A few reminders:

• 1 paragraph analytical summary of a newspaper article is due by Friday, 6/17 at the latest. You can submit in print or via OpenLab.
• 1 paragraph summary of the William Wilgus papers finding aid is also due by Friday, 6/17. I’m particularly interested in reflections about how the finding aid is organized. Pay attention to the section on keyterms and subjects…they may come in handy later!
• Post-archival visit reflection blog post is due on Monday, 6/20.

If you want to revisit the brief overview of archives, you can find my Prezi here.

Grand Central: How A Train Station Transformed America By Sam Roberts

Contents

Prologue: The Accidental Terminal

Rails vs. Rivers

The Commodore

The Depot

The Station

The Engineer

Terminal City

All Aboard

Gateway to a Continent

Saving Grand Central

The Restoration

The Characters

Commutation

Secrets of Grand Central

How It Works

Since 2001: A Space Odyssey

Epilogue: The Second Century

The New York Times’ urban affairs correspondent Sam Roberts (2013) affirms his book’s stance on Grand Central Terminal in the quote stated below:

This book is more about transportation. It’s about the expansion of the city of New York into a metropolis and the aggregation of metropolitan government, which mirrored the ruthless consolidation of corporate America and the nation’s railroads. The terminal was a product of local politics, bold architecture, brutal flexing of corporate muscle, and visionary engineering” (p. 17).

I believe Roberts’ book would be vital in my research because it provides historical information about the transition from water to railroad travel, the shift from steam-powered locomotives to electrification, and the driver behind Grand Central Terminal, Cornelius Vanderbuilt. Additionally, the popularization of the “red carpet treatment”, its impact on Park Avenue, urban renewal, and office building development during the Roaring Twenties, GCT’s birth, collapse, preservation, and restoration, the iconic cameos in film/television/media, its current progression as a commuter railroad, GCT employees that help keep it running at optimal performance, and a handful of little known secrets are discussed in depth.

Works Cited

Roberts, Sam (2013). Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America.

New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing.

The things that I learned about grand central terminal is that it’s the number one visited tourist attraction. I also learned it is not owned by the MTA but a private company. It is also called grand central terminal and not grand central station One thing I found interesting that I am not sure is true is when it said that it has so much granite that it emits radiation. They have secret tunnels that are heavily guarded so it strikes my interest more. It also has a lot of background history. I wasn’t really interested that much in grand central station before but Now I am interested and looking forward to trips there.

“Gotham Restored: The Preservation of Monumental New York” by James Rudnick is a culmination of the history and photographic accounts of the restoration of four important New York City landmarks–the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Public Library, and Grand Central Terminal. After the significant events of the Civil War and World War I, New York underwent a turning point in which it attempted to rebuild itself into an architecturally distinguished city. Grand Central Terminal, in particular, had started out as a meager depot and train shed but eventually served not only as a hub for transportation but also as a prime meeting spot. In 1967, Grand Central Terminal was appointed a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. However, the landmark soon ran into trouble as a proposal to tear down the building’s facade came into play. Years later, in 1988, Beyer Blinder Belle conducted a public-private partnership that led to the restoration of Grand Central Terminal.

Following the historic overview of the terminal, photographer James Rudnick documents the restoration of Grand Central Terminal from 1984 to 1998. In my site reports, I plan on using this resource to compare the architectural designs and details before and after the restoration. It will also be interesting to visually learn about the restoration process of such a monumental structure that took several years to complete.

Here is the Link to my post..

Mimu Sakuma

Title: Grand Central…The World’s Greatest Railway Terminal
Author: William D. Middleton
Date: 1977

Table of Contents: (8 Chapters)

1. The Railroad Comes to Manhattan

• Talks about the establishment of railroads in the city along with the companies and people who ran them leading up to GCT.

2. The Commodores Palace on 42nd Street

• Gives a brief overview of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s early life up until his involvement in the development of GCT.

3. An Engineer and His Grand Design

4. The Architects and Their Magnificent Structure

5. A Prodigious Task Wonderfully Accomplished

6. A City Within a City

7. Gateway to a Continent

8. What Future for Grand Central

Having the most number of platforms in the world and being a point of commute to travelers going to and from several counties in New York State and Connecticut, Grand Central Terminal is one of the most visited spots in New York City. Not only does its many stores inside (like Starbucks, Shake Shack, and Apple) attract tourists but its intricate architecture and design demonstrate the beauty of construction in New York City. The main concourse serves as a prime meeting spot and has been a key indicator of the New York City setting of many films in popular culture such as The Avengers, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I Am Legend, and Men in Black. Grand Central Terminal has served not only as a method of transportation but as a a significant historic landmark of New York City.

If I were to ask a non-New Yorker what places come to mind when they think of New York City, he/she would probably say, “Times Square, Broadway, 34^th Street, etc …. “, or some other place that has been overly glamorized within the media. I, too, am guilty of the same thing because such aforementioned places allow us to indulge in the excesses of entertainment, socialization, and other hedonistic pleasures we desire to fulfill in our daily lives. Oddly enough, Grand Central Terminal (GCT) would probably be mentioned among the last few named (if it was even remembered at all) due to the increase of commercial airline travel. And honestly, when visiting NYC, do you know anyone with “Visit Grand Central” on their tourist “to-do” list? But to a true New Yorker, GCT is probably the most vital entry point into Manhattan, and the massive overcrowding that is encountered during the morning and evening rush hours on the Grand Central 42^nd Street subway platform proves its necessity for commuter traveling today. Or maybe if the 9/11 Grand Central “terrorist attack” of 1976 had been as fatal or highly publicized as the 9/11 World Trade Center “terrorist attack” of 2001, it might have had its own memorial museum. But let’s face it, people don’t just “go” to GCT; they simply pass through it in coffee-induced stupors. And for these reasons, I would love to get to know and understand GCT on a more personal basis.