Whereas once when a person died, the family prepared the body at home, mourners visited at home, and one's community provided the labor for burial, new technology developed during and as a result of the Civil War—embalming— allowed funeral business to thrive. In the decades after the Civil War in New York City, carpenters became coffin makers and then undertakers, religious societies took on funerary responsibilities and liverymen who once only moved the deceased to outer borough rural cemeteries took on more mortuary duties. By the early 20th century, storefront undertakers served neighborhoods all over the city, catering to different ethnic enclaves and social-economic groups. They provided all-encompassing services: acting as notaries, securing wake, funeral and burial venues, and furnishing transportation. In 1917 commercial photographer William Hassler was hired by Sunnyside Magazine, a long-running undertaker trade journal to document some of New York's grimmest businesses. (It should be noted that The Sunnyside was not the only such publication, though it was the most pleasantly named; others included The Casket and The Weekly Shroud.) The resulting illustrated article was entitled "Grewsome Undertaker Establishments."

78 Mott Street, 1914. James Naughton (referred to as Joseph in at least one source) was born in Ireland and immigrated to New York in the 1860s. For more than five decades he served the Chinatown/ Five Point area as an undertaker. He purchased a number of local buildings including Nos. 37 and 78 Mott Street, as well as the stables at Nos. 31-37 which operated for both mortuary and police horse needs. Though Irish and certainly having enough Irish clients, he also advertised to and served both the local Italian and Chinese communities.

This collection of locations in Chinatown was curated in collaboration with Think!Chinatown to celebrate, appreciate, and support the local community of Chinatown. This collection of historical photographs illustrates the diverse businesses, architecture, and communities that have occupied the streetscapes of this vibrant neighborhood over the last two centuries!