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1940s Tax Photos Finally Mapped
Main Post:
In 2016 NYC digitized and released the 1980s tax photos of EVERY building in the city, but their website can be tricky to navigate. Luckily, some hero linked them to a map, and made 80s.nyc which makes it much easier to browse the photos, instead of needing to know exactly which building you want to see. 2 years ago they digitized and released the 1930s/1940s photos, which are much much cooler and the link gets posted here from time to time. Since then, I've been waiting for someone to do the same thing, and link them to a map, and they finally did! So I maaaaaay have been up until 5 am browsing Astoria: https://1940s.nyc/
Warning: some of the photos didn't map right and are other parts of Queens, but you can usually access the correct photos on the regular NYC archives website (http://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/NYCMA~9~9), where you can also zoom in and see a lot more details.
Share any fun finds in the comments! One of my favorite is I found of a man waiting for his dog to do his business while walking down 14th street, between 27th and 26th Aves. Too relatable and I bet he didn't pick up his poop either! Let me know if you need help finding any particular building. I've gotten pretty good with the NYC archives site.
For any extra laugh, hit the outtakes button at the top right.
Top Comment: I’ve been using these photos for an ongoing project digging into the history of nearly every single factory building in the city (yeah, I have a lot of free time). It’ll be nice to be able to look at a map and get these photos, rather than cross-check the tax lot number first. Also- I’d love to know why the photos from the 80s are in such poor quality compared to 40s? Is technology cyclical?