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THROWBACK THURSDAY: NEW TOOL LETS YOU SEE PHOTOS OF YOUR STREET THROUGH THE YEARS

May 21, 2015 | 9:32 PM
in HISTORY
21

76TH HISTORY
A photo of the West side of Amsterdam Avenue at 76th street in 1936 from the Federal Art Project. In the New York Public Library’s collection.

The New York Public Library unveiled an amazing tool on Thursday that allows users to locate old photos using a street map that can pinpoint exact locations.

Screen Shot 2015-05-21 at 9.31.12 PMThe map has dots on it that show the locations of the photos, and when you click the map it brings up the photo of that area and tells you the date. The tool does not include all of the NYPL’s collection, but it does have tons of photos, and covers just about every block in the neighborhood.

“The images all come from the New York Public Library’s Milstein Collection. While many photographers contributed to the collection, the majority of its images are the work of Percy Loomis Sperr, who documented changes to the city from the late 1920s to the early 1940s.”

So check out the map, play around with it, and let us know if you find anything surprising or exciting. Kudos to the NYPL for making great tools that bring history alive. They’ve also done some amazing things with their map collection that we wrote about here.

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LMR
LMR
10 years ago

I love it!

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Reply
Miriam
Miriam
10 years ago

This is truly awesome! Thank you for bringing it to our attention! Btw, I have been collecting old postcards of NYC for quite some time and have quite a few of the Upper West Side, mostly along Riverside Drive. Let me know if you’re ever interested in doing a little story. I can send you pictures of them. I find them fascinating!

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Juan
Juan
10 years ago
Reply to  Miriam

Miriam – You should contact the NY Public Library and donate those pictures. I too have many photos dating back to the 20’s, and up that I am gonna let them know I have.
What a great website!

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Ellie
Ellie
10 years ago

I love looking at old photos of cities – it’s amazing how empty the streets are! I was watching a film containing old footage of London in the 60s last night, and there was hardly any traffic – even in Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square equivalent. I can’t imagine what that would like now!

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AC
AC
10 years ago

Excellent find! Thanks for passing on.

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Reply
Lucien Desar
Lucien Desar
10 years ago

This is awesome! it is a lot easier than searching for streets in the search tool they have because it doesn’t always works but this eliminates that need. Thank you for the link!

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Reply
Zulu
Zulu
10 years ago

This is so cool!

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Reply
katherine
katherine
10 years ago

Love this, thanks for letting us know about it.

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Reply
DaHa
DaHa
10 years ago

This is fantastic. I could get lost for hours viewing these amazing pics from the past. Love old NYC pics and this is a concise way of presenting.

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nycissues.org
nycissues.org
10 years ago

A great collection of photos that show making and innovation are part of the spirit NYC.

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Reply
Jean
Jean
10 years ago

The apartment building presumably on 88th & Broadway is actually showing 89th & Broadway. 88th street building at 215 is being built in the photo shown.

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Ken J.
Ken J.
10 years ago
Reply to  Jean

You can make corrections of the text on the site.

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lynn
lynn
10 years ago

This is life changing. Really makes you understand how fleeting our time on this planet is. Love it!

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Reply
dcortex
dcortex
10 years ago

boy do i hope they invent GOOGLE street view 1969 with these pictures. Hell, I’ll take Street View 1970. How about a choice..its coming

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ScooterStan
ScooterStan
10 years ago

Re: “So check out the map, play around with it, and let us know if you find anything surprising or exciting.”

WOW! I just found BOTH Judge Crater AND Jimmy Hoffa !!

(just kidding)

😉

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Rosanne F.
Rosanne F.
10 years ago

Wow, this is great! Thank you so much for the link. I just spent quite a bit of time looking at UWS photos and correcting typos in the captions. OCR: good. Human eyes and brain: much better!

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Peter Cleary
Peter Cleary
10 years ago

Love this. I found several pics of Barrow St and my old house!

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Howard Freeman
Howard Freeman
10 years ago

Great stuff. What i would love is the history of the gargoyle on the bldg on the NW corner of 82nd Street and WEA. Anyone know?

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Rose
Rose
10 years ago

I love this. It’s so nice to look back.

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Richard Brennan
Richard Brennan
9 years ago

Great site. Wonderful old pics of my boyhood streets.

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Reply
Richard Brennan
Richard Brennan
9 years ago

Wonderful pics of the streets I grew up on.

0
Reply

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