New York City Neighborhood History

General Background Sources/Reference Books
Web Sites
Finding Books in the Pace Library
Finding Articles
Citing Your Sources

General Background Sources/Reference Books

AIA Guide to New York City /Elliot Wilensky Birnbaum Ref Reserve NA735.N5 A78 2000: The architecture of ALL New York. Sections on Lower Manhattan, the Villages (East, Greenwich & West), the rest of Manhattan and the other boroughs. Extensive index. Great source.
The City Observed, New York: A Guide to the Architecture of Manhattan / Paul Goldberger Birnbaum Reserve NA735.N5 G64 1979a: A guided walking tour of Manhattan, beginning in the financial district and traveling uptown. Contains information on over 400 buildings. Extensive index.
Columbia Gazetteer of the World Birnbaum Ref G103.5 C65 1998 (vols. 1-3): Use this source to find out basic information about your neighborhood. Info might include a definition or history of the name, a history of the neighborhood or the current status.
The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York : an Essay in Graphic History Birnbaum Reserve F128.3 .K6 1972: Photographic essay that covers the history of New York through the mid 1950's. Use the index to find boroughs/neighborhoods.
Encyclopedia of New York City / edited by Kenneth T. Jackson Birnbaum Ref Reserve F128.3 .E75 1995: THE Encyclopedia of New York City. Begin your research here. Alphabetical organization with references to other entries.
Guide to New York City Landmarks / New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission Birnbaum Ref F128.18 D65 1992 http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/lpc/home.html: Complete (pocket-sized) guide to New York City's officially designated historic sites. Includes 900 landmarks and 55 historic districts with maps, photographs and drawings.
The Historical Atlas of New York City : a visual celebration of nearly 400 years of New York City's history / by Eric Homberger Birnbaum Ref F128.3 .H65 1994: Chronicles the history of the city from early Native American culture to the present (1994). Presented in eight chapters of time periods enhanced with pictures, diagrams, maps, and side commentary (yellow boxes). Includes biographical notes and an index.
New York: A Guide to the Metropolis : walking tours of architecture and history / by Gerald R. Wolfe Birnbaum Ref Reserve and Ref NA735.N5 W64 1975: Contains twenty key walking tours of New York. Tours include: Lower Broadway and the Battery; Manhattan's Financial District; City Hall, "Newspaper Row", Foley Square and "Five Points"; Greenwich Village, etc. Index and bibliography included.
New York City Handbook Birnbaum Reserve F128.18.N3868 2000: Small handbook written for visitors or newcomers to the City. Great little maps of neighborhoods.
The Street Book: : an encyclopedia of Manhattan's street names and their origins / by Henry Moscow Birnbaum Ref Reserve F128.67.A1 M6 1990: Begins with detailed street maps which are followed by an explanation of the street names (in alphabetical order).
The WPA Guide to New York City : the Federal Writers' Project guide to 1930s New York / prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in New York City Birnbaum Ref Reserve F128.18 .N375 1982: Reprint of the 1939 edition which gives the reader a look at life in NYC in the '30's. It begins with general city information, then discusses each neighborhood in detail. The books concludes with an extensive index.

Web Directories and Library Websites

History and Facts of New York http://www.ny.com/histfacts: Part of NY.com, much of the information is taken from the Encyclopedia of New York City. Topics include: Geography and Origins, Neighborhood Histories, Discovery & Settlement, Vital Statistics, and Strange Facts. Also links to http://www.ny.com/histfacts/histlinks.html
LOCAL LIBRARIES:
New York: A Documentary Film [PBS] http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/series/index.html: This website corresponds to the five-part 10-hour television event that explores NYC history. The website has sections on the filmmakers, the film, an interview archive (look here for people), and a section on resources (timeline, teacher's guide, bibliography, and web links).
New York City History http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eguides/amerihist/nyc.html: From Columbia University, this is an extensive list of websites related to NYC history. Topics include: Columbia sites ("How to research a New York City building"); "The City's Neighborhoods"; "Internet Resources for the City's History" (lots of interesting links here!); "Libraries, Museums & Other New York City Cultural Institutions"; and "Histories of New York Institutions".
New York City History Internet Resources http://www2.nypl.org/home/research/humanities/nyc2.cfm: From the Research Library of the New York Public Library, the page links to selected Internet Resources including the Landmarks Preservation Society, Museum of the City of New York, New York Transit Museum and the Paperless Guide to New York City.

Finding Books and E-Books

You can find books and e-books on your topic by searching the online Pace Library Catalog by subject or keyword.

Unless you know the Library of Congress Subject Headings that pertain to your topic, you may want to begin with a Keyword search, and take note of the Subject headings assigned to useful materials.

For additional tips on searching the catalog, see the library's guide to Using the Pace Library Catalog.

Searching for specific neighborhoods:

Perform a Subject search for "Chinatown: Chinatown (New York, N.Y.) -- Social conditions;" "Chinatown (New York, N.Y.); New York, N.Y." etc. or a keyword search using "Chinatown".

Another subject example: "Lower East Side: Lower East Side (New York, N.Y.) -- social conditions;" "Lower East Side; New York, N.Y.;" or search by keyword for "Lower East Side".

Searching for specific buildings:

Perform a Subject search for the name of your building or place.

E-Books

Our digital book holdings include the ACLS History E-books collection. Click below to access our digital collections.

http://library.pace.edu/library/pages/links/digitalcollection.html

Historical, public domain, digital books on American History can also be accessed for free via Making of America web site.

http://moa.umdl.umich.edu

Finding Articles

To access news article databases through the Pace Library, go to the library home page (http://library.pace.edu/), click on Databases, and use the pull-down menu labeled "Subject Research Area" to select General. You may also choose a specific database from an alphabetical list. For news articles on your neighborhood, we recommend:

Lexis-Nexis Universe: Search the U. S. News category and limit by New York State. Try typing in the name of your building/place to see if there are any local stories.
New York Times: Direct link to the New York Times from 1980-present via the Lexis-Nexis Universe Database. Type in your building/place, the newspaper has already been entered into the search box for you at the bottom of the page if you use this link.
New York Times Archive: Direct link to the New York Times Archive via the Proquest Database for the years 1851-1995.
America: History & Life: Indexes and abstracts literature on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present. Articles are abstracted from more than 2,400 journals published in approximately 40 languages. Of these journals, about 900 are published in the United States and Canada. The Editors survey foreign periodicals to include all articles on American history and life.

Citing Your Sources

Once you have found your information, you will need to cite the sources that you used. The library has prepared some information on citation styles for print and electronic resources. You can access it on the Pace Library web site at http://www.pace.edu/library/pages/instruct/citing.html. Please check with your instructor if you are unsure of which citation style to use.

Subject Research Guides | Research Help | Pace Library Home

Created by Pace University Library
Last Revised 9/23/05

Helen Lane
hlane@pace.edu