The hunt for historic images just got more exciting with the launch of a new map-based search site.

Urban Archive, which works with dozens of New York City’s collecting institutions to create a mobile archive, has expanded beyond their iPhone app to make photos accessible to anyone with Internet access. The map-based search platform allows users to enter an address or just click on a highlighted location to bring up historic images from the participating collections.

More than 40 organizations, including Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Collection at Brooklyn Public Library, have contributed images, with more than 100,000 mapped to precise locations. The site went live this morning.

urban archive

While many of the archives in the city already have searchable databases of their historic images online, the new Urban Archive platform makes it possible to find images across multiple collections. A test run of the new site showed that it includes circa 1940s tax photos for Bay Ridge. The collection, documenting every tax lot in the city, was digitized by the New York City Department of Records and Information Services and made accessible online in 2018.

In addition to individual photos, the website includes stories about specific addresses created by participating organizations. Combining historic images and a researched historic narrative, the stories highlight specific locations like Coney Island as well as themes such as environmental activism in Brooklyn. There are more than 300 stories on the site now, with more content added daily.

You can check out the new resource for yourself online here.

Related Stories

Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Brooklyn in Your Inbox

* indicates required
 
Subscribe

What's Your Take? Leave a Comment