Tag Archives: New York

A Faith Ringgold Retrospective

Aren’t there times when you wished you lived in New York City?  I wish I were there now to see the Faith Ringgold retrospective at the New Museum.  It is the first comprehensive US retrospective of her work, beginning with … Continue reading

Posted in 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review–Bill Cunningham: On the Street

Bill Cunningham, the famous fashion photographer, liked to claim that he wasn’t a photographer at all.  Instead he was a columnist who wrote with pictures.  There is something to this statement.  The story goes that he first documented what he … Continue reading

Posted in 1970s, 1980s, 1990, 2000s, 2010s | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Older Icon of the 1900s

If you think you have a pushy mother, you should read about Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont. Born in 1853 to a gentile Southern family in economic decline, Alva married a son of Cornelius Vanderbilt in the 1870s.  With Vanderbilt money … Continue reading

Posted in 1900s, Older Icon | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Mary B. Talbert, Feminist Icon

Why isn’t Mary B. Talbert (1866-1923) better known?  I discovered her through a feature on black women suffragists at the Digital Public Library of America.  However, suffrage was just one of her causes.  She was involved in the anti lynching … Continue reading

Posted in 1910s, 1920s | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Sewing for a Cause, 1959

Celebrity endorsements are nothing new.  Here’s a photo of Eleanor Roosevelt, then in her mid seventies, with a needle in her hand. She is meant to be sewing in the new label for the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union. It … Continue reading

Posted in 1950s | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Looking Back to the Flu Epidemic, 1918

Apparently not everyone was on lockdown during the influenza epidemic of 1918.  I found these images on one of my favorite website, the Digital Public Library of America. All kinds of institutions collected photos of the epidemic. The three I’ve … Continue reading

Posted in 1910s | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Let’s Do the Twist on New Year’s Eve

Is it really New Year’s Eve? From the back of the photo, I know who is dancing (Bill and Ginny) and where (at Chris and Charlie’s house in Valley Stream), but not when.  New Year’s Eve is a good guess, … Continue reading

Posted in 1960s | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Fourth of July in Syracuse, 1918

World War One ended in 1918, but not until mid November—the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.  When this Fourth of July picture was taken in Syracuse, New York, no one knew that the end was … Continue reading

Posted in 1910s | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Protesting in 1947

This wonderful photo appeared last week’s New York Times in an article about the the first big fight around increasing bus and subway fares in the city.  “Picketing a fare increase in front of City Hall in 1947,” the caption … Continue reading

Posted in 1940s | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Visiting the New York World’s Fair

The New York Public Library has a huge digital collection of photographs and documents from the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair.  Among the photos, you can find not only the expected ones of striking buildings, but also hundreds of shots … Continue reading

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, General | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments