Features
A collage of film footage showing old New York has captivated audiences since 2018, giving history-lovers an in-motion glimpse of what life was like in the Big Apple at the turn-of-the-century. Captured circa 1911, a year before the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the film conveys a more formally-dressed city of considerably slower-paced walkers just 109 years ago. In fact, the city appears more civilized than today in the sense that there were hardly any AUTOmobiles and the population had to rely on a vast network of ferries, trolleys, elevated trains, and subways that have been largely diminished today and now struggling to sustain itself.
While a great majority of the buildings shown are still existence, the avenues appear wider and grander due to the non-existence of side-street parking. Furthermore, you'll notice there are hardly any street trees. According to Leslie Day, author of Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City, the city's street tree-planting movement had just begun years before. Dr. Stephen Smith, life-long public health reformer, petitioned the city to plant and care for street trees estimating they could save up to 8,000 lives per year, especially those packed into the tenement buildings downtown. In the same year of this film, Smith became president of the city’s Tree Planting Association, which he helped found in 1897.
While a great majority of the buildings shown are still existence, the avenues appear wider and grander due to the non-existence of side-street parking. Furthermore, you'll notice there are hardly any street trees. According to Leslie Day, author of Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City, the city's street tree-planting movement had just begun years before. Dr. Stephen Smith, life-long public health reformer, petitioned the city to plant and care for street trees estimating they could save up to 8,000 lives per year, especially those packed into the tenement buildings downtown. In the same year of this film, Smith became president of the city’s Tree Planting Association, which he helped found in 1897.
Other things that that didn't exist that have become common vocabulary today are crossword puzzles (1913), income tax (1913), realtors (1915), tanks (1916), jazz (1917) television (1927) polyester (1941), missiles (1944).
The credits explain the video was produced by the Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern and released to the public by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and colorized using DeOldify.
The credits explain the video was produced by the Swedish company Svenska Biografteatern and released to the public by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and colorized using DeOldify.