In the early 1970s a large movement of residents to the suburbs created a fiscal crisis in New York. Many residential buildings fell into disrepair, or lay in ruins throughout the city’s more marginalized neighborhoods where crime became an increasing concern. Despite its adversities, the city continues to make strides. The first NYC Marathon is run, making it the largest in the world. The West Village begins its annual tradition of the Halloween Parade and LGBT Pride March. The city adds staples such as B&H Photo, CBGB music club, Gray’s Papaya, and Times Square TKTS booth.
Aerial view of the East River showing Piers 17 and 18, South Street Seaport at Fulton Street.
Officials of New York's Port Authority discussing office space with a scale model of New World Trade Center in background.
1251 Avenue of the Americas, formerly known as the Exxon Building, is a skyscraper on Sixth Avenue (also known as Avenue of the Americas), between 49th and 50th Streets, in Manhattan.
Overhead view of lower Manhattan with World Trade Center & other construction in progress.
Photograph of the interior of the World Trade Center Lobby under construction.
Elevated perspective of the McGraw Hill Building construction. The Empire State Building and midtown skyline are visible in the distance.
The construction of World Trade Center 1 and 2, colloquially known as the Twin Towers.
Photograph looking south on Westside Highway at Pier 25, with the World Trade Center visible in the distance.
Photograph of passengers waiting in line to buy tokens at a subway station booth.
The first subway token change occurred in 1970 when the fare was raised to 30 cents and 50 million tokens were minted.
Photograph of a graffiti covered 1 Train at the 125th Street Station on its way to South Ferry.
Aerial photograph of untreated sewage spilling into the East River along 79th Street and The FDR Drive.
Photograph of the Newtown Creek Sewage Treatment Plant in Brooklyn, which began operation in 1967 and currently treats 18% of the City's wastewater.
Photograph of wall paintings on Houston Street which would grace the backdrop of many films and mark the style of the era.
Photograph of gridlock traffic in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.
Photograph of a Manhattan taxi driver picking up a fare. By 1973 the city had over 1,700 active cabs.
Photograph of a taxi driver with his arm hanging outside the window in Downtown Manhattan traffic.
Photograph of a sun-drenched Manhattan skyline, taken from the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.
A nocturnal cityscape of skyscrapers and lights captured through an open window on Park Avenue.
Welcome to the History of New York City - A Unique Online Gallery of NYC's Origins, Curated and Digitally Restored by Fine Print New York.
We're opening our archives to present this Collection of Vintage Photos, Historical Images and Rare Lithographs. This Exclusive Series of High Quality Art Prints are only Available for Purchase Exclusively on this Site.
Joseph Gornail, printer/photographer and founder of Fine Print New York. Joseph grew up in SoHo, Manhattan and is part of a long lineage of NYC printers, learning the family trade from his grandfather. While working for Dolo Records/Stretch Armstrong in 1996, Joseph founded All City Marketing & Printing, and in 1999 Co-Founded the legendary street wear company "Orchard Street " with lifelong friends Benjamin Holloway and Greig Bennett. Fine Print NYC was established in 2004 with a Nike project being the launchpad for a commercial printing company that has not only survived, but thrived in the digital age.
Steven Garcia, designer/illustrator and creative director of Fine Print New York. Born and raised in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Steven attended Fashion Industries High School and F.I.T. before building a successful career at Saatchi & Saatchi for as a professional retoucher and storyboard artist in 1995. Steven started ShinyDesign in 1998 and partnered with Fine Print in 2004 as the exclusive design firm for the company. Steven has independently worked on major advertising campaigns for many brands over the years, such as Snapple, The Waldorf Astoria and Sony to name a few.
Together, Joseph & Steven are responsible for the curation and direction of the History101.nyc project, which has been under development since 2006. They have a long history of collaborating together, going back as far as 2001 when Joseph was gallery manager and Steven was a curator at The New York City Urban Experience, an art gallery & museum that was located at 85 South Street and owned by Mike Saes of the Nike Bridge Runners and True Yorkers.
We cover a great portion of the city's history, ranging from its earliest days as New Amsterdam to the late 1980s. Artists are currently working on photos from the 90s to present day,
Here's a current list of what is covered:
There are currently 714 photos, lithographs, illustrations and maps on this site. Each one has been digitally restored and cleaned up by hand, which makes this collection truly unique.
Digital licenses are available for educational institutions (schools, universities, non-profit organizations). Please contact legal@fineprintnyc.com to discuss conditions for licensing.
NOTE: Any form of commercialization or redistribution of these images, either as tangible goods or third party licenses, is expressly forbidden.
History101.nyc is an ad-free and non-profit learning resource. We do not sell prints of these images. All operational costs are covered by Fine Print NYC
Absolutely! Feel free to send us an email with a preview of the image and we will let you know if it's a good fit for the archives.
We welcome any feedback that you may have. If it proves to be historically accurate the changes will be reflected on the site shortly after our correspondence.
We have collaborated with NYC's Municipal Archives, The Tenemant Museum, Bronx Historical Society and a number of prominent NYC photographers to produce a series of limited edition postcards which free of charge, but only available via street distribution, primarily in Manhattan.
Yes, we can repair, restore and cleanup your old family photos, slides and negatives. You can either send us the digital files or the original photos to be professionally scanned.
We can restore just about any level of damage or signs of aging, within reason. As long as most of the photo is intact we cn work with it. The one flaw we cannot fix is source material that is blurry. A poorly take photo can only be improved so much.
315 Madison Avenue • NYC 10017 • (212)619-5446 • art@fineprintnyc.com
History101.NYC is an ad-free learning resource available to the public at no charge.
This project is dedicated to exploring New York’s fascinating heritage through the restoration of vintage photographs and prints.