{"id":7079306,"date":"2026-10-07T14:13:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7079306"},"modified":"2026-10-07T14:13:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T14:13:22","slug":"a-few-of-our-favorite-things-nyc-department-of-records-information-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7079306","title":{"rendered":"A Few of Our Favorite Things \u2014 NYC Department of Records &#038; Information Services"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-sqsp-text-block-content=\"\">\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><strong>Cynthia Brenwall: Unexpected Art and Hidden Messages in the Municipal Archives<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">During my tenure in the Municipal Archives, I have had the opportunity to see and work with, literally, thousands of bits of New York City history\u2014the vast majority of piqued my interest in some way or another. I have worked with everything from vital records, architectural plans and the original drawings for the creation of Central Park, to seventeenth-century Dutch records, letters sent to mayors and giant ledgers from the Alms House.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">My favorite thing is to find a hidden bit of art or a secret message. It happens more often than one would expect!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><strong>Department of Buildings Architectural Records<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.nyc\/blog\/2024\/8\/2\/manhattan-building-plans-project-update?rq=department%20of%20buildings\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\">This collection<\/span><\/a> contains building plans that show evidence of frequent handling over the years. On two of the plans for construction of the American Express Building at 65 Broadway, created by the architectural firm of Renwick, Aspinwall &amp; Tucker\u00a0in 1916, a clever workman used their artistic talents to draw tiny hands as pointers. Are they just doodles or are they directing a plan-user to something important?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cynthia Brenwall: Unexpected Art and Hidden Messages in the Municipal Archives During my tenure in the Municipal Archives, I have had the opportunity to see and work with, literally, thousands of bits of New York City history\u2014the vast majority of piqued my interest in some way or another. I have worked with everything from vital [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7079307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12032],"tags":[15936,6288,6594,15935,13235,4834],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7079306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-history","tag-department","tag-favorite","tag-information","tag-nyc","tag-records","tag-services"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Few of Our Favorite Things \u2014 NYC Department of Records &amp; Information Services - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7079306\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Few of Our Favorite Things \u2014 NYC Department of Records &amp; Information Services - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cynthia Brenwall: Unexpected Art and Hidden Messages in the Municipal Archives During my tenure in the Municipal Archives, I have had the opportunity to see and work with, literally, thousands of bits of New York City history\u2014the vast majority of piqued my interest in some way or another. 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