Elevated railroad photographs

The contents of this collection were separated into series distinguished in function of line, and arranged into subseries reflecting specific sections of track within, presented geographically, moving northwards from southernmost terminals in Manhattan and the Bronx, and eastwards from westernmost points in Brooklyn. Within that arrangement scheme, photographs have been ordered chronologically.

Lines containing numbered track sections have been described by those numerical designations as well as the streets delineating their formal borders. Track sections for those lines lacking alphanumeric track sections (the Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan, and the totality of the Brooklyn Lines) are defined geographically exclusively.

The collection’s constituent photographs have been assigned item-level object ID numbers formulated from the Accession number (XX.2008.7), the Series number (1-15), followed by a consecutive number. For example, XX.2008.7.3.17 refers to the 17th photograph in series 3 of the Elevated Photograph Collection. Within the finding aid, the component of the Object ID representing the accession number has been removed for space-saving reasons. While the vast majority of the photographs within this collection carry the XX.2008.7 prefix, some have been assigned other Object ID numbers (e.g. 2009.25 or 2005.61). These photos were originally housed in other collections, but since they depict elevated railroads, archives personnel elected to collocate these photos within the XX.2008.7, collection while retaining their original Object ID numbers. This decision was effected to provide more comprehensive access to materials concerning elevated railroad service.

Prints are arranged in 19 acid-free boxes, while according or related negatives were moved to 7 acid-free boxes and placed in cold storage for preservation reasons. The locations of positive and negative formats, respectively, are indicated by the "+" and "-" symbols presented in the right margins of the present finding aid. An "x" is used to record the non-existence of negatives for a given subset of prints. Each print or negative sleeve is labelled with the according Object ID to facilitate access and proper association.