Snapshots of the Past

New York City. Street play of children of the poor – Historic Photograph Print

New York City. Street play of children of the poor, [no date recorded on caption card] — historic photograph
New York City. Street play of children of the poor, [no date recorded on caption card]. Historic photograph from the New York City collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: New York City. Street play of children of the poor, preserved in this historic photograph. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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New York City. Street play of children of the poor

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Children at play on a New York City street are the subject here, and the caption card gives the scene as street play among the children of the poor. The record carries no date, so the exact year is uncertain, but pictures of this kind were common in the decades around 1900, when crowded tenement districts drew the attention of reformers and photographers. Open green space was scarce in those neighborhoods, so the street often served as a child's only playground. The picture is worth a closer look for how it turns ordinary games into a record of crowded city life.

Created / published[no date recorded on caption card]
Medium1 photographic print.
SubjectsThis record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Street scenes; Children--Playing...; New York--New York City--Misc.; Geogr.; Shelf.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,223 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-144624

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