Image of a resource (I have not obtained it yet)

On June 17th, we visited NY Transit Archival which is located on Livingston Street in Downtown Brooklyn. Passing through the security gates, we found ourselves in the basement of the building walking towards the archival.

We saw many of amazing photographs of Grand Central Terminal, New York Public Library and the neighborhood which were taken in early 20th centuries. What held my excitement was drawings such as elevation and Plans of Grand Central Terminal as well as the surroundings on the site. The transition of the neighborhood, neat lines, details of the beautiful ornaments, everything on the drawings were helpful for my deep research of Grand Central Terminal, but also it made me feel the history and these people who worked on the drawings.

Another source that I liked very much was a book with a green hard cover with a image of a statue. “The Gateway to a Continent”

It was published in 1940, and it has 40 pages. This book is not only the Terminal, but also the neighborhood and other famous and important buildings affected to architectural history in Midtown of Manhattan, such as Helmsley Building. In many pages, there were beautiful and cheerful sketches of buildings, neighborhood and people, and those were the things that made me feel I would like to have this book by myself.

As questions for further research, I would say “How the Park Avenue was changed and how people reacted to the construction of Grand Central Terminal.”

Running Head: William J. Wilgus papers

William J. Wilgus papers

The New York Public Library, Archives & Manuscripts

Manuscripts and Archives Division Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

This assignment is to understand how to use APA citation and to know how much finding aid is useful for researchers.

We look into William J. Wilgus papers on The New York Public Library Archives & Manuscripts for our research of Grand Central Terminal. This is a really great guide that help us to find information that we are looking for. It is originated simply, but very strong and important facts that researchers would like to know about William J. Wilgus. For instance, with less than a page, it explains very well as overview about his biography with some key terms, people, and years that also help us to understand and think about the history around that era. Then there are lists of series what we can find in the papers with brief descriptions. Also there are some other tabs other than the overview on the top of the website, and there you can find more details related to the series.

William J. Wilgus was the civil engineer very well know as the chief engineer of Grand Central Terminal construction. With his intelligence and talent, William worked for the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, but also after he opened his own consulting practice, he advised many railroad companies and helped the city and the states for their developments.

Citation :

William J. Wilgus papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library

http://archives.nypl.org/mss/3325#overview

On June 16th afternoon, we visited Grand Central Terminal again. This time, with a professional architecture tour guide, we explore the neighborhood. At the end of the tour, we were standing on 45th street between Park avenue and Vanderbilt avenue. We were surrounded by two buildings: Helmsley Building and MetLife building.
What I found interesting was the expansion joints in the middle of streets as shown in the picture below.

Those joints are usually used for the structure of a bridge. Yes we were technically standing on a huge bridge. The guide explained that these were the bridges above the park avenue train tunnels, which used to be open to the grand as shown in the picture below.

Photo@ Douglas Feiden, Rising Above the Rails at Hudson Yards, The Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323368704578592141407884714

Here is the Link to my post..

Mimu Sakuma