This structure was built around 1852 by James Lenox, the noted philanthropist and bibliophile whose mansion was located directly south of this building and neighboring 57 Fifth Avenue.

James Lenox, 1870-1880 Lenox’s mansion housed his collection of books which eventually became the Lenox Library, one of the original entities which merged to form the New York Public Library.

Jonathan Sturges, c. 1840 59 Fifth Avenue was also home to several members of a family who were among the most important American patrons of the arts of the 19th century, and significant figures in the fields of science, philanthropy, business, and government: Jonathan Sturges; his son-in-law and daughter, William H. Osborn and Virginia Reed Sturges Osborn; and their children, Henry Fairfield Osborn and William Church Osborn. The Sturges and Osborns were extremely generous and prodigious patrons of the arts and cultural and charitable institutions in 19th century New York City. Jonathan Sturges (1802-1874) became a leading force in promoting the arts in America, through purchases, financial support of New York’s young arts institutions, and facilitating the sale of art to his friends and colleagues. His generosity included paying above asking price for works by artists he supported, and offering them stipends to paint. His name is not nearly as well-known as some of his contemporaries who supported the arts, in large part because Sturges consistently shunned public attention for his philanthropic activities, unlike many of his peers who actively sought and encouraged it. In 1844, Sturges, along with Reed’s son-in-law Theodore Allen, founded the New York Gallery of the Fine Arts, the city’s first public art museum. When the New York Gallery of the Fine Arts dissolved, the collection went to the New-York Historical Society, another New York institution which benefited from Sturges’ generosity. So supportive of the aforementioned National Academy of Design was Sturges that he was made one of only a very few non-artist members.

New York Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled, Lexington Avenue and East 42nd Street Along with James Lenox, Jonathan Sturges was furthermore deeply involved with the New-York Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled. The former served as a Vice President and the latter as Treasurer and a founding trustee. William H. Osborn (1820-1894) was also a profoundly generous patron of the arts, and had a significant and lasting impact on New York politics and government. He came to know Jonathan Sturges and married his daughter Virginia Reed Sturges Osborn (1830-1902) in 1853. Osborn was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and one of the largest donors to the museum’s initial capital campaign. In addition to monetary support, he donated paintings from his own collection to the museum, and along with Sturges, donated money to a fund to keep a collection of Egyptian antiquities in New York City to be displayed at the museum. Virginia Osborn was remarkable in her own right. In addition to being a great patron of the arts, she also was extremely involved in philanthropic services to benefit the infirmed and impoverished — endeavors she shared with her mother Mary Cady Sturges. She helped establish the Bellevue Training School for Nurses, opened in 1873, the first school in the United States to be organized according to Florence Nightingale's nursing principles. The school was part of Bellevue Hospital, the oldest public hospital in America (1736), which had the first maternity ward in the country and just the second ambulance service in America (1869). Virginia Reed Sturges Osborn also served on the board of the Society of Decorative Arts, which encouraged women to earn a living by creating needlework and ceramics, and the board of the art section of the 1864 New York Sanitary Fair, which was held to raise money for medical provisions for the Union troops.

Henry Faifield Osborn, c. 1900-1918 The Osborns had two sons, Henry Fairfield Osborn (1857-1935) and William Church Osborn (1862-1951), both of whom grew up and lived at 59 Fifth Avenue. Both also had as impressive a legacy as their parents in their contributions to venerable New York City institutions, and in their impacts in their respective fields of science and government. The elder son, Henry Fairfield Osborn, owned and collected art like his parents, but his greatest renown lies in the field of natural science. In that regard he led two of New York’s great cultural institutions simultaneously, co-founding one of them. Osborn was the President of the American Museum of Natural History (Osborn was the first Museum president trained as a scientist) from 1908 to 1933, a period of dramatic growth and expansion for the museum. In 1895 he was a founder of the New York Zoological Society (now known as the Wildlife Conservation Society, operator of the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and the Central Park Zoo) and its president from 1909 to 1925. The New York Zoological Society was one of the first conservation organizations in the United States, and during Osborn’s tenure as President both the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium expanded tremendously. Also during Osborn’s tenure the NYZS succeeded in securing passage of significant legislation protecting wildlife in America, and established the zoo’s wildlife education department, teaching zoology, conservation, and natural history to visitors and students.

Bust of Henry Fairfield Osborn at the American Museum of Natural History, 2008 Henry Fairfield Osborn began his work at the American Museum of Natural History in 1891 as the curator of a newly formed Department of Vertebrate Paleontology. He was also a professor of biology and zoology at Columbia University, and is credited with greatly influencing the education of paleontologists in both this country and Great Britain, as well as with popularizing the field of paleontology through the art of display at the American Museum of Natural History. He also accumulated what was then the finest collection of fossils in the world, and was responsible for the naming of many specimens of dinosaurs. According to his obituary in The New York Times, during his time as president of the Museum of Natural History, Henry Fairfield Osborn raised about $11,000,000 towards buildings and $20,000,000 towards natural history exhibits. Osborn was also a noted and vocal opponent of the Tennessee law which prohibited the teaching of evolution, leading to the famous ‘Scopes Monkey Trial.’ It should also be noted that Osborn was also a vocal proponent of eugenics, a pseudo-scientific philosophy popular in the early 20th century which espoused that the Nordic “race” was genetically superior, and that all other races — including people of color and southern and Eastern Europeans — were genetically inferior, and the growth of their population should be discouraged, particularly in relative relationship to the superior races. These beliefs were sadly not uncommon at the time among those in certain scientific professions, as well as those involved with birth control and family planning efforts, and provide a disturbing counterweight to the good work many did and advocated for in other respects.

William Church Osborn, c. 1910-1915 Of the younger son, William Church Osborn, The New York Times said in its obituary: “Few men have made so rich and varied a contribution to their community” as he. Trained as a lawyer, he served as counsel for corporations and railroads. He was also a philanthropist, environmentalist, patron of the arts, and longtime trustee and president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With the death of Virginia in 1902, William and Henry each inherited half of their parent’s vast art collection, and donated many of those artworks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. William expanded his personal collection with works by French Impressionists and post-Impressionists such as Monet, Manet, and Gaugin, at a time when such art was largely a novelty in this country. In 1904, William was elected a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and would serve the institution in various critical capacities until his death in 1951. In 1932 he became Vice-President, and in 1933 when the current President William Sloane Coffin died suddenly, the board proposed Osborn as his successor. He declined, instead recommending George Blumenthal for the position, the museum’s first Jewish trustee. Osborn succeeded Blumenthal as President in 1941, remaining in the position until 1947. Osborn’s tenure with the Met came during a pivotal period for the museum. Several building projects were executed, collections and staff were expanded, and practices of museum management were formalized. In 1907 he directed the museum’s first purchase of an Impressionist painting, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Madame Charpentier and Her Children — a bold and controversial acquisition at the time. He also established the Met’s junior museum, an innovative interactive and educational resource for schoolchildren soon emulated by many other museums. Osborn made several important gifts of artwork to the museum, including Edouard Manet’s The Spanish Singer and Paul Gauguin’s Two Tahitian Women. Through bequests he left works by Monet, Pissarro and William Blake.

William Church Osborn Gates at the Fifth Avenue and 85th Street entrance to Central Park, 2009 His work with the Metropolitan Museum was only a small part of William Church Osborn’s civic and philanthropic legacy. He also served on the board of the Children’s Aid Society for more than sixty years, from 1890 until his death in 1951. For almost fifty of those years he served as president, from 1901 to 1949; when he retired as president, the position of chairman of the board was created for him, which he held until his death. He also served as President of the New York Society for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled, of which his grandfather Jonathan Sturges was a founding trustee and treasurer. The Society founded the New York Hospital for the Relief of the Ruptured and Crippled, now the Hospital for Special Surgery, the first and oldest orthopedic hospital in the United States. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief (later Near East Relief, now the Near East Foundation) was located at 70 Fifth Avenue. The Near East Foundation is the oldest nonsectarian international development non-governmental organization in the United States, and only the second humanitarian organization chartered by Congress.

Campaign poster for the American Committee for Relief in the Near East (now the Near East Foundation), 1918 During and after World War I, millions of Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, and members of other ethnic and religious minorities in what was the Ottoman Empire were displaced or killed. Over a million and half people died from deportation, forced marches, starvation, and execution between 1915 and 1923.

Henry Morgenthau, Sr., c. 1913 Throughout this horrific period, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., the American Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, reported with alarm the unfolding atrocities to the U.S. State Department. However, his concerns were largely ignored, and Secretary of State Robert Lansing suggested Morgenthau seek assistance from private entities instead. Morgenthau consequently worked with friends and colleagues to develop the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, founded in 1915. The Committee adopted the battle cry “remember the starving Armenians,” and proceeded to raise millions of dollars to support the people targeted in what is now known as the Armenian Genocide.

Campaign poster for the American Committee for Relief in the Near East (now the Near East Foundation), 1917-1919 In his book The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and the American Response, Peter Balakian writes: “Ambassador Morgenthau went beyond the duty of his job as he became the crucial nexus between the killing fields and the American relief community and the press back home. A man of high moral conscience, Ambassador Morgenthau was most likely the first highranking diplomat to confront boldly the leaders of the Ottoman government about its treatment of the Armenians.” The Committee went on to expand its engagement throughout the Middle East and West Asia, renaming itself Near East Relief by 1919, the year it was chartered by Congress. It changed its name again to the Near East Foundation in 1930, reflecting its shift from relief efforts to long-term, development-oriented involvement in the Middle East and Africa.

Campaign poster for the American Committee for Relief in the Near East (now the Near East Foundation), 1918 Henry Morgenthau, Sr. and The American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief played a major role in confronting the Armenian Genocide, and the Near East Relief is credited with saving over a million lives, including 130,000 orphans. These organizations furthermore established a philanthropic model that was widely emulated, and continues to be used, by leading development organizations internationally. The Foundation’s Near East Relief Digital Museum commemorates America’s historic response to the Armenian Genocide by preserving, reconstructing, and sharing the rich history of the relief effort. This history is also showcased in the documentary film They Shall Not Perish. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This structure was built around 1852 by James Lenox, the noted philanthropist and bibliophile whose mansion was located directly south of this building and which housed his collection of books that eventually became the Lenox Library.

James Lenox, 1870-1880 57 Fifth Avenue is listed as the address for James Lenox’s sister Henrietta Lenox. When he died in 1880, James Lenox left much of his considerable estate to his sister Henrietta, to whom he was very close and who, like him, never married. After her brother’s death, Henrietta became a major benefactor to the Lenox Library, which would become one of the three founding entities of the New York Public Library, donating twenty-two valuable adjoining building lots and $100,000 for the purchase of books.

Robert B. Roosevelt, 1860 Multiple sources also list Robert B. Roosevelt (1829-1906) as a resident of 57 Fifth Avenue in the mid-to-late 19th century. Roosevelt was the brother of Theodore Roosevelt Sr., uncle of President Teddy Roosevelt, and great uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt. An early and influential conservationist, he is credited with imbuing in his nephew Teddy his dedication to the conservation cause. Shortly after its incorporation in 1884 Roosevelt became President of the New York Association for the Protection of Game, whose establishment in 1844 has been described as “the first active steps looking towards game protection in the United States.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The present office building, constructed in 1912, was built upon the site of James Lenox’s mansion, which came to house his extraordinary library, the Lenox Library, which became one of the foundations of the New York Public Library.

James Lenox, 1870-1880 According to the finding aid for the James Lenox papers, held in the New York Public Library: “Upon the 1839 death of his father, who was by then one of the wealthiest men in New York City, Lenox inherited property that included a large farm of 300 acres in the upper part of the city. Lenox carried on the family business until 1845, when he retired to concentrate on book collecting and supporting charitable organizations. Lenox gave land to the Presbyterian Hospital and Presbyterian Home for Aged Women. He was active in the Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue. Lenox was a trustee of the College of New Jersey from 1833-1857, and served the Princeton Seminary as trustee (1831-1879) and director (1835-1847). During the last twelve years of his life, he gave away three million dollars to charities.

The Gutenberg Bible at the NYPL, 2009 In 1845, Lenox began to collaborate with Henry Stevens, an American book purchasing agent who lived in London. Stevens assisted Lenox in the development of a fine collection of rare books, especially Americana and early Bibles. Letters, notes, lists, and invoices passed between the two by almost every steamer for fifteen years. The first copy of a Gutenberg Bible to come to the United States was a James Lenox acquisition of 1847. Lenox also bought manuscripts, engravings, maps, and paintings. Lenox eventually decided to make his collections accessible to scholars and the public by establishing an independent library to manage them. In 1870 the Lenox Library was incorporated with a nine-member board of trustees, and plans were made for a new library building to house the materials, then in Lenox's home. The architect selected was Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895) and the site (owned and donated to the new institution by Lenox) was Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st streets in Manhattan.

James Lenox Mansion (now demolished), 1910 James Lenox died at the age of 53 on February 17, 1880 at his residence at 53 Fifth Avenue. He is buried in New York City at the Marble Cemetery on Second Street. In 1895, the Lenox Library joined with the Astor Library and Tilden Trust to form The New York Public Library.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

According to the blog ‘Daytonian in Manhattan’ by author and historian Tom Miller: "On June 19, 1891 Clarissa C. Lathrop opened the offices of the Lunacy Law Reform League and the Anti-Kidnapping Union in Room 6 of No. 10 East 14th Street.

Clarissa C. Lathrop, 1893 She told reporters 'Any one who believes that he or she is in danger of being imprisoned in an asylum may call at the society’s headquarters any day and have an investigation made.' She added 'Only last week we had a sane person released from the asylum…We have not more than twelve cases which we are investigating.' Clarissa’s work was not limited to New York City. Later that year, in October, she arranged the release of John B. Ransley from the Longview Lunatic Asylum, near Cincinnati. A rich confectioner, he ran three stores and a candy factory and early in 1891 brought his mother and sister into partnership.

“A Secret Institution” by Clarissa Caldwell Lathrop, 1890 On a trip to New York, he became romantically involved with a woman and proposed to her. When the couple quickly married, Ransley’s mother and sister jumped into action. They restricted his income so he and his wife had to borrow money to live on, then had him kidnapped in Newark and committed to the Cincinnati asylum. It was only because the bride went to the Lunacy Reform League that he did not spend his life imprisoned. For the next several years, newspapers would report on 'the perfectly sane people rescued by the Society.'" Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in November 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio. After Frances Willard took over leadership in 1879, the WCTU became the largest and one of the most influential women’s groups in the country, expanding its platform from abstinence from alcohol and leading a ‘moderate’ and moral Christian lifestyle to campaign for labor laws, prison reform, and women’s suffrage. Concomitantly, the alcohol industry became a strong funder and supporter of the anti-women’s suffrage cause. The WCTU’s entry into the women’s suffrage effort around 1880 allowed many more traditional women and men, who might have felt alienated by the more radically feminist platform of many suffragists, to feel comfortable supporting the cause.

Frances Willard, 1890-1898 It was during the time period that the National WCTU was heavily involved in the women’s suffrage movement and other progressive social causes that it had its headquarters located at 16 East 14th Street (demolished). Prominent leaders of the WCTU including Willard, Caroline Brown (C.B.) Buell and Frances J. Barnes worked out of the 14th Street office on the women’s suffrage and other campaigns. Today the WCTU is the oldest voluntary, non-sectarian woman’s organization in continuous existence in the world. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

In the 1870s, this house was home to key leaders of the Niobrara League of New York, which was part of a larger network of missionary organizations seeking to evangelize and “civilize” Native American communities across the nation. The League was also a branch of the Woman’s Auxiliary to the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which transformed the role of women in the Church and gave them unprecedented authority in the institution’s missionary efforts. In 1871, after nearly a decade’s worth of discussion about how to organize the women of the Protestant Episcopal Church, a Board of Missions committee proposed forming a woman’s society to assist its mission goals. By January of the following year, Mary Abbot Emery was appointed the general secretary of the new Woman’s Auxiliary, and entrusted with coordinating women’s missionary work and devising other roles for women within the church. Seeking to serve as a resource for, and develop a robust network with, existing missionary organizations, Emery welcomed these groups into the Woman’s Auxiliary, while making a concerted effort to respect their individual autonomy. As such, a number of associations declared themselves part of the Woman’s Auxiliary, including the Niobrara League of New York in 1872.

Over the next quarter-century, the Woman’s Auxiliary became less and less auxiliary, evolving into a critical component of the otherwise male-dominated administrative structure of the Episcopal Church. The members of the Auxiliary raised money, recruited workers, trained teachers, and developed mission education programs. Despite lacking any seats on the Board of Missions, the members of the Auxiliary shaped the Church’s strategy from the periphery, and the church’s missionary program especially became dependent on the association, and the women within it. The Niobrara League, beneath this umbrella organization, specifically focused on missionary efforts in Native American communities. Charlotte Augusta Astor served as the president for the organization, which, according to its Second Annual Report in 1873-1874, held regular meetings on the second Thursday of each month, November through May, in the Sunday-school room of the Church of the Transfiguration, located at 1 East 29th Street (the church received NYC Individual Landmark designation in 1967). That year, the membership of the League grew to twenty-seven churches, each represented by two or more delegates. The organization provided care to the sick and wounded, secured scholarships for schooling, published a Dakota Prayer Book, and received donations including “a melodeon, an office-desk, a washing machine, bedding and house linen of all kinds, clothing both half-worn and new, materials for sewing-schools, books, pictures, toys, canned fruit and milk and vegetables, \[and] hospital stores.”

Charlotte Augusta Gibbes, 1860 The League’s work was also aimed at “civilizing” Native Americans, especially women and mothers. As stated in the Annual Report, the association’s participants were responsible for “ministering to the Indian women in their homes, helping them to-overcome old and uncleanly habits, giving to the wives and mothers their first understanding of what is meant by decency and good order in the family, imparting to all the knowledge of the SAVIOUR and of His Kingdom on earth.” Despite the League’s efforts to provide charitable, educational, and religious support to Native Americans, the text of the Annual Report showcases the League’s profoundly questionable intent to impose Eurocentric values, beliefs, and roles – particularly for women – upon Native Americans families. According to the report, 25,000 individuals were “served” by the Mission, which included eleven missionaries and eighteen ministering women. Mary Abbot Emery herself presided as Treasurer of the organization, and among those involved were these two residents of 11 East 12th Street: Mrs. Mills, a delegate from the Holy Trinity Church in Harlem, and Miss E. McVickar, a delegate from St. George’s Church. 11 East 12th Street residents Mrs. Mills and Miss E. McVickar played a role in a deeply problematic colonialist efforts to evangelize and “civilize” Native Americans – especially women – while at the same time working to secure a much more prominent and influential voice for white Protestant women in the otherwise patriarchal structure of the church. Such are the ways that currents in history frequently cross, in sometimes surprising combinations. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

A no longer extant building on this site was the first home of the New York Foundling Hospital.

The New York Foundling is one of New York City’s oldest and largest child welfare agencies. Founded in 1869 to save the lives of babies being abandoned on the streets of New York, the Foundling currently serves over 30,000 people each year in New York City, Rockland County, and Puerto Rico. Its comprehensive community programs serve vulnerable children and families with foster care, adoption, education, mental health, and many other community-based services. While the world has changed a bit since 1869, The New York Foundling continues to share its founders’ belief that no one should ever be abandoned, and that all children deserve the right to grow up in loving and stable environments.

Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbon In the late 1860s, there was an epidemic of infanticide and child abandonment In New York City. The Sisters of St. Peter’s Convent downtown on Barclay Street regularly found abandoned babies on their doorstep. Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbon of St. Peter’s approached Mother Mary Jerome, the Superior of the Sisters of Charity, regarding the need of rescuing these children. Archbishop (later Cardinal) John McCloskey urged the Sisters to open an asylum for such children.

Sister Mary Irene Fitzgibbon with Children, 1888 On October 11, 1869, three Sisters of Charity – Sisters Irene, Sister Teresa Vincent, and Ann Aloysia – opened The New York Foundling Asylum of the Sisters of Charity. They received one infant on their first night of operation. Forty-five more babies followed in that first month. To meet overwhelming demand, Foundling opened a boarding department in November and began placing children under the care of neighbors. Seventy-seven more babies followed in the next two months. The New York Foundling Asylum of the Sisters of Charity first opened on October 11, 1869 in a Greek Revival row house located at 17 East 12th Street, between Fifth Avenue and University Place. This building was demolished prior to 1929 when a 12-story parking garage (since converted to an apartment building) was built on the site. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

From 1843 to 1856, this 1842 house was the home of Benjamin Hazard Field (1814-1893), a leading philanthropist in New York City during the 19th century. In its obituary in 1893, The New York Times said of Field “his name was prominently associated with most of the philanthropic enterprises that have been undertaken in New York during the past fifty years.” He gave tirelessly of both time and money to some of New York City’s most notable charitable and educational institutions. The early successes of many of these entities were a direct result of Field’s leadership and generosity, which gave them the foundations that allowed them to thrive for generations, in many cases into the present.

Benjamin Hazard Field, 1875 Benjamin H. Field was born in Yorktown, New York and worked for his uncle, Hickson W. Field, in his mercantile business. By 1838, Field’s uncle had retired and Benjamin Field took over the family business, spurring it on to even greater success. Additionally, he served as Vice President of the Bank for Savings, the oldest institution of its kind in New York City, as well as serving as Director of the Old Fulton Bank and Director of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. Field and his family moved into 86 University Place (originally numbered 56, then numbered 50 between 1851 and 1898) around 1843, shortly after the house was built. New York City directories show the family at this location until 1856, when they moved to an elegant mansion on East 26th Street fronting Madison Square Park (demolished).

The Home for the Incurables, 1897 As impressive as Field’s success in business was, his philanthropic endeavors reached an even greater level of prominence. J. Thomas Scharf in his History of Westchester County (1886) said of Field “From \[1838, when he took over his uncle’s business] to the present Mr. Field has been justly ranked as one of the most prominent citizens of the great metropolis.” Scharf went on to say: But to him the earning of a fortune was simply a means to enable him to accomplish his ends – to show by a bright example the good that can be done by men possessed of wealth and actuated by the spirit that seeks the welfare of their race. In all efforts of a benevolent character no one has taken a more active part and it is safe to say that there is scarcely an association or institution, having for its object the amelioration of the condition of the poor and suffering, with which his name is not connected, and of which he has not been a liberal supporter The Home for the Incurables at Fordham figured prominently into Field’s philanthropic endeavors. Credited with being the nation’s first chronic disease hospital, Field was responsible for its founding in 1866 as well as its success. He was elected president of the institution at its inception and remained so for the rest of his life. At this time, hospitals could not care for patients suffering from such chronic conditions as epilepsy, paralysis, and senility, among others. The hospital began by receiving 33 patients in a modest frame home in West Farms. Under Field’s leadership, in 1874 it moved to a 10-acre-site on Third Avenue in the Bronx which it still occupies today, now known as St. Barnabas Hospital.

New-York Historical Society, Second Avenue and East 11th Street, 1893 Field had a profound impact upon the growth and longevity of the New-York Historical Society. His formal involvement began in 1844, when he became a life member. In 1849, he became a member of the Executive Committee, and would remain so until his death. He served as the Society’s treasurer from 1860 to 1877, and Vice President from 1878 until 1885, when he was elected president. Also according to Scharf “\[i]t was largely owing to his earnest efforts that the fire-proof building of the \[New-York Historical] Society was erected” in 1857, its first permanent home, at Second Avenue and East 11th Street. Also during his tenure, the Society was also able to secure the site for its future and present location on Central Park West. Field was also one of the original founders of the New York City Free Circulating Library (NYFCL), and its president from 1885 to 1893. He was key to the NYFCL’s success and rapid growth, extending branches into poor neighborhoods and reaching New York City residents who could not access the private libraries of the day or gain much of any exposure to literature. The NYFCL would merge at the beginning of the 20th century with the New York Public Library, which was advancing the free public circulating branch library system pioneered by the NYFCL.

Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, 1917 In the second half of the 19th century, New York City had no public library system and no free circulating library. The city had the large private Astor reference library, and a number of subscription libraries such as the Mercantile Society, but lacked a circulating library accessible to the broader population. What would become the New York Free Circulating Library (NYFCL) was started in 1879 by a Grace Church teacher and a group of other women and teachers as a reading room at 127 East 13th Street in Grace House, part of the Grace Church Chapel. Though initially open only two hours a week and containing only 500 books, the free public reading room was so popular there were often lines around the block, and as few as two books were left at the end of a session. Within a year, the library’s collection increased to 1,200 volumes purely from donations, and patrons ranged from children to 70-year-old men. The New York Free Circulating Library was incorporated on March 15, 1880. Benjamin H. Field was one of the original incorporators, along with Phil Schuyler, William W. Appleton, Julia Blagden and Mary S. Kernochan. The library moved to two rooms in a private house at 36 Bond Street (since demolished), which opened on March 22, 1880. By 1882, the trustees were able to purchase a nearby house at 49 Bond Street, establishing the library’s first official branch. Circulation had increased from 69,280 volumes during its first full year (November, 1880-October, 1881) to 81,233 volumes in 1882-1883.

Bond Street Branch of the New York Free Circulating Library, 1917 Field became President of the board of NYFCL in 1885, shortly after the opening of its second branch, the Ottendorfer Library at 135 Second Avenue, the system’s first purpose-built branch, and remained in that position until his death in 1893. After the Ottendorfer branch’s opening “it was predicted that the demand for books in the \[New York Free Circulating] library would decrease” according to the New York Times. However the exact opposite occurred; under Field’s leadership the combined circulation of both branches rose to 240,000 books per year. During Field’s Presidency, NYFCL implemented a plan to secure a sound financial footing with appeals to the various trades and professionals for annual memberships. His campaign was quite successful, and with the additional generosity of large benefactors such as Andrew Carnegie, new branches were opened. During Field’s time leading the NYFCL, the system expanded exponentially and introduced innovations in libraries which are still being used today. In 1887, Catherine W. Bruce gave $50,000 for the purpose of opening and maintaining a branch to be named after her father, George W. Bruce, at 226 West 42nd Street (demolished). It opened in 1888 with about 7,000 volumes on its shelves. NYFCL partnered with the Children’s Library Association (CLA) assigning a room of the Bruce Library for the exclusive use of children. CLA furnished the books for the children’s library and provided supervision and maintenance of the room. Also in 1888, the Jackson Square branch at 251 West 13th Street was opened (extant, Greenwich Village Historic District); the lot, building, and books were all donated by George W. Vanderbilt. The beginnings of what would be the East Harlem branch was started in a room at 2059 Lexington Avenue, and in February of 1893, the Muhlenberg branch was opened in Chelsea in the Parish House of the Church of the Holy Communion at 49 West 20th Street.

The American Museum of Natural History building, 1881 Field, who died on March 17, 1893, would not live to see the eventual merger of the New York Free Circulating Library with The New York Public Library in 1901, and the NYPL’s adoption of many of the innovations, and branch libraries, of the NYFCL. However, the imprint of his work can still be felt today as the New York Public Library celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. Women’s and children’s causes were also of particular focus for both Field and his wife, Catherine M. Van Cortland de Peyster (1818-1880). In 1860 Field was among the founders and initial benefactors of the first women’s library in New York, located at New York University, an enterprise also supported by Horace Greely, Henry Ward Beecher, and Peter Cooper. Field served as a trustee of the Sheltering Arms and of the Children’s Fold, Vice President of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and donated nearly $100,000 towards the construction of a school near his birthplace in Westchester County. He also served as trustee for the Working Women’s Protective Union. Founded in 1863, the Union’s mission was to protect working women by providing legal protection from unscrupulous employers. Field was also one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History, along with Theodore Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan, among others. He was instrumental in the placement of the Admiral Farragut monument in Madison Square Park (near his home) and the statue of Fitz-Greene Halleck in Central Park.

Admiral Farragut monument in Madison Square Park, 2008 It should be noted that Field served in leadership positions and/or as a trustee several other prominent 19th century New York most charitable institutions, including the New-York Eye and Ear Infirmary, Roosevelt Hospital, Greenwood Cemetery, the Good Samaritan Dispensary, the New York Dispensary, and the New York Institution for Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, and served in many of these capacities until his death in 1893. In his genealogy of the Field family published in 1901, historian Frederick Clifton Pierce said of Benjamin Hazard Field’s passing: “The death of Mr. Field ends a career of remarkable activity in philanthropic work. He was most widely known for his activity and unselfish devotion in working for the good of his fellow citizens. In this work he was most lavish in the expenditure of his money and time. The best part of his life was given up almost entirely to work for others.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The Police Athletic League Building at 34 1/2 East 12th Street between University Place and Broadway was built in 1855 for the New York City Board of Education and designated an individual New York City landmark in 1998. The building first served as Grammar School 47, an all-girls school. The landmark designation report notes that it “was one of the first New York City schools built exclusively for the education of girls at a time when the city was trying to expand learning opportunities for young women.” Grammar School 47 was renamed the 12th Street Advance School for Girls in 1856, and in 1897 the name was changed to Girls High School. A new school opened in the building in 1902, Girls’ Technical High School, which was renamed Washington Irving High School in 1906 and moved out of 34 1/2 East 12th Street into its current building on Irving Place in 1913.

Lydia Fowler Wadleigh An early faculty member at Grammar School 47 was Lydia F. Wadleigh, a strong advocate and practitioner of early and higher education for women. Within a year, she founded the 12th Street Advanced School for Girls within the Grammar School building By 1870, Wadleigh took on the role of “Lady Superintendent” of the city’s Daily Female Normal School, which would soon become New York Normal College, and eventually develop into today’s Hunter College (Hunter was originally a women’s college until it became co-educational in 1964). Though Wadleigh died in 1888, when the Board of Education created the first official high school for girls in 1897, they located it at the East 12th Street building. The girls’ high school was later moved to a new building on West 115th Street (which was designed by noted architect C.B.J. Snyder and is itself a New York City landmark) and named in Wadleigh’s honor. The school remains here today as the Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts. By 1913 the Board of Education converted the 12th Street building for use as administrative offices for its building operations and maintenance bureau. In 1958, the Board of Education vacated the building and turned it over for use by the Police Athletic League. The PAL, which since 1914 has run youth development programs throughout the city, still uses the building as the site for its administrative offices. The organization serves 40,000 NYC youth per year through after school programs, summer camps, athletic leagues, employment programs, and other support programs. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

In 1973, The New York Times reported that Mary Agnes Miller, a resident of the Devonshire House, left her entire inherited estate to the New York Public Library. This was the largest individual donation the library had received in a decade. According to the article, Miller was a poet and writer of children’s stories, and lived in a basement apartment at 28 East 10th Street. Her sister, Jean Wallace Miller, had also lived at the Devonshire House and worked as a Braille transcriber of Romance language books for the NYPL. Jean Miller passed away in 1970. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .