Andrusco Little Fugitive with Richie Andrusco: Morris Engel’s landmark independent American film. Joanna Lipper’s Little Fugitive remake came out in 2006, the year after Engel’s death. In the cast: Peter Dinklage, Raquel Castro, Nicolas Salgado, and, as the little boy in Coney Island, David Castro. ‘Photographer’s triumph’ As expected, Little Fugitive didn’t break any box office records. Certainly not in a year heralding the arrival of CinemaScope (The Robe, How to Marry a Millionaire), the expansion of 3D (Kiss Me Kate, House of Wax), and the release of sumptuous standard-format color productions (Shane, Mogambo, Salome), all-star prestige titles (From Here to Eternity, Julius Caesar), and saucy comedies (The Moon Is Blue, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). But unlike some of its bigger-budget competitors, the modest big-city boy’s tale was warmly received, even if with caveats in some quarters. Here’s the New York Times’ Bosley Crowther: “The alertness and style of [the filmmakers’] photography are clearly reflective of the demands of the picture-magazine layout. And that is what they’ve mobilized in this film. “We are not criticizing that, mind you. A day at Coney Island with a small boy, torn between curiosity and survival, can be – and is – a lot of fun…. “But the limits must be perceived and mentioned – there is little conception of drama in this trick, and the mere repetition of adventures tends eventually to grow dull. … [The young brothers’] anxieties are as mild as the summer rain, which pelts the beach and the boardwalk for a climactic moment in the film. “All hail to Little Fugitive and to those who made it. But count it a photographer’s triumph with a limited theme.” Not unexpected Oscar nomination Little Fugitive was named one of the National Board of Review’s top ten films, while Raymond Abrashkin’s all-but-plotless screenplay became a Writers Guild of America Award contender for the year’s Best Written American Drama. (Abrashkin/Ashley lost to Daniel Taradash for From Here to Eternity.) Additionally, in early 1954 Little Fugitive earned an Academy Award nomination in the Best Motion Picture Story category. That was likely not a major surprise; in previous years, both Louisiana Story and The Quiet One had also been shortlisted for their “story.” (The latter in the “Best Story and Screenplay” category.) The winner turned out to be another tale about a runaway and an exemplar of slick Hollywood filmmaking: Paramount’s Roman Holiday, which traces the romantic adventures of a young princess (Best Actress Audrey Hepburn) as she promenades incognito throughout Rome.[2] Little Fugitive influence: John Cassavetes + François Truffaut In a 1960 interview with The New Yorker’s Lillian Ross, French New Wave filmmaker François Truffaut affirmed: “Our New Wave would never have come into being if it hadn’t been for the young American Morris Engel, who showed us the way to independent production with his fine movie Little Fugitive.” All hyperbole aside, Little Fugitive’s no-frills, no-stars, little-to-no-plot approach to narrative cinema did exert a marked influence on filmmakers around the world. In the United States, the most notable example among Morris Engel’s successors is John Cassavetes. Shot with a handheld 16 mm camera in New York City, his first feature, Shadows, came out in 1958. However, in contrast to Engel, Cassavetes managed to keep cranking out movies over the ensuing three decades, receiving Oscar nominations for Faces (Best Original screenplay, 1968) and A Woman Under the Influence (Best Director, 1974)[3] – thus impacting on more generations of filmmakers, from Martin Scorsese (“It was after seeing [Shadows], I realized we could make films … nothing was forbidden anymore”) to Jim Jarmusch (“There’s a particular feeling I get when I’m about to see one of your films – an anticipation”). Elsewhere, besides François Truffaut (The 400 Blows, 1959), the sway of Little Fugitive could be felt in the works of, among others, Albert Lamorisse (The Red Balloon, 1956), Jean-Luc Godard (whose 1960 crime drama Breathless was shot with a handheld camera through the streets of Paris), and, more recently, Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, 1995). Regarding Truffaut’s claim that Little Fugitive was the Nouvelle Vague’s originator, Engel would counter decades later in a New York Times interview: “It’s ridiculous, but I am not going to argue.” Weddings and Babies Viveca Lindfors John Myhers Weddings and Babies with Viveca Lindfors and John Myhers. In 2008, Kino released “The Films of Morris Engel,” including Little Fugitive, Lovers and Lollipops, and Weddings and Babies, plus the documentary short Morris Engel: The Independent, directed by his daughter, Mary Engel. Lovers and Lollipops & Weddings and Babies In spite of Little Fugitive’s critical success and awards season mentions, funding for other Morris Engel projects would prove hard to come by. Probably not helping matters was distributor Joseph Burstyn’s death in 1953. Hollywood was out of the question. “It was exactly the kind of work that doesn’t appeal to me,” he would tell the Times. “I am happy I didn’t go.” Engel would direct only two more features in the 1950s, the first one a joint directorial effort with Ruth Orkin: Lovers and Lollipops (1956), the story of a widowed New York fashion model (Lori March) whose young daughter (Cathy Dunn, in her only film appearance) disturbs her budding liaison with an engineer (Gerald S. O’Loughlin). Weddings and Babies (shot in 1957; released in 1960), supposed to be the first feature “made with a portable camera with synchronous sound attachment” and the only Engel effort to boast the presence of an actual movie star, Viveca Lindfors (Night Unto Night, Moonfleet). The partly autobiographical plot revolves around the relationship between a wedding photographer (John Myhers) and his marriage-and-family-focused assistant (Lindfors). Later years I Need a Ride to California (1968) was Morris Engel’s first color effort, and his fourth and final feature film. This tale of a young California woman enmeshed with troubled East Village hippies would remain undistributed until its October 2019 premiere at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. In the 1990s, Engel worked on a couple of full-length video projects: A Little Bit Pregnant (1994), about an eight-year-old boy discovering the differences between the sexes, and Camellia (1998), centered on a two-year-old girl. “People are always hunting for something,” he told the Times in 2002. “You only need one piece, one good movie. That’s enough fulfillment for a man’s life.” Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin remained married until her death at age 63 in 1985. Engel died at age 86 in March 2005 in New York City. “Morris Engel: Little Fugitive Director” notes Six Silver Lion winners [1] The Golden Lion was not awarded in 1953. Little Fugitive shared the Silver Lion with the following: Marcel Carné’s The Adulteress / Thérèse Raquin. Kenji Mizoguchi’s Ugetsu. Federico Fellini’s I Vitelloni. Aleksandr Ptushko’s Sadko. John Huston’s Moulin Rouge. Dalton Trumbo front [2] Ian McLellan Hunter, a front for blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, was originally credited for the Roman Holiday “story.” Hunter was also credited for the screenplay, alongside John Dighton. William Wyler directed the romantic comedy; Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert were Audrey Hepburn’s co-stars. Big-studio actor & director John Cassavetes [3] Unlike Morris Engel, John Cassavetes also acted in mainstream Hollywood productions – e.g., Martin Ritt’s Edge of the City (1957), Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968). He was a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee for Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen (1967). Also unlike Morris Engel, who had no interest in working within Hollywood’s studio system, Cassavetes would occasionally direct studio films. Examples include United Artists’ Stanley Kramer-produced A Child Is Waiting (1962), starring Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland, and Columbia Pictures’ Gloria (1980), starring Cassavetes’ wife and frequent collaborator Gena Rowlands. THE DAILY PIC (#1636): I’m ashamed that I’d never heard of the films of Morris Engel until just recently, given how wonderful and influential they are. Francois Truffaut said that the movies of the French New Wave would never have existed if their directors hadn’t had the example of Engel to follow, and the same can pretty clearly be said about John Cassavetes and similar American auteurs. It soothes my ego just a touch to note that even my most cinephilic friends had also not heard of him. Today’s Pic is the publicity shot for Weddings and Babies, the last of the three films that Engel made, all between 1953 and 1960 and all in collaboration with his wife the street photographer Ruth Orkin. (Engel too spent most of his career as a photojournalist.) It may be my favorite of his films. It tells the poignant story of a perpetually about-to-be-married couple who run a tiny weddings-and-babies photo studio in Little Italy in New York, and make extra money by filming the street life around them. As in all of Engel’s films, he gives the streets of New York as important a role as any of his human characters. The gorgeous chaos he wanders through is wonderful to watch, and painful, too, from the vantage point of our ever more corporate, antiseptic and Dallas-ized city. Engel’s New York is made extra present because he films its streets with a handheld 35mm camera that he helped design. The cinematographers of the French New Wave owed some of their own hand-holding to him. Engel’s human characters are also amazing. In Weddings and Babies there’s one old woman with dementia who, despite barely uttering a single line, is utterly compelling. That must be because she’s almost certainly more-or-less playing herself. A few of Engel’s actors were pros, sometimes even well-known ones. But a lot of them were untrained, asked to improvise their way into their roles. Again, Truffaut and his pals were given extra license to cast “ordinary” people in their films because Engel had done it first. There are flaws in Engel’s art – he was figuring it out as he went, and sometimes fell back on Hollywood sentiment. (His films’ scores are painfully full of it, despite the occasional moment of jazzy modernism.) It was easier to get New Wave style right once you had the films of Engel as a reference point. Morris Engel (April 8, 1918 – March 5, 2005) was an American photographer, cinematographer and filmmaker best known for making the first American film "independent" of Hollywood studios, Little Fugitive (1953), in collaboration with his wife, photographer Ruth Orkin, and their friend, writer Raymond Abrashkin. Engel was a pioneer in the use of hand-held cameras and nonprofessional actors in his films, cameras that he helped design, and his naturalistic films influenced future prominent independent and French New Wave filmmakers.[1] Contents 1 Career 2 Legacy 3 Filmography (complete) 4 Exhibitions (selection) 5 References 6 External links Career A lifelong New Yorker, Morris Engel was born in Brooklyn in 1918. After joining the Photo League in 1936, Engel had his first exhibition in 1939, at the New School for Social Research.[2] He worked briefly as a photographer for the Leftist newspaper PM[2] before joining the United States Navy as a combat photographer from 1941 to 1946 in World War II.[2] After the war, he returned to New York where he again was an active Photo League member, teaching workshop classes and serving as co-chair of a project group focusing on postwar labor issues.[3] Richie Andrusco in Little Fugitive In 1953, Engel, along with his girlfriend, fellow photographer Ruth Orkin, and his former colleague at PM, Raymond Abrashkin, made the feature film Little Fugitive for $30,000, shooting the film on location in Coney Island with a hand-held 35 millimeter camera Engel had designed himself. This camera was compact and lightweight so it would be unobtrusive shooting in public. As such, it did not allow simultaneous sound recording; the sound was dubbed later. The film, one of the first successful American "independent films" earned them an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story and a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The film told the story of a seven-year-old boy, played by Richie Andrusco, who runs away from home and spends the day at Coney Island. Andrusco never appeared in another film, and the other performers were mainly nonprofessionals. A scene from Lovers and Lollipops Though their first film was a critical success,[4] Engel and Orkin, who had since married, had a hard time finding funding [4] for their next film, Lovers and Lollipops, which was completed in 1956. The film was about a widowed mother dating an old friend, and how her young daughter complicates their budding relationship. Like the first one, Lovers and Lollipops was filmed with a hand-held compact 35 mm camera, with sound dubbed in post-production. This was followed two years later by the more adult-centered Weddings and Babies, a film about an aspiring photographer than is often seen as autobiographical. This was Engel's first film to have live sound recorded at the time of filming, and is historically the first 35 mm fiction film made with a portable camera equipped for synchronized sound.[5] In 1961, Engel directed three television commercials, including an award-winning one for Oreo cookies. The other two were for Ivory soap and Fab detergent.[6] A half-hour short film The Dog Lover was made the following year, a comedy about a shop merchant whose life is turned upside down by the stray dog his kid brings home.[6] He made a fourth feature in 1968[2] called I Need a Ride to California, which followed a group of young hippies in Greenwich Village. Post-production was shelved until 1972 when it was finally completed, but for unknown reasons it was never released during his lifetime. It finally received its premiere in October 2019 at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); it was first released on home video in March 2021.[6] In the 1980s, Engel began taking panoramic photographs on the streets of New York City.[6] Engel and Ruth Orkin remained married until Orkin's death in 1985. In the 1990s, he returned to filmmaking, this time working on video. He completed two feature-length documentaries: A Little Bit Pregnant[6] in 1994 and Camellia[6] in 1998, each revolving around a different child in the Hartman family. First, in A Little Bit Pregnant Engel focused on the 8-year-old Leon's reactions, anxiety and wonderment to the impending birth of his baby sister Camellia. For the second film, two years later Engel returned to the same family, who gave him a year of access to the now 2-year-old daughter Camellia, capturing her daily life and routines, and her relationships with her family and others. Both films were shown in private screenings, but never had a public release due likely to the Hartman family presumably holding the rights.[6][7] Engel died of cancer in 2005. Legacy Engel and Orkin's work occupy a pivotal position in the independent and art film scene of the 1950s, and was influential on John Cassavetes, Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch, Quentin Tarantino, and François Truffaut,[1][4][8] and was frequently cited as an example by the influential film theorist Siegfried Kracauer.[9] Writing in Cassavetes on Cassavetes, biographer Raymond Carney says that Cassavetes was familiar with the work of the New York-based independent filmmakers who preceded him, and was "particularly fond" of Engel's three films from the 1950s. Carney writes that "Commentators who regard [Cassavetes] as the 'first independent' are only displaying their ignorance of the history of independent American film, which goes back to the early 1950s."[10] Truffaut was inspired by Little Fugitive 's spontaneous production style when he created The 400 Blows (1959), saying long afterwards: “Our New Wave would never have come into being if it hadn’t been for the young American Morris Engel, who showed us the way to independent production with [this] fine movie.”[11] Filmography (complete) The Farm They Won (1951 short documentary film) The Little Fugitive (1953 feature film) Lovers and Lollipops (1956 feature film) Weddings and Babies (1958 feature film) One Chase Manhattan Plaza (1961 short documentary film) The Dog Lover (1962 short film) Little Girls Have Pretty Curls (1962 short documentary film) I Need a Ride to California (1968 feature film) (released in 2019) Peace Is (1968 short documentary film) A Little Bit Pregnant (1994 feature documentary video) Camellia (1998 feature documentary video) Morris Engel Home Movies (various dates, short documentary) (released in 2021) Pierrepont Burt Noyes (August 18, 1870 – April 15, 1959) was an American businessman and writer. He was brought up in the Oneida Community, a religious Utopian group. Noyes later became the head of Oneida Limited, a position he held for many years. Contents 1 Early life 2 Oneida Limited 3 Government Work 4 Literary works 4.1 Books 5 References 6 External links Early life Pierrepont "P.B." Noyes was born in the Oneida Community (1848–1880), a group of religious perfectionists who lived communally in New York State. The Community was led by John Humphrey Noyes. In the early years of the Community, members practiced birth control in order to keep the birthrate low. By the late 1860s, Noyes and other Community members developed an interest in selective breeding. They hoped that religious devotion might be inheritable, and that they could pass on their own strong sense of spirituality to another generation. They called their eugenics experiment “stirpiculture” and the children born in the experiment were known as stirpicults. Between 1869 and 1879, forty-five "stirpicults" were born.[1] Pierrepoint was the son of John Humphrey Noyes and Harriet Maria Worden, and he was a product of their eugenic outlook. Like all Community children, Noyes was raised in the children's wing of the group's home. He visited his mother occasionally, and in his autobiography recalled being closer to his mother than to his father: "I owe immensely more to my mother, in the warp and woof of character, than I do to my father. He never seemed a father to me in the ordinary sense. I revered him, but he was much too far away, too near to heaven and God."[2] After the Community voted to disband in 1880, Noyes lived with his mother. Oneida Limited After studying at Colgate University, followed by Harvard University, P.B. Noyes joined Oneida Limited, the company which emerged from the commune after his father's death. He went on to become president of the company, steering it towards specialising in silverware and stainless steel cutlery.[3] In 1894, he married another stirpicult, Corinna Ackley Kinsley (Also his half-niece), and the couple had three children. As the head of Oneida Limited, Noyes developed the company's ideology. He believed that "good wages were essential to good morale," and in 1904 proposed a policy of voluntary salary reductions for management whenever the company was in financial difficulties. The company followed this during economic troubles in 1921. Historian Maren Lockwood Carden wrote that, "Noyes halved his own salary, the directors took a one-third reduction, and the other officials took smaller ones in proportion to their regular salaries."[4] Noyes also encouraged the development of Sherrill, New York as a community for employees. In 1905 the company laid out plans for the town, giving bonuses to those employees who built their own homes there.[5] The company also helped to fund athletic clubs, a golf course, and the building of a new elementary school and a new high school.[6] Government Work In 1917, Noyes resigned from the general manager role (he would return to Oneida Limited in 1921). During the First World War he worked for the Federal Government as an Assistant Fuel Administrator. As the war came to an end he was in France selling cutlery. In April 1919 he was persuaded to take up the role as the American Commissioner on the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission, a post he held until May 1920.[7] His experiences led him to write his first book, While Europe Waits for Peace. In the book he argued against the Allies punitive policy in the Treaty of Versailles. He believed it would lead to more warfare.[8] Noyes returned to Oneida Limited in the 1920s, but eventually took on a more ceremonial role. In the 1930s, at the suggestion of Bernard Baruch, Noyes joined a six-man commission set up by the New York State Legislature. The Commission was responsible for developing a new spa at Saratoga Springs. Noyes remained on the commission until 1950.[9] Literary works Noyes continued to write throughout his career, including a science fiction book titled The Pallid Giant: A Tale of Yesterday and Tomorrow. The Pallid Giant expressed Noyes' concerns about war, weapons, and the destruction of humanity. In the book, published in 1927, Noyes describes an ultimate super weapon that would "end all war by ending man."[10] The book was re-issued as Gentlemen, You are Mad! after the use of atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Noyes also wrote two memoirs: My Father's House: An Oneida Boyhood, and A Goodly Heritage, a history of Oneida Limited, before his death in 1959. Books While Europe Waits for Peace: Describing the Progress of Economic and Political Demoralization in Europe during the Year of American Hesitation (1921) The Pallid Giant: A Tale of Yesterday and Tomorrow (1927) My Father's House: An Oneida Boyhood (1937).[11] Goodly Heritage (1958) Business Executive. The son of Oneida Community founder John Humphrey Noyes, he studied at Colgate and Harvard Universities and joined Oneida Limited, the corporation formed from the Oneida Community commune after the death of John Humphrey Noyes. Pierrepont Noyes became the company's President and focused its effort on producing one product, and under his leadership Oneida Limited became the world's largest producer of silverware and stainless steel flatware. During World War I he worked for the federal government as Assistant Fuel Administrator, and afterwards served as the US Representative on the Allied Commission that administered the Rhineland after Germany's defeat. After returning home Noyes wrote books and articles on foreign affairs and current events, advocating more liberal reparations payments for Germany and US membership in the League of Nations. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress in 1928. In 1933 he was appointed President of the Saratoga Springs Authority and oversaw construction of a resort at the famous spa as part of a state-sponsored redevelopment plan. Noyes was also a writer, and in 1927 authored "Pallid Giant", a novel that anticipated the development of nuclear weapons, and was later republished as "Gentlemen: You Are Mad!". He also published two autobiographical volumes, 1937's "My Father's House" and 1958's "A Goodly Heritage". Pierrepont Trowbridge Noyes, longtime head of Oneida Ltd., the company that started as a religious commune and today considers itself the world's largest tableware maker, died on Wednesday at his home in Oneida, N.Y. He was 78 years old. He died of multiple natural causes, his family said. Mr. Noyes led Oneida Ltd. through a period of robust growth. He retired in 1981 as chairman and chief executive after 45 years with the company, taking the title of honorary chairman. At the time of his death he remained vice chairman of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and a member of the Saratoga-Capital District of the State Park, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commission. He was the grandson of John Humphrey Noyes, who founded the Oneida Community in 1848. It began to manufacture flatware in 1877, disbanded three years later and evolved into Oneida Ltd. Mr. Noyes took the company into new fields, such as the food-service and industrial-wire industries. A native of Kenwood, N.Y., he graduated from Colgate University and joined the company in 1936. Himself the son of a former company president, Pierrepont Burt Noyes, he underwent years of training in sales, production and management, gradually assuming greater responsibilities. Mr. Noyes became president in 1960. He was elected chairman and re-elected president in 1967, resigned as president in 1978 and continued as chairman and chief executive until his retirement. Oneida products include stainless steel and silver-plated flatware, silver-plated holloware and items in sterling silver and gold plate. It also manufactures china for hotels, restaurants and others in the food-service sector. Dig deeper into the moment. Special offer: Subscribe for $1 a week. Mr. Noyes, who owned horses, was a past director of Mid-State Raceway. He was long active in community and business affairs, including the local Community Chest and WCNY Public Broadcasting. He was a former trustee of his alma mater, Colgate. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, the former Phyllis Leland; a daughter, Melinda Noyes; a son, P. Geoffrey; a sister, Barbara Noyes Smith, all of Oneida, and five grandchildren.
In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two working class Jewish adolescents, created an “interplanetary immigrant” who was dedicated to making the world better.2 This involved being a champion of the underdog and in order to accomplish his tasks, they endowed him with superhuman powers of strength and perception. This hero, “Superman,” was the most enduring of many champions in the popular culture of the 1930s. His cover identity was that of a meek, mildly mannered newspaper reporter at a metropolitan daily who possessed the ability to transform himself at a moment’s notice whenever he was needed to further the cause of justice. Such heroes appeared across different media, on radio shows as well as in comic books and pulp fiction. As this super-hero was entering public awareness and photography was gaining dominance as a way to convey news of the world, a new photography driven newspaper was 1 Roy Hoopes. Ralph Ingersoll: A Biography. New York: Atheneum, 1985, p. 404. 2 The character of Superman was originally introduced in 1933 in an illustrated short story; however, the familiar heroic Superman first appeared in Action Comics No. 1 in June 1938 when the superhero was associated with the slogan “Champion of the Oppressed.” In 1940, at approximately the time of PM’s debut, The Adventures of Superman became a popular radio program. On that show he was granted the ability to fly and the original slogan was dropped in favor of “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.” This trajectory paralleled what was happening on the pages of PM and eventually, the country, as concern for the downtrodden and ethnic identity gave way to creation of an American identity, celebration of democracy and an all out effort to win the war. See Charles Moss, “Superman’s Dark Past”, The Atlantic, accessed 3/16 2 being born in New York City, the real Gotham. The daily newspaper PM, which ran from June 1940 through 1948, was created from within the heart of the publishing empire of Henry Luce. The idea for the new paper was the brainchild of Ralph McAllister Ingersoll, an experienced publishing world insider who took the wildly successful formula of the mid-1930s weekly photo magazines, such as Luce’s Life, and translated it into a daily paper. His new publication was intended to represent political views that emphasized a sense of justice and advocated for social improvement for the dispossessed. The “Superman” phenomenon was a perfect metaphor for PM, which proclaimed its purpose as a crusading newspaper. In an early prospectus for PM, Ralph Ingersoll stated, We are against people who push other people around, just for the fun of pushing, whether they flourish in this country or abroad. We are against fraud and deceit and greed and cruelty and we will seek to expose their practitioners. We are for people who are kindly and courageous and honest. We respect intelligence, sound accomplishment, openmindedness, religious tolerance. We do not believe all mankind’s problems are now being solved successfully by any existing social order, certainly not our own, and we propose to crusade for those who seek constructively to improve the way men live together. We are Americans and we prefer democracy to any other principle of government.3 Photography was central to the conception of PM and a crucial element in its mission of informing ordinary people, encouraging them to be a participating audience, and teaching them to be literate about the photographic message. The editorial staff referred to their urban and mainly proletarian readers as the “uncelebrated,” an expression that they purposely coined in opposition to the prevailing celebrity culture of Hollywood running through the most popular picture press. The term “uncelebrated” encompassed members of the working class as well as minorities - racial, ethnic and religious - who were often subjected to discrimination. This was 3 Roy Hoopes, Ralph Ingersoll: A Biography, New York, Atheneum, 1985, p. 410. “PM is against people who push other people around” became what Paul Milkman calls “the cornerstone slogan of the newspaper” and was so important to the editors that they printed the slogan several times a week until 1946, when Ingersoll resigned. The full quote was published twice in the newspaper, followed by the words “PM still feels this way.” Paul Milkman, PM: A New Deal in Journalism, 1940-1948, New Brunswick, New Jersey and London, Rutgers University Press, 1997, p. 41. 3 significant at a time when prejudice, both blatant and subtle, was widespread in the United States, and Fascism presented a growing threat from abroad. PM repeatedly printed its slogan “we are against people who push other people around,” and the rapidly increasing possibilities of war on the horizon gave greater urgency to its visual program. Daring like Superman, on the side of the little guy, PM was also exceptional because it did not accept paid advertising. Instead, PM was supported by millionaire department store heir, Marshall Field III, who, in accord with the paper’s political views, stated, “I’m not supporting a newspaper, I’m supporting an idea.”4 Considered a left-liberal New York City daily newspaper, PM represented a milestone in American journalism.5 Its photography was neither commercial nor sensational but aligned with the views of the cultural left, widely known in the mid-1930s as the “Popular Front” – an organization that had originally been created by the Communist International in 1935 in order to fight the growth of fascism. PM also reflected a meaningful chapter in the history of photojournalism that has been little examined in comparison to the major mass circulation illustrated periodicals that emerged during the 1930s, notably Life magazine. This was all the more important because the newspaper was incubated in the crucible of Henry Luce’s publishing empire, in the offices of the photo magazines, Fortune and Life, where Ralph Ingersoll, future PM editor and publisher, had initially 4 PM was originally supported by a group of funders but after a few months these were eventually bought out by Field. Hoopes, cit., p. 236. 5 The meaning of the name PM is unknown. It could be short for p.m. and suggest the status of an afternoon paper, but this interpretation is not convincing because it had a morning edition. The initials coincidentally stand for Picture Magazine and they might have inspired the naming of the contemporary AM subway tabloid. There are competing anecdotes regarding the paper’s naming. Some sources ascribe this to syndicated columnist Walter Winchell, some to Ingersoll’s friend, author Lillian Hellman, or to columnist Leonard Lyons. In some accounts, the name was arbitrary and there is conjecture that its meaning was deliberately unclear. See Paul Milkman, cit., p. 43; Roy Hoopes, cit., p. 216. 4 held major positions.6 Ingersoll aimed to expand 1930s modernist photojournalism from the great mass circulation picture magazines to the daily newspaper, and he set this goal at a time when the dailies were extremely conservative in terms of both politics and form. They were also parochial and unimaginative in sharp contrast with Ingersoll’s PM.7 In every aspect, PM bore the imprint of the flamboyant Ingersoll who had participated intimately in the development of Life, the 1936 picture magazine that was instrumental in shaping and disseminating modern visual culture, forging a particular image of a corporate United States. Ingersoll’s own newspaper was also modernist in its embrace of photography as a new form of visual narrative. PM’s agenda challenged Luce’s vision of a consumerist America largely populated only by white, middle and upper classes, by explicitly representing and serving ordinary citizens, and working actively on behalf of “the common man.” 8 PM’s editors saw in FDR and the New Deal the best hope for the United States. 6 Luce hired Ingersoll to be managing editor at Fortune in 1930. Due to Fortune’s success, Ingersoll was promoted to second in command at Time, Inc. In this capacity, he recognized the importance of the dynamic use of high quality photography, pressured Luce to create a weekly picture magazine, and began to work on plans for it. In 1936, when Luce personally took over what became the picture magazine, Life, he sent Ingersoll back to Time as Vice President and General Manager. Ingersoll, whose views had evolved leftwards, disagreed strongly with the politics at Time, Inc. Hoopes., pp. 81, 86, 139-154 7 New York City had nine papers in the late 1930s. Of these, The Daily News was a sensationalist tabloid saturated with comics, celebrity gossip, crime, and sexual titillation. The Telegram provided a platform for the viciously conservative critic, Westbrook Pegler. Other mainstream papers, including The New York Times and The Herald Tribune, were instruments of the status quo. Only The New York Post reflected the city’s diversity and did not attack the New Deal and the Roosevelt administration. No new newspaper had appeared in the city since 1924 when the Mirror and The Graphic began. There were numerous foreign language and leftist papers but these had relatively small circulations. Many papers had also folded or merged in the wake of the Depression. According to Milkman, there had been almost no innovation in newspaper publishing in five decades. The tabloid papers used badly reproduced photographs and since the 1920s these publications provided fodder for those critics who saw photographs as inferior to the written word and a threat associated with social decline. Milkman, cit., p. 10. 8 The term “the common man” derived from the famous speech known as the “Century of the Common Man,” made by Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt. This speech of May 8, 1942 was published in its entirety by PM. His words, "I say that the century on which we are entering—the century which will come out of this war—can be and must be the century of the common man," were critical of Henry Luce’s designation of the twentieth century as “The American 5 This study considers photojournalism in PM from June 1940 through July 1942, the period during which Ralph Ingersoll had the greatest influence on the paper, prior to his enlistment in World War II. This was the time when the paper was most vibrant, experimental, and attractive. In the summer of 1942, following Ralph Ingersoll’s departure, other journalists took over the editorial staff. At this time, Ralph Steiner, the paper’s photography critic who had been essential in shaping PM’s unique message, also left, and photographer Morris Engel departed to join the armed services and the war effort. Finally, by 1943, the programs of FDR and the New Deal were superseded by an all out effort to win the war and PM, suffering through war-time shortages in ink and paper, became less visually compelling.9 Many of the journalistic practices introduced in PM were decades ahead of their time and in many respects, the paper’s influence changed American newspapers altogether. PM introduced the weekend picture supplement, which still exists in the form of the syndicated Parade Magazine. It encouraged a vivid, personal style of reporting, both written and visual, and it served as a model for the “critical culture” of the alternative press that would evolve two decades later with its adversarial style of crusading journalism and its break with the traditional financial model of selling advertising.10 PM’s weekend edition, known as PM’s Weekly, was partly derived in its form from a magazine, and is the focus of this study. By the time he started his own publication, Ralph McAllister Ingersoll was one of the most famous journalists in New York City and was known for his vigorous writing. 11 Ingersoll 9 The change in the visual appearance of PM began in late 1942 and was marked by the autumn of 1943 when wartime shortages necessitated thinner paper and no color ink. 10 Michael Schudson. “The Rise of a Critical Culture”, Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers, New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, 1978, pp. 176-194. 11 Ingersoll began his career in journalism at the offices of William Randolph Hearst’s New York American, then worked for Harold Ross at the New Yorker where he is credited with starting the still extant “Talk of the Town” column. In 1930, Henry Luce, the publisher of Time magazine, hired him to be the Managing Editor of Fortune,, a luxury publication that addressed and celebrated corporate America 6 employed some of the best writing talent available for his new publishing venture and allowed them the freedom to write according to their own choice. 12 The prevailing writing style at PM, like Ingersoll’s own, tended to be vividly descriptive, deeply investigative, stylistically personal and distinctly leftist in its bias. 13 This tone and freedom extended to the paper’s staff of first- rate photographers who were known in press circles for their originality. In addition, PM published work by a wide array of noted freelancers, including Weegee, as well as images purchased from photo agencies. 14 A picture paper such as PM was a consequence of the growing trend in visual communication that capitalized on the public’s insatiable appetite for information about the modern world via photojournalism. In many ways, it followed in the tradition of the great European picture publications that arose in the preceding decades: BIZ, AIZ, VU, and the French communist paper, Regards. 15 PM joined a number of U.S. left wing publications that also and managed to become successful during Ingersoll’s tenure in spite of its high price and its introduction at the height of the depression. At Fortune Ingersoll was responsible for bringing in talented photographer Margaret Bourke-White as well as introducing the candid photography of European pioneer, Erich Salomon who introduced a spontaneous look associated with smaller, lighter cameras including Leicas, 12 Among the writers whose talents PM could claim were I.F. Stone, James Wechsler, Max Lerner, James Thurber, Erskine Caldwell, Ben Hecht, Penn Kimball, Hodding Carter, and the illustrious Ernest Hemingway. 13 During his tenure at Fortune, Ingersoll came into contact with leftist intellectual writers Archibald MacLeish and Dwight MacDonald who exposed him to the ideas of socialism and political dissent and inspired him with their enthusiasm for Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was then running for president. As his views evolved leftward, Ingersoll began to dislike the politics at Time, Inc where he was appointed General Manager in 1936. At this time, he became increasingly involved with a circle of leftist friends including writers Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett and began to work with a socialist psychoanalyst who also saw Marshall Field. See Milkman, cit., p. 13, 41 14 The newspaper also maintained a roster of talented visual artists, illustrators and cartoonists: Theodor Seuss Geisel, (Dr. Seuss), Leo Hershfield, Ad Reinhardt, Charles Martin, Jack Coggins, and Don Freeman. 15 Richard Whelan. Robert Capa: a biography. New York: Ballantine Books, 1985, p. 218, claimed that the French communist paper Ce Soir, 1937-1953 was a model for PM. This requires further research but it is conceivable that the initials PM can be associated with a translation from the French, “this evening”. However, according to both Paul Milkman and Ingersoll’s biographer, Hoopes, the choice of the initials PM for the name of the paper was fairly arbitrary and may have been done to keep readers guessing and talking about the new publication. Additionally, PM was not an afternoon paper, and had a morning edition as well. 7 represented “Popular Front” views but these had smaller circulations and many, such as the Daily Worker, were punctuated by advertising and the photography in these was neither of the quantity or quality of that in PM. 16 Although PM used the methods of combining words and photographs developed at Life, it translated these towards progressive ends and for the benefit of its diverse working class readers. The picture of which Ingersoll’s newspaper presented represented a sharp contrast to Life’s picture of a mythic, consumerist America based on equal opportunity. In contrast, PM’s vision included the diverse fabric of New York City and PM showed images of what Life left out: widespread poverty, deeply embedded racism, and discrimination based on religion and ethnicity. Toward this end, the editors made a different array of citizens visible, including labor’s “rank and file”, minority groups, blacks and women. (Figs. 1-2) PM also demonstrated its considerable interest and commitment to children visually. Pediatrician Benjamin Spock, who later became famous for writing what amounted to the bible of post-war child rearing advice, contributed a weekly column, PM’s Baby, tracing the development of a baby girl born at the time PM appeared. (Fig. 3) The paper was known for waging highly vocal crusades against bias including several that exposed the coded discrimination that was commonplace elsewhere in the daily press.17 However, PM did not ignore popularly appealing imagery such as that of leggy young women in bathing suits. It just presented this trope of the era, which PM called “Bathing Girl of the Week,” with what Paul Milkman has referred to as “a proletarian slant”. Henry Luce understood the power of photographs to affect public opinion and used his 16 Milkman, cit., p. 33. 17 PM was acutely aware of and opposed to the widespread anti-Semitism of the time. The early PM waged a campaign exposing blatant discrimination in help wanted ads. See Milkman, cit., pp. 146. 8 publications to mold this in the name of what he referred to as “partisan objectivity”.18 Ingersoll learned this while in Luce’s employ; however, besides their political differences, there was a fundamental difference between the two publishers. 19 While Luce hid the mechanics of his partisan manipulation by maintaining that photographs were factual records, Ingersoll and his staff revealed the constructed nature of every image to his readers and that photographs were made by human beings, by nature subjective, rather than by mechanical means. Together with his editors, especially photo critic, Ralph Steiner, he used PM’s admission of its leftist bias as a claim for its honesty.20 The most famous example of the openness with which the paper treated photographs as human products was the inclusion of Weegee’s own colorful writing commenting on the process of making his images along with his iconic photographs. On June 22, 1940, when the first of Weegee’s Coney Island crowd shots appeared in PM, the accompanying text identified his real name as Arthur Fellig and introduced his description of his experience: “Herewith is Weegee’s own story of how he took this picture.” The text even described what Weegee had for lunch. As he wrote, ”two kosher frankfurters and two beers at a Jewish delicatessen on the Boardwalk. 18 “partisan objectivity” was an acknowledgment that bias was inescapable. See James L. Baughman. Henry Luce and the Rise of the American News Media. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. Luce stated, “Show me a man who thinks he’s objective and I’ll show you a man who’s deceiving himself.” See Michael Schudson. Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers. New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1978, p. 149. 19 Ingersoll was exposed to Kurt Korff, the former editor of Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung who fled the Nazi’s and came to work for Luce in 1934 on the creation of the new picture magazine which became Life. Korff brought his skill in the construction of photo essays and it is difficult to belief that Ingersoll would not have had close contacted with this talented editor. While in Luce’s employ, Ingersoll, memos show, made the final decision about Life’s size and helped put together the layout of the first issue. See Chris Vials, Realism For the Masses: Aesthetics, Popular Front Pluralism, and U.S. Culture 1935-1947, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2009, p.180. 20PM recruited William McCleery, former features editor of the nationwide Associated Press, and gave him complete freedom as picture editor and editor of the weekend magazine section. McCleery was lured away from Life where he was unhappy with the elitist Ivy League atmosphere. He brought his considerable experience using large amounts of photographic material in features rather than single news storied to PM. See Milkman, cit., p. 18-19. 9 Later on for a chaser, I had five more beers, a malted milk, two root beers, three Coca Colas and two glasses of Buttermilk. And five cigars costing 19 cents.”21 (Fig. 4) According to Jason Hill, this shot was almost identical to one published by The Daily News five days later. 22 The fundamental difference lies in the text accompanying this picture describing Weegee at work. As more images depicting the hostilities in Europe appeared, PM editors pointed out how these pictures were staged and faked. For example, on July 24, 1941: The only thing missing from this Berlin propaganda shot is the camera director who so obviously arranged it all. Notice the Nazi soldier, anything but camera shy, leading, not following his prisoners toward the tank out of which they are supposed to have been smoked. And toward the camera. The only thing that looks authentic is the countryside that is as flat as the Russian steppes where Berlin said the picture was taken.23 A few pages further into the same issue, another comment revealed a staged shot: “This is the actual invasion of Ningpo. Plunging into battle, flag-in-hand, went out with the Crimean War and a charge under fire was never like this. This shot was staged for dramatic effect.”24 The deeply embedded stance regarding the status of the photographic image as something constructed, and the willingness, even the urgency, with which the editorial staff instructed readers, set PM apart from any other publication of its moment. This included other picture magazines such as Look, which used a format similar to Life’s, but represented a more liberal perspective. Friday, a privately funded Popular Front picture magazine, emulated the look of Life including a red logo banner and full page photographs on its covers but was unapologetically Stalinist and followed the staunch Communist Party line with regard to non-intervention in 21 Weegee, “Yesterday at Coney Island...Temperature 89...They Came Early, Stayed Late....”, PM, July 22, 1941, pp. 16-17. 22 Jason E. Hill. The Artist as Reporter: The PM News Picture, 1940-1948, Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Southern California, 2013, pp. 306-329. 23 PM, July 24, 1941, p. 3. 24 “Out for Fresh Conquests, Japan Shows How It’s Done,” PM, July 24, 1941, pp. 16-17. 10 Europe. 25 Friday, while attractive, was relatively static, even conventional in its overall design.26 Both Look and Friday were punctuated by advertisements, which were carefully selected in the case of Dan Gilmore’s Friday. Neither Look nor Friday specifically analyzed photographic images for their audiences. The communist publications, The Daily Worker and The New Masses, supported and reported on labor in photographs as well as words. Some of the same photographers and artists also worked for these publications as well as PM. However, these publications had much smaller circulations and none used photographs with as much sophistication nor as extensively or engagingly as PM. 27 Even Earl Browder, the head of the CPUSA who disagreed with the PM’s political position admitted that the paper was compelling.28 Historian Jason E. Hill emphasizes that PM was a daily paper, not solely a magazine, and must be considered as such although it arose in relation to, and partly in reaction to the prevailing magazine culture of its time. The available literature on PM is relatively sparse compared to that 25 There were points of contact between PM and Friday, with several staff photographers occasionally contributing to both. Work by PM photographers, Irving Haberman and Ray Platnik also appeared in Friday and there were other connections to that magazine. Steiner, as did Roy Stryker, served as a judge for a photo contest, “Youth in Focus”, sponsored by Friday, which presented work by young members of the American Youth Congress on September 20, 1940, p. 26. Steiner mentioned his part in this contest in a column. 26 A wealthy young radical, Dan Gilmore, who funded Friday, had been considered but rejected as a backer for PM because of his insistence that PM adhere to the CPUSA party line. Gilmore had loaned Ingersoll money ($25,000) for his initial research into a picture publication. This relationship between PM and Gilmore’s publication bear further exploration. Hoopes, cit., pp. 187-88, 220, 234. 27 Several staff members, including artist Ad Reinhardt who did illustrations for PM, came to the paper 1930s, may have had a circulation as high as 35,000. It was one of the most influential publications of the left, had a Sunday edition, serious sports coverage, counter cultural comic strips and other entertainment 28 Browder condemned PM for being reactionary but felt it presented news “in such a charming and innocent and interesting fashion that even the members of our own Association, I am sorry to say, often prefer PM rather than the Worker.” See David Margolick, “PM’s Impossible Dream,” Vanity Fair, January 1999, p. 129. 11 on Time, Life, Look or other magazines. This literature either covers politics, as in Paul Milkman’s thorough study dedicated to the full run and the demise of the newspaper in the climate of the Cold War, or it deals with PM as a phenomenon in written journalism in periodic articles devoted to the paper, such as that by David Margolick.29 These only briefly touch on photography as part of the paper’s agenda. The only major visual analysis of PM to date has been undertaken by Jason E. Hill who ably demonstrates the central role of photography. In his dissertation and essays, which will be released shortly as a book, Hill downplays the importance of the readers in PM’s mission, and how its visual program was directed towards educating them. The first years of the paper’s existence, in the lead up to World War II, were tense and uncertain and have tended to be somewhat historically overlooked. Whereas 1930s photography has been treated by John Raeburn, William Stott, Maren Stange, and other American studies scholars, PM has not been discussed. Recent meaningful historical work on the build-up to war and the changes it wrought in American identity has been conducted by Lynn Olsen, whose book, Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II 1939-1941, delineates the depth of American isolationism and the resistance to war, encompassing this in terms of visual culture.30 Such studies, including that edited by Lewis A. Erenberg and Susan E. Hirsch, War in American Culture: Society and Consciousness During World War II, show a nation moving towards democracy, while transcending ethnic difference.31 This thesis argues that PM was intended to be entertaining as well as informative. Its overriding purpose was to champion the plebian audience made up largely of urban union 29 David Margolick, “PM’s Impossible Dream,” Vanity Fair, January 1999. 30 Lynne Olsen. Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II 1939- 1941. New York: Random House, 2013. 31 Lewis A. Erenberg and Susan E. Hirsch, eds., War in American Culture: Society and Consciousness During World War II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. 12 workers, providing them with the most transparent information it could as well as imprint an understanding of the seriousness of the growing threat of Fascism. To this end, I have divided this study into three parts. The first will discuss PM in the context of other press developments of its time, focusing on its intention to be both a popular and a dissident vehicle for news. In this section, I analyze specifically how PM treated the photographic image differently from contemporary illustrated periodicals. Part II will concentrate on the central role of weekend photo editor and columnist Ralph Steiner in developing a singular understanding of photography. Chapter III is dedicated to an analysis of the form of the photo-essay in PM. While PM is known for some of its large, single photographs that tell complex stories in one image, I argue that it also developed original narrative strategies, which incorporated elements borrowed from cinema. The reason why there is still not a great deal of literature on the photographic work in PM is partly due to what Jason E. Hill identifies as the difficulty inherent in studying a daily newspaper which multiplies both the number of issues and the state of preservation of the originals over other types of weekly, monthly or quarterly magazines. Most of what has been written about PM comes from a perspective of journalism. However, there is relatively little on the photographers, with the exception of Weegee, who was so central to the paper.32 I am indebted to Jason Hill for what he has written on the matter. While there have been mentions of photography in PM, especially in relation to the New York Photo League, notably by Michael 32 See Miles Barth, Weegee’s World. New York: Bullfinch Press, 1997; Daniel Morris, “Weegee’s Nation”, After Weegee: Essays on Contemporary Jewish American Photographers. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2011; Miles Orvell, “Weegee’s Voyeurism and the Mastery of Urban Disorder,” American Art, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Winter, 1992), pp. 18-41; Luc Sante. “Weegee As Witness,” Art in America, March, 2012, pp. 118-124; Louis Stettner. Weegee. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977; Cynthia Young, ed., Unknown Weege. New York: ICP/Steidel, exh. cat., 2006. 13 Lesy, these are brief outlines in the context of the general picture press of the time.33 Jason Hill has done breakthrough studies describing the visual program of PM and the editors’ transparent skepticism toward the photographic image. Hill has also examined the relationship between photography and illustration in PM as it relates to the paper’s tendency to elevate its photographic staff. His presentation of the “photojournalist as artist” is largely accurate but can be easily misinterpreted as a view of the photographer/artist in the framework of the modernist “genius” that may have begun in the 1930 but flowered only later. It is essential to keep in mind that PM began as a product of the leftist milieu of the late Depression and that its photographers were workers, who like others, were elevated by the paper. Despite the paper’s promotion of stars such as Weegee and Margaret Bourke-White, the photographic staff was part of a collaborative team that included writers and editorial staff. From 1940-1942, the newspaper’s program showed evidence of the transition from a laboring culture which was concerned with “the common man” and the equal rights of all religious, ethnic and racial groups, to one in which separate identities gradually became incorporated into a general American identity resolutely united to take on the enemies of democracy. Hill cautions that, despite its beginnings in the milieu of picture magazines, PM was nevertheless a daily newspaper that was intended to inform first and foremost. Above all, the ordinary working person was as important and worthy of being pictured as the most famous and manufactured of Hollywood stars. In keeping with the democratic spirit of the paper, and fulfilling philosopher John Dewey’s views that like citizenship in a democracy, art was a triadic process which involved what was depicted, the artist, and the viewers’ active participation for its completion, PM readers were regularly and 33 See Michael Lesy, “Paper World,” in Mason Klein and Catherine Evans eds., The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League, 1936-1951, New York, Columbus, New Haven, Yale University Press, The Jewish Museum and Yale University, exh. cat., 2011, pp. 60-71. 14 specifically invited to submit their own photographs for critique, or possible paid publication. This thesis examines how these liberal dynamics, occurring in this particular printed media, used photography in order to focus on the “uncelebrated,” and what the significance of this operation might be for the larger study of photography at this critical time for American culture. 15 Chapter I The First Picture Paper Under the Sun The physical paper, PM, measured a little over eleven by fourteen inches in a slightly more square version than the standard tabloid format of the time. (Fig. 5) Its weekly edition ran thirty-two pages and cost five cents. Both page count and price doubled for the weekend edition to ten cents and sixty-four pages. This edition came in two sections and functioned like a magazine meant to be read casually and at leisure over a longer period of time than the daily paper. It carried regular features such as complete radio and cinema listings, lengthier stories, more elaborate layouts, and more photographs. All editions were stapled to make the paper easy to handle on public transportation. Ralph Ingersoll hired the noted illustrator and graphic designer, Thomas M. Clelland, to give PM a modern look that made it as easy to read as it was to handle. Clelland, who had been responsible for designing the sumptuous Fortune magazine during Ingersoll’s tenure as managing editor of that publication, designed the custom Caledonia typeface. The groundbreaking design used a slightly larger nine-point size replacing the difficult to read seven-point type that prevailed in other papers. He gave PM a four-column layout set off by borders of white instead of the cluttered six columns of other dailies. Called by Ingersoll “a new kind of newspaper,” PM won the prestigious N.W. Ayer Award for typography and design during each of its first four years.34 Its visual cohesiveness was in part due to the editor’s decision not to accept outside advertising. Following other successful picture magazines, including Life and the French VU, 34 Hoopes, cit., p. 404 Manhattan (/mænˈhætən, mən-/) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state of New York. Located near the southern tip of the State of New York, Manhattan is based in the Eastern Time Zone and constitutes both the geographical and demographic center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass.[6] Over 58 million people live within 250 miles (400 km) of Manhattan,[7] which serves as New York City's economic and administrative center, cultural identifier, center of glamor,[8] and historical birthplace.[9] Residents of the outer boroughs of New York City often refer to Manhattan as "the City".[10] Manhattan has been described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world,[11][12][13][14] and hosts the United Nations headquarters.[15] Manhattan also serves as the headquarters of the global art market, with numerous art galleries and auction houses collectively hosting half of the world's art auctions.[16] Situated on one of the world's largest natural harbors, the borough consists mostly of Manhattan Island, bounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers along with several small adjacent islands, including Roosevelt, U Thant, and Randalls and Wards Islands. The Borough of Manhattan also includes the small neighborhood of Marble Hill on the U.S. mainland, which was separated from Manhattan Island by construction of the Harlem Ship Canal and was later connected using landfill to the Bronx. Manhattan Island is divided into three informally bounded components, each cutting across the borough's long axis: Lower, Midtown, and Upper Manhattan. Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial and fintech center of the world,[17][18][19][20] and Manhattan is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.[21][22] Many multinational media conglomerates are based in Manhattan, and the borough has been the setting for numerous books, films, and television shows. The value of Manhattan Island, including real estate, estimated to exceed US$4 trillion in 2021, and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan commanded by a significant margin the highest retail rents in the world, at US$2,000 per square foot ($22,000/m2) per year in 2022.[23] In 2023, the average monthly apartment rent in Manhattan also outpaced that of other global city centers.[24] The area of present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory,[25] used predominantly as a seasonal hunting ground[26] given that most of the land was seen as too hilly for permanent settlement. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The territory and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York.[27] New York, based in present-day Manhattan, served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790.[28] The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America by ship in the late 19th century and is a world symbol of the United States and its ideals of liberty and peace.[29] Manhattan became a borough during the consolidation of New York City in 1898. New York County is the smallest county by land area in the contiguous United States, as well as the most densely populated U.S. county.[30] Manhattan is one of the most densely populated locations in the world, with a 2020 census population of 1,694,251 living in a land area of 22.83 square miles (59.13 km2),[31][32][4] or 72,918 residents per square mile (28,154 residents/km2), one of the highest urban densities in the world and higher than the density of any individual U.S. city.[33] On business days, the influx of commuters increases this number to over 3.9 million,[34] or more than 170,000 people per square mile (66,000 people/km2). Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York City's five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, and is the smallest borough in terms of land area.[35] If each borough were ranked as a city, Manhattan would rank as the sixth-most populous in the U.S. Many districts and landmarks in Manhattan are well known, as New York City received a record 62.8 million tourists in 2017,[36] and Manhattan hosts three of the world's 10 most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, and Grand Central Terminal.[37] The Empire State Building has become the global standard of reference to describe the height and length of other structures.[38] Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere.[39] The borough hosts many prominent bridges, including the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Queensboro, Triborough, and George Washington Bridges; tunnels such as the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels; skyscrapers including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and One World Trade Center;[40] and parks, such as Central Park. Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere,[41] and Koreatown is replete with karaoke bars.[42] The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, part of the Stonewall National Monument, is considered the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, cementing Manhattan's central role in LGBT culture.[43][44] The City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan,[45] and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the city's government.[46] Numerous colleges and universities are located in Manhattan,[47] including Columbia University, New York University, Cornell Tech, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Rockefeller University, which have been ranked among the top 40 in the world.[48][49] The Metropolitan Museum of Art is both the largest and most visited art museum in the United States and hosts the globally focused Met Gala haute couture fashion event annually. History Main article: History of Manhattan See also: History of New York City History of New York City Lenape and New Netherland, to 1664 New Amsterdam British and Revolution, 1665–1783 Federal and early American, 1784–1854 Tammany and Consolidation, 1855–1897 (Civil War, 1861–1865) Early 20th century, 1898–1945 Post–World War II, 1946–1977 Modern and post-9/11, 1978–present See also Transportation Timelines: NYC • Bronx • Brooklyn • Queens • Staten Island Category vte Lenape settlement Manhattan was historically part of the Lenapehoking territory inhabited by the Munsee Lenape[50] and Wappinger tribes.[51] There were several Lenape settlements in the area including Sapohanikan, Nechtanc, and Konaande Kongh that were interconnected by a series of trails. The primary trail on the island ran from what is now Inwood in the north to Battery Park in the south. There were various sites for fishing and planting established by the Lenape throughout Manhattan.[25] The name Manhattan originated from the Lenapes language, Munsee, manaháhtaan (where manah- means "gather", -aht- means "bow", and -aan is an abstract element used to form verb stems). The Lenape word has been translated as "the place where we get bows" or "place for gathering the (wood to make) bows". According to a Munsee tradition recorded by Albert Seqaqkind Anthony in the 19th century, the island was named so for a grove of hickory trees at its southern end that was considered ideal for the making of bows.[52] Colonial era Main articles: New Netherland, New Amsterdam, and Province of New York New Amsterdam centered in what eventually became Lower Manhattan in 1664, the year England took control and renamed it New York In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing in service of Francis I of France, became the first documented European to visit the area that would become New York City. Verrazzano entered the tidal strait now known as The Narrows and named the land around Upper New York Harbor New Angoulême, in reference to the family name of King Francis I; he sailed far enough into the harbor to sight the Hudson River, and he named the Bay of Santa Margarita – what is now Upper New York Bay – after Marguerite de Navarre, the elder sister of the king.[53][54] Manhattan was first mapped during a 1609 voyage of Henry Hudson.[55] Hudson came across Manhattan Island and the native people living there, and continued up the river that would later bear his name, the Hudson River.[56] Manhattan was first recorded in writing as Manna-hata, in the logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on the voyage.[57] A permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624, with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam), in what is now Lower Manhattan.[58][59] The establishment of Fort Amsterdam is recognized as the birth of New York City.[60] In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony.[61] New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653.[62] In 1674, the English bought New Netherland, after Holland lost rentable sugar business in Brazil, and renamed it "New York" after the English Duke of York and Albany, the future King James II.[63] The Dutch Republic re-captured the city in August 1673, renaming it "New Orange". New Netherland was ultimately ceded to the English in November 1674 through the Treaty of Westminster.[64] American Revolution and the early United States Further information: American Revolution Washington's statue in front of Federal Hall on Wall Street, where in 1789 he was sworn in as the first U.S. president[65] Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of major battles in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British military and political center of operations in North America for the remainder of the war.[66] British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city.[67] From January 11, 1785, to the fall of 1788, New York City was the fifth of five capitals of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, with the Continental Congress meeting at New York City Hall (then at Fraunces Tavern). New York was the first capital under the newly enacted Constitution of the United States, from March 4, 1789, to August 12, 1790, at Federal Hall.[68] Federal Hall was where the United States Supreme Court met for the first time,[69] the United States Bill of Rights were drafted and ratified,[70] and where the Northwest Ordinance was adopted, establishing measures for adding new states to the Union.[71] 19th century New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury and, later, with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States and Canada.[72][73] By 1810, New York City, then confined to Manhattan, had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States.[74] The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 laid out the island of Manhattan in its familiar grid plan. Tammany Hall, a Democratic Party political machine, began to grow in influence with the support of many of the immigrant Irish, culminating in the election of the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood, in 1854. Central Park, which opened to the public in 1858, became the first landscaped public park in an American city.[75][76] New York City played a complex role in the American Civil War. The city had strong commercial ties to the South, but anger around conscription, resentment against Lincoln's war policies and fomenting paranoia about free Blacks taking the poor immigrants' jobs[77] culminated in the three-day-long New York Draft Riots of July 1863, among the worst incidents of civil disorder in American history.[78] The rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply after the Civil War, and Manhattan became the first stop for millions seeking a new life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886.[79][80] This immigration brought further social upheaval. In a city of tenements packed with poorly paid laborers from dozens of nations, the city became a hotbed of revolution (including anarchists and communists among others), syndicalism, racketeering, and unionization. In 1883, the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge established a road connection to Brooklyn. In 1898 New York City consolidated with three neighboring counties to form "the City of Greater New York", and Manhattan was established as a borough. The "Sanitary & Topographical Map of the City and Island of New York", commonly known as the Viele Map, developed by Egbert Ludovicus Viele in 1865 20th century Further information: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and Stonewall riots Manhattan's Little Italy on the Lower East Side, c. 1900 The construction of the New York City Subway, which opened in 1904, helped bind the new city together, as did additional bridges to Brooklyn. In the 1920s Manhattan experienced large arrivals of African-Americans as part of the Great Migration from the southern United States, and the Harlem Renaissance, part of a larger boom time in the Prohibition era that included new skyscrapers competing for the skyline. Manhattan's majority white ethnic group declined from 98.7% in 1900 to 58.3% by 1990.[81] On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Greenwich Village killed 146 garment workers, leading to overhauls of the city's fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations. Despite the Great Depression, some of the world's tallest skyscrapers were completed in Manhattan during the 1930s, including numerous Art Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline, most notably the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the 30 Rockefeller Plaza.[82] Returning World War II veterans created a postwar economic boom, which led to the development of huge housing developments targeted at returning veterans, the largest being Peter Cooper Village-Stuyvesant Town, which opened in 1947.[83] In 1951–1952, the United Nations relocated to a new headquarters the East Side of Manhattan.[84][85] The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement[86][87] and the modern fight for LGBT rights.[88][89] In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City, including Manhattan, to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates.[90] While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through the decade and into the beginning of the 1990s.[91] The 1980s saw a rebirth of Wall Street, and Manhattan reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. The 1980s also saw Manhattan at the heart of the AIDS crisis, with Greenwich Village at its epicenter. By the 1990s, crime rates started to drop dramatically and the city once again became the destination of immigrants from around the world, joining with low interest rates and Wall Street bonuses to fuel the growth of the real estate market.[92] Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley, emerged in Manhattan's economy. 21st century See also: September 11 attacks United Airlines Flight 175 hits the South Tower on September 11, 2001. On September 11, 2001, the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center were struck by hijacked aircraft and collapsed in the September 11 attacks launched by al-Qaeda terrorists. The collapse caused extensive damage to surrounding buildings and skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan, and resulted in the deaths of 2,606 people, in addition to those on the planes. Since 2001, most of Lower Manhattan has been restored, although there has been controversy surrounding the rebuilding. In 2014, the new One World Trade Center, at 1,776 feet (541 m) and formerly known as the Freedom Tower, became the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.[93] The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and spawning the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide.[94] On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction in the borough, ravaging portions of Lower Manhattan with record-high storm surge from New York Harbor,[95] severe flooding, and high winds, causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of city residents[96] and leading to gasoline shortages[97] and disruption of mass transit systems.[98][99][100][101] The storm and its profound impacts have prompted discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of the borough and the metropolitan area to minimize the risk of destructive consequences from another such event in the future.[102] On October 31, 2017, a terrorist deliberately drove a truck down a bike path alongside the West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan, killing eight.[103] Geography See also: Geography of New York City Satellite image of Manhattan, bounded by the Hudson River to the west, the Harlem River to the north, the East River to the east, and New York Harbor to the south, with rectangular Central Park prominently visible. Roosevelt Island, in the East River, belongs to Manhattan. Detailed map of Manhattan in 2023, from OpenStreetMap Location of Manhattan (in red) and the rest of New York City (in yellow) Components The borough consists of Manhattan Island, Marble Hill, and several small islands, including Randalls Island and Wards Island, and Roosevelt Island in the East River, and Governors Island and Liberty Island to the south in New York Harbor.[104] According to the United States Census Bureau, New York County has a total area of 33.6 square miles (87 km2), of which 22.8 square miles (59 km2) is land and 10.8 square miles (28 km2) (32%) is water.[1] The northern segment of Upper Manhattan represents a geographic panhandle. Manhattan Island is 22.7 square miles (59 km2) in area, 13.4 miles (21.6 km) long and 2.3 miles (3.7 km) wide, at its widest (near 14th Street).[105] Icebergs in both Earth's Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere are often compared in size to the area of Manhattan.[106][107][108] Manhattan Island Manhattan Island is loosely divided into Downtown (Lower Manhattan), Midtown (Midtown Manhattan), and Uptown (Upper Manhattan), with Fifth Avenue dividing Manhattan lengthwise into its East Side and West Side. Manhattan Island is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and the East River to the east. To the north, the Harlem River divides Manhattan Island from the Bronx and the mainland United States. Early in the 19th century, landfill was used to expand Lower Manhattan from the natural Hudson shoreline at Greenwich Street to West Street.[109] When building the World Trade Center in 1968, 1.2 million cubic yards (917,000 m3) of material was excavated from the site.[110] Rather than being dumped at sea or in landfills, the fill material was used to expand the Manhattan shoreline across West Street, creating Battery Park City.[111] The result was a 700-foot (210 m) extension into the river, running six blocks or 1,484 feet (452 m), covering 92 acres (37 ha), providing a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) riverfront esplanade and over 30 acres (12 ha) of parks;[112] Hudson River Park was subsequently opened in stages beginning in 1998.[113] Little Island opened on the Hudson River in May 2021, connected to the western termini of 13th and 14th Streets by footbridges.[114] Marble Hill One neighborhood of New York County, Marble Hill, is contiguous with the U.S. mainland. Marble Hill at one time was part of Manhattan Island, but the Harlem River Ship Canal, dug in 1895 to improve navigation on the Harlem River, separated it from the remainder of Manhattan as an island between the Bronx and the remainder of Manhattan.[115] Before World War I, the section of the original Harlem River channel separating Marble Hill from the Bronx was filled in, and Marble Hill became part of the mainland.[116] Marble Hill is one example of how Manhattan's land has been considerably altered by human intervention. The borough has seen substantial land reclamation along its waterfronts since Dutch colonial times, and much of the natural variation in its topography has been evened out.[117] Smaller islands See also: List of smaller islands in New York City A tall green statue on an island in a harbor. Liberty Island, an exclave of Manhattan, New York City, and New York state, that is surrounded by New Jersey waters Within New York Harbor, there are three smaller islands: Ellis Island, shared with New Jersey Governors Island Liberty Island Other smaller islands, in the East River, include (from north to south): Randalls and Wards Islands, joined by landfill Mill Rock Roosevelt Island U Thant Island (legally Belmont Island) Geology This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) A schist outcropping in Central Park The bedrock underlying much of Manhattan is a mica schist known as Manhattan schist[118] of the Manhattan Prong physiographic region. It is a strong, competent metamorphic rock that was produced when Pangaea formed. It is well suited for the foundations of tall buildings. In Central Park, outcrops of Manhattan schist occur; Rat Rock is one rather large example.[119][120][121] Geologically, a predominant feature of the substrata of Manhattan is that the underlying bedrock base of the island rises considerably closer to the surface near Midtown Manhattan, dips down lower between 29th Street and Canal Street, then rises toward the surface again in Lower Manhattan. It has been widely believed that the depth to bedrock was the primary reason for the clustering of skyscrapers in the Midtown and Financial District areas, and their absence over the intervening territory between these two areas.[122][123] However, research has shown that economic factors played a bigger part in the locations of these skyscrapers.[124][125][126] According to the United States Geological Survey, an updated analysis of seismic hazard in July 2014 revealed a "slightly lower hazard for tall buildings" in Manhattan than previously assessed. Scientists estimated this lessened risk based upon a lower likelihood than previously thought of slow shaking near New York City, which would be more likely to cause damage to taller structures from an earthquake in the vicinity of the city.[127] Locations Places adjacent to Manhattan Bergen County, New Jersey Bronx County (The Bronx) Bronx County (The Bronx) Hudson County, New Jersey New York County Queens County (Queens) Richmond County (Staten Island) Kings County (Brooklyn) Kings County (Brooklyn) National protected areas African Burial Ground National Monument Castle Clinton National Monument Federal Hall National Memorial General Grant National Memorial Governors Island National Monument Hamilton Grange National Memorial Lower East Side Tenement National Historic Site Statue of Liberty National Monument (part) Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site Neighborhoods Main articles: Neighborhoods in New York City and List of Manhattan neighborhoods The Empire State Building (in foreground) looking south from the top of Rockefeller Center with One World Trade Center (in background); the Midtown South Community Council acts as a civic caretaker for much of the neighborhood between the skyscrapers of Midtown and Lower Manhattan. Manhattan's many neighborhoods are not named according to any particular convention, nor do they have official boundaries. Some are geographical (the Upper East Side), or ethnically descriptive (Little Italy). Others are acronyms, such as TriBeCa (for "TRIangle BElow CAnal Street") or SoHo ("SOuth of HOuston"), or the far more recent vintages NoLIta ("NOrth of Little ITAly").[128][129] and NoMad ("NOrth of MADison Square Park").[130][131][132] Harlem is a name from the Dutch colonial era after Haarlem, a city in the Netherlands.[133] Alphabet City comprises Avenues A, B, C, and D, to which its name refers. Some have simple folkloric names, such as Hell's Kitchen, alongside their more official but lesser used title (in this case, Clinton). Some neighborhoods, such as SoHo, which is mixed use, are known for upscale shopping as well as residential use. Others, such as Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side, Alphabet City and the East Village, have long been associated with the Bohemian subculture.[134] Chelsea is one of several Manhattan neighborhoods with large gay populations and has become a center of both the international art industry and New York's nightlife.[135] Chinatown has the highest concentration of people of Chinese descent outside of Asia.[136][137] Koreatown is roughly bounded by 6th and Madison Avenues,[138][139][140] between 31st and 33rd Streets, where Hangul signage is ubiquitous. Rose Hill features a growing number of Indian restaurants and spice shops along a stretch of Lexington Avenue between 25th and 30th Streets which has become known as Curry Hill.[141] Washington Heights in Uptown Manhattan is home to the largest Dominican immigrant community in the United States.[142] Harlem, also in Upper Manhattan, is the historical epicenter of African American culture. Since 2010, a Little Australia has emerged and is growing in Nolita, Lower Manhattan.[143] In Manhattan, uptown means north (more precisely north-northeast, which is the direction the island and its street grid system are oriented) and downtown means south (south-southwest).[144] This usage differs from that of most American cities, where downtown refers to the central business district. Manhattan has two central business districts, the Financial District at the southern tip of the island, and Midtown Manhattan. The term uptown also refers to the northern part of Manhattan above 72nd Street and downtown to the southern portion below 14th Street,[145] with Midtown covering the area in between, though definitions can be fluid. Fifth Avenue roughly bisects Manhattan Island and acts as the demarcation line for east/west designations (e.g., East 27th Street, West 42nd Street); street addresses start at Fifth Avenue and increase heading away from Fifth Avenue, at a rate of 100 per block on most streets.[145] South of Waverly Place, Fifth Avenue terminates and Broadway becomes the east/west demarcation line. Although the grid does start with 1st Street, just north of Houston Street (the southernmost street divided in west and east portions), the grid does not fully take hold until north of 14th Street, where nearly all east–west streets are numerically identified, which increase from south to north to 220th Street, the highest numbered street on the island. Streets in Midtown are usually one-way, with the few exceptions generally being the busiest cross-town thoroughfares (14th, 23rd, 34th, and 42nd Streets, for example), which are bidirectional across the width of Manhattan Island. Typically odd-numbered streets run west, while even-numbered streets run east.[105] Climate Central Park in autumn Under the Köppen climate classification, using the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm, New York City features both a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) and a humid continental climate (Dfa);[146] it is the northernmost major city on the North American continent with a humid subtropical climate. The city averages 234 days with at least some sunshine annually.[147] The city lies in the USDA 7b plant hardiness zone.[148] Winters are cold and damp, and prevailing wind patterns that blow offshore temper the moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean; yet the Atlantic and the partial shielding from colder air by the Appalachians keep the city warmer in the winter than inland North American cities at similar or lesser latitudes such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis. The daily mean temperature in January, the area's coldest month, is 32.6 °F (0.3 °C);[149] temperatures usually drop to 10 °F (−12 °C) several times per winter,[149][150] and reach 60 °F (16 °C) several days in the coldest winter month.[149] Spring and autumn are unpredictable and can range from chilly to warm, although they are usually mild with low humidity. Summers are typically warm to hot and humid, with a daily mean temperature of 76.5 °F (24.7 °C) in July.[149] Nighttime conditions are often exacerbated by the urban heat island phenomenon, which causes heat absorbed during the day to be radiated back at night, raising temperatures by as much as 7 °F (4 °C) when winds are slow.[151] Daytime temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average of 17 days each summer[152] and in some years exceed 100 °F (38 °C). Extreme temperatures have ranged from −15 °F (−26 °C), recorded on February 9, 1934, up to 106 °F (41 °C) on July 9, 1936.[152] Manhattan receives 49.9 inches (1,270 mm) of precipitation annually, which is relatively evenly spread throughout the year. Average winter snowfall between 1981 and 2010 has been 25.8 inches (66 cm); this varies considerably from year to year.[152] Governors Island in New York Harbor is planned to host a US$1 billion research and education center with the intention of making New York City the global leader in addressing the climate crisis.[153] vte Climate data for New York (Belvedere Castle, Central Park), 1991–2020 normals,[b] extremes 1869–present[c] Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 72 (22) 78 (26) 86 (30) 96 (36) 99 (37) 101 (38) 106 (41) 104 (40) 102 (39) 94 (34) 84 (29) 75 (24) 106 (41) Mean maximum °F (°C) 60.4 (15.8) 60.7 (15.9) 70.3 (21.3) 82.9 (28.3) 88.5 (31.4) 92.1 (33.4) 95.7 (35.4) 93.4 (34.1) 89.0 (31.7) 79.7 (26.5) 70.7 (21.5) 62.9 (17.2) 97.0 (36.1) Average high °F (°C) 39.5 (4.2) 42.2 (5.7) 49.9 (9.9) 61.8 (16.6) 71.4 (21.9) 79.7 (26.5) 84.9 (29.4) 83.3 (28.5) 76.2 (24.6) 64.5 (18.1) 54.0 (12.2) 44.3 (6.8) 62.6 (17.0) Daily mean °F (°C) 33.7 (0.9) 35.9 (2.2) 42.8 (6.0) 53.7 (12.1) 63.2 (17.3) 72.0 (22.2) 77.5 (25.3) 76.1 (24.5) 69.2 (20.7) 57.9 (14.4) 48.0 (8.9) 39.1 (3.9) 55.8 (13.2) Average low °F (°C) 27.9 (−2.3) 29.5 (−1.4) 35.8 (2.1) 45.5 (7.5) 55.0 (12.8) 64.4 (18.0) 70.1 (21.2) 68.9 (20.5) 62.3 (16.8) 51.4 (10.8) 42.0 (5.6) 33.8 (1.0) 48.9 (9.4) Mean minimum °F (°C) 9.8 (−12.3) 12.7 (−10.7) 19.7 (−6.8) 32.8 (0.4) 43.9 (6.6) 52.7 (11.5) 61.8 (16.6) 60.3 (15.7) 50.2 (10.1) 38.4 (3.6) 27.7 (−2.4) 18.0 (−7.8) 7.7 (−13.5) Record low °F (°C) −6 (−21) −15 (−26) 3 (−16) 12 (−11) 32 (0) 44 (7) 52 (11) 50 (10) 39 (4) 28 (−2) 5 (−15) −13 (−25) −15 (−26) Average precipitation inches (mm) 3.64 (92) 3.19 (81) 4.29 (109) 4.09 (104) 3.96 (101) 4.54 (115) 4.60 (117) 4.56 (116) 4.31 (109) 4.38 (111) 3.58 (91) 4.38 (111) 49.52 (1,258) Average snowfall inches (cm) 8.8 (22) 10.1 (26) 5.0 (13) 0.4 (1.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.0 (0.0) 0.1 (0.25) 0.5 (1.3) 4.9 (12) 29.8 (76) Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 10.8 10.0 11.1 11.4 11.5 11.2 10.5 10.0 8.8 9.5 9.2 11.4 125.4 Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 3.7 3.2 2.0 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 2.1 11.4 Average relative humidity (%) 61.5 60.2 58.5 55.3 62.7 65.2 64.2 66.0 67.8 65.6 64.6 64.1 63.0 Average dew point °F (°C) 18.0 (−7.8) 19.0 (−7.2) 25.9 (−3.4) 34.0 (1.1) 47.3 (8.5) 57.4 (14.1) 61.9 (16.6) 62.1 (16.7) 55.6 (13.1) 44.1 (6.7) 34.0 (1.1) 24.6 (−4.1) 40.3 (4.6) Mean monthly sunshine hours 162.7 163.1 212.5 225.6 256.6 257.3 268.2 268.2 219.3 211.2 151.0 139.0 2,534.7 Percent possible sunshine 54 55 57 57 57 57 59 63 59 61 51 48 57 Average ultraviolet index 2 3 4 6 7 8 8 8 6 4 2 1 5 Source 1: NOAA (relative humidity and sun 1961–1990; dew point 1965–1984)[152][149][147] Source 2: Weather Atlas[155] See Climate of New York City for additional climate information from the outer boroughs. Sea temperature data for New York[155] Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average sea temperature °F (°C) 41.7 (5.4) 39.7 (4.3) 40.2 (4.5) 45.1 (7.3) 52.5 (11.4) 64.5 (18.1) 72.1 (22.3) 74.1 (23.4) 70.1 (21.2) 63.0 (17.2) 54.3 (12.4) 47.2 (8.4) 55.4 (13.0) Boroughscape Ten-mile Manhattan skyline panorama from 120th Street to the Battery, taken February 21, 2018, from across the Hudson River in Weehawken, New Jersey. Riverside ChurchTime Warner Center220 Central Park SouthCentral Park TowerOne57432 Park Avenue53W53Chrysler BuildingBank of America TowerConde Nast BuildingThe New York Times BuildingEmpire State BuildingManhattan Westa: 55 Hudson Yards, b: 35 Hudson Yards, c: 10 Hudson Yards, d: 15 Hudson Yards56 Leonard Street8 Spruce StreetWoolworth Building70 Pine Street30 Park Place40 Wall StreetThree World Trade CenterFour World Trade CenterOne World Trade Center Demographics Main article: Demographics of Manhattan Looking at crowds down Broadway Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Manhattan was the most densely populated municipality in the United States. In 2020, 1,694,251 people lived in Manhattan. At the 2010 U.S. census, there were 1,585,873 people living in Manhattan, an increase of 3.2% since 2000. Since 2010, Manhattan's population was estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau to have increased 2.7% to 1,628,706 as of 2018, representing 19.5% of New York City's population of 8,336,817 and 8.4% of New York State's population of 19,745,289.[31][156] As of the 2020 census, the population density of New York County was 74,870.7 inhabitants per square mile (28,907.7/km2), the highest population density of any county in the United States.[31] Racial composition 2020[157] 2010[158] 2000[159] 1990[160] 1950[160] 1900[160] White 50.0% 57.4% 54.3% 58.3% 79.4% 97.8%  —Non-Hispanic 46.8% 48% 45.7% 48.9% n/a n/a Black or African American 13.5% 15.6% 17.3% 22.0% 19.6% 2.0% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 23.8% 25.4% 27.1% 26.0% n/a n/a Asian 13.1% 11.3% 9.4% 7.4% 0.8% 0.3% Historical population Manhattan is one of the highest-income places in the United States with a population greater than one million. As of 2012, Manhattan's cost of living was the highest in the United States.[163] Manhattan is also the United States county with the highest per capita income, being the sole county whose per capita income exceeded $100,000 in 2010.[164] However, from 2011–2015 Census data of New York County, the per capita income was recorded in 2015 dollars as $64,993, with the median household income at $72,871, and poverty at 17.6%.[165] In 2012, The New York Times reported that inequality was higher than in most developing countries, stating, "The wealthiest fifth of Manhattanites made more than 40 times what the lowest fifth reported, a widening gap (it was 38 times, the year before) surpassed by only a few developing countries".[166] Religion In 2010, the largest organized religious group in Manhattan was the Archdiocese of New York, with 323,325 Catholics worshiping at 109 parishes, followed by 64,000 Orthodox Jews with 77 congregations, an estimated 42,545 Muslims with 21 congregations, 42,502 non-denominational adherents with 54 congregations, 26,178 TEC Episcopalians with 46 congregations, 25,048 ABC-USA Baptists with 41 congregations, 24,536 Reform Jews with 10 congregations, 23,982 Mahayana Buddhists with 35 congregations, 10,503 PC-USA Presbyterians with 30 congregations, and 10,268 RCA Presbyterians with 10 congregations. Altogether, 44.0% of the population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African-American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information.[167] In 2014, Manhattan had 703 religious organizations, the seventeenth most out of all US counties.[168] There is a large Buddhist temple in Manhattan located at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge in Chinatown.[169] Languages As of 2010, 59.98% (902,267) of Manhattan residents, aged five and older, spoke only English at home, while 23.07% (347,033) spoke Spanish, 5.33% (80,240) Chinese, 2.03% (30,567) French, 0.78% (11,776) Japanese, 0.77% (11,517) Russian, 0.72% (10,788) Korean, 0.70% (10,496) German, 0.66% (9,868) Italian, 0.64% (9,555) Hebrew, and 0.48% (7,158) spoke African languages at home. In total, 40.02% (602,058) of Manhattan's population, aged five and older, spoke a language other than English at home.[170] As of 2015, 60.0% (927,650) of Manhattan residents, aged five and older, spoke only English at home, while 22.63% (350,112) spoke Spanish, 5.37% (83,013) Chinese, 2.21% (34,246) French, 0.85% (13,138) Korean, 0.72% (11,135) Russian, and 0.70% (10,766) Japanese. In total, 40.0% of Manhattan's population, aged five and older, spoke a language other than English at home.[171] Landmarks and architecture Main article: Architecture of New York City See also: List of skyscrapers in New York City Estonian House, a main center of Estonian culture among Estonian Americans Points of interest on Manhattan Island include the American Museum of Natural History; the Battery; Broadway and the Theater District; Bryant Park; Central Park, Chinatown; the Chrysler Building; The Cloisters; Columbia University; Curry Hill; the Empire State Building; Flatiron Building; the Financial District (including the New York Stock Exchange Building; Wall Street; and the South Street Seaport); Grand Central Terminal; Greenwich Village (including New York University; Washington Square Arch; and Stonewall Inn); Harlem and Spanish Harlem; the High Line; Koreatown; Lincoln Center; Little Australia; Little Italy; Madison Square Garden; Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue (including the Metropolitan Museum of Art); Penn Station, Port Authority Bus Terminal; Rockefeller Center (including Radio City Music Hall); Times Square; and the World Trade Center (including the National September 11 Museum and One World Trade Center). There are also numerous iconic bridges across rivers that connect to Manhattan Island, as well as an emerging number of supertall skyscrapers. The Statue of Liberty rests on a pedestal on Liberty Island, an exclave of Manhattan, and part of Ellis Island is also an exclave of Manhattan. The borough has many energy-efficient, environmentally friendly office buildings, such as the Hearst Tower, the rebuilt 7 World Trade Center,[172] and the Bank of America Tower—the first skyscraper designed to attain a Platinum LEED Certification.[173][174] Architectural history This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Alexander Turney Stewart on 9th Street in Manhattan in 1870 Many tall buildings have setbacks on their facade due to the 1916 Zoning Resolution, exemplified at Park Avenue and 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The skyscraper, which has shaped Manhattan's distinctive skyline, has been closely associated with New York City's identity since the end of the 19th century. From 1890 to 1973, the title of world's tallest building resided continually in Manhattan (with a gap between 1894 and 1908, when the title was held by Philadelphia City Hall), with eight different buildings holding the title.[175] The New York World Building on Park Row, was the first to take the title in 1890, standing 309 feet (94 m) until 1955, when it was demolished to construct a new ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge.[176] The nearby Park Row Building, with its 29 stories standing 391 feet (119 m) high, became the world's tallest office building when it opened in 1899.[177] The 41-story Singer Building, constructed in 1908 as the headquarters of the eponymous sewing machine manufacturer, stood 612 feet (187 m) high until 1967, when it became the tallest building ever demolished.[178] The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, standing 700 feet (210 m) at the foot of Madison Avenue, wrested the title in 1909, with a tower reminiscent of St Mark's Campanile in Venice.[179] The Woolworth Building, and its distinctive Gothic architecture, took the title in 1913, topping off at 792 feet (241 m).[180] Structures such as the Equitable Building of 1915, which rises vertically forty stories from the sidewalk, prompted the passage of the 1916 Zoning Resolution, requiring new buildings to contain setbacks withdrawing progressively at a defined angle from the street as they rose, in order to preserve a view of the sky at street level.[181] The Roaring Twenties saw three separate buildings pursuing the world's tallest title in the span of a year. As the stock market soared in the days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, two developers publicly competed for the crown.[182] At 927 feet (283 m), 40 Wall Street, completed in May 1930 in only eleven months as the headquarters of the Bank of Manhattan, seemed to have secured the title.[183] At Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street, auto executive Walter Chrysler and his architect William Van Alen developed plans to build the structure's trademark 185-foot (56 m) spire in secret, pushing the Chrysler Building to 1,046 feet (319 m) and making it the tallest in the world when it was completed in 1929.[184] Both buildings were soon surpassed with the May 1931 completion of the 102-story Empire State Building with its Art Deco tower reaching 1,250 feet (380 m) at the top of the building. The 203-foot (62 m) high pinnacle was later added bringing the total height of the building to 1,453 ft (443 m).[185][186] The former Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were located in Lower Manhattan. At 1,368 and 1,362 feet (417 and 415 m), the 110-story buildings were the world's tallest from 1972 until they were surpassed by the construction of the Willis Tower in 1974 (formerly known as the Sears Tower, located in Chicago).[187] One World Trade Center, a replacement for the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, is currently the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.[188] In 1961, the Pennsylvania Railroad unveiled plans to tear down the old Penn Station and replace it with a new Madison Square Garden and office building complex. Organized protests were aimed at preserving the McKim, Mead & White-designed structure completed in 1910, widely considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style and one of the architectural jewels of New York City.[189] Despite these efforts, demolition of the structure began in October 1963. The loss of Penn Station—called "an act of irresponsible public vandalism" by historian Lewis Mumford—led directly to the enactment in 1965 of a local law establishing the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, which is responsible for preserving the "city's historic, aesthetic, and cultural heritage".[190] The historic preservation movement triggered by Penn Station's demise has been credited with the retention of some one million structures nationwide, including over 1,000 in New York City.[191] In 2017, a multibillion-dollar rebuilding plan was unveiled to restore the historic grandeur of Penn Station, in the process of upgrading the landmark's status as a critical transportation hub.[192] Parkland Central Park Parkland composes 17.8% of the borough, covering a total of 2,686 acres (10.87 km2). The 843-acre (3.41 km2) Central Park, the largest park comprising 30% of Manhattan's parkland, is bordered on the north by West 110th Street (Central Park North), on the west by Eighth Avenue (Central Park West), on the south by West 59th Street (Central Park South), and on the east by Fifth Avenue. Central Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, offers extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, a wildlife sanctuary, and several lawns and sporting areas, as well as 21 playgrounds and a 6-mile (9.7 km) road from which automobile traffic is banned.[193] While much of the park looks natural, it is almost entirely landscaped: the construction of Central Park in the 1850s was one of the era's most massive public works projects, with some 20,000 workers crafting the topography to create the English-style pastoral landscape Olmsted and Vaux sought.[194] The remaining 70% of Manhattan's parkland includes 204 playgrounds, 251 Greenstreets, 371 basketball courts, and many other amenities.[195] The next-largest park in Manhattan, the Hudson River Park, stretches 4.5 miles (7.2 km) on the Hudson River and comprises 550 acres (220 ha).[196] Other major parks include:[197] Bowling Green Bryant Park City Hall Park DeWitt Clinton Park East River Greenway Fort Tryon Park Fort Washington Park Harlem River Park Holcombe Rucker Park Imagination Playground Inwood Hill Park Isham Park J. Hood Wright Park Jackie Robinson Park Madison Square Park Marcus Garvey Park Morningside Park Randall's Island Park Riverside Park Sara D. Roosevelt Park Seward Park St. Nicholas Park Stuyvesant Square The Battery The High Line Thomas Jefferson Park Tompkins Square Park Union Square Park Washington Square Park Economy Main article: Economy of New York City By a significant margin, the New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest stock exchange; the market capitalization of its listed companies[198][199] is US$23.1 trillion as of April 2018, the largest of any stock exchange in the world[200] Manhattan is the economic engine of New York City, with its 2.3 million workers in 2007 drawn from the entire New York metropolitan area accounting for almost two-thirds of all jobs in New York City.[201] In the first quarter of 2014, the average weekly wage in Manhattan (New York County) was $2,749, representing the highest total among large counties in the United States.[202] Manhattan's workforce is overwhelmingly focused on white collar professions, with manufacturing nearly extinct.[citation needed] Manhattan also has the highest per capita income of any county in the United States. In 2010, Manhattan's daytime population was swelling to 3.94 million, with commuters adding a net 1.48 million people to the population, along with visitors, tourists, and commuting students. The commuter influx of 1.61 million workers coming into Manhattan was the largest of any county or city in the country,[203] and was more than triple the 480,000 commuters who headed into second-ranked Washington, D.C.[204] Financial sector Main article: Wall Street The Financial District of Lower Manhattan, seen from Brooklyn Manhattan's most important economic sector lies in its role as the headquarters for the U.S. financial industry, metonymously known as Wall Street. Manhattan is home to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, and the Nasdaq, now located at 4 Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, representing the world's largest and second-largest stock exchanges, respectively, when measured both by overall share trading value and by total market capitalization of their listed companies in 2013.[22] The NYSE American (formerly the American Stock Exchange, AMEX), New York Board of Trade, and the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) are also located downtown. Financial technology (fintech) and cryptocurrency have emerged as more recent constituents of the financial sector as well as the tech sector. Corporate sector Manhattan contains over 520 million square feet (48,000,000 m2) of office space. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid work prompted consideration of commercial-to-residential conversion in Manhattan.[205] New York City is home to the most corporate headquarters of any city in the United States, the overwhelming majority based in Manhattan.[206] Manhattan contained over 520 million square feet (48.3 million m2) of office space in 2022,[207] making it the largest office market in the United States; while Midtown Manhattan, with over 400 million square feet (37.2 million m2) is the largest central business district in the world.[208] New York City's role as the top global center for the advertising industry is metonymously reflected as "Madison Avenue". Tech and biotech Further information: Tech companies in Manhattan, Biotech companies in Manhattan, Silicon Alley, and Tech:NYC The Flatiron District, the birthplace and center of Silicon Alley[209] Manhattan has driven New York's status as a top-tier global high technology hub.[210] Silicon Alley, once a metonym for the sphere encompassing the metropolitan region's high technology industries,[211] is no longer a relevant moniker as the city's tech environment has expanded dramatically both in location and in its scope. New York City's current tech sphere encompasses a universal array of applications involving artificial intelligence, the internet, new media, financial technology (fintech) and cryptocurrency, biotechnology, game design, and other fields within information technology that are supported by its entrepreneurship ecosystem and venture capital investments.As of 2014, New York City hosted 300,000 employees in the tech sector.[212][213] In 2015, Silicon Alley generated over US$7.3 billion in venture capital investment,[214] most based in Manhattan, as well as in Brooklyn, Queens, and elsewhere in the region. High technology startup companies and employment are growing in Manhattan and across New York City, bolstered by the city's emergence as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship,[214] social tolerance,[215] and environmental sustainability,[216][217] as well as New York's position as the leading Internet hub and telecommunications center in North America, including its vicinity to several transatlantic fiber optic trunk lines, the city's intellectual capital, and its extensive outdoor wireless connectivity.[218] Verizon Communications, headquartered at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, was at the final stages in 2014 of completing a US$3 billion fiberoptic telecommunications upgrade throughout New York City.[219] As of October 2014, New York City hosted 300,000 employees in the tech sector,[213] with a significant proportion in Manhattan. The technology sector has been expanding across Manhattan since 2010.[220] The biotechnology sector is also growing in Manhattan based upon the city's strength in academic scientific research and public and commercial financial support. By mid-2014, Accelerator, a biotech investment firm, had raised more than US$30 million from investors, including Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, for initial funding to create biotechnology startups at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, which encompasses more than 700,000 square feet (65,000 m2) on East 29th Street and promotes collaboration among scientists and entrepreneurs at the center and with nearby academic, medical, and research institutions. The New York City Economic Development Corporation's Early Stage Life Sciences Funding Initiative and venture capital partners, including Celgene, General Electric Ventures, and Eli Lilly, committed a minimum of US$100 million to help launch 15 to 20 ventures in life sciences and biotechnology.[221] In 2011, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had announced his choice of Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to build a US$2 billion graduate school of applied sciences on Roosevelt Island, Manhattan, with the goal of transforming New York City into the world's premier technology capital.[222][223][needs update] Tourism Main article: Tourism in New York City Times Square is the hub of Broadway's theater district and a major Manhattan cultural venue with 50 million tourists annually, making it one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.[37] Tourism is vital to Manhattan's economy, and the landmarks of Manhattan are the focus of New York City's tourists, enumerating an eighth consecutive annual record of approximately 62.8 million visitors in 2017.[36] According to The Broadway League, for the 2018–2019 season (which ended May 26, 2019) total attendance was 14,768,254 and Broadway shows had US$1,829,312,140 in grosses, with attendance up 9.5%, grosses up 10.3%, and playing weeks up 9.3%.[224] Real estate Real estate is a major force in Manhattan's economy. Manhattan has perennially been home to some of the nation's, as well as the world's, most valuable real estate, including the Time Warner Center, which had the highest-listed market value in the city in 2006 at US$1.1 billion,[225] to be subsequently surpassed in October 2014 by the Waldorf Astoria New York, which became the most expensive hotel ever sold after being purchased by the Anbang Insurance Group, based in China, for US$1.95 billion.[226] When 450 Park Avenue was sold on July 2, 2007, for US$510 million, about US$1,589 per square foot (US$17,104/m²), it broke the barely month-old record for an American office building of US$1,476 per square foot (US$15,887/m²) based on the sale of 660 Madison Avenue.[227] In 2014, Manhattan was home to six of the top ten zip codes in the United States by median housing price.[228] In 2019, the most expensive home sale ever in the United States occurred in Manhattan, at a selling price of US$238 million, for a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m2) penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park,[229] while Central Park Tower, topped out at 1,550 feet (472 m) in 2019, is the world's tallest residential building, followed globally in height by 111 West 57th Street and 432 Park Avenue, both also located in Midtown Manhattan. Manhattan had approximately 520 million square feet (48.1 million m²) of office space in 2013,[230] making it the largest office market in the United States.[231] Midtown Manhattan is the largest central business district in the nation based on office space,[232] while Lower Manhattan is the third-largest (after the Chicago Loop).[233][234] As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the median value of homes in Manhattan was $1,306,208. It ranked second among US counties for highest median home value at the time, second to Nantucket.[235] Media Main articles: Media in New York City and New Yorkers in journalism Manhattan has been described as the media capital of the world.[236][237] A significant array of media outlets and their journalists report about international, American, business, entertainment, and New York metropolitan area-related matters from Manhattan. News The headquarters of The New York Times at 620 Eighth Avenue Manhattan is served by the major New York City daily news publications, including The New York Times, which has won the most Pulitzer Prizes for journalism and is considered the U.S. media's "newspaper of record";[238] the New York Daily News; and the New York Post, which are all headquartered in the borough. The nation's largest newspaper by circulation, The Wall Street Journal, is also based in Manhattan. Other daily newspapers include AM New York and The Villager. The New York Amsterdam News, based in Harlem, is one of the leading Black-owned weekly newspapers in the United States. The Village Voice, historically the largest alternative newspaper in the United States, announced in 2017 that it would cease publication of its print edition and convert to a fully digital venture.[239] Television, radio, film See also: List of films set in New York City and List of television shows set in New York City The television industry developed in Manhattan and is a significant employer in the borough's economy. The four major American broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox, as well as Univision, are all headquartered in Manhattan, as are many cable channels, including CNN, MSNBC, MTV, Fox News, HBO, and Comedy Central. In 1971, WLIB became New York City's first Black-owned radio station and began broadcasts geared toward the African-American community in 1949. WQHT, also known as Hot 97, claims to be the premier hip-hop station in the United States. WNYC, comprising an AM and FM signal, has the largest public radio audience in the nation and is the most-listened to commercial or non-commercial radio station in Manhattan.[240] WBAI, with news and information programming, is one of the few socialist radio stations operating in the United States.[citation needed] The oldest public-access television cable TV channel in the United States is the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, founded in 1971, offers eclectic local programming that ranges from a jazz hour to discussion of labor issues to foreign language and religious programming.[241] NY1, Time Warner Cable's local news channel, is known for its beat coverage of City Hall and state politics. Education See also: Education in New York City, List of high schools in New York City, and List of colleges and universities in New York City The notable architectural design of Butler Library at Columbia University, an Ivy League university in Manhattan[242] Stuyvesant High School in Tribeca[243] New York Public Library Main Branch at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue Education in Manhattan is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. Non-charter public schools in the borough are operated by the New York City Department of Education,[244] the largest public school system in the United States. Charter schools include Success Academy Harlem 1 through 5, Success Academy Upper West, and Public Prep. Several notable New York City public high schools are located in Manhattan, including A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, Beacon High School, Stuyvesant High School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, High School of Fashion Industries, Eleanor Roosevelt High School, NYC Lab School, Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, Hunter College High School, and High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College. Bard High School Early College, a hybrid school created by Bard College, serves students from around the city. Many private preparatory schools are also situated in Manhattan, including the Upper East Side's Brearley School, Dalton School, Browning School, Spence School, Chapin School, Nightingale-Bamford School, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Hewitt School, Saint David's School, Loyola School, and Regis High School. The Upper West Side is home to the Collegiate School and Trinity School. The borough is also home to Manhattan Country School, Trevor Day School, Xavier High School and the United Nations International School. Based on data from the 2011–2015 American Community Survey, 59.9% of Manhattan residents over age 25 have a bachelor's degree.[245] As of 2005, about 60% of residents were college graduates and some 25% had earned advanced degrees, giving Manhattan one of the nation's densest concentrations of highly educated people.[246] Manhattan has various colleges and universities, including Columbia University (and its affiliate Barnard College), Cooper Union, Marymount Manhattan College, New York Institute of Technology, New York University (NYU), The Juilliard School, Pace University, Berkeley College, The New School, Yeshiva University, and a campus of Fordham University. Other schools include Bank Street College of Education, Boricua College, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Manhattan School of Music, Metropolitan College of New York, Parsons School of Design, School of Visual Arts, Touro College, and Union Theological Seminary. Several other private institutions maintain a Manhattan presence, among them Mercy College, St. John's University, Adelphi University, The King's College, and Pratt Institute. Cornell Tech, part of Cornell University, is developing on Roosevelt Island. The City University of New York (CUNY), the municipal college system of New York City, is the largest urban university system in the United States, serving more than 226,000 degree students and a roughly equal number of adult, continuing and professional education students.[247] A third of college graduates in New York City graduate from CUNY, with the institution enrolling about half of all college students in New York City. CUNY senior colleges located in Manhattan include: Baruch College, City College of New York, Hunter College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the CUNY Graduate Center (graduate studies and doctorate granting institution). The only CUNY community college located in Manhattan is the Borough of Manhattan Community College. The State University of New York is represented by the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York State College of Optometry, and Stony Brook University – Manhattan. Manhattan is a world center for training and education in medicine and the life sciences.[248] The city as a whole receives the second-highest amount of annual funding from the National Institutes of Health among all U.S. cities,[249] the bulk of which goes to Manhattan's research institutions, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Rockefeller University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Weill Cornell Medical College, and New York University School of Medicine. Manhattan is served by the New York Public Library, which has the largest collection of any public library system in the country.[250] The five units of the Central Library—Mid-Manhattan Library, 53rd Street Library, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, and the Science, Industry and Business Library—are all located in Manhattan.[251] More than 35 other branch libraries are located in the borough.[252] Culture See also: Culture of New York City Further information: Broadway theatre, LGBT culture in New York City, List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City, Music of New York City, Met Gala, New York Fashion Week, NYC Pride March, and Stonewall Riots The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts The Metropolitan Museum of Art Manhattan is the borough most closely associated with New York City by non-residents; regionally, residents within the New York City metropolitan area, including natives of New York City's boroughs outside Manhattan, will often describe a trip to Manhattan as "going to the City".[253] Journalist Walt Whitman characterized the streets of Manhattan as being traversed by "hurrying, feverish, electric crowds".[254] In 1912, about 20,000 workers, a quarter of them women, marched upon Washington Square Park to commemorate the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed 146 workers on March 25, 1911. Many of the women wore fitted tucked-front blouses like those manufactured by the company, a clothing style that became the working woman's uniform and a symbol of women's liberation, reflecting the alliance of the labor and suffrage movements.[255] Manhattan has been the scene of many important global and American cultural movements. The Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s established the African-American literary canon in the United States and introduced writers Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Manhattan's visual art scene in the 1950s and 1960s was a center of the pop art movement, which gave birth to such giants as Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein. The downtown pop art movement of the late 1970s included artist Andy Warhol and clubs like Serendipity 3 and Studio 54, where he socialized. Broadway theatre is considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. Plays and musicals are staged in one of the 39 larger professional theatres with at least 500 seats, almost all in and around Times Square. Off-Broadway theatres feature productions in venues with 100–500 seats.[256][257] Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, anchoring Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is home to 12 influential arts organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, and New York City Ballet, as well as the Vivian Beaumont Theater, the Juilliard School, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Alice Tully Hall. Performance artists displaying diverse skills are ubiquitous on the streets of Manhattan. Manhattan is also home to some of the most extensive art collections in the world, both contemporary and classical art, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Frick Collection, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim Museum. The Upper East Side has many art galleries,[258][259] and the downtown neighborhood of Chelsea is known for its more than 200 art galleries that are home to modern art from both upcoming and established artists.[260][261] Many of the world's most lucrative art auctions are held in Manhattan.[262][263] The Empire State Building displays the colors of the Rainbow Flag as an LGBT icon, top. The annual NYC Pride March in June (seen here in 2018) is the world's largest LGBT event, imaged below.[264][265] Manhattan is the epicenter of LGBT culture and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem.[266] The borough is widely acclaimed as the cradle of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, with its inception at the June 1969 Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan – widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement[87][267][268] and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.[88][269] Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre"—[270] radiating from this central hub, as LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs".[271] Multiple gay villages have developed, spanning the length of the borough from the Lower East Side, East Village, and Greenwich Village, through Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen, uptown to Morningside Heights. The annual NYC Pride March (or gay pride parade) traverses southward down Fifth Avenue and ends at Greenwich Village; the Manhattan parade is the largest pride parade in the world, attracting tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June.[265][264] Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was the largest international Pride celebration in history, produced by Heritage of Pride. The events were in partnership with the I ❤ NY program's LGBT division, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, with 150,000 participants and five million spectators attending in Manhattan.[272] The borough is represented in several prominent idioms. The phrase New York minute is meant to convey an extremely short time such as an instant,[273] sometimes in hyperbolic form, as in "perhaps faster than you would believe is possible," referring to the rapid pace of life in Manhattan.[274][275] The expression "melting pot" was first popularly coined to describe the densely populated immigrant neighborhoods on the Lower East Side in Israel Zangwill's play The Melting Pot, which was an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set in New York City in 1908.[276] The iconic Flatiron Building is said to have been the source of the phrase "23 skidoo" or scram, from what cops would shout at men who tried to get glimpses of women's dresses being blown up by the winds created by the triangular building.[277] The "Big Apple" dates back to the 1920s, when a reporter heard the term used by New Orleans stablehands to refer to New York City's horse racetracks and named his racing column "Around The Big Apple". Jazz musicians adopted the term to refer to the city as the world's jazz capital, and a 1970s ad campaign by the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau helped popularize the term.[278] Manhattan, Kansas, a city of 53,000 people,[279][importance?] was named by New York investors after the borough and is nicknamed the "little apple".[280] Clockwise, from upper left: the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the world's largest parade;[281] the annual Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, the world's largest Halloween parade, with millions of spectators annually, and with its roots in New York's queer community;[282] the annual Philippine Independence Day Parade, the largest outside the Philippines; and the ticker-tape parade for the Apollo 11 astronauts Manhattan is well known for its street parades, which celebrate a broad array of themes, including holidays, nationalities, human rights, and major league sports team championship victories. The majority of higher profile parades in New York City are held in Manhattan. The primary orientation of the annual street parades is typically from north to south, marching along major avenues. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the world's largest parade,[281] beginning alongside Central Park and processing southward to the flagship Macy's Herald Square store;[283] the parade is viewed on telecasts worldwide and draws millions of spectators in person.[281] Other notable parades including the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in March, the New York City Pride Parade in June, the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in October, and numerous parades commemorating the independence days of many nations. Ticker-tape parades celebrating championships won by sports teams as well as other heroic accomplishments march northward along the Canyon of Heroes on Broadway from Bowling Green to City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan. New York Fashion Week, held at various locations in Manhattan, is a high-profile semiannual event featuring models displaying the latest wardrobes created by prominent fashion designers worldwide in advance of these fashions proceeding to the retail marketplace. Sports The skating pond in Central Park in 1862 Madison Square Garden, home to the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association Manhattan is home to the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers, both of which play their home games at Madison Square Garden, the only major professional sports arena in the borough. The Garden was also home to the WNBA's New York Liberty through the 2017 season, but that team's primary home is now the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The New York Jets proposed a West Side Stadium for their home field, but the proposal was eventually defeated in June 2005, and they now play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.[284] While Manhattan does not currently have a professional baseball franchise, three of the four Major League Baseball teams to have played in New York City played in Manhattan. The original New York Giants played in the various incarnations of the Polo Grounds at 155th Street and Eighth Avenue from their inception in 1883—except for 1889, when they split their time between Jersey City, New Jersey and Staten Island, and when they played in Hilltop Park in 1911—until they headed to California with the Brooklyn Dodgers after the 1957 season.[285] The New York Yankees began their franchise as the Highlanders, named for Hilltop Park, where they played from their creation in 1903 until 1912. The team moved to the Polo Grounds with the 1913 season, where they were officially christened the New York Yankees, remaining there until they moved across the Harlem River in 1923 to Yankee Stadium.[286] The New York Mets played in the Polo Grounds in 1962 and 1963, their first two seasons, before Shea Stadium was completed in 1964.[287] After the Mets departed, the Polo Grounds was demolished in April 1964, replaced by public housing.[288][289] The first national college-level basketball championship, the National Invitation Tournament, was held in New York in 1938 and remains in the city.[290] The New York Knicks started play in 1946 as one of the National Basketball Association's original teams, playing their first home games at the 69th Regiment Armory, before making Madison Square Garden their permanent home.[291] The New York Liberty of the WNBA shared the Garden with the Knicks from their creation in 1997 as one of the league's original eight teams through the 2017 season,[292] after which the team moved nearly all of its home schedule to White Plains in Westchester County.[293] Rucker Park in Harlem is a playground court, famed for its streetball style of play, where many NBA athletes have played in the summer league.[294] Although both of New York City's football teams play today across the Hudson River in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, both teams started out playing in the Polo Grounds. The New York Giants played side-by-side with their baseball namesakes from the time they entered the National Football League in 1925, until crossing over to Yankee Stadium in 1956.[295] The New York Jets, originally known as the Titans of New York, started out in 1960 at the Polo Grounds, staying there for four seasons before joining the Mets in Queens at Shea Stadium in 1964.[296] The New York Rangers of the National Hockey League have played in the various locations of Madison Square Garden since the team's founding in the 1926–1927 season. The Rangers were predated by the New York Americans, who started play in the Garden the previous season, lasting until the team folded after the 1941–1942 NHL season, a season it played in the Garden as the Brooklyn Americans.[297] The New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League played their home games at Downing Stadium for two seasons, starting in 1974. The playing pitch and facilities at Downing Stadium were in unsatisfactory condition, however, and as the team's popularity grew they too left for Yankee Stadium, and then Giants Stadium. The stadium was demolished in 2002 to make way for the $45 million, 4,754-seat Icahn Stadium, which includes an Olympic-standard 400-meter running track and, as part of Pelé's and the Cosmos' legacy, includes a FIFA-approved floodlit soccer stadium that hosts matches between the 48 youth teams of a Manhattan soccer club.[298][299] Government Main article: Government of New York City Manhattan Municipal Building Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, Manhattan has been governed by the New York City Charter, which has provided for a strong mayor–council system since its revision in 1989.[300] The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services in Manhattan. The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989, the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional because Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause pursuant to the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision.[301] Since 1990, the largely powerless Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations. Manhattan's current Borough President is Mark Levine, elected as a Democrat in November 2021. Levine replaced Gale Brewer, who went on to represent the sixth district of the New York City Council. Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, is the District Attorney of New York County. Manhattan has ten City Council members, the third largest contingent among the five boroughs. It also has twelve administrative districts, each served by a local Community Board. Community Boards are representative bodies that field complaints and serve as advocates for local residents. As the host of the United Nations, the borough is home to the world's largest international consular corps, comprising 105 consulates, consulates general and honorary consulates.[302] It is also the home of New York City Hall, the seat of New York City government housing the Mayor of New York City and the New York City Council. The mayor's staff and thirteen municipal agencies are located in the nearby Manhattan Municipal Building, completed in 1914, one of the largest governmental buildings in the world.[303] Politics See also: Community boards of Manhattan ¶ The presidential election results below for the years 1876–1912 are not strictly comparable with the earlier and later ones because New York County included the West Bronx after 1874 and all of what is now the Borough of the Bronx (Bronx County, New York) from 1895 until The Bronx became a separate borough in 1914. United States presidential election results for New York County, New York[304][305][306][excessive detail?]  Year Republican / Whig Democratic Third party No.  % No.  % No.  % 2020 85,185 12.21% 603,040 86.42% 9,588 1.37% 2016 64,930 9.71% 579,013 86.56% 24,997 3.74% 2012 89,559 14.92% 502,674 83.74% 8,058 1.34% 2008 89,949 13.47% 572,370 85.70% 5,566 0.83% 2004 107,405 16.73% 526,765 82.06% 7,781 1.21% 2000 82,113 14.38% 454,523 79.60% 34,370 6.02% 1996 67,839 13.76% 394,131 79.96% 30,929 6.27% 1992 84,501 15.88% 416,142 78.20% 31,475 5.92% 1988 115,927 22.89% 385,675 76.14% 4,949 0.98% 1984 144,281 27.39% 379,521 72.06% 2,869 0.54% 1980 115,911 26.23% 275,742 62.40% 50,245 11.37% 1976 117,702 25.54% 337,438 73.22% 5,698 1.24% 1972 178,515 33.38% 354,326 66.25% 2,022 0.38% 1968 135,458 25.59% 370,806 70.04% 23,128 4.37% 1964 120,125 19.20% 503,848 80.52% 1,746 0.28% 1960 217,271 34.19% 414,902 65.28% 3,394 0.53% 1956 300,004 44.26% 377,856 55.74% 0 0.00% 1952 300,284 39.30% 446,727 58.47% 16,974 2.22% 1948 241,752 32.75% 380,310 51.51% 116,208 15.74% 1944 258,650 33.47% 509,263 65.90% 4,864 0.63% 1940 292,480 37.59% 478,153 61.45% 7,466 0.96% 1936 174,299 24.51% 517,134 72.71% 19,820 2.79% 1932 157,014 27.78% 378,077 66.89% 30,114 5.33% 1928 186,396 35.74% 317,227 60.82% 17,935 3.44% 1924 190,871 41.20% 183,249 39.55% 89,206 19.25% 1920 275,013 59.22% 135,249 29.12% 54,158 11.66% 1916 113,254 42.65% 139,547 52.55% 12,759 4.80% 1912 63,107 18.15% 166,157 47.79% 118,391 34.05% 1908 154,958 44.71% 160,261 46.24% 31,393 9.06% 1904 155,003 42.11% 189,712 51.54% 23,357 6.35% 1900 153,001 44.16% 181,786 52.47% 11,700 3.38% 1896 156,359 50.73% 135,624 44.00% 16,249 5.27% 1892 98,967 34.73% 175,267 61.50% 10,750 3.77% 1888 106,922 39.20% 162,735 59.67% 3,076 1.13% 1884 90,095 39.54% 133,222 58.47% 4,530 1.99% 1880 81,730 39.79% 123,015 59.90% 636 0.31% 1876 58,561 34.17% 112,530 65.66% 289 0.17% 1872 54,676 41.27% 77,814 58.73% 0 0.00% 1868 47,738 30.59% 108,316 69.41% 0 0.00% 1864 36,681 33.23% 73,709 66.77% 0 0.00% 1860 33,290 34.83% 62,293 65.17% 0 0.00% 1856 17,771 22.32% 41,913 52.65% 19,922 25.03% 1852 23,124 39.98% 34,280 59.27% 436 0.75% 1848 29,070 54.51% 18,973 35.57% 5,290 9.92% 1844 26,385 48.15% 28,296 51.64% 117 0.21% 1840 20,958 48.69% 21,936 50.96% 153 0.36% 1836 16,348 48.42% 17,417 51.58% 0 0.00% 1832 12,506 40.97% 18,020 59.03% 0 0.00% 1828 9,638 38.44% 15,435 61.56% 0 0.00% James A. Farley Post Office The Democratic Party holds most public offices. Registered Republicans are a minority in the borough, constituting 9.88% of the electorate as of April 2016. Registered Republicans are more than 20% of the electorate only in the neighborhoods of the Upper East Side and the Financial District as of 2016. Democrats accounted for 68.41% of those registered to vote, while 17.94% of voters were unaffiliated.[307][308] No Republican has won the presidential election in Manhattan since 1924, when Calvin Coolidge won a plurality of the New York County vote over Democrat John W. Davis, 41.20%–39.55%. Warren G. Harding was the most recent Republican presidential candidate to win a majority of the Manhattan vote, with 59.22% of the 1920 vote.[citation needed] In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 82.1% of the vote in Manhattan and Republican George W. Bush received 16.7%.[309][importance?] The borough is the most important source of funding for presidential campaigns in the United States; in 2004, it was home to six of the top seven ZIP codes in the nation for political contributions.[310] The top ZIP code, 10021 on the Upper East Side, generated the most money for the United States presidential election for all presidential candidates, including both Kerry and Bush during the 2004 election.[311][needs update] Representatives in the U.S. Congress In 2018, four Democrats represented Manhattan in the United States House of Representatives.[312] Nydia Velázquez (first elected in 1992) represents New York's 7th congressional district, which includes the Lower East Side and Alphabet City. The district also covers central and western Brooklyn and a small part of Queens.[312][313][314] Jerry Nadler (first elected in 1992) represents New York's 10th congressional district, which includes the West Side neighborhoods of Battery Park City, Chelsea, Chinatown, the Financial District, Greenwich Village, Hell's Kitchen, SoHo, Tribeca, and the Upper West Side. The district also covers southwestern Brooklyn.[312][315][316] Carolyn Maloney (first elected in 1992) represents New York's 12th congressional district, which includes the East Side neighborhoods of Gramercy Park, Kips Bay, Midtown Manhattan, Murray Hill, Roosevelt Island, Turtle Bay, Upper East Side, and most of the Lower East Side and the East Village. The district also covers western Queens.[312][317][318] Adriano Espaillat (first elected in 2016) represents New York's 13th congressional district, which includes the Upper Manhattan neighborhoods of East Harlem, Harlem, Inwood, Marble Hill, Washington Heights, and portions of Morningside Heights, as well as part of the northwest Bronx.[312][319][320] Federal offices The United States Postal Service operates post offices in Manhattan. The James Farley Post Office at 421 Eighth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, between 31st Street and 33rd Street, is New York City's main post office.[321] Both the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit are located in Lower Manhattan's Foley Square, and the U.S. Attorney and other federal offices and agencies maintain locations in that area. Crime and public safety Main article: Crime in New York City An 1885 sketch of Five Points Starting in the mid-19th century, the United States became a magnet for immigrants seeking to escape poverty in their home countries. After arriving in New York, many new arrivals ended up living in squalor in the slums of the Five Points neighborhood, an area between Broadway and the Bowery, northeast of New York City Hall. By the 1820s, the area was home to many gambling dens and brothels, and was known as a dangerous place to go. In 1842, Charles Dickens visited the area and was appalled at the horrendous living conditions he had seen.[322] The area was so notorious that it even caught the attention of Abraham Lincoln, who visited the area before his Cooper Union speech in 1860.[323] The predominantly Irish Five Points Gang was one of the country's first major organized crime entities. As Italian immigration grew in the early 20th century many joined ethnic gangs, including Al Capone, who got his start in crime with the Five Points Gang.[324] The Mafia (also known as Cosa Nostra) first developed in the mid-19th century in Sicily and spread to the East Coast of the United States during the late 19th century following waves of Sicilian and Southern Italian emigration. Lucky Luciano established Cosa Nostra in Manhattan, forming alliances with other criminal enterprises, including the Jewish mob, led by Meyer Lansky, the leading Jewish gangster of that period.[325] From 1920 to 1933, Prohibition helped create a thriving black market in liquor, upon which the Mafia was quick to capitalize.[325] New York City as a whole experienced a sharp increase in crime during the post-war period.[326] The murder rate in Manhattan hit an all-time high of 42 murders per 100,000 residents in 1979.[327] Manhattan retained the highest murder rate in the city until 1985 when it was surpassed by the Bronx. Most serious violent crime has been historically concentrated in Upper Manhattan and the Lower East Side, though robbery in particular was a major quality of life concern throughout the borough. Through the 1990s and 2000s, levels of violent crime in Manhattan plummeted to levels not seen since the 1950s.[328] Today crime rates in most of Lower Manhattan, Midtown, the Upper East Side, and the Upper West Side are consistent with other major city centers in the United States. However, crime rates remain high in the Upper Manhattan neighborhoods of East Harlem, Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, and NYCHA developments across the borough despite significant reductions. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, there has been an increase in violent crime, particularly in Upper Manhattan.[329] Housing Tenement houses in 1936 At the time of its construction, London Terrace in Chelsea was the largest apartment building in the world. During Manhattan's early history, wood construction and poor access to water supplies left the city vulnerable to fires. In 1776, shortly after the Continental Army evacuated Manhattan and left it to the British, a massive fire broke out destroying one-third of the city and some 500 houses.[330] The rise of immigration near the turn of the 20th century left major portions of Manhattan, especially the Lower East Side, densely packed with recent arrivals, crammed into unhealthy and unsanitary housing. Tenements were usually five stories high, constructed on the then-typical 25 by 100 feet (7.6 by 30.5 m) lots, with "cockroach landlords" exploiting the new immigrants.[331][332] By 1929, stricter fire codes and the increased use of elevators in residential buildings, were the impetus behind a new housing code that effectively ended the tenement as a form of new construction, though many tenement buildings survive today on the East Side of the borough.[332] Conversely, there were also areas with luxury apartment developments, the first of which was the Dakota on the Upper West Side.[333] Manhattan offers a wide array of public (NYCHA) and private housing options. Affordable rental and co-operative housing units throughout the borough were created under the Mitchell–Lama Housing Program. There were 852,575 housing units in 2013[31] at an average density of 37,345 units per square mile (14,419/km2). As of 2003, only 20.3% of Manhattan residents lived in owner-occupied housing, the second-lowest rate of all counties in the nation, behind the Bronx.[334] Although the city of New York has the highest average cost for rent in the United States, it simultaneously hosts a higher average of income per capita. Because of this, rent is a lower percentage of annual income than in several other American cities.[335] Manhattan's real estate market for luxury housing continues to be among the most expensive in the world,[336] and Manhattan residential property continues to have the highest sale price per square foot in the United States.[337] Manhattan's apartments cost $1,773 per square foot ($19,080/m2), compared to San Francisco housing at $1,185 per square foot ($12,760/m2), Boston housing at $751 per square foot ($8,080/m2), and Los Angeles housing at $451 per square foot ($4,850/m2).[338] Infrastructure Transportation See also: Transportation in New York City This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. Please help by spinning off or relocating any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia's inclusion policy. (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Public transportation Grand Central Terminal, a National Historic Landmark Ferries departing Battery Park City Terminal and helicopters flying above Manhattan The Staten Island Ferry, seen from the Battery, crosses Upper New York Bay, providing free public transportation between Staten Island and Manhattan. Manhattan is unique in the U.S. for intense use of public transportation and lack of private car ownership. While 88% of Americans nationwide drive to their jobs, with only 5% using public transport, mass transit is the dominant form of travel for residents of Manhattan, with 72% of borough residents using public transport to get to work, while only 18% drove.[339][340] According to the 2000 United States Census, 77.5% of Manhattan households do not own a car.[341] In 2008, Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a congestion pricing system to regulate entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, but the state legislature rejected the proposal.[342] The New York City Subway, the largest subway system in the world by number of stations, is the primary means of travel within the city, linking every borough except Staten Island. There are 151 subway stations in Manhattan, out of the 472 stations.[343] A second subway, the PATH system, connects six stations in Manhattan to northern New Jersey. Passengers pay fares with pay-per-ride MetroCards, which are valid on all city buses and subways, as well as on PATH trains.[344][345] Commuter rail services operating to and from Manhattan are the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), which connects Manhattan and other New York City boroughs to Long Island; the Metro-North Railroad, which connects Manhattan to Upstate New York and Southwestern Connecticut; and NJ Transit trains, which run to various points in New Jersey. The US$11.1 billion East Side Access project, which brings LIRR trains to Grand Central Terminal, opened in 2023; this project utilized a pre-existing train tunnel beneath the East River, connecting the East Side of Manhattan with Long Island City, Queens.[346][347] Four multi-billion-dollar projects were completed in the mid-2010s: the $1.4 billion Fulton Center in November 2014,[348] the $2.4 billion 7 Subway Extension in September 2015,[349] the $4 billion World Trade Center Transportation Hub in March 2016,[350][351] and Phase 1 of the $4.5 billion Second Avenue Subway in January 2017.[352][353] MTA New York City Transit offers a wide variety of local buses within Manhattan under the brand New York City Bus. An extensive network of express bus routes serves commuters and other travelers heading into Manhattan.[354] The bus system served 784 million passengers citywide in 2011, placing the bus system's ridership as the highest in the nation, and more than double the ridership of the second-place Los Angeles system.[355] The Roosevelt Island Tramway, one of two commuter cable car systems in North America, takes commuters between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan in less than five minutes, and has been serving the island since 1978.[356][357] The Staten Island Ferry, which runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, annually carries over 21 million passengers on the 5.2-mile (8.4 km) run between Manhattan and Staten Island. Each weekday, five vessels transport about 65,000 passengers on 109 boat trips.[358][359] The ferry has been fare-free since 1997.[360] In February 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would begin NYC Ferry to extend ferry transportation to traditionally underserved communities in the city.[361][362] The first routes of NYC Ferry opened in 2017.[363][364] All of the system's routes have termini in Manhattan, and the Lower East Side and Soundview routes also have intermediate stops on the East River.[365] The metro region's commuter rail lines converge at Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, on the west and east sides of Midtown Manhattan, respectively. They are the two busiest rail stations in the United States. About one-third of users of mass transit and two-thirds of railway passengers in the country live in New York and its suburbs.[366] Amtrak provides inter-city passenger rail service from Penn Station to Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.; Upstate New York and New England; cross-Canadian border service to Toronto and Montreal; and destinations in the Southern and Midwestern United States. Major highways  I-78  I-95  I-278  I-478  I-495  US 9  NY 9A  NY 495 Taxis Main article: Taxis of New York City New York's iconic yellow taxicabs, which number 13,087 citywide and must have a medallion authorizing the pickup of street hails, are ubiquitous in the borough.[367] Various private vehicle for hire companies provide significant competition for taxicab drivers in Manhattan.[368] Bicycles Main article: Cycling in New York City According to the government of New York City, Manhattan had 19,676 bicycle commuters in 2017, roughly doubling from its total of 9,613 in 2012.[369] Streets and roads See also: List of numbered streets in Manhattan and List of eponymous streets in New York City The Brooklyn Bridge (on right) and Manhattan Bridge (on left), two of three bridges that connect Lower Manhattan with Brooklyn over the East River. Eighth Avenue, looking northward ("Uptown"), in the rain; most streets and avenues in Manhattan's grid plan incorporate a one-way traffic configuration. Tourists observing Manhattanhenge on July 12, 2016 The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 called for twelve numbered avenues running north and south roughly parallel to the shore of the Hudson River, each 100 feet (30 m) wide, with First Avenue on the east side and Twelfth Avenue on the west side. There are several intermittent avenues east of First Avenue, including four additional lettered avenues running from Avenue A eastward to Avenue D in an area now known as Alphabet City in Manhattan's East Village. The numbered streets in Manhattan run east–west, and are generally 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets. With each combined street and block adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. The typical block in Manhattan is 250 by 600 feet (76 by 183 m). The address algorithm of Manhattan refers to the formulas used to estimate the closest east–west cross street for building numbers on north–south avenues. According to the original Commissioner's Plan, there were 155 numbered crosstown streets,[370] but later the grid was extended up to the northernmost corner of Manhattan, where the last numbered street is 220th Street. Moreover, the numbering system continues even in the Bronx, north of Manhattan, despite the fact that the grid plan is not as regular in that borough, whose last numbered street is 263rd Street.[371] Fifteen crosstown streets were designated as 100 feet (30 m) wide, including 34th, 42nd, 57th and 125th Streets,[372] which became some of the borough's most significant transportation and shopping venues. Broadway is the most notable of many exceptions to the grid, starting at Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan and continuing north into the Bronx at Manhattan's northern tip. In much of Midtown Manhattan, Broadway runs at a diagonal to the grid, creating major named intersections at Union Square (Park Avenue South/Fourth Avenue and 14th Street), Madison Square (Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street), Herald Square (Sixth Avenue and 34th Street), Times Square (Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street), and Columbus Circle (Eighth Avenue/Central Park West and 59th Street). "Crosstown traffic" refers primarily to vehicular traffic between Manhattan's East Side and West Side. The trip is notoriously frustrating for drivers because of heavy congestion on narrow local streets laid out by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, absence of express roads other than the Trans-Manhattan Expressway at the far north end of Manhattan Island; and restricted to very limited crosstown automobile travel within Central Park. Proposals in the mid-1900s to build express roads through the city's densest neighborhoods, namely the Mid-Manhattan Expressway and Lower Manhattan Expressway, did not go forward. Unlike the rest of the United States, New York State prohibits right or left turns on red in cities with a population greater than one million, to reduce traffic collisions and increase pedestrian safety. In New York City, therefore, all turns at red lights are illegal unless a sign permitting such maneuvers is present, significantly shaping traffic patterns in Manhattan.[373] Another consequence of the strict grid plan of most of Manhattan, and the grid's skew of approximately 28.9 degrees, is a phenomenon sometimes referred to as Manhattanhenge (by analogy with Stonehenge).[374] On separate occasions in late May and early July, the sunset is aligned with the street grid lines, with the result that the sun is visible at or near the western horizon from street level.[374][375] A similar phenomenon occurs with the sunrise in January and December. The FDR Drive and Harlem River Drive, both designed by controversial New York master planner Robert Moses,[376] comprise a single, long limited-access parkway skirting the east side of Manhattan along the East River and Harlem River south of Dyckman Street. The Henry Hudson Parkway is the corresponding parkway on the West Side north of 57th Street. River crossings Ferry service departing Battery Park City Ferry Terminal for Paulus Hook in New Jersey Being primarily an island, Manhattan is linked to New York City's outer boroughs by numerous bridges, of various sizes. Manhattan has fixed highway connections with New Jersey to its west by way of the George Washington Bridge, the Holland Tunnel, and the Lincoln Tunnel, and to three of the four other New York City boroughs—the Bronx to the northeast, and Brooklyn and Queens (both on Long Island) to the east and south. Its only direct connection with the fifth New York City borough, Staten Island, is the Staten Island Ferry across New York Harbor, which is free of charge. The ferry terminal is located near Battery Park at Manhattan's southern tip. It is also possible to travel on land to Staten Island by way of Brooklyn, via the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. The 14-lane George Washington Bridge, the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge,[377][378] connects Washington Heights, in Upper Manhattan to Bergen County in New Jersey. There are numerous bridges to the Bronx across the Harlem River, and five (listed north to south)—the Triborough (known officially as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge), Ed Koch Queensboro (also known as the 59th Street Bridge), Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn Bridges—that cross the East River to connect Manhattan to Long Island. Several tunnels also link Manhattan Island to New York City's outer boroughs and New Jersey. The Lincoln Tunnel, which carries 120,000 vehicles a day under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan, is the busiest vehicular tunnel in the world.[379] The tunnel was built instead of a bridge to allow unfettered passage of large passenger and cargo ships that sail through New York Harbor and up the Hudson River to Manhattan's piers. The Holland Tunnel, connecting Lower Manhattan to Jersey City, New Jersey, was the world's first mechanically ventilated vehicular tunnel.[380] The Queens–Midtown Tunnel, built to relieve congestion on the bridges connecting Manhattan with Queens and Brooklyn, was the largest non-federal project in its time when it was completed in 1940;[381] President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first person to drive through it.[382] The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel runs underneath Battery Park and connects the Financial District at the southern tip of Manhattan to Red Hook in Brooklyn. Several ferry services operate between New Jersey and Manhattan.[383] These ferries mainly serve midtown (at W. 39th St.), Battery Park City (WFC at Brookfield Place), and Wall Street (Pier 11). Heliports Manhattan has three public heliports: the East 34th Street Heliport (also known as the Atlantic Metroport) at East 34th Street, owned by New York City and run by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC); the Port Authority Downtown Manhattan/Wall Street Heliport, owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and run by the NYCEDC; and the West 30th Street Heliport, a privately owned heliport owned by the Hudson River Park Trust.[384] US Helicopter offered regularly scheduled helicopter service connecting the Downtown Manhattan Heliport with John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, before going out of business in 2009.[385] Utilities Gas and electric service is provided by Consolidated Edison to all of Manhattan. Con Edison's electric business traces its roots back to Thomas Edison's Edison Electric Illuminating Company, the first investor-owned electric utility. The company started service on September 4, 1882, using one generator to provide 110 volts direct current (DC) to 59 customers with 800 light bulbs, in a one-square-mile area of Lower Manhattan from his Pearl Street Station.[386][excessive detail?] Con Edison operates the world's largest district steam system, which consists of 105 miles (169 km) of steam pipes, providing steam for heating, hot water, and air conditioning[387] by some 1,800 Manhattan customers.[388] Cable service is provided by Time Warner Cable and telephone service is provided by Verizon Communications, although AT&T is available as well. Manhattan witnessed the doubling of the natural gas supply delivered to the borough when a new gas pipeline opened on November 1, 2013.[389] The New York City Department of Sanitation is responsible for garbage removal.[390] The bulk of the city's trash ultimately is disposed at mega-dumps in Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio (via transfer stations in New Jersey, Brooklyn and Queens) since the 2001 closure of the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.[391] A small amount of trash processed at transfer sites in New Jersey is sometimes incinerated at waste-to-energy facilities. Like New York City, New Jersey and much of Greater New York relies on exporting its trash. New York City has the largest clean-air diesel-hybrid and compressed natural gas bus fleet, which also operates in Manhattan, in the country. It also has some of the first hybrid taxis, most of which operate in Manhattan.[392] Health care Main article: List of hospitals in New York City § Manhattan There are many hospitals in Manhattan, including two of the 25 largest in the United States (as of 2017):[393] Bellevue Hospital Lenox Hill Hospital Lower Manhattan Hospital Metropolitan Hospital Center Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital Mount Sinai Hospital NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem NYU Langone Medical Center Water purity and availability Main articles: Food and water in New York City and New York City water supply system New York City is supplied with drinking water by the protected Catskill Mountains watershed.[394] As a result of the watershed's integrity and undisturbed natural water filtration system, New York is one of only four major cities in the United States the majority of whose drinking water is pure enough not to require purification by water treatment plants.[395] The Croton Watershed north of the city is undergoing construction of a US$3.2 billion water purification plant to augment New York City's water supply by an estimated 290 million gallons daily, representing a greater than 20% addition to the city's current availability of water.[396] Water comes to Manhattan through the tunnels 1 and 2, completed in 1917 and 1935, and in future through Tunnel No. 3, begun in 1970.[397] See also LGBT portal World portal flag United States portal flag New York (state) portal flag New York City portal History of New York City List of Manhattan neighborhoods List of people from Manhattan Manhattanhenge Manhattanization Manhattoe National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan Sawing-off of Manhattan Island Timeline of New York City Notes The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937).[1] The FSA is famous for its small but highly influential photography program, 1935–44, that portrayed the challenges of rural poverty. The photographs in the FSA/Office of War Information Photograph Collection form an extensive pictorial record of American life between 1935 and 1944. This U.S. government photography project was headed for most of its existence by Roy Stryker, who guided the effort in a succession of government agencies: the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937), the Farm Security Administration (1937–1942), and the Office of War Information (1942–1944). The collection also includes photographs acquired from other governmental and nongovernmental sources, including the News Bureau at the Offices of Emergency Management (OEM), various branches of the military, and industrial corporations.[2] In total, the black-and-white portion of the collection consists of about 175,000 black-and-white film negatives, encompassing both negatives that were printed for FSA-OWI use and those that were not printed at the time. Color transparencies also made by the FSA/OWI are available in a separate section of the catalog: FSA/OWI Color Photographs.[2] The FSA stressed "rural rehabilitation" efforts to improve the lifestyle of very poor landowning farmers, and a program to purchase submarginal land owned by poor farmers and resettle them in group farms on land more suitable for efficient farming. Reactionary critics, including the Farm Bureau, strongly opposed the FSA as an alleged experiment in collectivizing agriculture—that is, in bringing farmers together to work on large government-owned farms using modern techniques under the supervision of experts. After the Conservative coalition took control of Congress, it transformed the FSA into a program to help poor farmers buy land, and that program continues to operate in the 21st century as the Farmers Home Administration. Origins Walker Evans portrait of Allie Mae Burroughs (1936) Arthur Rothstein photograph "Dust Bowl Cimarron County, Oklahoma" of a farmer and two sons during a dust storm in Cimarron County, Oklahoma (1936) Dorothea Lange photograph of an Arkansas squatter of three years near Bakersfield, California (1935) The projects that were combined in 1935 to form the Resettlement Administration (RA) started in 1933 as an assortment of programs tried out by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The RA was headed by Rexford Tugwell, an economic advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[3] However, Tugwell's goal moving 650,000 people into 100,000,000 acres (400,000 km2) of exhausted, worn-out land was unpopular among the majority in Congress.[3] This goal seemed socialistic to some and threatened to deprive powerful farm proprietors of their tenant workforce.[3] The RA was thus left with only enough resources to relocate a few thousand people from 9 million acres (36,000 km2) and build several greenbelt cities,[3] which planners admired as models for a cooperative future that never arrived.[3] The main focus of the RA was to now build relief camps in California for migratory workers, especially refugees from the drought-stricken Dust Bowl of the Southwest.[3] This move was resisted by a large share of Californians, who did not want destitute migrants to settle in their midst.[3] The RA managed to construct 95 camps that gave migrants unaccustomed clean quarters with running water and other amenities,[3] but the 75,000 people who had the benefit of these camps were a small share of those in need and could only stay temporarily.[3] After facing enormous criticism for his poor management of the RA, Tugwell resigned in 1936.[3] On January 1, 1937,[4] with hopes of making the RA more effective, the RA was transferred to the Department of Agriculture through executive order 7530.[4] On July 22, 1937,[5] Congress passed the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act.[5] This law authorized a modest credit program to assist tenant farmers to purchase land,[5] and it was the culmination of a long effort to secure legislation for their benefit.[5] Following the passage of the act, Congress passed the Farm Security Act into law. The Farm Security Act officially transformed the RA into the Farm Security Administration (FSA).[3] The FSA expanded through funds given by the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act.[3] Relief work One of the activities performed by the RA and FSA was the buying out of small farms that were not economically viable, and the setting up of 34 subsistence homestead communities, in which groups of farmers lived together under the guidance of government experts and worked a common area. They were not allowed to purchase their farms for fear that they would fall back into inefficient practices not guided by RA and FSA experts.[6] The Dust Bowl in the Great Plains displaced thousands of tenant farmers, sharecroppers, and laborers, many of whom (known as "Okies" or "Arkies") moved on to California. The FSA operated camps for them, such as Weedpatch Camp as depicted in The Grapes of Wrath. The RA and the FSA gave educational aid to 455,000 farm families during the period 1936-1943. In June, 1936, Roosevelt wrote: "You are right about the farmers who suffer through their own fault... I wish you would have a talk with Tugwell about what he is doing to educate this type of farmer to become self-sustaining. During the past year, his organization has made 104,000 farm families practically self-sustaining by supervision and education along practical lines. That is a pretty good record!"[7] The FSA's primary mission was not to aid farm production or prices. Roosevelt's agricultural policy had, in fact, been to try to decrease agricultural production to increase prices. When production was discouraged, though, the tenant farmers and small holders suffered most by not being able to ship enough to market to pay rents. Many renters wanted money to buy farms, but the Agriculture Department realized there already were too many farmers, and did not have a program for farm purchases. Instead, they used education to help the poor stretch their money further. Congress, however, demanded that the FSA help tenant farmers purchase farms, and purchase loans of $191 million were made, which were eventually repaid. A much larger program was $778 million in loans (at effective rates of about 1% interest) to 950,000 tenant farmers. The goal was to make the farmer more efficient so the loans were used for new machinery, trucks, or animals, or to repay old debts. At all times, the borrower was closely advised by a government agent. Family needs were on the agenda, as the FSA set up a health insurance program and taught farm wives how to cook and raise children. Upward of a third of the amount was never repaid, as the tenants moved to much better opportunities in the cities.[8] The FSA was also one of the authorities administering relief efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico during the Great Depression. Between 1938 and 1945, under the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration, it oversaw the purchase of 590 farms with the intent of distributing land to working and middle-class Puerto Ricans.[9] Modernization The FSA resettlement communities appear in the literature as efforts to ameliorate the wretched condition of southern sharecroppers and tenants, but those evicted to make way for the new settlers are virtually invisible in the historic record. The resettlement projects were part of larger efforts to modernize rural America. The removal of former tenants and their replacement by FSA clients in the lower Mississippi alluvial plain—the Delta—reveals core elements of New Deal modernizing policies. The key concepts that guided the FSA's tenant removals were: the definition of rural poverty as rooted in the problem of tenancy; the belief that economic success entailed particular cultural practices and social forms; and the commitment by those with political power to gain local support. These assumptions undergirded acceptance of racial segregation and the criteria used to select new settlers. Alternatives could only become visible through political or legal action—capacities sharecroppers seldom had. In succeeding decades, though, these modernizing assumptions created conditions for Delta African Americans on resettlement projects to challenge white supremacy.[10] FSA and its contribution to society The documentary photography genre describes photographs that would work as a time capsule for evidence in the future or a certain method that a person can use for a frame of reference. Facts presented in a photograph can speak for themselves after the viewer gets time to analyze it. The motto of the FSA was simply, as Beaumont Newhall insists, "not to inform us, but to move us."[citation needed] Those photographers wanted the government to move and give a hand to the people, as they were completely neglected and overlooked, thus they decided to start taking photographs in a style that we today call "documentary photography." The FSA photography has been influential due to its realist point of view, and because it works as a frame of reference and an educational tool from which later generations could learn. Society has benefited and will benefit from it for more years to come, as this photography can unveil the ambiguous and question the conditions that are taking place.[11] Photography program The RA and FSA are well known for the influence of their photography program, 1935–1944. Photographers and writers were hired to report and document the plight of poor farmers. The Information Division (ID) of the FSA was responsible for providing educational materials and press information to the public. Under Roy Stryker, the ID of the FSA adopted a goal of "introducing America to Americans." Many of the most famous Depression-era photographers were fostered by the FSA project. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks were three of the most famous FSA alumni.[12] The FSA was also cited in Gordon Parks' autobiographical novel, A Choice of Weapons. The FSA's photography was one of the first large-scale visual documentations of the lives of African-Americans.[13] These images were widely disseminated through the Twelve Million Black Voices collection, published in October 1941, which combined FSA photographs selected by Edwin Rosskam and text by author and poet Richard Wright. Photographers Fifteen photographers (ordered by year of hire) would produce the bulk of work on this project. Their diverse, visual documentation elevated government's mission from the "relocation" tactics of a Resettlement Administration to strategic solutions which would depend on America recognizing rural and already poor Americans, facing death by depression and dust. FSA photographers: Arthur Rothstein (1935), Theodor Jung (1935), Ben Shahn (1935), Walker Evans (1935), Dorothea Lange (1935), Carl Mydans (1935), Russell Lee (1936), Marion Post Wolcott (1936), John Vachon (1936, photo assignments began in 1938), Jack Delano (1940), John Collier (1941), Marjory Collins (1941), Louise Rosskam (1941), Gordon Parks (1942) and Esther Bubley (1942). With America's entry into World War II, FSA would focus on a different kind of relocation as orders were issued for internment of Japanese Americans. FSA photographers would be transferred to the Office of War Information during the last years of the war and completely disbanded at the war's end. Photographers like Howard R. Hollem, Alfred T. Palmer, Arthur Siegel and OWI's Chief of Photographers John Rous were working in OWI before FSA's reorganization there. As a result of both teams coming under one unit name, these other individuals are sometimes associated with RA-FSA's pre-war images of American life. Though collectively credited with thousands of Library of Congress images, military ordered, positive-spin assignments like these four received starting in 1942, should be separately considered from pre-war, depression triggered imagery. FSA photographers were able to take time to study local circumstances and discuss editorial approaches with each other before capturing that first image. Each one talented in her or his own right, equal credit belongs to Roy Stryker who recognized, hired and empowered that talent. John Collier Jr. John Collier Jr.   Jack Delano Jack Delano   Walker Evans Walker Evans   Dorothea Lange Dorothea Lange   Russell Lee Russell Lee   Carl Mydans Carl Mydans   Gordon Parks Gordon Parks   Arthur Rothstein Arthur Rothstein   John Vachon John Vachon   Marion Post Wolcott Marion Post Wolcott These 15 photographers, some shown above, all played a significant role, not only in producing images for this project, but also in molding the resulting images in the final project through conversations held between the group members. The photographers produced images that breathed a humanistic social visual catalyst of the sort found in novels, theatrical productions, and music of the time. Their images are now regarded as a "national treasure" in the United States, which is why this project is regarded as a work of art.[14] Photograph of Chicago's rail yards by Jack Delano, circa 1943 Together with John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (not a government project) and documentary prose (for example Walker Evans and James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men), the FSA photography project is most responsible for creating the image of the Depression in the United States. Many of the images appeared in popular magazines. The photographers were under instruction from Washington, DC, as to what overall impression the New Deal wanted to portray. Stryker's agenda focused on his faith in social engineering, the poor conditions among tenant cotton farmers, and the very poor conditions among migrant farm workers; above all, he was committed to social reform through New Deal intervention in people's lives. Stryker demanded photographs that "related people to the land and vice versa" because these photographs reinforced the RA's position that poverty could be controlled by "changing land practices." Though Stryker did not dictate to his photographers how they should compose the shots, he did send them lists of desirable themes, for example, "church", "court day", and "barns". Stryker sought photographs of migratory workers that would tell a story about how they lived day-to-day. He asked Dorothea Lange to emphasize cooking, sleeping, praying, and socializing.[15] RA-FSA made 250,000 images of rural poverty. Fewer than half of those images survive and are housed in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. The library has placed all 164,000 developed negatives online.[16] From these, some 77,000 different finished photographic prints were originally made for the press, plus 644 color images, from 1600 negatives. Documentary films The RA also funded two documentary films by Pare Lorentz: The Plow That Broke the Plains, about the creation of the Dust Bowl, and The River, about the importance of the Mississippi River. The films were deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. World War II activities During World War II, the FSA was assigned to work under the purview of the Wartime Civil Control Administration, a subagency of the War Relocation Authority. These agencies were responsible for relocating Japanese Americans from their homes on the West Coast to Internment camps. The FSA controlled the agricultural part of the evacuation. Starting in March 1942 they were responsible for transferring the farms owned and operated by Japanese Americans to alternate operators. They were given the dual mandate of ensuring fair compensation for Japanese Americans, and for maintaining correct use of the agricultural land. During this period, Lawrence Hewes Jr was the regional director and in charge of these activities.[17] Reformers ousted; Farmers Home Administration After the war started and millions of factory jobs in the cities were unfilled, no need for FSA remained.[citation needed] In late 1942, Roosevelt moved the housing programs to the National Housing Agency, and in 1943, Congress greatly reduced FSA's activities. The photographic unit was subsumed by the Office of War Information for one year, then disbanded. Finally in 1946, all the social reformers had left and FSA was replaced by a new agency, the Farmers Home Administration, which had the goal of helping finance farm purchases by tenants—and especially by war veterans—with no personal oversight by experts. It became part of Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty in the 1960s, with a greatly expanded budget to facilitate loans to low-income rural families and cooperatives, injecting $4.2 billion into rural America.[18] The Great Depression The Great Depression began in August 1929, when the United States economy first went into an economic recession. Although the country spent two months with declining GDP, the effects of a declining economy were not felt until the Wall Street Crash in October 1929, and a major worldwide economic downturn ensued. Although its causes are still uncertain and controversial, the net effect was a sudden and general loss of confidence in the economic future and a reduction in living standards for most ordinary Americans. The market crash highlighted a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits for industrial firms, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth.[19]
  • Condition: Used
  • Type: Negative
  • Year of Production: 1946
  • Subject: New York

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