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Harvey Mordetsky collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2008.16

Scope and Contents

The Harvey Mordetsky Collection comprises approximately 5,000 photographs of street railway and trolley lines operative in the New York metropolitan area, including Long Island and Staten Island, as well as other areas of the United States, and select foreign locations. Approximately 1,700 35-mm color slides showing trolley lines in Canada, Europe, and the United States is an additional feature of the collection. Footage of these same services is additionally captured in a series of moving image artifacts. Non-photographic materials include 282 BMT and NYCT trolley and bus transfers, trolley and transit periodicals, and personal effects/memorabilia belonging to Mordetsky.

Dates

  • 1887 - 1977
  • Majority of material found within 1930 - 1950

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some materials may be protected by copyright.

Biographical / Historical

Harvey Mordetsky was a lifelong trolley enthusiast. After graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn in January of 1959, he was employed by Manufacturer’s Hanover Trust Bank. While some of the images in the collection were captured by Mordetsky himself, many date from before his lifetime and were taken by other photographers, or are copies from other collectors, including Edward B. Watson, E. Alfred Seibel, Francis J. Goldsmith, Jr., George E. Votava, Albert Creamer, Al Gilcher, and Gary Grahl.

Extent

13.5 Linear Feet (21 boxes, 7 binders, 23 film canisters)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Photographic prints showing trolleys in the New York metropolitan area, as operated by New York Railways and the Third Avenue Railway System in Manhattan and the Bronx, and various Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island trolleys lines, as well as slides and films of trolleys in other cities and countries, and related ephemera, including tickets, transfers, and publications.

System of Arrangement

The collection is divided into ten series. Series 1 through 4 include mixed media and include images from outside the New York City area. Series 5 through 10 are comprised almost exclusively of black-and-white photographs of trolleys in the New York City area. The series have been defined as follows:

Series 1: Periodicals, Documents, and Objects, 1940-1977

Series 2: Photographs and Slides of Trolleys Outside of New York City, 1936-1975

Series 3: Films of Trolleys Throughout the United States, 1898-1974

Series 4: Trolley and Bus Transfers, 1942-1968

Series 5: Photographs of Railways in the New York Area, 1885-1969

Series 6: Photographs of Brooklyn Trolleys, Trolley Coaches, and Early Motor Buses, 1890-1959

Series 7: Photographs of New York Railways & Other Early Street Railway Companies, 1888-1936

Series 8: Photographs of Long Island and Queens Trolleys, 1903-1957

Series 9: Photographs of the Third Avenue Railway System (TARS), 1894-1952

Series 10: Photographs of Buses 1941-1948

Other Finding Aids

PDF URL

Provenance

The collection was donated to the Museum in 2008 by the estate of Russell Ubele, longtime friend of Harvey Mordetsky.

List of Acronyms

B&MTC Brooklyn and Manhattan Transit Corporation

B&QTC Brooklyn and Queens Transit Company

BCDC Brooklyn City Development Corporation

BCRR Brooklyn City Rail Road

BHRR Brooklyn Heights Railroad

BMT Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Company

BOT Board of Transportation

BRT Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company

CI&BRR Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad

GM General Motors

IRT Interborough Rapid Transit Company

MSRy Metropolitan Street Railway

NERR Nassau Electric Railroad

NY&QC New York and Queens County

NYR New York Railways

NYW&B New York, Westchester & Boston Railway

PAYE Pay as you Enter

PCC Electric Railroader’s President Conference Committee

SBRy South Brooklyn Railway

STC Surface Transit Corporation

TARS Third Avenue Railway System

TDC Transit Development Corporation

Processing Information

The original order of the photographs has been retained, but to the greatest extent possible, miscellaneous have been arranged with their appropriate subject grouping. Because the photographs had been collated in photo albums arranged by line, car number, and facility, some cars are filed by car number, while others are arranged by line. Photographs and slides are housed in cold storage at 130 Livingston Street (denoted 130 Liv St CS or simply CS), and documents are housed in boxes in that same facility; objects and ephemera are stored at 882 Third Avenue. All series are described at the folder level, and appear in the present finding aid with their relevant dates, locations and extents, where applicable (e.g. slide quantities). Box and folder placements have been noted as B and F; items not arranged in boxes appear with their Row, Unit, and Shelf locations, indicated as R, U and G; or in flat files, abbreviated as FF.

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Finding aid for Harvey Mordetsky collection
Status
Under Revision
Author
Carey Stumm, 2009, with edits by Evelyn Shunaman, 2018
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Revision Statements

  • 2022: Edited and reformatted by Elise Winks
  • 2023: Manually entered into ArchivesSpace by Joanna Satalof

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Archives and Reading Room Repository

https://www.nytransitmuseum.org
Contact:
Research Archivist

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