Dates: 1912-1924
Quantity: 2,700 items
Arrangement: Chronological; and in 8 photograph albums
Indexed: About three quarters of the photos have been cataloged online. The rest are available in an Archives in-house database available in the Reading Room.
Format: Mostly 8x10 black and white prints and 8x10 glass plate negatives.
Official photographic record of the construction of the Bronx River Parkway, America's first public parkway. Includes images which show the condition of the river and life along its banks before and after the construction of the parkway, views of buildings moved or destroyed during construction, and details of the construction activity itself. The collection does not include photographs for the portion of the parkway which is in the Bronx.
For more information about the Bronx River Parkway, see also Series 95: Bronx Parkway Commission Annual Reports and Series 118: Bronx Parkway Commission Minutes. In addition, Series 109: Bronx Parkway Commission Land Acquisitions includes material relevant to many of the properties pictured in these photographs. Finally, Series 254: Bronx River Parkway Reservation Historic American Engineering Record has both modern and historic photographs as well as engineering drawings relating to the Parkway.
Sample Photographs:
Construction of the Bronx River Parkway, 4 November 1917 (PBP-1372)
Children with birdhouses made for public school birdhouse contest, 1918
(PBP-1507)
Cars on the Bronx River Parkway, 22 October 1922 (PBP-2488)
Children swimming and canoeing in the Bronx River, 4 August 1916
(PBP-901, Album 14)
Wooded area along the Bronx River, 1917 (PBP-1134, Album 28)