Photo of a Aerial view of a complex of Long Island highways that provide access to New York City (1946)

This lesson considers New York City and the cross currents that run between the worlds of music-making and the arts in a broad sense, particularly the visual and literary arts

Parody of a public notice, dated June 20, 1828, reporting an assault on American Zionist, playwright, and editor Mordecai Manuel Noah by Elijah J. Roberts. In the text Noah petitions that Roberts "be bound by recognizance to be of good behavior and keep the peace, and to answer for the above assault, &c. at the next Court of General Sessions of the Peace . . . ." A vignette illustration portrays a diminutive figure of Roberts attacking a much larger Noah on the steps of New York's Park Theatre. A playbill on the wall behind them advertises "The Jew," "1 Act of the Hypocrite," and "End with the farce of The Liar." At this time Noah was editor of the "New York Enquirer."|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1828-1.

A satirical attack on alleged excesses in the Van Buren administration and on the President's Loco Foco or radical Democratic supporters in New York. Martin Van Buren rides past New York's Tammany Hall in a luxurious British carriage. With him are editors and advisers Frances Preston Blair and Amos Kendall. The carriage is drawn by supporters, one wearing a fireman's hat marked "No.5." A crowd looks on, and two youthful "Loco Foco" match-vendors wave as the coach passes. Blair: "Well my democratic friends this is really a triumph! What will the Federal Whigs say to it." Kendall: "You told me Matty that you could make the Tammany men do do anything--I see you can!" Van Buren: "These are my loyal subjects! old Tammany never fails to do her duty on a Pinch!" Others: "This is truly royal--great as the Coronation--what a humbug is this Democracy." "This beats our reception of Hunt & Cobbett at Spittalfield." ". . . LaFayette's entry was a fool to this." An elderly man in the crowd: "I must have a seat in Congress again to speak of this Triumph." The coach's driver: "This is True Democracy--a triumph of principle." Weitenkampf dates the print 1838, but several factors argue against this. The matter of Van Buren's purportedly regal life-style and preference for foreign goods figured large in the Whig campaign of 1840. (It was given prominence by Pennsylvania Representative Charles Ogle's lengthy philippic on the subject in Congress during April of that year.) In addition, editors Blair and Kendall emerged as Van Buren's most powerful publicists during the 1840 race.|Drawn by "HD" (Henry Dacre?).|Lith. of H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 54.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-35.

The artist satirizes the split in party loyalties between the Locofoco and Tammany factions of New York City Democrats. In particular he belittles the Irish immigrants widely recruited by the party at the time. The print may have apeared during the elections of 1836. An Irishman stands on a platform before two booths, one marked "Tammany Committee" and the other "Locofoco Committee," and says, "As I'm a hindependent Helector, I means to give my Vote according to conscience and him as Tips most!" Beyond the platform is a crowd of voters, one holding a sign "Vote for Hoxie" (Joseph Hoxie, a prominent figure in New York Whig politics).|Pubd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y.|Signed: N. Sarony (Napoleon Sarony).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 47.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1836-20.

The Eighth Avenue trolley, New York City, sharing the street with horse-drawn produce wagon and an open automobile. Downtown, looking north (1904)

Environmental Design, House Music, and Queer Kinship defines environmental design then defines kinship as a familial relationship that is outside of the traditional family structure. Queer kinship is a practice and formation that is primarily a survival and care work framework. The short discusses the many Black LGBTQ owned bars and lounges that have been shuttered over the years and the implications of legislation on Black LGBTQ public culture.

The house music was a generous gift from DJ Boomer’s playlist, “Keep This Fire Burning.”

This zine is comprised of four main sections: (1) a history of natural resource inequalities in NYC and the goals of environmental justice; (2) the importance of effective waste management with ways to reduce waste in your community; (3) a breakdown of legislative influence and how to get involved in local politics to further environmental justice; and (4) a collection of environmental groups and resources across NYC. An online version of this resource exists at ourcityplanetfuture.wordpress.com. That site also has a link to a printable version of the zine.

Another in the series of "Spoodlyks's" satires on the Glentworth affair. (See also nos. 1840-60, -61, and -63). Here the artist portrays Glentworth's attempt to remove evidence in the vote fraud inquiry from the recorder's office, and the ensuing scuffle involving the sheriff, the mayor, and the recorder. In the cartoon the recorder's office has erupted in a brawl. Glentworth (center) stands clutching the package of evidence to his chest. City recorder Robert H. Morris (left) and sheriff Jacob Acker, with a writ of replevin in his pocket, try to wrest the package from Glentworth. Sheriff: "By virtue of this writ I claim the package." Morris: "No you dont Mr. Sherriff." Glentworth: "This is my property and I'll Keep it at the risk of my life." On the left Mayor Isaac Varian struggles with another man. Varian says, "The package is gone Officers shut the door." A third man comments, "I like that. Shut the door When the horse is stolen." Others lament "O.K. orful Konspiracy." and "O.K. orful Katastrophe." and "O.K. help the journal of Kommerce." The term "O. K.," standing for Van Buren's nickname Old Kinderhook, was a watchword of Loco Foco Democrats during the election campaign of 1840.|Drawn by "Spoodlyks".|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. N.Y. & Pennsa. Avenue Washington D.C.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 171.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-62.

An attack on New York governor William L. Marcy's controversial decision to surrender Irish fugitives John Bamber, Sr., and his son James to the British consul after their detention in New York. The Bambers, wanted by the British government in connection with the killing of an Irish police constable, had sought asylum in the United States. Marcy's decision to return them to British custody caused a furor among New York Whigs and Irish immigrants. In the title the "A" in Marcy's name is crossed out and replaced with an "E." Marcy is shown leading the two Bambers by a rope tied to their necks toward a stout British consul on the right. The prisoners are in hand and leg irons. In the background a ship sits offshore and a heavyset man with spectacles, city recorder Richard Riker, runs up waving a writ of habeas corpus and crying "Stop! Stop!" On the left is the Hall of Justice; on the right the consul's office. Marcy's trousers are mended with a "50 cents" patch, a joke regarding a tailor's voucher for fifty cents that he submitted during his governorship of New York. Marcy: "Here my dear Sir are these savage Irishmen, whom I gladly deliver over to you, to be dealt with as the Queen's most excellent Majesty may think fit." British consul: "I thank your Excellency for your promptness, and shall represent your conduct in such a light to her most gracious Majesty, that I have not a bit of doubt she will reward you with a pair of new breeches!!" The younger Bamber: "Is this the boasted liberty of the soil? Is this the law for an adopted citizen?" Bamber, Sr.: "Is this the justice of the self-styled People's Party?"|Entered . . . 1838 by H.R. Robinson.|Printed & publd by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St & 11-1/2 Wall St. N.Y.|Signed with monogram: C (Edward Williams Clay).|The print was registered for copyright on October 8, 1838.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 55.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1838-5.

A riot scene: German parade musicians (possibly accompanying touring ballerina Fanny Elssler) are attacked and beaten with their own instruments by a gang of toughs (or "Soap-Locks" for the long, soaped hair locks fashionable among them) on a New York street. Onlookers watch from the windows of a nearby building. The cries of the assailants and their victims appear in the lower margin. They range from "Dam you I'll make you remember new years night," "Dam the Dutch!" and "This must be the fellow who shot Armstrong" (from the assailants) to "I am Murder'd" and "Fuerst, help! help!" (from the Germans). A man in the middle of the mob shouts, "I command the Peace." The less-than-sympathetic portrayal of the victims, and the scene's unmistakable comic undertones betray a definite anti-foreigner sentiment on the artist's part. The artist is Napoleon Sarony, judging from the print's pronounced stylistic and technical similarity to his "The New Era or the Effects of a Standing Army" (no. 1840-3). "Fanny Elssler's Last Serenade" was registered for copyright on August 17, 1840.|Entered . . . 1840 by H.R. Robinson.|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, no. 52 Cortlandt St. New York.|Probably drawn by Napoleon Sarony.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 69.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-2.

The title continues: "Breaking up of a Grand Spree in the Tea Room & total abflustification of the common scoundrels." Weitenkampf calls the print a satirical look at members of the New York Common Council "after a spree of eating and drinking," and cites two others by Elton. The artist also suggests corruption in that Tammany-controlled civic body, a center of Democratic power in 1840. It is a crowded scene of drunken merriment. In the foreground are several comical figures in various attitudes, including a reeling heavy-set man who says, "I'm affraid I've not done me juty to me w-a-r-d this evening, let me see what I've had: three Oyster stews . . . " He leans on a smaller man who says, "Don't make yourself uneasy Sir, if you havent done your duty on this occassion, I would like to see the man who has & if there is such a man all I want is his Daguerreotype Likeness to hang on the inside of my shirt to remember him by . . ." (Daguerreotypes were first introduced in 1839, and portrait studios had opened in several major cities in the United States by early 1840.) On the right two others converse. One, with a bulbous red nose, lifts his glass aloft. The second holds a bag marked "40,000." The first says, "Ah! that's the talk! let me see with that amount of stuff, I can cut out forty pairs of pantaloons with a thousand sets of trimmings for each man, o yes Sir depend on it, the documents shall be forthcoming!" The second, "Here is the Stuff for pantaloons & I hope now you will put that matter through & let me have the contract without delay." In the middle ground left a black manservant holds a tray of cups before the open door to a "Tea Room."|For sale at 124 Nassau St. N.Y.|Probably drawn by John L. Magee.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Murrell, p. 162, 164.|Weitenkampf, p. 68-69.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-1.

Gentrification and Queer Time was written as a response to the senseless murder of O’Shae Sibley, a Black gay dancer who was fatally stabbed in Brooklyn, New York’s Midwood neighborhood. This short introduces gentrification as a shift in the land costs and a shift in demographics. Queer time is introduced as a non-traditional time-system that is realized and appropriated by queer people for their survival at time.

Gentrification and Queer Time uses sounds from The Shrine, which is a music venue in Harlem, New York.

Martin Van Buren's New York political favorites are represented as piglets suckled by a giant sow "The Empire State." The artist's pointed reference is to the exploitation of New York State by the President and his supporters. The piglets nursed by the sow bear the names "The Regency" and "Tammany Hall" (popular names for the state and city Democratic machines respectively), "Weigh master General," the names of various patronage positions and of banks friendly to the administration, and the "Safety Fund." On the left other piglets, representing applications for bank charters and government offices and "The Times," await the sleeping sow's attention. Van Buren (left) and a stout Dutchman (a stereotyped character often used to represent New York State) look on. Van Buren: Was ever man blest with such a fine old sow and litter of pigs! They have made me the greatest man in the Union, and even follow me every where! Dutchman: Myn Got dey will suck de very life's blood out of dat old sow, I never seen pigs suck so in all myn life. Got for damn such a breed! Myn Vrow would not have dem on de farm.|Printed and published by H.R. Robinson, 48 & 52 Cortlandt St. New York.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 51.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1837-15.

A comic scene representing two New York city political factions, the Whigs and the radical Democrats (or "Loco Focos"), as scuffling newsboys. The scene takes place before the half-built Customs House, where several newsboys and a black chimney sweep are gathered watching a scrap involving a ragged youth selling "loco foco" matches and another newsboy. The match-seller raises his fist and threatens, "Oh! you d---d Whiggy." The latter, striking him, "I'll loco poke you." On the left three of the newsboys hold Democratic newspapers the "New York Evening Post" and the "New Era," and a copy of radical reformer Frances ("Fanny") Wright's lectures. One says, with a sidelong glance at the unfortunate match-seller, "I told him he had better not fight." The chimney sweep taunts them, "Does Fanny know you're out?" On the right, a second group of newsboys, holding copies of Whig journals, the "Transcript, Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, Gazette," and the "Evening Star," cheer on the winning fighter.|Printed & publd. by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt, 11 1/2 Wall, & 38 Chatham St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 46.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1836-21.

A comic scene ridiculing the Tammany Democrats of New York City. Tammany headquarters, known as the "Wigwam," here erupts in a drunken fracas over the Democratic platform for the presidential race of 1852. The platform specifically endorsed the Compromise of 1850, which incorporated the Fugitive Slave Act, a measure highly repugnant to abolitionists and Free-Soil or Barnburner Democrats. The artist also capitalizes on current rumors of candidate Franklin Pierce's bouts of alcoholism. In the center stands a wooden platform, in the process of collapsing on one end under the riotous exertions of abolitionists. On the other end (at left) stand Pierce and his runnning mate William R. King. Pierce, visibly drunk and swooning, is supported by King. Yet he tries to speak, "Fel-er-cit-zens. I'm bliged to you. I, that is--King? did you put that "Bri" (hic) "Bri" (hic) "Brick!" (damm the word)--in my "Hat?" Fel--citizens? this is my mot (hic) mottoe! "Prin-Ci-Ples, Not, Men--Men, Not Prin-ciples" whichever is the most ex (hic) "Expedient" (damm the word). Fel-Cit-zens? hurray for the Dem (hic) Dem (hic) "Democratic Party." (damm the word) (hic) (hic) ah that last "Brandy Smash" was too Muscular for my constution. "King! King!" your drunk" King: "Come--Pierce stand up like a man, what will your friend think, if you are as limber as this after we get you in the White House, what will become of the country. Come now? stand up, or lay down, one or the other." King leads Pierce toward an Irish tough (far left), one of the party rank and file, who steps onto the platform and declares enthusiastically, "Your the boy for this crowd! slap down yer paw! . . . aint we a go in ter have a nice time when we gitm you in the white house? well we is! hoss! wont we lick Mexico again? wont we go ter Cuba and kiss the purty Spanish galls? wont we lamm the British? & Choke Louis Napoleon? well we will! . . ." The platform itself is inscribed with the warning: "In consequence of the Ricketty Construction of this Platform, all Barnburners, Free-Soilers, & Abbolitionists are requested to Tread on it as lightly as possible." The structure breaks up on the right amid a crowd of brawling Democrats, one of them carrying an "Abbolition" banner. In the left foreground, a muscular, bare-chested "Old Hunker" (conservative Democrat) sends a Free-Soiler flying with a punch, saying, "How do you like that for a Change?" To which the Free-Soiler answers, "I should like it better without the change?" In the center sits a man in athletic costume holding a bottle. He looks to the right where Whig candidate Winfield Scott enters on the back of a donkey. The athletic man says, "Hulloa? Scott! is it a fact that you brought down--twelve "Birds" at one "Shot." Scott, dressed as a hunter, with a large sack slung over his saddle, replies, "Yes Sir, brought e'm "Down," and "Bagged" e'm too." As in "Terrible Rout and Total Destruction of the Whig Party" (no. 1852-26) the comic characterization and style of draftsmanship here are unquestionably John L. Magee's, and compare closely with other, signed works by the artist.|Drawn by John L. Magee.|For sale by Nathaniel Currier at No. 2 Spruce St. N.Y.|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 111.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1852-13.

Another satire on the 1838 New York mayoral contest, this time suggesting collusion between Whig candidate and incumbent mayor Aaron Clark and conservative Democrat Richard Riker. Here Clark sits on his stalled mare (center) as his rival Isaac L. Varian's horse makes off at left. Just visible, it trails a flag that reads "Regular Democratic Nomination! No Monopoly! Down with a monied Aristocracy!" Clark hands Riker a staff with a ram on its end, labeled "Lottery Office," urging, "Take my rod Dickey, and give her [his horse] another conservative poke, or it will be all Dickey with me!" Riker replies, "She'll go Aaron as soon as she feels her oats! If she dont I'll give her the six months!" A Jew stands at right thumbing his nose at the proceedings, "Shtop my friendsch I vill shave you shome troublesh . . . It ish moneysh vat maksh de Mare/Mayor go.!!"|Entd . . . 1838 by J. Fitzsimmons 97 John St . . . Southern District of New York.|Signed: Sheepshanks fecit 1838 (probably Edward Williams Clay).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 56.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1838-7.

A satire on the controversy surrounding charges of election fraud against New York State tobacco inspector James B. Glentworth and other Whigs during the election of 1838. The allegations were made two years later, in October 1840, by New York Federal District Attorney Benjamin F. Butler, a Democrat. The cartoon echoes pervasive Whig countercharges that Glentworth was used by Democrats in a last-ditch effort to win the presidential election of that year. The print's title facetiously refers to incumbent Democrat Martin Van Buren's description of the Butler inquiry as "a card yet to be played" in his reelection strategy. Glentworth stands before city recorder Robert H. Morris, saying "Let me alone for that I'll blow em sky High Harrison Hard Cider and Log Cabins. I'll tell a tough yarn and the Whigs cant defend themselves before the election." Morris was charged by Governor Seward to hear testimony in the case. One of several observers remarks "It is a lie that will last us Locos [i.e., Loco Focos or radical Democrats] till after the Election." Another, a Bowery tough in striped trousers, remarks, "I think we have the British Whigs now." Morris says, "I say Whiting [i.e., New York City District Attorney James R. Whiting] I am afraid we are barking up the wrong tree. This is Butler's great card but I fear we have turned up the Knave of Clubs." Whiting (seated at table to Morris's right) confides, "My fears are that the Whigs will turn the tables upon us." A man standing on Whiting's right, says "It goes against my religion and my conscience to charge honorable men on the testimony of such rascals but my friend Van Buren must be taken care of." This may be John W. Edmonds, an influential friend of Van Buren involved in the case. A second witness, an obviously disaffected Whig, says, "Now Glentworth give it to Seward for not re-appointing "us." Dont stand on trifles "we" will provide for you." Although the signature "Spoodlyks" is certainly pseudonymous, "The Last Card. Tip Overthrown" is evidently one in a series of satires on the Glentworth scandal, executed by the same artist. Others in this series are "Loco Foco Consternation" and "Evenhanded Justice" (nos. 1840-61 and -62).|Printed and published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. New York.|Signed: Spoodlyks 1840|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 63.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-60.

Another satire on the Glentworth scandal controversy, by the same artist as "The Last Card," "Evenhanded Justice," and "O. K." (nos. 1840-60, -62, and -63). Here the artist lampoons Democratic efforts to sensationalize the Glentworth proceedings. Glentworth is portrayed as a large striped cat frightening scullery maid "Miss Whiting" (actually New York District Attorney James R. Whiting). The cat has emerged suddenly from a large fireplace in a kitchen or cellar area, scattering firewood and andirons and frightening Whiting, who had been seated reading in a chair. Whiting has seized a fireplace shovel and tongs and confronts the cat. To his assistance rush four other Democratic principals in the Glentworth affair, descending the stairs to the left. They are (top to bottom) Van Buren friend and Loco Foco leader John W. Edmonds (brandishing a tomahawk marked "half-breed"), city recorder Robert H. Morris (holding the "fatal package"of evidence which Glentworth had tried to steal from Morris's office), influential New York Democrat Jesse Hoyt (holding a "tariff" stick, emblematic of Hoyt's office as collector of the port), and Federal District Attorney Benjamin F. Butler (holding a broom and paper marked "hypocrite").|Drawn by "Spoodlyks".|Printed & published by H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt St. N. York|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Weitenkampf, p. 52.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1840-61.

A commentary on the Whigs' disappointment of "Loco Foco" Democratic expectations in the New York municipal elections of spring 1838. Successful Whig mayoral candidate Aaron Clark holds two horses by their tails saying, "Stop my good fellows, you are going on a fools errand, you are counting your chickens before they are hatched." On the horse on the right sits a man in the smock and hat of a carman or driver (one of the publicly licensed tradesmen who provided much of the radical Democrats' support in New York). The man may be Loco Foco mayoral candidate Isaac Varian or New York's Democratic congressman Churchill C. Cambreleng. He tries to ride toward Albany, expressing gubernatorial ambitions, "Marcy [i.e., Governor William L. Marcy] must resign in my favor, and I'll be next Governor myself for this job!" A man in Jacksonian uniform sits on a horse at left, headed in the direction of Washington. He is probably Tammany leader Jesse Hoyt. He says, "I shall insist on Matty's making me next Collector!" (Hoyt was in fact appointed collector of the port of New York the same year.) Both men wear ribbons inscribed "Loco Foco Victory" in their hats. The print seems to have been published almost immediately after the spring mayoralty election, in which the Loco Foco candidates were soundly defeated. It was registered for copyright on April 17, 1838.|Entd . . . 1838 by H.R. Robinson.|Printed & publd. H.R. Robinson, 52 Cortlandt Street, New York.|Signed: Shanks fecit (Edward Williams Clay?).|Title appears as it is written on the item.|Forms part of: American cartoon print filing series (Library of Congress)|Published in: American political prints, 1766-1876 / Bernard F. Reilly. Boston : G.K. Hall, 1991, entry 1838-11.