About Vestiges of New York

Vestiges of New York puts more than 49,000 historical photographs of New York City back where they were taken. The photos span the 1850s through the 1980s, and most come from the New York Public Library's Milstein Collection.

Select a marker on the map to see the photos taken there, filter by decade, or search for an address. You can also browse every photo by decade.

Credits

Photographs: The New York Public Library, Milstein Collection. Each photo page links to the original item in NYPL Digital Collections, which lists its rights and reuse terms.
Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors, with tiles from OpenFreeMap and OpenMapTiles.
Address search: Nominatim, using OpenStreetMap data.

iPhone app

The same photos are available in OldNYC for iPhone.

Contact and corrections

Spotted a photo in the wrong place or a wrong date? Have a question? Send it through the feedback form.

To learn what the site collects, read the privacy policy.