Snapshots of the Past

New York City. Reading room in 10-cent lodging house on the Bowery – Historic Print

New York City. Reading room in 10-cent lodging house on the Bowery, [between 1908 and 1909] — historic photograph
New York City. Reading room in 10-cent lodging house on the Bowery, [between 1908 and 1909]. 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. Reading room in 10-cent lodging house on the Bowery, preserved in this historic photograph. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

New York City. Reading room in 10-cent lodging house on the Bowery

Order a print

Secure checkout · SSL encryptedPowered by Stripe and PayPal

Free shipping in the lower 48 states. The checkout page shows the picture, size and price before you pay.

Sign up for our newsletter

Sent securely. No purchase needed. Unsubscribe anytime.

Ask about licensing or this print

Few rooms in turn-of-the-century Manhattan were as modest as the reading room of a 10-cent lodging house on the Bowery, where a dime bought a night's bed for men with little money. The Bowery had long been the city's best-known street of cheap rooms, saloons, and missions, and this photograph, dated between 1908 and 1909, shows one of the places where residents could sit with a newspaper or book instead of heading straight to the street. The picture comes from the George Grantham Bain Collection, a body of news photographs made in New York in these years. Its caption information is noted as unverified, so the exact house and the date should be read with that in mind.

Created / published[between 1908 and 1909]
Medium1 photographic print.
SubjectsNo. 82754. Title and other information transcribed from unverified, old caption card data and item. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress). Caption card tracings: Lodging-houses--NY--NYC--1908-9; Books & reading; NY--NYC--Misc.--1908-9; Libraries--NY--NYC--1908; Geogr.; Shelf.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,128 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-145962

More from the New York City collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.

Related pictures

Chinatown, Pell Street, looking toward the Bowery, [New York City]Chinatown, Pell Street, looking toward the Bowery, [New York City][New York City: Metropolitan Opera House][New York City: Metropolitan Opera House]Metropolitan Opera House, Broadway & 39th St., New York CityMetropolitan Opera House, Broadway & 39th St., New York CityBowery men waiting for bread in bread line, [New York City]Bowery men waiting for bread in bread line, [New York City]New York City - the New Tribune" Building on Printing House Square"New York City - the New Tribune" Building on Printing House Square"[N.Y. (City) - Bowery Theatre: facade, 1828 drawn and engraved...for the New York Mirror"]"[N.Y. (City) - Bowery Theatre: facade, 1828 drawn and engraved...for the New Yor