New York City

This will be my last post before returning to Missoula for Christmas (and to see whether or not the National Endowment for the Humanities will fund six months of my research project)...

Shortly before I left for the city, my photo duplication request from the Houghton Library at Harvard arrived in the mail. I can't wait to get a chance to organize my treasures from the Theodore Roosevelt collection!

On Wednesday, November 14th, 2007, I ventured into the Big Apple for a combination research trip and reunion with two friends from Missoula. I had secured my aunt's apartment on the Upper East Side for the duration of our stay, which worked out well (since it was so close to the #6 subway stop at Lexington and 96th).

I spent the first two days at the Regional National Archives building on Varick and Houston, which also happens to be the headquarters for the Regional Homeland Security Division (so the entrance had particularly tight security). I was disappointed to find that their microfilm passenger arrival lists for the Port of New York are the very same as the ones I had already consulted in Washington, D.C. The first day I found the librarians particularly unfriendly and I would've gone away from that experience with a bad taste in my mouth, had I not returned the following day and been treated to much better service.

In the afternoon of the second day, I took the #1 subway down to Battery Park to visit the site of Castle Garden, the first immigration station in New York (used before Ellis Island was built in 1892). The facade is still there, and there is a small National Park exhibit on immigration, but the rest of the grounds are now used to sell tickets for admission to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

In the reading room at the New York Public Library I consulted a reference book on passenger ship manifests, which explained the reasons for my frustration in trying to document early immigration solely with primary sources. The worst case scenario is that I may have to piece together that part of the story through secondary sources (including the letters of Theodore Roosevelt, who may be deemed a fairly reliable secondary source). While I was there I also visited the Jack Kerouac Exhibit (featured on the banner hanging from the front entrance in the accompanying picture).

The only other task I completed in NYC was to locate (and photograph) the former homes of Theodore Roosevelt, where he was living when he corresponded with members of the family I am researching. They were both in very fashionable neighborhoods! One is now an Italian pizzeria and barber shop - and the other is Club Monaco with a very high-end woman's clothing store on the street level.

Now, as to our sightseeing in New York... We went through Central Park in a hansome cab (pulled by Norman and driven by Emmett), played in FAO Schwarz (the toy store with the piano featured in the movie "Big"), visited Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Times Square, and the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. I spent two half days at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most notable among the special exhibitions I saw were: Tapestry in the Baroque, Gifts for the Gods (Egyptian temple artifacts), and The Age of Rembrandt (very crowded). Regular exhibition favorites were: Silversmiths to the Nation (Fletcher and Gardiner), and the new galleries of Oceanic Art (terrific wood carvings).

I came out of the city last Wednesday on the Lakeland Bus Line from Port Authority and was able to spend Thanksgiving on the east coast with my family for the first time in many years. The weekend was chock full of fun events, good company and delicious food for which I was indeed, grateful.