Browse Items (87 total)

This article is written by the famous photographer and journalist Jacob Riis who fought to improve the conditions of the slums in New York City. He believes that the slums are not the result of the people who reside in them. The result is of some…

The Gilded Age, and the years leading up to it, introduced a new kind of wealth, one that was controlled by a select elite. These "Captains of Industry" were coined as Robber Barons by their critics and consisted of JP Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Andrew…

This lithograph “A Happy New Year” was created between 1900 and 1920 and published by the Hebrew Publishing Company. It depicts on one side Russian Jews looking over the Atlantic ocean at Americans in the United States. You can tell by the…

This source by George Iles from the March issue of The Century, George looks at the large gifts of the philanthropists and other business men of the time. The article opens by acknowledging that massive fortunes have been amassed by American…

a image of a women holding two infants

During the 1890s, New York City residents were rapidly spreading their way north on the island. As immigrants were coming in, the original inhabitants of the city started to move up the island. Through the use of technology though, residents were…

When I came across this particular booklet of sheet music for the common day "boychik," I thought that this was the perfect example of Eastern Jewish immigrants attempting to merge into American culture. The cover depicts a Jewish boy that is so…

At first look, the first thing that came to my head as I looked at this picture was "Maggie". What this reminded me of Maggie the most was her lonely walks which is speculated to have turned her into the prostitute she became. It also makes me…

This image shows people ice skating on the lake in Central Park around 1890. The image is in black and white and shows the Dakota, a famous luxury apartment building in New York City, in the background, surrounded by a wintery landscape. Central Park…

This article written by Titus Munson Coan from the February publication of The Galaxy in 1871 is about what was believed to make individuals successful. The article takes a cue from the "theory" of evolution in its explanation of what makes people…

The magnolia flower appeared before bees did and are theorized to have evolved to encourage pollination by beetles. Mrs. Manstey always loved nature and admired people who shared this love. Magnolias blossom in white, pink, red purple or yellow. The…

After researching more on the topic of mass immigration in America, otherwise known as the "Great Migration," I came across a very unique translation of the United States' Constitution. This translation caught my eye in particular because it was…

I came across an interesting document as began to look more into known Jewish people who immigrated to America. This document in particular happened to belong to none other than Albert Einstein, the founder of the general theory of relativity and…

The reason "Wistaria is often times used at weddings and as a symbol of marriage is because of the meaning of the word. Like the wistaria clings to buildings, the married couple clings to each other. However, Mrs. Mantsey lost her husband and has no…

This article by Thomas Martin from the February 1894 publication of The Century focuses on Nikola Tesla. Tesla is often overshadowed by Thomas Edison for their respective works on electricity. However, Edison essentially cheated Tesla out of credit…

This article from Harper' s New Monthly Magazine focuses on the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The article begins by describing the origins of the Museum which began on fifth avenue in 1869. The museum originally opened with nothing but a…

Towards the end of the 1890s, building techniques were evolving which finally allowed for skyscrapers to form throughout the New York City skyline. One of the first was the Flatiron Building which when built was the tallest building at 22 stories.…

In this song book by Solomon Smulewitz, Long Live the Land of the Free, was a song to represent the loyalty of which Jewish immigrants had towards the United States. This song was popular for recent arriving Jewish immigrants in the United States…