NYPLMaps shares a few details about one of the oldest streets in New York City, Maiden Lane, which was also known as T’Maagde Paatje.

nyplmaps:

Appleton’s Dictionary of Greater New York And Its Neighborhood (1905):

Maiden Lane

A Street running from Broadway between John and Liberty Sts., east to the East River, is one of the most ancient in New York. It was established as a road in the earliest times of the Dutch, its course through a valley being the easiest route of passage from the two great highways along the North [ Hudson ]and East River sides and was from the first used as such. It was then known as “T’Maagde Paatje,” or the Maidens Path. It was laid out as a street about 1693, during the governorship of Colonel Fletcher, when it received its present name. At present it is lined with substantial stores and is the center of the wholesale jewelry trade.     

Plan of the city of New York in North America (1776)

Maiden Lane, New York. Jewelry centre of the world (ca. 1885)

ama-true:

A non-artsy photo - simply Jefferson Market New York Public Library 2012 - West Village, NYC

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts concludes the journalism film series ALL THE NEWS FIT TO SCREEN this week with a gem of a program. Director Brian De Palma’s 1990 film adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s classic novel THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES is one of the famous misfires in film history. On the set of the troubled production with stunning access was journalist Julie Salamon who documented the experience in her remarkable book THE DEVIL’S CANDY: THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES GOES TO HOLLYWOOD. This Thursday Ms. Salamon will join The New York Times Dave Itzkoff in a Q&A at The Library for the Performing Arts following a screening of the film to discuss her experience and book. The program is free and seating is on a first come, first serve basis. Should be a blast! 

Happy birthday Brooklyn Bridge! Today in 1883 our lovely bridge opened to the public. The NY Times has the short history of the day. Or, come over to the Manuscripts and Archives Division, where you can pour over the architectural plans and drawings of parts of the Bridge, including images of the Brooklyn anchorage and tower, derricks, and other equipment used in the bridge’s construction.

John Milisenda’s photographs of Manhattan’s Lower East Side during the 1960s will be on display at the Grand Central Library through June 20.

His photos are a candid portrait of everyday experiences, balanced between romanticism and mean streets. Many of these images were made when he was a teenager and even before he studied art at the Pratt Institute.

John Milisenda lives in Brooklyn. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Brooklyn Museum, among others.

The Library has just launched Stereogranimator, a site that lets users turn our historic collection of stereographs into animated images like the one above. Read all about it in the Times and then go play! It’s the latest way we’re using technology to bring our collections to the public, following our What’s on the Menu, Biblion iPad app and map warping projects.

Caturday will never be the same …

Keep your out-of-town relations happy - take them to the NYPL!

So you have family in town and need to keep them busy sightseeing. Don’t forget NYPL exhibitions! They’re free and open to the public, and exhibitions are up at different branches around town.

There’s Leironica Hawkins’ art exhibition Asperger’s Syndrome: An Invisible Disability, on display at Grand Central Library.

There’s Malcolm X: A Search for Truth at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, which offers the public new insights into Malcolm X’s multifaceted persona and personality.

There’s The Birth of Promotion: Inventing Film Publicity in the Silent Film Era or Out of the Shadows: The Fashion of Film Noir at the Library for the Performing Arts, at Lincoln Center.

And there’s our Centennial exhibition, Celebrating 100 Years, at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue, where you can see Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too) — the real soft toys that Christopher Robin himself played with as a boy — along with a Gutenberg Bible, a copy of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson’s hand, Virginia Woolf’s cane, and many other wonderful items from the Library’s archives.

If you don’t make it down to a library before the end of the year, don’t fret — both the Centennial Exhibition and Malcolm X have been extended into the spring. Yay!

Hope we’ll see you soon!

NB: All Library branches are closed Dec. 24-26, re-opening on Tuesday, December 27.

Friday afternoons are often for catching up on what one didn’t do during the work week. But sometimes, just sometimes, there’s enough time for contemplation. Enter Emily Dickinson, via a plaque on Library Way (located in Manhattan on 41st Street, between Park and Fifth Avenues).

Photo taken by Gregg LeFevre and courtesy of the Grand Central Partnership.

Thomas Jefferson’s words speak the truth on the New York City streets! Check out this quote from Library Way, otherwise known as 41st Street, between Park and Fifth Avenues, in Manhattan! The sidewalks on both the north and south sides house 96 plaques with thought-provoking statements from famous writers. The Grand Central Partnership created Library Way, officially dedicated on May 24, 2004. But we helped out a little (as did the property owners and commercial tenants, and NYC’s Department of Transportation). Ah, inspiration!