The origins of the&nbsp;Morgan Library &amp; Museum date back to the 1800s with the history of Pierpont Morgan. Morgan was part of a bloodline that had roots in American that can be traced back to before the Revolutionary War. Some of his notable family members include&nbsp;James Pierpont, founder of Yale,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Reverend John Pierpont, radical antislavery and temperance activist. Pierpont Morgan moved to London with his family in 1854 after he graduated high school. Because of this, Morgan&nbsp;experienced European culture at a young age,&nbsp;became fluent&nbsp;in German and French, and&nbsp;received a cultural education like no other. He&nbsp;moved to&nbsp;New York in 1857 and started&nbsp;a career in international banking.Morgan began collecting and studying literary history, artifacts, and art. His collections were very diverse because his interest was rooted in cultures other than American. Morgan's library housed these collections, which was quite large. The library was constructed between 1902-1906&nbsp;and was built to match the&nbsp;magnificence of the collection it would house.&nbsp;After receiving a large sum of money that he inherited following his father's death, Morgan was able to&nbsp;add to his collection. &nbsp;Today, the original collection acquired and gifted to Pierpont Morgan still belongs to the library and museum. The collection continues to grow, providing an extensive amount of cultural reference material on art, literature, and music. After years of renovations and additions to the original structure, the&nbsp;Morgan Library &amp; Museum has become a work of art in its own right. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Official Website of the Morgan Library & Museum 

Website

The Morgan Library & Museum is a locally funded institution that provides visitors with a variety of educational opportunities. The Morgan, as it is often called, focuses on art, literature, and music, and pursues works that demonstrate incredible creativity. Furthermore, the Morgan Library serves as an international research center for scholars from around the world.  

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City

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This tour from Brooklyn to Harlem includes two dozen literary landmarks such as markers, former homes, and monuments to great writers from Richard Wright and Walt Whitman to Shakespeare. The tour also includes some of the leading branch locations of the New York Public Library, among other places that are sure to please book lovers.

Richard Wright, one of the country's most respected writers, arrived in New York in 1937. Though he is often associated with the Harlem Renaissance, the artistic flourishing of Harlem was largely over by the time of his move to the city, and the writer lived in Brooklyn rather than Harlem. Wright lived in a few apartments in Brooklyn, including a rented room in the home of his friends, Herbert and Jane Newton, who were active in the Communist Party.&nbsp; Wright eventually settled at 175 Carlton Avenue, and it was here, as well as the Newton home, that Wright wrote his opus, Native Son. According to friends of Wright from the time, the writer would often walk to nearby Fort Greene Park where he would sit on a bench and write. Jane Newton remarked that when Wright lived with the couple, he rose early in the morning, walked to the park and wrote for several hours. Apparently Wright maintained this schedule regardless of the weather; Newton remarked that he often returned soaked from rain. Native Son was published in 1940. Wright, who began writing as a very young man, was already a published author, but Native Son brought him success far beyond any of his previous work. It was the first book by an African American author to be selected as a Book-of-the-Month Club and it was a adapted as a play by Orson Welles in 1941.&nbsp; Wright's time in Brooklyn lasted only a few years. He left the United States in the mid-1940s, living for a few months in Quebec, then moving to France. He lived in France for the remainder of his life and became a French citizen. He died in Paris in 1960, but because of his powerful works such as Native Son and Black Boy, Brooklyn continues to attract African American writers and artists who are influenced by Wright.

Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood has been home to a number of acclaimed writers. During the 1930s, the neighborhood was home to Richard Wright, one of the country's most highly regarded chroniclers of the African American experience. During his time in Brooklyn, Wright wrote one of his most well-known novels, Native Son. It was in Fort Greene Park, near his apartment, that Wright would often go and write, and his bench in the park is now marked by a plaque.

Former Home of Richard Wright 

Few writers are as deeply associated with New York as Arthur Miller. The son of a prosperous Polish immigrant father, the young Miller spent his early childhood between Manhattan and Harlem, but when his father's business declined during the Great Depression, the family moved to Brooklyn. Much of the remainder of his life would be spent between various Brooklyn addresses. In 1951, Miller, already an accomplished playwright and financially comfortable due to the success of All My Sons and Death of a Salesman, sold his home on Grace Street to W.E.B. DuBois and moved his family to 155 Willow Street. The home, along with 156 and 157, was built before 1830 and is among the oldest in the area. The home, which is a New York Community Trust landmark, is considered a fine example of the Federal Style row houses of the early 1800s. When the Millers moved to Willow Street, the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood was a curious mixture of the well-heeled and successful as well as a motley assortment of residents from the fringes of society. Among the more affluent Brooklyn Heights residents were a number of writers, including--a few years after the Millers moved in--Truman Capote, who lived on 70 Willow. According to Miller, his marriage to Mary was already failing when the family moved to Willow Street. When Miller traveled to Hollywood to pitch a script to Elia Kazan in 1951, he met Marilyn Monroe. Miller struggled with his feelings Monroe for some time and tried to be a better husband; in the new home, he installed kitchen cabinets and floor tile. Eventually, however, Miller left Mary and moved to Manhattan with Monroe. The couple married in 1956 and spent most of their time in Miller's Roxbury, Connecticut home. The marriage was a turbulent one and the couple divorced six years later.

A consummate New Yorker, playwright Arthur Miller grew up between Manhattan, Harlem, and Brooklyn. As an adult, lived in numerous residences in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but his Willow Street home is arguably the one most associated with the writer. It was in the Willow Street home that the playwright wrote "The Crucible" and an early draft of "A View From the Bridge." It was also the last home that Miller shared with his first wife, Mary, and his children. Miller left his wife for Marilyn Monroe in 1955 and married the actress in 1956. The Miller family continued to live in the home for a number of years following the divorce.

Former Home of Arthur Miller 

The house on Willow Street that is now more commonly known as Truman Capote's house was built in 1839 by Adrian van Sinderen, who was descended from the original Dutch settlers. The expansive home is one of the oldest in the neighborhood. The home consists of twenty-eight rooms and twelve fireplaces. The home changed owners numerous times over the years, at one point belonging to the Red Cross. It sat vacant for a few years in the 1940s until it became the property of Broadway stage designer Oliver Smith in 1953. Smith was a Tony Award-winning designer, who designed the sets for Guys and Dolls and West Side Story, among other acclaimed productions.&nbsp; According to Capote, who was not above embellishing a story, he got his friend Smith drunk and convinced him that he didn't he didn't need the entire home to himself. Smith agreed and rented out the basement to Capote. He lived in the basement apartment from 1955 to 1965 and hosted some of his infamous parties there, occasionally telling his guests that he was the owner of the home and had decorated it himself. According to Capote lore, one of the guests at least temporarily duped by the author's performance was Jacqueline Onassis. It was in the Willow Street house that Capote finished Breakfast at Tiffany's,&nbsp;his acclaimed novel. And it was there that Capote picked up a copy of the New York Times and read about the murder of a family in Holcomb, Kansas. Capote decided to write about the murders the next day, eventually completing In Cold Blood on Willow Street. The book, which introduced a new literary form known as the nonfiction novel, is considered a twentieth century masterpiece.&nbsp; In the years since Capote was a tenant in the house, the home has changed owners a few times. At one point, Dan Houser, the video game creator behind Grand Theft Auto, owned the home. More recently, the home has been restored and no longer has the well-known yellow facade it had when Capote lived there. The home currently has a red brick facade, as it did when constructed.&nbsp;

Truman Capote moved frequently throughout his life, but much of life was spent in New York City. He lived at several addresses in the city, but spent ten years at 70 Willow Street in Brooklyn. It was there that he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood, easily his two most acclaimed works. The home belonged to theatrical designer Oliver Smith and although Capote occasionally told visitors that he owned the home, he actually rented the basement from 1955 to 1965.

Former Home of Truman Capote 

<h4>Walt Whitman in Brooklyn</h4>
Walt Whitman was born in 1819 in the Town of Huntington, Long Island. Eleven years later, Whitman left schooling and took up work as a typesetter. In his teenage years, Whitman had his poetry&nbsp;published in the New York Mirror&nbsp;and before the age of 16, Whitman was working at the Erastus Worthington printshop in Brooklyn. Soon thereafter, the teenage Whitman was working for the&nbsp;Long-Island Star newspaper. After helping to establish the&nbsp;Long Islander&nbsp;and working as a typesetter at the Long Island Democrat, 26-year-old Walt Whitman was hired to be the&nbsp;editor of the Brooklyn Eagle&nbsp;at its&nbsp;headquarters at 28 Old Fulton Street.&nbsp;
Although he would later be known for the&nbsp;“working rough” image that continues to dominate our historical imagination, young Whitman was clean-cut and well-dressed during this time, often appearing in a three-piece suit. At the Brooklyn Eagle, Whitman was tasked with writing a daily columnn in addition to his editorial duties. During&nbsp;his two years at the newspaper, Whitman produced over 600 pages of essays, reports, personal reflections, and editorial columnns. It was during this time that Whitman experimented&nbsp;with a variety of novel&nbsp;language conventions, incorporating aspects of the slang of the city's&nbsp;working class into his columnns. These years served to develop his styles and cadence, as well as his respect and concern for the issues of workers.&nbsp;
<h4>The Brooklyn Eagle</h4>
Whitman’s columnns became increasingly&nbsp;popular, and established his reputation as an astute&nbsp;observer of events and people. Whitman stood apart from many journalists at the time, with observations that demonstrated his capacity for empathy as well as his ability to incorporate diverse viewpoints. For example, his&nbsp;1847 editorial “Fort Greene Park—And How We Shall Be Able To Get It,” presented the concerns of&nbsp;factory workers and their need to&nbsp;enjoy at least a few precious hours of outdoor&nbsp;leisure.&nbsp;
Some of&nbsp;Whitman’s most significant and memorable&nbsp;columnns explored the lives of working women. Whitman&nbsp;argued that discriminatory practices&nbsp;prevented many talented women from obtaining employment commensurate to their capacities while others were forced into&nbsp;prostitution and other crimes. He even took on&nbsp;controversial topics, writing on behalf of the growing abolitionist movement from&nbsp;1846 to the end of the Civil War. When northern Congressmen helped to&nbsp;defeat the&nbsp;Wilmot Proviso, which would have limited the expansion of slavery in the American West,&nbsp;Whitman criticized the willingness of the Northern&nbsp;Democrats to abandon the concerns of their own constituents in order to placate powerful Southern members of their party. Whitman's editorials angered&nbsp;the newspaper’s owner, Isaac Van Anden, who removed&nbsp;Whitman from his&nbsp;position at the Eagle.&nbsp;
The Brooklyn Eagle was published until 1955, a total circulation of 114 years. Whitman's influence proved more enduring, with classic works such as&nbsp;Leaves of Grass and the poem, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.&nbsp;
<h4>Inscription on the Historical Marker</h4>Marker is located at 28 Old Fulton Street, next to the large arches of the historic Eagle Warehouse. 
On this site, from 1841 to 1892, stood the offices of the Brooklyn Eagle. In its time, a powerful paper. From 1846 to 1848, Whitman, not yet 30 but a seasoned journalist, served as its editor. For his stand against slavery in newly admitted states, the owner fired him. His years here gave him a ringside seat on the young democracy that he would soon celebrate in his great work "Leaves of Grass" (1855). These poems would change the way people thought about — and wrote — poetry.
"I am with you, you men and women of a generation or ever so many generations hence. Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt..."
— Walt Whitman, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

Between the 1830s and the 1850s, future literary icons like Edgar Allen Poe and Melville found inspiration in their visits to the Brooklyn Boroughs. Of all the future novelists who visited or resided in the area, none was as profoundly shaped by the city and its people as Walt Whitman during his time writing for the Brooklyn Eagle. 

Before the publication of Leaves of Grass in 1855, Whitman would hold many roles in Brooklyn, including editor of the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper from 1846 to 1848. With the largest circulation in the US at the time and with Whitman at the helm, the Brooklyn Eagle tackled issues both local and international. The experience gave Whitman a front row seat into America’s growing idea of democracy, providing the inspiration that would shape much of his future work.  

Although the original building that housed the Brooklyn Eagle no longer exists, literary enthusiasts and history buffs can explore the area and imagine Whitman's Brooklyn when they visit this historic marker. 

Walt Whitman and the Brooklyn Eagle Historic Marker

During most
of the 19th century, New York City's libraries were privately owned holdings
catering to scholars and students, but not to the poor or the increasing
immigrant population. From 1830 on, city newspapers criticized the lack of a
free public library to serve the general community, but not until 1878 was the
New York Free Circulating Library founded. This institution was, at first, funded
by private philanthropists including Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Cornelius
Vanderbilt, Jacob H. Schiff, Henry G. Marquand, among others. Andrew Astor (son
of the founder of the Astor Library) served on the Board of Trustees. As the
library grew in its first few years, the establishment of neighborhood branches
became a goal of the board. The first of these, opening on December 7, 1884, was
established by Oswald Ottendorfer (1826-1900), a library board member and
German immigrant, and his wife Anna. The East
Village neighborhood in which the Ottendorfer Branch opened was, in the late
19th century, known as Kleindeutschland (Little Germany) due to its large
population of German immigrants and their descendants (150,000 people). Anna
Uhl (1815-1884) immigrated to New York with her husband, Jacob, in 1844. Jacob
Uhl was a printer, and purchased the German-language newspaper, Staats-Zeitung, which was founded in
1834 and is still in publication. When Jacob died in 1853, Anna inherited the
paper. In 1858, Oswald Ottendorfer became editor-in-chief of Saats-Zeitung, and married Anna the
following year. Before his emigration, Oswald had attended the Universities of
Vienna and Prague, and had been active in Austrian politics. The Austrian Revolution
of 1848 failed, and Ottendorfer fled to Switzerland, emigrating to the United
States in 1850. He found work as a laborer before being hired at Staats-Zeitung, a well-respected, popular,
and conservative paper which became, under Ottendorfer's management, the
largest-circulating German-language newspaper in New York. Ottendorfer was one
of the most prominent and wealthy inhabitants of Little Germany, involved in
both local and national politics. He served as alderman in 1872 and ran
(unsuccessfully) for Mayor in 1874 as an anti-Tammany Democrat.



Both Anna and
Oswald were active philanthropists. Anna Ottendorfer gave to a fund for German
schools in New York City, funded a Women's Pavilion for the German Hospital,
and established the Isabella Home for elderly, indigent German women. At the
same time that the Ottendorfers were involved with the library, they were also
working to establish a public health clinic, the German Dispensary (Stuyvesant
Polyclinic). Anna purchased land for the dispensary in 1883 and hired a fellow
German immigrant, William Schickel, as the architect. The land acquired was
enough for two buildings, and the Ottendorfers decided to build a library next
to the dispensary, serving both the physical and mental needs of their
community. German Empress Augusta presented Anna with a silver medal of merit
for her philanthropic work in November of the same year.



William
Schickel (1850-1907) designed both the dispensary and the library, which share
many architectural elements in common. The three-story&nbsp;Freie
Bibliothek und Lesehalle (Free Library and Reading Room) combines the Queen
Anne and neo-Italian Renaissance styles, and Schickel's extensive use of terra
cotta decorative elements on the pair of buildings is one of the first examples
of New York architecture featuring the material. The library began with 8,000
books, half in German and half in English. Through the bilingual selection of
reading material, Oswald Ottendorfer hoped to assist immigrants in assimilating
to American culture, as well as Americans in learning the German language. The
Ottendorfers donated the library and an initial endowment of $10,000 to the New
York Free Circulating Library while the building was still under construction,
on January 10, 1884. In May of the same year, before either the dispensary or
the library opened, Anna Ottendorfer died. The library was opened on December
7, with leading members of New York's German community in attendance. Patrons
could use the second floor reading rooms (one for men and one for women) and, with
references, anyone over the age of twelve could borrow one book at a time. The
stacks were originally closed, with English on one side and German on the
other, and a librarian had to retrieve any books the patrons wished to view. In
1897, Schickel added a rear extension to the building for open stack access,
and in 1900 a children's room replaced the separate women's reading room on the
second floor.



In 1886, when the original proposal for the establishment of
the New York Public Library and its branches was made, the board of the Free
Circulating Library had opposed it, seeing the NYPL as competition. During the
following decade, however, the two library boards agreed to merge, with the 11
branches of the Free Circulating Library becoming part of the NYPL system.
Though the Little Germany neighborhood became less German in the ensuing years,
the 1930s saw a new influx of German-speaking European refugees to the area.
Charlotte Hubach, the librarian at the time, began a lecture series called
"Literature in Exile," as well as inviting patrons to opera
broadcasts on the second floor.



The Ottendorfer Branch is the oldest New York Public Library
branch still in its original building, and one of the oldest buildings in the
city built specifically as a public library. In the late 1990s, the library was
renovated with funding from the Adopt-a-Branch program and the Scherman
Foundation. The facade and original wood floors were restored, an elevator and
central air system installed, and new facilities were added, including a
computer lab and a children's story hour room. The branch still holds many of
the original books selected by Oswald Ottendorfer, and maintains a strong
multilingual collection with a particular focus in German.

Historic Marker
Inscription: Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library Designed by the architect William Schickel and built in
1883-1884, the Ottendorfer Library was the first building in Manhattan to be
erected specifically as a free public lending library. The building combines
elements from several late Victorian architectural styles and is important for
its early use of molded terra cotta. The interior remains almost unchanged
since 1884.

&nbsp;This plaque was donated by the community to honor and
perpetuate the legacy of Anna and Oswald Ottendorfer. From the beginning, their
gift filled a vital need.



Erected by City of New York.

The Ottendorfer Branch is the oldest New York Public Library branch still in its original building, and one of the oldest buildings in the city built specifically as a public library. In the late 1990s, the library was renovated with funding from the Adopt-a-Branch program and the Scherman Foundation. The facade and original wood floors were restored, an elevator and central air system installed, and new facilities were added, including a computer lab and a children's story hour room. The branch still holds many of the original books selected by Oswald Ottendorfer, and it maintains a strong multilingual collection with a particular focus on German.

Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library

In 1964, two architectural
firms&nbsp;were chosen to submit proposals and the team of Philip Johnson and
Richard&nbsp;Foster won. They had previously collaborated on the famous Glass
House in New Canaan, Connecticut, and the New York State pavilion at the 1964
New York World’s Fair. Construction began in the late 1960s, and when&nbsp;the
Bobst Library&nbsp;opened in September 1973, the building was well received,
though&nbsp;the design had&nbsp;a few critics
who felt that it blocked sunlight into the nearby park.&nbsp; 
 
The Avery Fisher Center for Music and Media contains one of the largest academic
media archives in the world with 48,000 videos, 115,000 audio recordings in
various formats, and 102,000 print items, such as books, periodicals and
scores. The library also contains several special collections. The mission of
the Fales Library &amp; Special Collections is to acquire, preserve and provide
access to a wide range of primary research materials in their original formats.
It offers rare books and manuscripts in several categories: English and
American literature, the Downtown Collection, the Food and Cookery Collection,
the Riot Grrrl Collection, and the general Special Collections of the NYU
Libraries.&nbsp; 
 
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives&nbsp;is a&nbsp;well-known
center for scholarly research on organized labor and left-wing politics.
According to the library's website, its "primary focus is the complex
relationship between trade unionism and progressive politics and how this
relationship evolved over time. Archival print, photographic, film, and oral
history collections describe the history of the labor movement and how it
related to the broader struggle for economic, social, and political
change." The New York University Archives serves as the repository for
NYU's historical records, documenting the history of the University and
providing source material for administrators, faculty, students, alumni, and
others. Poly Archives&nbsp;exists to collect, preserve, and provide access to
the records of the former Polytechnic Institute and the current School of
Engineering.&nbsp; 
 
When a homeless sophomore named&nbsp;Steve Stanzak revealed on his blog that he
was literally living in the Bobst Library's basement (which is open 24 hours a
day every day) due to a lack&nbsp;of student housing he could afford, he became
a minor celebrity. The administration responded by giving him a free dormitory
room for the semester, free of charge. Stanzak claims that the resumption of
his anonymity after his brief brush with fame bothered him "just slightly."

The Elmer Holmes Bobst Library (often known as The Bobst Library, or just "The Bobst") is the flagship institution of the 11-unit New York University (NYU) library system, and is named after the philanthropist, Elmer Holmes Bobst, whose gift made the library possible. Designed by distinguished architects Philip Johnson and Richard Foster and first opened in 1973, it is a twelve-story red sandstone building, located opposite the southeast corner of Washington Square Park in New York City's Greenwich Village. It is the primary research facility for NYU and currently serves 6000 people every day, who check out over a million books a year. It also houses many other print and non-print resources. As the library's website states, “Bobst Library's special collections and archives house significant resources, rare books, personal papers [and] University history.”

Elmer Holmes Bobst Library

Born in 1921, Highsmith’s life started on a somewhat tumultuous note. Her father was absent for most of her life, and her mother sent her to live with her grandmother for a year when she was 12. She learned to fend for herself and became quite independent. This self-sufficiency would become a large part of her adult life, as well, often traveling great distances alone for long periods of time to connect with her writing, and never settling into a marriage partnership.&nbsp;Her most famous novels vary among different circles of interest. The series of novels based on her book The Talented Mr. Ripley have a strong following, as well having been adapted into a movie. Strangers on a Train is perhaps her most famous book-turned movie due to Hitchcock’s famous adaptation. It’s thought that her work has been so amenable to the film medium because “the detached, clinical insights offered in Patricia Highsmith’s unsettling novels have proved attractive to filmmakers” and audiences alike.&nbsp;&nbsp;A particular work that is oft overlooked outside of queer spaces, is her novel The Price of Salt or Carol. It was “published 1952 by Coward McCann. It was for many years the only lesbian novel, in either hard or soft cover, with a happy ending." This, like some of her other works, was originally published under her pseudonym Claire Morgan. The Price of Salt was published in 1952, in the height of the McCarthy era, when sexual deviance was cracked down on and punishable by loss of job and credibility. It was an era driven by fear of the other, especially if that other included LGBTQ content. During this time, mail was being checked for subversive contents and texts, and many queer manuscripts were apprehended and disposed of when found in the mail, never to be published.Highsmith was a novelty of her time, and stood out within her community in Greenwich, which at the time was a hub of local queer culture. She frequented the lesbian bar L’s, where she would meet lovers and fellow queer writers. She was said to have enjoyed patronizing the local piano bars in Greenwich when she wasn’t traveling with her favourite refurbished typewriter.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Patricia Highsmith was an American writer. Over the span of her career, she wrote more than 30 books, three of her most notable works being The Talented Mr. Ripley, Strangers on a Train, and The Price of Salt, which was the first lesbian novel published in either hard or soft cover to have a happy ending. Many of her novels were also adapted for film and television. She spent most of her time between Greenwich Village and traveling, preferring to write in locations around Europe. She was a very complicated woman, as she was somehow very appealing to suitors, a talented writer, while also being somewhat racist and anti-Semitic.

A Patricia Highsmith Haunt - L's Lesbian Bar

The Minetta Tavern was
established in 1937, replacing The Black Rabbit that had closed its doors just
8 years prior. The origin of the restaurant's title dates back centuries. The brook
that ran through the area was originally called the "Mannette" by
Native Americans. This name meant "Devil's Water." Though time and
acculturation slightly altered the name, now “Minetta,” the original meaning was
preserved and provides a cultural background for the tavern's name. At the
time, alcohol was commonly referred to as "The Devil's Water.”

 Frequented by many of the 1950’s "beats,” Minetta became
increasingly popular among the literary crowd. In addition to Joe Gould, Ernest
Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Eugene O'Neill, E.E. Cummings, and Dylan Thomas, the pub
also became a hotspot for a group who called themselves “The Ravens.” Taking
their name from Poe's poem, this group met and published poetry in what became
known as The Raven Anthology Journal,
which was published from 1933-1940. Gould was perhaps the most controversial
member, and purportedly roamed The Village with a sign that read "Joseph
Ferdinand Gould, Hot Shot Poet from Poetville, a Refugee from The Ravens. Poets
of the World, Unite. You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Brains." Gould
boasted that he wrote An Oral History of
Our Time, a work that was supposedly completed in the Minetta. It included
bits of over 20,000 conversations he overheard. It was a hoax, however. The
manuscript does not exist.

Today, the Minetta Tavern&nbsp;is run by&nbsp;Keith
McNally. A portion of his biography as&nbsp;found on the tavern's official
webpage reads,&nbsp;"... born in London&nbsp;and moved to New York City in
1975 where he distinguished himself by being fired from every job he ever
held." After taking over the Minetta, McNally&nbsp;closed the tavern for a
period of 6 months to refurbish the pub back to its historical look. Today, the
tavern retains&nbsp;the original wooden bar that was first installed in 1931,
and it still serves a Northern Italian cuisine characteristic of its first days. 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Minetta Tavern was established in 1937 by Eddie Silieri, who became known as Eddie Minetta, taking his name from the tavern that in turn borrowed its title from the stream that ran through the area. Founded at the height of the prohibition era, The Minetta Tavern became a popular speakeasy for many literary legends, most notably Joe Gould, who frequented the pub so often that he was said to receive his mail there. With perhaps a similar taste for pubs, authors Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Eugene O'Neill, E.E. Cummings, and Dylan Thomas visited the bar to unwind and socialize. Today, The Minetta Tavern retains much of its history, as much of the original design remains, serving to transport patrons back to a time when the world's greatest authors congregated here and wrote their masterpieces.

Minetta Tavern

Anne Charlotte Lynch was born in 1815&nbsp;in Bennington, Vermont, to parents Patrick Lynch of Ireland and Charlotte Gray of Vermont. After the passing of her father in 1819 who died in a shipwreck, Anne and her mother, along with older brother Thomas, moved to Hartford, Connecticut. It was here that she attended the Albany Female Academy, from where she graduated in 1834. Upon graduating, Anne began teaching at Albany and Providence. It was during this time that she began her literary meetings, which were so popular it was said that "the very best literary society of Providence could be found in the parlor of Miss Lynch." In 1845, Anne and her mother moved to their new home on 116 Waverly Place, New York. Anne opened her doors to the&nbsp;New York literati community at her literary meetings almost as soon as she unpacked her bags. It was here that &nbsp;her soirees&nbsp;became most influential and coveted, with names like Edgar Allen Poe, Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Herman Melville often frequenting her parlor every Saturday night.&nbsp;The Literary News journal recalled in 1894, "She received every Saturday evening. American literature was just beginning to make itself felt, and her house became the weekly gathering place for aspiring poets, writers, and novelists." It was here that Edgar Allen Poe first presented "The Raven," reciting it before the crowd that had gathered that Saturday night. At this time, Poe was a regular at the Lynch house, but when flirty correspondence was brought to light between him and Fanny Osgood, another Saturday night regular, Anne kicked him out of the social circle. The correspondence was a huge scandal, as both parties were married. Anne's reaction reflects&nbsp;the deep devotion she held towards preserving the purpose of the literary circle, discussions that focused primarily on literature instead of scandal. Today, 116 Waverly Place is little more than an expensive, upscale New York apartment. There are no visible markers which designate the house as one that once hosted the most prestigious literary names in American history, but such a history&nbsp;is there to be found for those who seek it out.

The home of Anne Charlotte Lynch served as a gathering place for many up and coming authors residing in New York during the mid 1800s. Every Saturday evening, Lynch welcomed guests such as Edgar Allen Poe, Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and more. At these meetings, it was said that authors would exchange ideas, reflect on their work, and at times, share certain excerpts with their fellow authors. In addition to being a sculptor and hostess, Lynch was also an author herself, though she is most famous for hosting these meetings. She is credited with founding the modern book club in New York. 

Anne Charlotte Lynch's House

By the mid-19th Century, the area around&nbsp;Jefferson Market in Greenwich Village had become associated, in the
minds of respectable people, with "everything that is bad, mean and unsavory." A plan for a new courthouse in the area was first
proposed in the early 1870s and approved by the notorious New York political machine of “Boss”
Tweed. When over $150,000 was spent with nothing to show, the original design
was scrapped and the firm of Withers and Vaux was hired to create a new design. Although credited to both English-born Frederick Clarke Withers and Calvert Vaux - the latter is famous for&nbsp;co-designing Central Park with Frederick Olmstead -&nbsp;the courthouse, as well as&nbsp;the then-adjacent prison, were designed solely by Withers in the Victorian Gothic style, inspired by the English writer John Ruskin, and it is considered his best-known work.&nbsp;The project&nbsp;was&nbsp;highly controversial: citizen
protests and contract disputes marked its construction. However, the final cost of not only the courthouse, but
all of the complex’ buildings, was less than $360,000&nbsp;– quite a bargain, since
the estimated cost for the original (unused) design ran to millions of
dollars!&nbsp;&nbsp; The building originally included a police court, which later served as a night court, on the ground floor and a district court on the second floor. Harry K. Thaw, the infamous killer of architect
Stanford White, was arraigned and imprisoned there in 1906. In 1909, striking female workers from the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory were arrested and taken to the night court there. This was to humiliate
the proper young ladies: during this era, prostitutes were frequently brought into night court.&nbsp;(Two years later, many young women in that
same <a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://theclio.com/web/entry?id=12322">factory</a> would die in a notorious and horrific fire.) Due to redistricting, the building stopped being
used as a courthouse in 1945, and for over a decade thereafter it was
employed&nbsp;for many purposes, including as a police academy.&nbsp;After the building was abandoned in 1958, many local people of prominence, including the
preservationist Margot Gayle, the historian Lewis Mumford, poet e.e. cummings and
actor Maurice Evans banded together to save first the clock tower, then the
building itself.&nbsp;In 1961, New York City Mayor Robert Wagner
announced that the building would be converted into a library.&nbsp;Architect Giorgio Cavaglieri was hired in 1965 to
completely convert the abandoned building, and he accomplished the task in only two years. The&nbsp;library has a children’s reading
room where the police court used to be, and an adult reading room where the
district court once was. A reference library, which contains many volumes
(some rare) on the history of New York, is located in the basement.&nbsp;The exterior&nbsp;is faced in red brick with Black brick and
yellow sandstone trim; its cornice and frieze are made of granite.&nbsp;At the northeast corner is a tower with an iron
balcony and pyramidal roof, with a prominent four-faced clock at the top.&nbsp;The structure contains many&nbsp;gables&nbsp;and stained-glass windows. The tympanum above the library’s entryway contains a bas-relief sculpture representing the climactic courtroom scene in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. In 1996, the old fire bell in the tower rang for the first time in over a century.

The Jefferson Market Library (formerly the Third District Judicial Courthouse) is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, on a triangle of land bounded by Sixth Avenue to the east and 10th Street to the northwest. The area was originally a local market established in the early 1830’s shortly after the death of Thomas Jefferson, and named after him. A new courthouse, built in the Victorian Gothic (or Venetian Gothic) style, as well as a new prison and market, were constructed on the location during the years 1874-1877 by the architectural firm of Withers and Vaux (the old courthouse building is all that remains). It was voted fifth among the ten most beautiful buildings in America by a poll of architects in the 1880s. 

The building was vacated in 1958 and marked for demolition, but preservationists rallied to save it. In 1961, the city announced that the old courthouse would be converted into a library, and it was opened as the Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library in 1967. In 1972, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Jefferson Market Library (formerly Third District Judicial Courthouse)

The three-story houses of Patchin Place were constructed in the 1850s as living quarters for Basque waiters who worked nearby at the Brevoort Hotel. In the early twentieth century, electricity and running water were installed, and Patchin Place began to attract a new type of resident: actors, artists, and writers. On July 1, 1918, the residents even put on a production of Yeats' play, The King's Threshold in the communal backyard, with the orchestra playing through the window of one of the kitchens. Three hundred audience members attended, and the proceeds were donated to the Goodhue Home Fund of The Evening Post. Among Patchin Place's literary residents were poet E. E. Cmmings, his wife and fellow poet Marion Morehouse, and author Djuna Barnes, the couple's reclusive friend and next-door neighbor at #5 Patchin Place from 1940 on.A Brief Biography of E. E.Cummingss, 1894-1962 

Edward Estlin Cummings began writing poetry as a child, and produced a poem a day from age eight to age twenty-two. He attended Harvard University, where he transitioned from traditional poetic forms into the dynamic, avant-garde style he is known for: unconventional use of punctuation, syntax, and semantics in precise, spare poems. Some of his early poems were included in the Harvard Poetry Society's Eight Harvard Poets collection. The year after his graduation from Harvard, in April of 1917, Cummings volunteered in the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Service in France after the outbreak of the First World War in Europe, though the United States was not yet involved and Cummings considered himself a pacifist. On the French-German border, he befriended William Slater Brown, with whom he was arrested in September of 1917 on suspicion of treason. The two Americans were sent to an internment camp in Normandy; Cummings' father managed to secure his son's release in December, but Brown remained imprisoned until April 1918. The U.S. entered the war in July, and Cummings was drafted into the U.S. Army, training for six months in Massachusetts until relased in January of the following year. Cummings' daughter, Nancy, was born that December; Nancy's mother was Elaine Thayer, whose husband, Schofield, was a friend of Cummings and approved of his wife's relationship with him. Elaine divorced Schofield in 1924 to marry Cummings, who moved into 4 Patchin Place in September and adopted his daughter, Nancy Thayer. Not until 1948 did Nancy find out that her adoptive father was also her biological father. Only a year after Elaine and Cummings married, Elaine divorced her second husband upon meeting another man. In 1932, Cummings met Marion Morehouse, a Broadway actress and one of the most well-known fashion models of the late 1920s-early 1930s. Though Morehouse's obituary lists her as the "widow" of e. e. cummings, the two never actually married. Morehouse was born in 1903 in South Bend, Indiana, and kept many details of her life shrouded in mystery, even to e. e. cummings, her companion for thirty years.



Meanwhile, e. e. cummings had published his first book, The Enormous Room, in 1922. It was a fictional account of his imprisonment in France, and gained critical acclaim for its juxtapositon of a grim topic with a cheerful tone and emphasis on personal growth. In 1923, Cummings' first collection of poems, Tulips and Chimneys, was published, though with many poems cut and without Cummings' preferred form of the title (Tulips &amp; Chimneys). The deleted poems were published two years later, in a volume entitled &amp;. The same year, XLI Poems was published, and Cummings received Dial magazine's annual $2,000 award. His next collection, Is 5, was released the following year with an introduction explaining his approach to writing. With his own style established and critical acclaim for both the wonderment and the satire expressed in his works, e. e. cummings became one of the most popular poets of his time. He also wrote a play entitled Him (a series of skits which jumped from tragedy to grotesque comedy, influenced by the burlesque and the circus) and a travel diary entitled Eimi, which drew from Cummings' 1931 trip to the Soviet Union. The Soviet regime's strict regimentation and duhumanizing policies were the antithesis of Cummings' deep value of the individual, and Eimi (Greek for "I am") unabashedly attacked the dictatorship of Stalin. After Eimi was published in 1933, Cummings struggled to release his poetry through the left-wing publishers of the time, and self-published several volumes in the late 1930s. Harvard University invited e. e. cummings to give the Charles Eliot Norton lectures in poetry in 1952; these were later published as i: six nonlectures. The "nonlectures" consisted of personal accounts of Cummings' life and writing. Cummings died in 1962.



Historic Marker Inscriptions:&nbsp;

4 Patchin Place

One-time home of “Poet and Painter” e.e. cummings (d. 1962) and his wife, model and photographer Marion Morehouse (d.1969)

“—do lovers love? why then to heaven with hell. Whatever sages say and fools, all’s well”

Placed here by the e.e. cummings Society and the City of New York Landmarks Preservation Commission.



e.e. cummings

1894-1962

The poet and painter, who made art of commas and parentheses, lived here for the last forty years of his life. He characterized himself as “an author of pictures, a draughtsman of words.” New York Landmark Preservation Foundation.

The three-story houses of Patchin Place were constructed in the 1850s as living quarters for Basque waiters who worked nearby at the Brevoort Hotel. In the early twentieth century, electricity and running water were installed, and Patchin Place began to attract a new type of resident: actors, artists, and writers. On July 1, 1918, the residents even put on a production of Yeats' play, The King's Threshold in the communal backyard, with the orchestra playing through the window of one of the kitchens. Three hundred audience members attended, and the proceeds were donated to the Goodhue Home Fund of The Evening Post. Among Patchin Place's literary residents were poet Edward Estlin Cummings, his wife, and fellow poet Marion Morehouse, and author Djuna Barnes, the couple's reclusive friend and next-door neighbor at #5 Patchin Place from 1940 on.

4 Patchin Place, E.E. Cummings Historical Marker

O.Henry, born William Sidney Porter, led a tumultuous life. The North Carolina native made his way to Texas, where he worked on a ranch and later as a teller in a bank. No matter what job he held, he found time to write. After moving from one job to another, he eventually got a job working for the Houston Post as a columnist and reporter. In 1896, Porter was charged with embezzling funds from the bank and rather than go to prison, he escaped to Honduras with financial help from his friends. When news reached him of his wife's rapidly failing health, he returned to Austin and was eventually convicted, although authorities waited until after the death of his wife to bring him to court. He served three years and three months in a penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio. Upon his release in 1902, Porter moved to New York City. From 1903 to 1907, he lived in a ground floor apartment at 55 Irving Place. Though the writer's life had been eventful up to this point, his life in the city was largely quiet and highly regimented. He wrote roughly a story a day for the New York World, submitting them at the last minute but by the deadline. Friends noted that his apartment, like his life, was remarkably orderly. It was an intensely productive period for Porter, now know as O. Henry. It was during this time that he wrote perhaps his most famous short story, The Gift of the Magi. It has long been rumored that the author penned the story across the street at his favorite watering hole, Pete's Tavern, but there doesn't appear to much evidence to support the claim, other than the fact that he was a regular there. He married again in 1907, but by that point, his health was rapidly declining, partly as a result of his alcoholism. He died in 1910. Pete's Tavern, across the street from O. Henry's former residence, is still a bar and claims to be one of the oldest continually operating bars in the city. The author's favorite spot was reportedly the first booth by the side doors.

In the early 1900s, the writer O.Henry lived for several years at 55 Irving Place. It was a remarkably productive in period in the writer's life, but it coincided with a period of heavy drinking and declining health. It was during his time at Irving Place that Henry penned one of his most famous stories, "The Gift of the Magi." Pete's Tavern, one of the author's favorite watering holes and one where he often wrote at the bar, is just across the street.

Former Residence of O. Henry 

Designed by Philip Hubert in 1883, the Hotel Chelsea was built with the vision of being one of the offshoots of the Hubert Home Club, one of the first private apartment cooperatives in the Manhattan area. The Chelsea opened for business in 1885 and was a hit for a brief moment in time, offering patrons apartment living in the theater district of New York. However, as Upper Manhattan began to open with abundant housing, people began to leave the Chelsea, and within a few years, the apartment complex went bankrupt.

The building eventually reopened as a hotel in 1905&nbsp;but switched hands numerous times throughout the following century. During the Hotel Chelsea’s time serving as a hotel, it played host to numerous iconic patrons who stayed there both short and long-term. The Hotel was popular, especially from the 1960s through the 1970s, and was the subject of songs, films, and other forms of popular media that were produced by the patrons of the Hotel.&nbsp;A list of the hotel's famous residents and guests reads like a who's who of the twentieth century. Mark Twain once called the Chelsea home, a fact which could make the building a landmark even if no other celebrities or literary titans lived there. Tennessee Williams also lived there, and apparently occupied the room that Jon Bon Jovi would have many decades later. Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road there and Dylan Thomas had his last (and fatal) drinking binge in the hotel. Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey during a stay at the place that he referred to as his spiritual home. Arthur Miller stayed at the Chelsea while dealing with the demise of his marriage to Marilyn Monroe. Thomas Wolfe spent most of the last years of his life living at the property. Eugene O'Neill, Brendan Behan, Allen Ginsberg, and Simone de Beauvoir were also residents.And then there are the musicians. Leonard Cohen and Janis Joplin had a one-night stand that led to Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel No.2." Bob Dylan lived there while carrying on an affair with fellow resident Edie Sedgwick. He also wrote "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" at the Chelsea. Dee Dee Ramone checked into the Chelsea for a self-imposed detox. Jimi Hendrix, Madonna, and Iggy Pop also called the hotel home.&nbsp;With a long list of colorful former residents and guests, the Chelsea has one of the city's most storied pasts, as well as its share of tragedies. The Chelsea's most notorious incident occurred in 1978 in Room 100, where Nancy Spungeon, girlfriend of the Sex Pistols's Sid Vicious, was founded fatally stabbed. High on heroin, Vicious had no memory of the attack, and died of a heroin overdose while awaiting trial for her murder. The "Vicious Room," as it came to be known, was eventually closed and knocked into adjoining rooms to end its notorious reputation.More than a few acclaimed visual artists have made a home at the storied property. Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollack, and Andy Warhol lived there. During the famous tenure of Stanley Bard, the Chelsea's owner-manager from the 1960s to 2007, artwork was often accepted in lieu of cash for rent, and until renovations began, many of those works adorned the hotel's lobby.In 2011, the Hotel Chelsea changed hands, which signaled a change in the Hotel as a whole. The Hotel Chelsea stopped taking reservations in August of 2011, and renovations to the building began soon after. Permanent patrons feared that they would be ousted from the building, but no such thing happened. Since then, the Hotel Chelsea has changed management twice, and as of this writing, the renovations are ongoing. The Hotel Chelsea is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Hotel Chelsea is an iconic hotel in the Manhattan area, which was established in 1884. The hotel was home to many iconic residents, such as Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and Iggy Pop, and it was the setting and subject of many films, novels, and other forms of popular culture. The Chelsea was closed for renovations in 2011, and as of April 2019, the renovations are ongoing.

Hotel Chelsea

James Gordon Bennett, Sr. was born in Scotland on September 1, 1795, to a Roman Catholic family in a Presbyterian community. After studying at a Catholic seminary in Aberdeen, Scotland, he decided not to pursue the priesthood. Instead, at age 24, he emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1817. From there, he moved to Boston, where he worked as a clerk and proofreader for a bookseller and printer. During the 1820s, Bennett moved to New York City and worked as a freelancer in the newspaper business. He was hired by Aaron Smith Wellington of the Charleston Courier, but failed to fit into South Carolina society and returned to New York less than a year later. The innovative New York Enquirer hired Bennett as the first Washington correspondent for a New York City newspaper.Upon his return to New York, Bennett attempted to start his own newspaper and failed twice. In 1835, he raised $500 and successfully founded the New York Herald, originally headquartered in a basement office. Amid fierce competition, Bennett managed to bring the Herald to the forefront not only in New York City&nbsp;but across America, where it enjoyed the largest circulation of any newspaper in the nation. This success was due largely to Bennett's innovative nature. His was the first newspaper to publish Wall Street stock prices&nbsp;and the first New York paper without political allegiances. Though he was publicly attacked and even beaten for his denouncements of political figures, Bennett was also seen as an honest voice in journalism. He hired investigative reporters to gather the news, was quick to adopt the telegraph as a means of receiving news from other cities in the 1840s, and used high-speed printing presses when they became available. In spite of the wealth Bennett accrued from the Herald's success, he remained an outsider in New York society. Whether it's because he preferred a private home life or because he offended society with his fierce editorials, outspoken opinions, and personal attacks (including mockery of rival publishers such as Horace Greeley and Henry J. Raymond) remains unclear. During the American Civil War, the Herald employed more than sixty reporters, and Bennett usually managed to publish news from the battlefield before anyone else.

When James Gordon Bennett, Sr. died on June 1, 1872, his son, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., took over the publication of the New York Herald. The younger Bennett had been educated in Paris and had served the Union during the Civil War. He was supposedly saved from running his ship aground by the hoot of an owl. This might explain his interest in the birds, which he expressed in the form of preservation editorials in the Herald, a collection of live owls, and his commission for the new Herald building in 1890. The new building, designed by architect Stanford White, was lined with twenty-six bronze owls and a statue of Minerva (the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena, who is symbolically associated with owls). The building no longer exists, but two of the owls and the statue of Minerva are now incorporated into the James Gordon Bennett Memorial in Herald Square.

Unlike his father, James Gordon Bennett, Jr. was a man who enjoyed the town, yachting, carousing, attending parties, and habitually driving naked through the streets in a coach. Though he kept up the New York Herald's sales and reputation, his own reputation did not fare so well. In 1877, while intoxicated at his fiancee's family New Year's party, Bennett urinated into the fireplace in front of the whole company. Caroline May (or her family) called off the engagement, and May's brother attacked Bennett with a horsewhip before challenging him to a duel. The duel ended with neither party injured, but Bennett left for France soon afterward to found the Paris Herald (now the International Herald Tribune) in 1887. While abroad, Bennett also funded the expeditions of Henry Morton Stanley (to Tanzania) and George Washington De Long (to the North Pole). Bennett died in 1918, and the New York Herald merged with Horace Greeley's New York Tribune (which might have horrified the elder James Gordon Bennett), forming the New York Herald Tribune, which operated until 1966.

The monument in Herald Square was dedicated in 1928. Monument Inscription: 

A MEMORIAL TO JAMES GORDON BENNETT (1795-1872) FOUNDER OF THE NEW YORK HERALD IN 1835 AND TO HIS SON JAMES GORDON BENNETT (1841-1918) THROUGH WHOSE VISION AND ENTERPRISE THE NEW YORK HERALD BECAME ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT NEWSPAPERSTHE BRONZE FIGURES OF MINERVA AND THE BELLRINGERS ARE THE WORK OF ANTONIN JEAN CARLES. THEY STOOD, FROM 1895 TO 1921, ABOVE THE CORNICES OF JAMES GORDON BENNETT'S NEW YORK HERALD BUILDING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF HERALD SQUARE AND TOLLED THE ACTIVE HOURS TO THE MILLIONS. IN 1928, THEY WERE GIVEN BY WILLIAM T. DEWART, PUBLISHER OF THE NEW YORK SUN, TO NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, THROUGH WHOSE GENEROSITY IN 1928 THEY ENTERED ON PERMANENT LOAN, THE CARE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THAT THEY MAY BE HERE RESTORED TO THEIR ORIGINAL AREA OF PLEASANT SERVICE, AND TO THEIR PLACE IN THE HEARTS OF OUR CITIZENS. FUNDS FOR THE RESTORATION WERE PROVIDED BY SUBSCRIPTION OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE LIVES ARE DEEP ROOTED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF HERALD SQUARE.MCMXL

The James Gordon Bennett Monument in Herald Square is dedicated to the founder of the New York Herald newspaper and his son, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., who managed the paper after his death. The monument includes bronze sculptures of Minerva and two owls, which were part of the Herald building (now destroyed) designed by Stanford White in 1890.

James Gordon Bennett Monument

B. Altman's third and final New York location was the first large-scale Fifth Avenue store in the city. It was designed by Trowbridge and Livingston, who also designed the St. Regis Hotel (1904) and the Hayden Planetarium (1935). Built with French limestone in the Renaissance Revival style, the architects made the store fit smoothly into its posh Fifth Avenue neighborhood by using the same Italianate palazzo models that had been employed by many of the large private mansions in the area. (French limestone had only previously been used for residences, not commercial buildings.)&nbsp;The construction of the store was the beginning of&nbsp;a trend of Fifth Avenue stores stretching to 59th Street, which included Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, Lord &amp; Taylor’s, and many others. The store at the height of its success was a kind of miniature community, containing a medical department for employees (and, on an emergency basis, for customers), with seven beds, a doctor and two nurses; a school for younger employees; and, in the sub-basement, a power plant. This last came in handy during New York’s 1965 power Blackout,&nbsp;which made the store a refuge for those fleeing the dark and the sweltering heat, and the store's staff passed out free sandwiches to those who sought temporary shelter there. The company was driven into bankruptcy when it was acquired by a real estate developer who misguidedly tried to turn the store&nbsp;into a franchise. (The Fifth Avenue side was then occupied by Oxford University Press, and finally by the CUNY Graduate Center.) The New York Public Library purchased the Madison Avenue side to construct its new Science, Industry and Business Library (known as SIBL) at an estimated cost of $100 million, half of which was raised from charitable contributions and half from public funds. The library opened in 1996 to widespread praise, with the library's president calling it "a prototype of the 21st-century Library." According to the library's mission statement, SIBL “commits its exceptional resources and expertise to providing open access to information in support of education, research, and entrepreneurial activities.”&nbsp; The architects&nbsp;were Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman LLC, whose design goals were flexibility and accessibility. A 33-foot-high atrium unites the lobby area with the research collections on the lower level. A stainless steel staircase leads down from the entrance lobby to the Research Library, which comprises extensive research facilities, a 125-seat Conference Center and an Electronic Training Center with four modifiable classrooms. On that level also is a wall of electronic ticker tape and televisions&nbsp;tuned to business channels to provide up-to-the-minute information. SIBL is a full-service circulating library with storage for a collection of 1.5 million volumes, an open-shelf reference collection, periodical shelving and a full catalog area. In the years since it opened, changes in the information environment, including the expansion of the Internet, led the library to customize its services for small businesses that have limited time to spend in the library.&nbsp;For example, one SIBL program, SCORE, provides free, in-depth business counseling for business owners and small businesses.&nbsp;The Job Search Center is a one-stop-shop for job seekers, providing events from lectures to workshops, databases, and one-on-one professional career coaching.&nbsp; Several years ago, the library announced its Central Library Plan (CLP), the object of which was to close and sell SIBL and the Mid-Manhattan branch at 40th Street, remove 1.5 million books&nbsp;from the main research library (Schwarzman Building) at 42nd Street&nbsp;to a remote location in New Jersey, and place the collections of Mid-Manhattan and SIBL permanently in the main library. The plan was estimated to cost at least $300 million, fully half of which would be taxpayer-funded.&nbsp;The Committee to Save the New York Public Library and other groups and prominent individuals strongly opposed this plan, and contentious New York City Council hearings were held to debate the issue.&nbsp;In the end, under great public pressure, the CLP was abandoned.

The historic B. Altman's Department store, which occupied an entire city block between 5th and Madison Avenues and 34th and 35th Streets, was the third location for the now-defunct retail giant. Constructed in 1905 in the Renaissance Revival style, the Fifth Avenue side opened in 1906 to critical acclaim, with the Madison Avenue side completed in 1914. The building was given landmark status by New York City in 1985, just four years before the store went bankrupt and ceased operations in 1989.

The Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) of the New York Public Library system, located on the Madison Avenue side of the former store, was initiated in 1991 and opened to the public in 1996. It is a premier public business library with electronic resources, print materials and services for both start-ups and established businesses. A recent plan to sell the space and move its collection to the main library location (Schwarzman Building) on 42nd Street was abandoned, but the library's future remains uncertain. 

The Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) (formerly B. Altman's)

The origins of the library date back to the 19th century, when New York was becoming one of the world's most important cities. By the second half of the century, it had surpassed Paris, France in population and quickly closing in on replacing London, England as the world's most populous city. If the city was to become one of the world's great centers of urban culture, it must have a great library. Although there were already two important libraries, the Astor and Lennox, one-time governor Samuel J. Tilden bequeathed a bulk of his $2.4 million fortune to "establish and maintain a free library and reading room in the city of New York."&nbsp; Both the Astor and Lennox libraries were beginning to experience financial troubles by 1892, as a result of dwindling endowments and expanding collections. A New York attorney named John Bigelow presented a bold plan to combine the resources of the Astor and Lennox libraries to form the New York Public Library. His plan was finally signed on May 23, 1895 as an unprecedented example of private philanthropy for the public good. The site chosen to place the new library was the Croton Reservoir, a popular strolling place located in a two-block section of Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets. Dr. John Shaw Billings, the newly named director, drew a rough sketch of what he wanted, which would turn into the early blueprint of the largest marble structure attempted by the United States. After roughly 500 workers spent two years dismantling the reservoir and preparing the site, the first cornerstone was placed on November 10, 1902. By the end of 1906, exterior work was completed, which then launched five years of interior work, with 75 miles of shelves being added in 1910. On May 23, 1911, the official dedication took place with one million books being put in place in a ceremony presided over by President William Howard Taft and attended by Governor John Alden Dix and Mayor William J. Gaynor. The following morning, the New York Public Library officially opened its doors to the public with roughly 30,000 to 50,000 people filing through the doors.

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is a part of the New York Public Library, consisting of four major research libraries and almost 90 branch libraries located throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. The Beaux-Arts building, located on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, houses outstanding collections in humanities and social sciences, as well as a children's collection. The building is being restored to its original purpose of providing library services for "the free use of all the people." Among the 15 million items and artifacts are medieval manuscripts, ancient Japanese scrolls, baseball cards, dime novels, and comic books. 

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York Public Library (Main Branch)

Gertrude Stein was born on February 3, 1874 to Daniel and Amelia Stein in Allegheny, PA (now part of Pittsburgh). She spent a few early years in Vienna and Paris because her father wanted the five children to be educated along European models. The family returned to California when Stein was five. Amelia and Daniel Stein both died by the time Gertrude Stein was seventeen and she briefly moved to Baltimore to live with other family. Of her siblings she was particularly close to Leo Stein and when he enrolled in Harvard she also moved to Cambridge to enroll as a special student at Radcliff (Harvard Annex) in 1893. Her early writings from her college years engaged in feminist themes and first experimented with a masculine authorial voice. She did not like the “American ‘Anglo-Saxon’ college girl type” that she found at Radcliff and her musings explored themes of sexual repression and dissatisfaction with female education. She ended up switching from creative writing to science because she could pursue a more masculine and objective writing style. She studied psychology, zoology, and botany, and showed great promise in these fields. She was heavily influenced by Darwin’s theory and her mentors were leaders in defining the “American mental quality” and eugenics. Stein entered the Harvard Psychology Laboratory in 1893 and studied psychology and neuropsychology, fields that were brand new. She was interested in nervous conditions, especially in women, and did experiments classifying different personality types and correspondent physical traits. She wrote several articles on her medical work with her mentors and alone during these years. Stein aimed to become a nurse and enrolled in John Hopkins Medical School where she studied the brain. She excelled in the laboratory sections of the coursework, but quickly learned that she was not happy working with patients. She completed most of her course of study but did not finish her medical degree. It was during her college years that she had her first romantic relationships with other women. She detailed some of this period in her first fictional piece Quod Erat Demonstrandum (QED) which was not published until 1950, after Stein’s death, due its subject matter of a lesbian romance. When her first romance ended (the other women married men to enter respectable society) Stein started spending more time in Europe. Her brother Leo had moved to Europe to engage in the art world there and Stein traveled back and forth for a few years before settling in Paris in 1904. Leo and Gertrude Stein lived together in Paris for several years, a living arrangement that allowed Stein to spend more time writing. She began to build the persona of Gertrude Stein that she would be known for, including her style of dress in loose and more eccentric robes. With Leo, Stein began building a collection of modern art and supporting artists such as Matisse and Picasso that began bringing more social visitors to their Paris home. As they built a circle of artist and writer friends and drew curious visitors wanting to see their collection, the Steins decided to hold a set time for visitors on Saturday nights. This was the beginning of what would be the most famous artistic salon in the city. Leo and Gertrude Stein were at the center of the art world in Paris for a time, helping artists like Picasso rise to fame (Picasso’s portrait of Gertrude Stein was the first of his pieces acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and introducing modern art into the United States through other members of the Stein family. In Paris Stein felt removed from the American social pressure to marry and have children to settle into respective society. She began writing more consistently and drew much inspiration from the conversations she held in the salon and with workers and visitors in Paris. Three Lives, published in 1909, began Stein’s public reputation as a writer and introduced her writing style of trying to represent consciousness in words without much editing or revising. She also steadily worked on her massive work, The Making of Americans, about the making of the American character which was published in 1925. Beside not revising her work, Stein’s writing increasingly dropped punctuation, paragraph structure, syntax, and other rules of writing. One of the biggest influences on Gertrude Stein’s life and writing was her life-partner Alice Toklas whom she met in 1907 through a mutual acquaintance. Stein proposed to Toklas in 1908 and Toklas moved into the Stein home as her wife by 1910. Stein’s brother, Leo, left their home a few years later and grew increasingly estranged from his sister (largely due to his dislike of her work). Stein and Toklas would remain together until Stein’s death; their 40-year monogamous relationship and their nonchalant presence in Paris society (they were not part of the lesbian “scene” there) contributed to Stein being a gay icon later on. Stein’s relationship with Toklas changed the subjects and tone of her writing and Toklas became her assistant in typing, commenting on Stein’s work, and managing the household so that Stein could write. After Leo Stein left, the salon radically changed and then WWI began. After the war when more Americans flooded into France, the salon occurred every afternoon as Americans came to visit the couple and discuss literary subjects. Stein described these Americans fleeing the post-war United States as the “lost generation,” an idea that would influence other writers such as Hemingway. While Stein was constantly writing, it was the 1930s when she received attention more for her work than her personality in Paris. She shed her usual literary style to write The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1932), which she wrote in Alice’s “voice.” This work was widely received and groundbreaking for Stein’s career as a writer. This was followed in 1934 with the smashing success of her play Four Saints in Three Acts in New York; she wrote the libretto for Virgil Thompson, who wrote the score and staged the play using a Black cast (popular to white New Yorkers due to the Harlem Renaissance). With the play’s success, friends encouraged Stein to visit the United States to benefit from it. Stein and Toklas traveled to New York in 1934 (Stein’s return to the US after thirty years) and she went on a publicity tour across the country, largely orchestrated by Toklas who traveled with Stein as her “secretary” or “traveling companion.” This was Stein’s first attempt at using her persona to make money from her work and it both benefited and bothered her. On returning to France in 1935, Stein wrote Everybody’s Autobiography which built on the fame of the first, but reclaimed her more distinct style and point of view. With the coming of WWII, Stein and Toklas were both in danger as American Jews in France. However, despite the urging of everyone around them to flee to the United States for safety, the women decided to remain in France (they did send many of Steins papers to Yale for safekeeping at this point). They spent much of the German occupation in their country house in Bilignin and remined largely unmolested. The reasons for their safety remain somewhat contested, but they were in part protected by those in power. Friends with influence with the Nazis and Vichy government made sure they were not bothered and that they did not appear on the lists of Jewish residents. One of these acquaintances, Bernard Faӱ, was later put on trial for his actions during the war and Stein and Toklas defended him. Stein continued writing throughout the war although Toklas did not type it all up to prevent the Germans from reading it. Her most famous piece from the wartime period was Wars I Have Seen which chronicled the last stage of the war, 1934-44, as well as the impact of occupation on France. The experience of the war forced her to be more present and engage in public affairs. Many American GIs came to visit, especially after she and Toklas returned to Paris in 1944, and the couple traveled to visit American soldiers in Germany. Despite her position in the art and literary world and her identity as a lesbian, Stein was a conservative who had supported Franco and encouraged individualism. Her postwar book Brewsie and Willie was based on her conversations with American GIs using the style of dialect and dialogue. It was a critique of what Stein saw as spoiled American culture and the evils of industrialization in the US, and a call for individualism. After the war her writings also commented on the race issues of America, the meaning of freedom, and feminist ideas. Her last full-length work was the libretto for The Mother of Us All about Susan B. Anthony. By 1946 Stein was suffering from stomach cancer. She died on July 27, 1946 at age 72 while undergoing surgery for her cancer. She was buried in Pére Lachaise cemetery in Paris; Alice would survive her by twenty years and be buried with her. Several of her works, as well as letters and poems with Toklas, were published after her death. Stein’s writing gained new attention starting in the 1970s with the rise of post-modernism and as an icon of gay culture. She was known for her use of autobiography and for her unique and avant-garde writing style. As Lucy Daniel wrote, “Stein’s true radical legacy lay in her insistence on showing how words and their meanings could be undone; she took it as her right that she had the freedom to use words exactly as she pleased, and in doing so she undermined the relation between words and the world…” Stein is recognized for both her work in supporting in the arts and her literary contributions. According to the Yale catalogue of her works she wrote 571 pieces in a variety of forms from poetry and novels to scientific works, librettos, and autobiographies.

Gertrude Stein was an influential author whose poetry and novels became well-known following the publication of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1933. The daughter of Jewish immigrants from Germany, she nearly completed a medical degree before deciding to study the literature and the arts. Stein lived in Europe for much of her adult life, returning to New York in 1934 as a celebrity following the popularity of her 1933 novel which told Stein's life and work through the voice of her lifelong companion Alice Toklas. This statue of Gertrude Stein was installed in 1992 to recognize her contributions to literature and the arts. The casting was made from a 1923 model by Jo Davidson in Paris. 

Gertrude Stein Monument 

The hotel was designed by architect Goldin Starrett and his brothers (designer of the Empire State Building, among other famous landmarks). The Renaissance limestone and brick facade is twelve stories tall, with 174 guest rooms. Originally, the hotel was to be named The Puritan, but the first general manager, Frank Case, suggested The Algonquin instead. When the Algonquin opened on November 22, 1902, single rooms rented for two dollars a night, and three-bedroom suites for ten. Two years later, a nineteenth-century, two-story horse stable on the adjoining property was annexed as part of the hotel, and a third floor was added to the annex in 1905. The annex has housed a barber shop, apartments, a supper club, a rehearsal studio, and several restaurants in its time. Thanks to Frank Case, who welcomed theater and literary guests genially, the hotel was frequented by actors, critics, writers, and publishers.In the summer of 1919, New York Times drama critic Aleck Woollcott returned from World War I. A lunch party was thrown in the Algonquin's Pergola Room (now the Oak Room) by approximately twenty-four of Woollcott's friends, including newspapermen Franklin P. Adams, Heywood Broun, George S. Kaufman, Marc Connelly, and Deems Taylor; actresses Peggy Wood and Margalo Gillmore; magazine writer Margaret Leech; publicists John Peter Toohey and William Murray; and Vanity Fair writers Robert E. Sherwood and Dorothy Parker, along with their managing editor, Robert Benchley. The group returned nearly every day for lunch for the next ten years, outgrowing the Pergola Room and accommodated in the main dining room by Frank Case, who gave them a round table in the Rose Room (now the Round Table Restaurant). According to the Dorothy Parker society, "The 'Vicious Circle' is the most celebrated literary group in American Literature," [3]. In addition to their six-days-a-week, long lunch meetings, the Algonquin Round Table (also known as the Vicious Circle) often met upstairs in the hotel rooms of its members for night-time poker games. At one of these, Harold Ross won enough money to finance and found The New Yorker in 1925.The Algonquin opened the Blue Bar in 1933, after Prohibition ended. The bar's name comes from its blue lighting, suggested by actor and long-term hotel guest John Barrymore. Barrymore is also responsible for the tradition of naming the hotel's resident male cats Hamlet, though the first cat, who took up residence in 1923, was named Billy. Since Billy's time, the hotel has had seven Hamlets and three Matildas (the name of the current Algonquin cat).On March 25, 1936, the New York Drama Critics Circle Awards judges met at the Algonquin to vote for a winner. After three days of arguing, a winner was decided, and a dinner reception was held at the hotel to award Maxwell Anderson's Winterset. After Frank Case's death in 1946, Ben Bodne purchased the hotel to fulfill a promise made to his wife, as the couple had fallen in love with the Algonquin during their honeymoon stay in 1924.The Oak Room opened as a cabaret in 1981, launching the careers of Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Kroll, Michael Feinstein, Peter Cincotti, and Andrea Marcovicci. The Algonquin was designated a New York City Landmark in 1987, though it is not protected from renovation or demolition by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Friends of Libraries USA added the hotel to the list of National Literary Landmarks in 1996. Renovations to the hotel beginning in 1998 included the restoration of the lobby to its pre-war appearance, modernization of amenities, and the installation of a new round table. The hotel closed for the first time in its 102-year history for renovations in the summer of 2004 for the addition of two special events rooms and 3,000 square feet of meeting room space on the second floor. The upstairs hallways are decorated with New Yorker cartoon wallpaper, and the Library Boardroom includes the hotel's permanent book collection. The multi-million dollar renovations were designed by Alexandra Champalimaud.Marker inscriptions:[Historic Marker]The Algonquin Hotel, which opened its doors in 1902, is best known as the home of the famed Round Table, a group of writers and critics who met for lunch and stimulating conversation during the 1920s. The hotel's cultural associations, nurtured by its early congenial proprietor Frank Case, have attracted generations of famous figures in literature and theater. Architect Goldwin Starrett designed the Algonquin's main twelve-story structure in brick with limestone, metal, and terra-cotta elements. The Beaux-Arts inspired building was designed with projecting metal bay windows and classical details. In 1905, the three-story annex of brick, metal, and glazed wood was converted from a nineteenth century stable to a cafe and dining room for the hotel.[Historic Hotels Marker]Historic Hotels of AmericaNational Trust for Historic Preservation TM[Literary Landmarks Marker]Friends of Libraries USALiterary Landmarks RegisterThe Algonquin HotelSite of the legendary Algonquin Round Table of the 1920s, where such acid-tongued wits as Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Alexander Woollcott traded barbs and bon mots daily over lunch. The centuries literary luminaries William Faulkner, Sinclair Lewis, Harold Ross of The New Yorker, Gertrude Stein and James Thurber among countless others -- also found a haven within its oak-lined walls.Designated a Literary Landmark July 6, 1996

As New York City's most prestigious literary hotel, The Algonquin is designated a New York City Landmark and a National Literary Landmark. It has hosted writers, editors, actors, producers, critics, and publishers for over one hundred years, including the famous Algonquin Round Table (also known as the Vicious Circle), actors John Barrymore and Harpo Marx, and authors William Faulkner, Gertrude Stein, J.D. Salinger, and Maya Angelou, among many others. Its Oak Room Cabaret has helped launch musical careers such as those of Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Feinstein. The Round Table Restaurant is the meeting place of the literary circle which included the founder of The New Yorker, Harold Ross; Dorothy Parker; Robert Benchley; and many other important writers and editors of the 1920s. Monthly walking tours of the hotel and nearby sites related to the Algonquin Round Table are available through the Dorothy Parker Society (see links at bottom of entry), led by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, the Society's president.

Algonquin Hotel

Buffie Johnson was a versatile and prolific visual artist, whose work spanned most of the twentieth century. She began showing her paintings in the 1930s and was still active near the end of her life in 2006. Her artistic style ranged from Abstract Expressionism to Surrealism. In 1943, Johnson bought the building, then in a state of disrepair, on East 58th Street, for just $2000. Even then, that price was a bargain. Johnson enlisted the help of a friend, Tony Smith, who was a former student of Frank Lloyd Wright, to renovate the building. Together, Johnson and Smith created a whimsical, "wonder-filled paradise," that included an aviary and numerous free-flying canaries. Johnson befriended many of the artistic and literary luminaries of the twentieth century, including Truman Capote, Greta Garbo, Gypsy Rose Lee, Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko, Gore Vidal, and Andy Warhol, to name just a few. One of her friends (and the subject of a painting by Johnson) was the playwright Tennessee Williams. In 1948, Williams began leasing the ground floor of the building from Johnson. Williams lived in the building with his lover, Frank Merlo, until the early 1950s, Williams was rapidly developing a reputation as one of the nation's finest playwrights, and it was during his time in the building that he won the 1950 Tony Award for The Rose Tattoo. The building was one of several New York residences the author would have over the course of his life. Johnson moved to a house in the Hamptons in 1950 but continued to own the building until 1970.

A small and relatively unassuming building on East 58th Street has been home to two of the twentieth century's most influential artists. In 1943, painter Buffie Johnson purchased the building for $2000 and lived there until 1950. For part of that time, she leased the ground floor to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams. 

Former Home of Buffie Johnson and Tennessee Williams 

The three investors in the newly-constructed Plaza Hotel wasted little time expanding their hotel after its opening.&nbsp;The 19-story building was one of the largest hotels at the time of its construction and the investors spared little expense on the interior,&nbsp;enlisting the help of designer Janeway Hardenbergh who worked to make the New York hotel emulate the&nbsp;style of a lavish French Chateau. Hardenbergh designed and placed the single largest gold-encrusted china order in history with Straus &amp; Sons, along with an order of 1,650 crystal chandeliers. The plan was to make the glitz and glam of the hotel inviting to the wealthy clientele it would serve.

The building was also a residence for wealthy New Yorkers. Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt were the first to sign the guest register and many wealthy New Yorkers maintained a suite at the hotel. The Plaza has hosted kings, ambassadors, actors, business executives, and world leaders. The Beatles were among the many musicians to stay at the hotel, and their six-day stay in 1960 enhanced the Plaza's reputation as the city's premier hotel. The Plaza has appeared in many films, including Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 North by Northwest. The hotel was also the site of the filming of the original Great Gatsby, and its temporary owner Donald Trump (whose mismanagement of the hotel led to bankruptcy)&nbsp;was featured in Home Alone 2.&nbsp;In 1978, the hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Later, in 1986, is was given the prestigious title National Historic Landmark.&nbsp; It remains the only hotel in New York with that designation. Eight interior rooms including The Palm Court, the Grand Ballroom, the Terrace Room, the Edwardian Room, The Oak Room and the Oak Bar, the 59th Street lobby and the Fifth Avenue lobby were designated by The New York City Landmarks Preservation in 2005. That same year the Plaza closed its door for another extensive restoration—with the project’s total cost reaching $450 million. The doors reopened in 2007 to celebrate 100 years of business.Perhaps ironically, the hotel's most famous resident is a fictional character. Eloise is an elusive and unpredictable 6-year-old created by children’s author Kay Thompson. Eloise was Thompson’s alter ego, and she used her Eloise “voice” to entertain friends. She later wrote a book about Eloise’s adventures living in the Plaza with Nanny, her turtle Skiperdee, and her pug Weenie. The first book was published in November 1955 and was a huge success with three more books following:&nbsp;Eloise in Paris, Eloise at Christmastime, and Eloise in Moscow. Thompson&nbsp;lived at The Plaza and predictably began receiving phone calls from girls saying “Please may I speak to Eloise?” Children even began visiting the Plaza asking to meet the character. Soon, the staff began to play along and respond “I’m sorry, you just missed her. But if you run into Eloise, please tell her we found her missing shoes.” A pair of Mary Jane’s, her signature, was kept on hand to demonstrate Eloise’s continuous presence.&nbsp;The Plaza embraced Eloise over the years having people come in to play the character for all the visitors. Many parts of the hotel and activities in it were linked to Eloise’s adventures in tribute. In 2010, on The Plaza Concourse Level, the Eloise Plaza Shop opened and Betsy Johnson, a famous fashion designer, designed a spectacular Eloise Suite.&nbsp;

From its opening in 1907 to today, this iconic hotel has represented the glamour of New York City and has entertained celebrities and world leaders. The current Plaza Hotel replaced a much smaller hotel, also known as the Plaza Hotel, that operated at this location from 1890 to 1905. Investors Bernhard Beinecke, Fred Sterry, and Harry S. Black recognized the value of this location and constructed the present luxury hotel which became the first in the city to become a National Historic Landmark. 

The Plaza Hotel 

Ernest Hemingway's life was nothing if not peripatetic. His storied life took him to various locations around the globe, including Paris, Spain, Africa, and numerous places in the United States, most notably Key West, where he kept a home. But much of the last three decades of his life was spent in Cuba, at his home called Finca Vigia, on the outskirts of Havana. By most accounts, it was in Cuba that the author felt most at home. The Cuban Revolution in 1959 and the ascension of Fidel Castro to power meant the end of Hemingway's life on the island. Shortly after Castro came to power, the United States ended diplomatic relations with the country and pressured its most famous writer to demonstrate his patriotism by returning home, a move he resisted fiercely. A few months earlier, he had purchased an apartment in New York City to give him much-needed privacy on business trips to the city. The apartment, in a building then known as the Morgan, was small--900 square feet--on the fourth floor. Hemingway spent a few months in the apartment in 1959--the most settled he would ever be in the city, where he tended to rotate between various hotels. It is believed that he wrote at least part of what would be his last book, "A Moveable Feast," while living there. By this point, Hemingway was in poor health both physically and mentally, and in 1961, he left New York for his home in Ketchum, Idaho. It was there that the writer took his life. "A Moveable Feast" was published posthumously in 1964. Now known as the Spencer, Hemingway's former home was built in 1904 as a single-family residence for John Drexel, grandson of the founder of Philadelphia banking house, Drexel &amp; Co. It was later divided into apartments, one of which was the home for many years of comedian Joan Rivers.

Revered author Ernest Hemingway spent much of the last three decades of his life at his home near Havana, Cuba. When Fidel Castro took power in 1959 following the Cuban Revolution, the United States cut diplomatic relations with the country and pressured the writer to return home. Hemingway had purchased the East 62nd Street apartment earlier in 1959 for use on business trips to the city, and after leaving Cuba for the last time, he spent time in the home, and it is believed that he wrote his last book, "A Moveable Feast" there.

Former Apartment of Ernest Hemingway 

<div>&nbsp;William Shakespeare was born in April, in the year of 1564. Not much can be said about Shakespeare’s childhood. His father was a local trader before rising in local government in Stratford then failing at that due to misfortunes. Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and had three children. Susanna the oldest and she had two younger siblings, Judith and Hamnet. The boy died at a young age.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</div><div>Shakespeare’s first time out in the spotlight is when he plays as an actor and uses the playwright of Robert Greene’s "A Groatsworth of Wilt", from here he would go to London. By 1594, Shakespeare had joined the Chamberlain’s Men, a theater company. It would later be known as the King’s Men. They would perform at the Globe Theater in London, where a lot of Shakespeare’s plays would be performed as well. By the time of Shakespeare’s death in 1616, he had written thirteen comedies, thirteen historical dramas, six tragedies, four tragic comedies and 154 sonnets. He also created words by combining different languages. Shakespeare took the world by a literature storm and his writings and words are still used all over the world today.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp; In 1864, actors and managers within a Shakespearean theater got permission from the Central Park’s Board of Commissioners start the construction of a Shakespeare Monument at the end of the Mall between two elm trees. It was not until the end of the Civil War before this project was moved forward. In 1866, John Quincy Adams Ward joined a competition that was held to find someone to sculpt the statue. Ward won the competition. Ward would later be known as “Dean of American Sculptors”. Nine of his sculptures can be found in the parks of New York. There were several benefits to raise money to build the sculpture, one was a performance of Julius Caesar. Ward was able to use images of Shakespeare and details of Elizabethan dress and poses in that time period to capture the essence of William Shakespeare.&nbsp; &nbsp;By 1870, the sculpture was cast at the Robert Wood &amp; Co in Philadelphia. In 1872, the sculpture was unveiled on a temporary base because there were delays with the granite pedestal, that was coming from Scotland. A month later, the temporary base was replaced with the granite pedestal. In 1995, the Central Park Conservancy has&nbsp;paid to restore the memorial throughout the years.&nbsp;</div><div> </div>

William Shakespeare had written thirteen comedies, thirteen historical dramas, six tragedies, four tragic comedies and 154 sonnets, that are still read all over the world today. Shakespeare has been a big influence on many writers and education majors for many, many years and will continue to do so. The memorial of William Shakespeare in New York City was sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward and was unveiled at the end of the Mall in Central Park between two elm trees on April 23, 1872. It was reveled 308 years after Shakespeare's birth. 

Shakespeare Monument 

Henry Clay Frick was born in 1849 to a modest family in southern Pennsylvania. Frick developed an aptitude for quality bookkeeping and amassed a small amount of money. In 1871, Frick began investing in the coke industry, a necessary product for the creation of steel. Within a decade of business expansion, Frick owned almost eighty percent of the coke used in Pittsburgh. This caused Frick to move to the city, where he married Adelaide Childs, daughter of another business magnate. The couple had four children together, with two surviving past childhood. Helen Frick, born in 1888, was particularly important to the history of the Frick Collection. For many years, Frick engaged in business in partnership with Andrew Carnegie, a Pittsburgh steel manufacturer. However, Frick’s heavy-handed approaches to labor disputes and union-busting soured the two men’s relationship, and in 1905, Frick distanced himself from Pittsburgh and moved to New York.While living in New York, Frick’s interest in collecting art increased. The businessman began collecting in his late forties, though the pace at which he acquired work rapidly accelerated later in life. By 1913, Frick wanted to build a new home, while also ensuring that his collection would be visible for future generations. He contracted Carrère and Hastings to design a grand building that would serve as a house for Frick in the present, and a museum in the future. The final project cost $5 million – over $131 million adjusted for inflation – and the result was a spectacular beaux-arts manor. Despite being located in the heart of a major city, the expansive gardens and relatively low profile of the building help enforce an impression of a serene country estate. Frick occupied the home for only a couple years before passing away in 1919. In his will, Frick bequeathed the home, the furnishing, and all the art it contained to the creation of a new gallery known as The Frick Collection.After her father’s death, Helen Frick became increasingly engaged with The Frick Collection. One of her first projects was the creation of The Frick Art Reference Library. This institution strived to continue Henry Frick’s promotion of the arts and arts knowledge. The library was initially housed in the basement of the family home before being moved to a simple Indiana limestone building at 6 East 71st street. The structure was designed by the same Hastings who designed the Frick House, and was intended to house Frick’s sculpture collection. Adelaide Frick, Henry Frick’s wife, continued to occupy the home until 1931. When she passed away that year, the trustees of the Frick Collection began preparing the home for public access. John Russel Pope – who designed many American institutions such as the National Archives, Jefferson Memorial, and National Gallery of Art – was hired to convert the Frick residence into a museum. Pope added two galleries, created a combination lecture hall and music room, and designed the Garden Court. The architect also designed a new building that was appended to the Frick House and contained the library.Following Pope’s redesign of the Frick House, The Frick Collection officially opened to the public in 1935. Many notable names were at the opening ceremony including the Lindberghs, Carnegies, Mellons, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, and more. Though the Frick House functions as a museum, it also reflects its history as a house as well. Works of art are arranged aesthetically rather than by period, type, or style. The house was decorated by the hands of two interior designers. Sir Charles Allom decorated the first floor, which contained the Frick House’s public spaces and meeting rooms, while Elsie de Wolfe decorated the second floor, which contained the Frick family’s private spaces. All furnishings, details, and materials were chosen to complement the art. Though the interior remains virtually untouched, changes to the grounds were made in the late 1930s, most notably, the addition of three iconic magnolia trees in the Fifth Avenue Garden. The only major renovations since the 1930s occurred in 1977. Russell Page designed a new garden on Seventieth Street and created a pavilion to accommodate guest services. The museum had initially planned on expanding again in 2014, but the community was opposed to the loss of a garden this would entail. New plans for expansion are underway with guidance from several historic architects and horticulturists.The Frick Collections’ holdings are simultaneously eclectic and unified. Works are primarily European, ranging from the Renaissance through Early Modernist art. Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and French works are represented, with one of the museum’s highlights being a room devoted to Jean-Honoré Fragonard, a Rococo painter. In addition to the copious amounts of antique furniture, The Frick Collection also includes a variety of eighteenth-century decorative objects, such as Limoges enamels and Oriental rugs. A large portion of the decorative arts in the collection were purchased from J. P. Morgan. The Frick Collection continues to promote art education through exhibitions, workshops, and concert and lecture series. The unique manner in which the art is displayed help visitors experience Frick’s collection as the previous owner once did.

The Frick Collection was formed from industrialist Henry Clay Frick’s personal art collection in 1935. The collection consists of works associated with Old Master paintings along with European sculptures and decorative arts. The Frick resides in Frick’s New York City residence, which he built with the understanding that it would one day become a museum. For this reason, the galleries are arranged aesthetically, rather than by particular themes. Frick’s home has changed extremely little and allows visitors to view works of art, architecture, and furnishings in the same way Frick would have. Aside from the collection, the Museum hosts special exhibitions, concert series, lectures and other educational programs. The goal of the collection is to preserve and deepen the appreciation of art.

The Frick Collection

The collections now housed at the New York
Public Library for the Performing Arts (or LPA) were originally stored at two public libraries in the system:&nbsp;the
main branch, now named the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (the research collections
for dance, music and theatre), and the 58th Street branch
(the circulating music collection). The idea of a separate building to house the
collections was broached as early as 1932, but it was only after Lincoln Center
was incorporated in 1956 that planning actually began. The library was combined in the same building&nbsp;with the Vivian Beaumont
Theater (also part of Lincoln Center) to save costs. The LPA was designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) in the International Style to match the style of the rest of Lincoln Center. The Beaumont occupies the northern side of the
building while the&nbsp;LPA's first and second floors occupy the southern and
western sides, with the library’s third floor research collections providing
the roof. On the plaza near the entrance is a large stabile, designed by famous sculptor Alexander Calder, titled "Le Guichet." The LPA houses the following collections: The Billy Rose Theatre Division - This division&nbsp;contains an enormous collection of personal papers and organizational records,
scrapbooks, photographs, posters, programs, reviews and scripts.&nbsp;It also provide
access to an array of traditional published books and journals, as
well as a circulating collection of theatre books, scripts, videos and music. Particularly noteworthy is&nbsp;the division's&nbsp;efforts to document live theatre through the Theatre on Film and Tape (TOFT) Archive.&nbsp;Since 1970, TOFT has been photographing theatrical productions with the approval of
Actor’s Equity; there are over 5000 tapes in the archive,
including the original production of the classic musical A Chorus Line.&nbsp;“Last year we had researchers from 35 countries
and 47 states, with quite a few artists from regional theatres throughout the
United States,” says TOFT archive Director Patrick Hoffman. The Jerome Robbins Dance Division - Chronicling the art of dance in all its
forms - ballet, ethnic, modern, social and folk - the division is
part museum,
part film production center and part consulting service to the world of professional
dance. The Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded
Moving Image, the film and videotape archive of the division,
began when the library first opened in 1965, with six cans of
film donated by choreographer Jerome Robbins. The archive has grown to over 25,000 film and video titles. The Music Division&nbsp;- Documenting the diverse art of music - classical, popular and world music alike -&nbsp;the division's&nbsp;curatorial mandate places major emphasis on capturing the creative output of contemporary
composers.&nbsp;This division also contains&nbsp;the American Music
Collection, which includes documents like the first edition of "The
Star-Spangled Banner," native American songs,&nbsp;and manuscript
collections of American composers&nbsp;like Henry
Cowell, John Cage and Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded
Sound&nbsp;- The archives'&nbsp;holdings cover virtually every type of recorded&nbsp;sound, from&nbsp;orchestral works and pop recordings to
speeches, radio programs&nbsp;and TV shows.&nbsp;It is both a&nbsp;research facility for performers, musicians, scholars and&nbsp;critics, and a leader in recording preservation efforts,&nbsp;as it&nbsp;is continually developing
technology&nbsp;to transfer sound from obsolete to accessible
formats. Recently, a&nbsp;journalist, reporting on the 50th
anniversary of the library’s opening, was shown manuscripts
written by Mozart and Beethoven, the score of a musical written by the novelist F. Scott
Fitzgerald when he was at Princeton, a first edition of the Gershwin opera Porgy
and Bess and the original handwritten liner notes by jazz pianist Bill
Evans for the classic Miles Davis album Kind of Blue.
She was also shown wax cylinder recordings of the Metropolitan Opera from
the early 20th Century; costume sketches for ballerina Natalya
Goncharova for Igor Stravinsky’s composition, Les Noces, choreographed by
Nijinsky; and&nbsp;models for stage sets for the musical Cabaret,
including a miniature model of actor Joel Grey.

This branch of the New York Public Library is part of the Lincoln Center complex and is home of one of the world's largest collections of library materials related to the performing arts. These materials may be viewed free of charge and some may be checked out to library card holders. The library also offers special programs such as special exhibitions of materials from its collections, lectures performances, and traveling exhibits. The library is located near the north side of the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center Plaza and shares a building with the Vivian Beaumont Theater.  

The library includes the Billy Rose Theatre Division, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive archives devoted to the theatrical arts; the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the largest and most comprehensive archive in the world devoted to the documentation of dance; the Music Division, which contains one of the world's preeminent music collections; and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, one of the richest resources of recorded sound in the world. 

The library has been open since 1965. In 2015, the library was voted Best Public Library by the Village Voice. “If you need to catch up on your John Ford westerns or map the differences and similarities between the styles of Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham, or get to the bottom, once and for all, of the sound of John Cage," the Village Voice reported, "the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is where you want to be.”

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

<div>In the Museum, some of its highly regarded exhibits include&nbsp;WWII &amp; NYC, Grant and Lee in War and Peace, and Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made America, to name just a few. There is also an extensive art collection within the museum that contains over 1.6 million pieces of prized artwork from paintings by Rembrandt Peale to Thomas Cole. The collection includes Hudson River School paintings, genre and historical paintings, and even sculptures by artists like Elie Nadelman.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>The New-York Historical Society also contains the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library. According to the NY Historical Society website, the library contains more than three million books, pamphlets, maps, atlases, newspapers, broadsides, music sheets, manuscripts, prints, and architectural drawings. The collections within the library cover many periods of US History including the colonial times and the founding of the United States, as well as containing several documents pertaining to slavery and post-Civil War Reconstruction. Also housed within the massive collection of the Library are several artifacts covering 19th-century literature and poetry as well as several resources for research on various topics, such as education and philanthropy.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>The New-York Historical Library houses several programs, including The Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture. It's located on the 4th floor of the museum and appeals especially to the visual senses by allowing visitors to browse over 40,000 historical artifacts all in one place. These include a vast collection of Tiffany lamps to a replica of what George Washington's campsite would have looked like during the Revolutionary War. &nbsp;It also contains some quirkier items, such as a vast collection of board games from the late 19th century. &nbsp;There are interactive sections and audio guides so visitors can be at ease while browsing the center. &nbsp;Other features of the New-York Historical Society include the DiMenna Children's History Museum and the New York Historical Society Education Center, which offers a wide variety of school programs to help equip young people with research skills.&nbsp;</div><div> </div>

The New York Historical Museum and Library was founded in 1804. It is the state's oldest museum and prides itself in offering historical documents on U.S. and New York history, exhibitions, and artwork. It is seventy years older than the Museum of Metropolitan of Art. The New-York Historical Society Museum functions as a place of research and fosters discussions on issues focusing on the making of history and historiography. 

New York Historical Society Museum and Library

When she arrived in Harlem in the winter of 1925, Zora Neale Hurston reportedly had less than $2.00 to her name. But she had completed an Associate's degree from Howard University in Washington, DC., and would soon enroll at Barnard College, becoming the school's first African American student. She also had ambition and a desire to be a part of the flourishing African American arts&nbsp;scene, which was then known as the New Negro Movement. As she was nearly penniless when she arrived, she spent her first few nights in the city in a home at 580 St. Nicholas Avenue. The home belonged to three African American art patrons--Regina Anderson, Ethel Ray, and Louella Tucker, and it provided a welcoming place to land for artists newly arrived in the city. Within a few weeks, she rented a place in a brownstone here on West 131st Street. While she worked on an anthropology degree under the guidance of Franz Boas, she moved among the leading figures of what is now known as the Harlem Renaissance--Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and others. She developed friendships with some of these writers and had professional spats with others (Richard Wright, most notably.) She also became more focused on her writing although she had already published a story before arriving in New York. During her time in Harlem, she wrote the essay, "How it Feels to be Colored Me," and collaborated with Langston Hughes on a play and a short-lived literary journal.&nbsp; The Harlem Renaissance largely ended with the Great Depression, as did Hurston's time in New York. She moved back to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida, in 1932. She would return to Harlem over the years in between jaunts to the Caribbean, but for the remainder of her life, Florida would be home.&nbsp; The last years of Hurston's life were a far cry from her days as a minor celebrity and author in Harlem. She spent her last years working as a maid and a manicurist and lived in poverty. When she died in 1960, her books were long out of print, and she was buried in an unmarked grave. Largely because of the work of Alice Walker, Hurston was rediscovered in the 1970s. Walker found Hurston's grave and placed a marker there that honors the author as a "genius of the South." In recent years, many people have discovered Zora Neale Hurston as a result of literature classes or from reading the books on Oprah Winfrey's list of recommended books.

Born in Alabama and raised in Florida, Zora Neale Hurston came to Harlem in 1925. During her time in the city, she earned a degree from Barnard College and soon became one of the luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. Though it was her Southern home that was the setting for much of her writing, it was her time in Harlem that launched her career. Like many other writers and artists, Hurston left Harlem as the Depression limited money that was available from patrons of the arts. Five years after leaving this brownstone where she penned many of her most influential works, she published the novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God." The book received mixed reviews at the time but today it is often included in lists of the most influential books published in the 20th century.

Former Apartment of Zora Neale Hurston (1925-1932)

In 1926,&nbsp;The New York Public Library&nbsp;added&nbsp;the personal collection of the distinguished Black scholar and bibliophile Arturo Alfonso Schomburg to the Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints of its 135th Street Branch Library.&nbsp; Schomburg subsequently served as curator of the division from 1932 until his death in 1938. The division was renamed in his honor in 1940, and in 1972 it was designated as one of the Research Libraries of The New York Public Library.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/64/205">Research and Reference Division</a> The Research and Reference Division contains more than 15o,ooo volumes and 85,ooo microforms. Primarily in English, they also include works in a variety of African and European languages. Although weighted heavily toward the humanities and social sciences, the division's collections also comprise resources covering medicine and the natural sciences. In addition, it offers more than 6,ooo serials, including 4oo Black newspapers and 1,ooo current periodicals from around the world. The Ernest D. Kaiser Index to Black Resources is one of the Schomburg Center's most unique finding aids, providing more than 179,000 citations to articles in thousands of issues of Black magazines and newspapers.

The Research and Reference Division is officially named the Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division after the Center's curator and chief from 1948-1980. Hutson played a key role in preserving the facility be means of helping to secure funds, growing the Center's collection, and tailoring the library to the needs of the people. Under Hutson's tenure as curator and chief, the library grew from a mere 15,000 volumes to an astound 75,000 volumes. This was due largely to her connection with childhood friend and esteemed poet Langston Hughes, whom she was able to persuade to donate a large part of his collection to the library. Today, one of the&nbsp;three buildings which make up the Schomburg Center is named&nbsp;after Langston Hughes in recognition of his&nbsp;generous contribution. The growth of&nbsp;the libraries resources which resulted&nbsp;naturally from this contribution gained&nbsp;due to the&nbsp;efforts of Hutson&nbsp;created a need for more space to house them.&nbsp;To fix this growing need for space,&nbsp;Hutson helped to&nbsp;establish the Schomburg Corporation in 1971.&nbsp;This corporation was&nbsp;charged with the goal of raising money for more space to house&nbsp;the Center's growing collection and was made up of many concerned and passionate&nbsp;Harlem residents.&nbsp;Not only mention, Hutson also&nbsp;"learned to go to Albany", where she petitioned legislature for funds to&nbsp;construct a more viable living space for the Center's collection.&nbsp;These acts collectively led to the acquisition of the $3.7mil used to construct the new building for the Center, which opened in 1981.

<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/64/206">Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</a> The Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division enables researchers to work directly with unique, original source materials. The collection has grown through the years, beginning with the rare treasures from Arturo Alfonso Schomburg's personal holdings. Today, it contains more than 3,900 rare books, 580 manuscript collections, and 15,ooo pieces of sheet music and rare printed materials. These include the original manuscript of Richard Wright's Native Son; the papers of Dr. Robert Weaver, the first Black United States cabinet officer; Gustavus Vassa's autobiography, which provides evidence for Granville Sharp's attack on slavery in the British colonies in 1796; and records of the Civil Rights Congress.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/64/204">Art and Artifacts Division</a> The Art and Artifacts Division houses one of the most comprehensive collections of Black artists' work in a research center. It includes paintings, sculptures, works on paper and textiles, and material culture. It contains more than 20,000 items from Africa and the African Diaspora. The collection is particularly strong in art produced during the Harlem Renaissance and WPA periods. This includes murals by Aaron Douglas, a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. Black American artists are represented by 19th-century figures such as Edward Mitchell Bannister and Henry Ossawa Tanner, and 20th-century figures such as Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, and Romare Bearden.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/64/208">Photographs and Prints Division</a> The Photographs and Prints Division includes collections of images from mid-18th-century graphics to contemporary documentary and art photographs. The more than 500,000 items include portraits of many prominent 19th- and 20th-century Black artists, political figures, actors, musicians, athletes, and social activists. The collection also documents Black life throughout the world including scenes from Africa and the slave era through the 20th-century Americas. Among the photographers represented are James VanDerZee, Gordon Parks, Edward Steichen, Coreen Simpson, Bert Andrews, and Chester Higgins.<a target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/64/207">Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division</a> The Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division offers a broad range of audiovisual documentation of Black culture including music, oral history recordings, motion pictures, and videotapes. Its resources include early radio broadcasts and recordings of statements by celebrated personalities such as Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, and George Washington Carver. Musical documentation ranges from African chants to American jazz. These assets are complemented today by a special Oral History/Video Documentation Project which videotapes interviews with historically or culturally significant figures. It offers over 5,000 hours of oral history recordings and more than 5,000 motion pictures and videotapes of early Black Þlm classics, documentaries, and radio programs from many parts of the world.Educational and Cultural Programs Educational and Cultural Programs at the Schomburg Center complement its research services and interpret its collections. Seminars, forums, workshops, staged readings, film screenings, performing arts programs, and special events are presented on a year-round basis in its renowned Langston Hughes Auditorium.Each year, the Schomburg Center presents a number of exhibitions featuring art objects, photographs, documents, published works and artifacts drawn from its own holdings, as well as resources from other institutions. These exhibitions explore issues and themes in the history and culture of people of African descent throughout the world. The programs and exhibitions are open to everyone, from schoolchildren to senior citizens, and most are available for free, increasing the library's role as a community center. The Schomburg Center's Traveling Exhibitions program makes exhibits on themes such as the Black press, the anti-apartheid movement, Black photographers, Black theatre, and voluntary Black migration available to institutions nationally and internationally. The Schomburg Center's Schools Program offers Summer Institutes for teachers, year-round teachers' forums, and workshops on Black history and culture. It also produces and disseminates curriculum guides, exhibition portfolios, and audiovisual materials on related themes.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture located in Harlem, New York is a research unit of The New York Public Library system. It is recognized as one of the leading institutions focusing exclusively on African-American, African Diaspora, and African experiences. Begun with the collections of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg more than 85 years ago, the Schomburg has collected, preserved, and provided access to materials documenting Black life—in America and worldwide. It has also promoted the study and interpretation of the history and culture of peoples of African descent. Today, the Schomburg continues to serve the community not just as a center and a library, but also as a space that encourages lifelong education and exploration.

The Schomburg Center consists of three connected buildings: The Schomburg Building, the Langston Hughes Building, and the Landmark Building.

Libraries and Literary History Landmarks of New York

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information