Photographs were an excellent way for the Forward to telegraph its interests to its readers, signifying support of thought leaders, political candidates, policies favoring working people and a modern and equitable society. The images gathered here testify to the ideals and the newsgathering concerns of the paper and its readers, their support of reform-minded Democrats and of a Labor Zionist body politic in Israel that aligned with their socialist ideals.

It's not easy being the Soviet envoy to the United Nations in 1953.

Conceived at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944, the United Nations was the brainchild of the Allies as a structure for the world to govern together. But how did it come to Midtown?

United Nations Building, 1956. Not technically in New York City, but in international territory owned by the United Nations, the headquarters of the UN consists of four main buildings. The two buildings seen in this photograph taken a few years after the structures were completed, are the Secretariat Building (the tall one) and the General Assembly Building (the low rise sloping building). The Secretariat Building is 39 stories above ground and three stories below and was completed in 1952. It was designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, as part of a larger board of architects. The long exterior facings of the building are made of aluminum, glass, and marble. This International Style building was the first skyscraper in the city to feature a glass curtain wall. The low rise building is the General Assembly Building and it is 380 feet long and 160 feet wide with concave sides and a shallow dome on top. The minimal ornamentation, curving facade, and wide open interiors exemplify the International Style. The building, which was created by a Board of Design Consultants from all over the world, headed by the American Wallace K. Harrison, houses the large hall where the delegates to the UN meet.

The United Nations Headquarters was one of the first significant construction projects undertaken in Manhattan after the Second World War. In order to bring the UN to Manhattan, John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated the site, which he bought for 8.5 million dollars from developer William Zeckendorf, who had already assembled the former abattoir properties between First Avenue and the river piecemeal. Designed by a committee of international architects, including Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer and Sven Markelius, the United Nations Headquarters was also the first group of glass and concrete International Style buildings in Manhattan. The Secretariat, 544 feet tall and only 72 feet thick, was primarily designed by Le Corbusier but carried out by Wallace K. Harrison, the chairman of the committee; its long sides are almost entirely green glass, while its widths are concrete. The Conference Building is under construction on a platform extending out over the FDR Drive, below right. This 400-foot long, 5-story tall building was completed in February, 1952.

April — better known as the month of showers, Frederick Law Olmsted’s birthday, and Earth Day — has also been designated National Landscape Architect month. Aside from Olmsted, however, landscape architects continue to fly largely under the radar. A case in point: Clarke and Rapuano, a firm with enormous impact on New York City’s urban landscape, whose name is hardly known outside the profession.

"More than 150 localities around the country expressed an interest in hosting the UN, and many of them lobbied hard to attract the organization. They mounted extensive promotional campaigns, from big cities, like Chicago and San Francisco… to rural areas, such as the Black Hills region of South Dakota and the Smoky Mountain range in the Appalachians. New York City, then led by the popular Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, wasn’t one of them. Not because the mayor didn’t want the UN to come to New York. He did. But La Guardia — ever proud of his city — said at the time, 'I think it is unbecoming for a city to peddle itself… I am not going to put my city in the position of bidding for the UN the same as a small-sized city would bid for a national political convention or for the Elks convention or something like that.'" Read more of this exclusive interview by The Gotham Center for New York City with Pamela Hanlon, author of A Worldly Affair: New York, The United Nations, and the Story Behind their Unlikely Bond.

During the Suez Crisis, which concerned control of the Suez Canal, Golda Meir led the Israeli delegation. Mrs. Roosevelt affirmed her support for Israel in her newspaper column, “My Day,” and called Meir “a woman one cannot help but deeply respect and love.” Golda Meir went on to be elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969.

2019 has been as busy as ever at Urban Archive as we've added more locations, collections, and posts to the platform. Here are some interesting facts, stories, and images from throughout the five boroughs that we dug up along the way.

The UK born, Cambridge educated, Israeli diplomat Abba Aubrey Solomon Eban was one of those diplomatic rock stars whose show stopping oratory seemed to articulate an entire era. For at least one week in 1953, along with the local milk driver's strike, he was in the Forward's headlines nearly daily.

From pig's knuckles to spaghetti to liver balls, find out how a city eats in years past!

A city is not just buildings but the people who live there and visit - so we added your history to the map. Enjoy reading through the stories that we selected as part of our second NYC Memories initiative!