The Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP), part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal to stimulate the economy and create jobs during the Great Depression, employed thousands of artists between 1935 and 1943 to create artworks for public spaces. This groundbreaking democratic experiment celebrated and supported American art and artists by providing a source of income, enhancing public buildings, and enriching the lives of Americans in the throes of the Great Depression. The Art Commission reviewed hundreds of Federal Art Project commissions during this period, including murals, sculpture and mosaics. A significant portion of the WPA/FAP commissions in our collection were installed in public health and hospital facilities. There is a noticeable shift in theme and tone depending on the location of murals. Murals in children’s wards often focused on nursery rhymes and fanciful themes, while those in nurses’ recreation rooms were “relaxing” and focused on familial scenes. Murals in doctors’ recreation rooms focused on the history and progress of medicine, while those in psychiatric wards sought to provide therapy for mental distress.

The Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP), part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal to stimulate the economy and create jobs during the Great Depression, employed thousands of artists between 1935 and 1943 to create artworks for public spaces. This groundbreaking democratic experiment celebrated and supported American art and artists by providing a source of income, enhancing public buildings, and enriching the lives of Americans in the throes of the Great Depression. The Art Commission reviewed hundreds of Federal Art Project commissions during this period, including murals, sculpture and mosaics. A significant portion of the WPA/FAP commissions in our collection were installed in public health and hospital facilities. There is a noticeable shift in theme and tone depending on the location of murals. Murals in children's wards often focused on nursery rhymes and fanciful themes, while those in nurses' recreation rooms were "relaxing" and focused on familial scenes. Murals in doctors' recreation rooms focused on the history and progress of medicine, while those in psychiatric wards sought to provide therapy for mental distress.

New York City abounds with tales of ghosts, and with each retelling, we breathe new life into these stories. In the grand Halloween tradition, join us as we venture into the most haunted sites of our city.

City Hospital Blackwell's Island ca. 1896 The City Hospital on Blackwell's Island was originally called Penitentiary Hospital due to its nature as the hospital for the inmates of Blackwell's Penitentiary. Built in 1832, its name changed to the City Hospital Blackwell's Island after a fire caused its reconstruction in 1861. The new building, designed by James Renwick Jr. and constructed by inmates, served both the prisoners and the city's poorer inhabitants. Its name changed once again to Charity Hospital in 1873 due to the nature of its work. This, in turn, caused Blackwell's Island to be renamed Welfare Island in 1921. To complete all this renaming, the island itself was redesignated Roosevelt Island in 1973. WIth many of the City Hospital's facilities growing obsolete, the City Hosptial was moved to Queens in the 1950s. The hospital building on Roosevelt Island was abandoned and left to ruin. Though it has fallen into disrepair, the Landmarks Preservation Committee granted it landmark status in 1975 for its important architectural details.

The nurses plunged her into an ice-cold bath, pulled her out sopping wet, and threw a sheer flannel slip over her head. Large black letters spelled “Lunatic Asylum, B.I., H. 6.” across the garment. Nellie Brown, the now-freezing woman, was relegated to Blackwell’s Island, Hall 6.

Man and microbes have always co-habited, and their relationship has had a profound influence on human history—especially in cities, the crossroads of the movements of people, goods, and germs. Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis explores the complex story of New York’s long battle against infectious disease—a fight involving government, urban planners, medical professionals, businesses, and activists.

The Public Design Commission (PDC) was established as the Municipal Art Commission by the New York City Charter in 1898 (following the consolidation of NYC). The Commission was tasked with the oversight of all public artworks and monuments, but its purview quickly expanded to include public structures and open spaces. Renamed in 2008, the PDC reviews the design of permanent works of architecture, landscape architecture, and art proposed on or over City-owned property. Projects are submitted by City agencies and include the construction, renovation, or restoration of buildings; the creation or rehabilitation of parks, playgrounds, and plazas; installation of lighting and other streetscape elements; signage; and the installation and conservation of artwork, including monuments and memorials. The Commission also acts as caretaker and curator of the City’s public art collection, which is located throughout the city’s public buildings and open spaces, and maintains an extensive archive documenting the history of New York City's public works. The PDC Archive maintains a collection of projects reviewed by the Commission since 1902, documenting more than 7,000 sites throughout New York City and providing a unique view into the history of the City’s public works. The designs that have been reviewed by the PDC throughout its over 120-year history are representative of the policies and focus of Mayoral administrations while simultaneously following historical trends in public design, public health, and artistic and cultural movements in the city and country at large. The following examples illustrate the breadth of projects under the PDC's purview, from large scale developments to streetscape fixtures that often go unnoticed. For an in-depth history of the Public Design Commission, see Michele H. Bogart’s book, "The Politics of Urban Beauty."