On April 1, 2021, Doc Chat took a stroll along an iconic thoroughfare, learning about Broadway through the lens of NYPL's research collections.

A weekly series from NYPL's Center for Research in the Humanities, Doc Chat pairs a NYPL curator or specialist and a scholar to discuss evocative digitized items from the Library's collections and brainstorm innovative ways of teaching with them. In Episode Twenty-Two, Gregory Stall, Adult Librarian at NYPL's Grand Central Library, and Fran Leadon, Associate Professor of Architecture at City College, analyzed maps and menus that reveal the multilayered history of Broadway, with a focus on the transformation of the Upper West Side.

A transcript of this event is available here.

Below are some handy links to materials and sources suggested in the episode. 

Episode Twenty-Two: Primary Sources

Greg and Fran analyzed two fire insurance maps depicting the same Upper West Side location, 20 years apart:

They also discussed this historical menu: 

To see more menus, go to What's On the Menu?, a digital gallery featuring almost 18,000 digitized menus from NYPL's collections. 

Episode Twenty-Two: Readings and Resources

Eric Homberger, The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of 400 Years of New York City's History (St. Martin's Griffin, 2016).

Jeff Kisseloff, You Must Remember This: An Oral History of Manhattan from the 1890's to World War II (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989).

Francis Leadon, Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles (W.W. Norton & Company, 2018).

Peter Salwen, Upper West Side Story: A History and Guide (Abbeville Press, 1989).

I.N.P. Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island (R.H. Dodd, 1915-28).

Greg Young and Tom Myers, The Bowery Boys: Adventures in Old New York: An Unconventional Exploration of Manhattan's Historic Neighborhoods, Secret Spots and Colorful Characters (Ulysses Press: 2016). 

Join the Doc Chat Conversation

Doc Chat episodes take place on Zoom every Thursday at 3:30 PM.  Throughout the Spring, we are covering a range of topics: visual culture in 19th-century Mexico, Zine-making,  the history of New York City tenements, Russian propaganda posters, and much more.

Check out upcoming episodes on NYPL's calendar,  and make sure you don't miss an episode by signing up for NYPL's Research newsletter, which will include links to register. A video of each episode will be posted on the Research Channel of the NYPL blog shortly after the program. There you can also explore videos and resources for past episodes. See you at the next Doc Chat!