Tag Archives: New York

Book Review–Bill Cunningham: On the Street

Posted on January 13, 2022 by Lynn

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

Posted on October 4, 2021 by Lynn

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

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Lynn

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

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Lynn

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

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Lynn

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

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Lynn

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

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Lynn

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

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Lynn

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 →

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Visiting the New York World’s Fair

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Lynn

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

Me and Molly–A Play about Half Sizes

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Lynn

Gertrude Berg (1899-1966) made a career out of bringing the Jewish-American experience to the nation.  In 1929, she wrote, produced and performed in the radio drama The Rise of the Goldbergs, later renamed simply The Goldbergs. It stayed on the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments