Port Of New York Research Articles

Book Review: A Storm in the Port: Keeping the Port of New York and New Jersey Open

Book Review: A Storm in the Port: Keeping the Port of New York and New Jersey Open

A storm in the port: keeping the Port of New York and New Jersey open

A storm in the port: keeping the Port of New York and New Jersey open

"To Forget and Forgive": Reconstructing the Nation in the Post-Civil War Classroom

In John Bonner's A Child's History of the United States, published in 1866, schoolchildren read about the brave actions freedmen took on behalf of the Union cause. They read, for instance, about a "black man, Tillman, a steward on board a [Union] vessel seized by a rebel privateer, and left on board of her with the prize crew, [who] rose one dark night, . . . and killed the prize captain and mate with an axe, and brought the vessel safely to the port of New York." Students were also introduced to a freedwoman washing the floors at a Union hospital who saved the life of a wounded and sick Union soldier whom doctors insisted was going to die. After days and weeks of caring for him "carefully and tenderly," feeding him with a spoon "as though he had been a baby," and sleeping on the floor while the sick soldier occupied her bed, the woman "had the pleasure of seeing her soldier completely restored to health." These and other events, Bonner explained, "dispel[led] the prejudice" against freedmen and opened the door for freedmen to serve as soldiers. Stories of brave freedmen and women convinced wartime Americans, and presumably Bonner's young readers, that "there was something manly in the negroes after all."1 [End Page 282] Written in the heady days after Appomattox, Bonner's classroom history was similar to many texts written in the North before and immediately after the American Civil War. In the midst of heated political battles about the Mexican War and slavery's expansion, slavery played a central role in classroom histories of the nation. Texts sought to establish an emancipationist legacy for the nation, and Bonner's history celebrated the realization of this legacy in the wartime enlistment of black soldiers. Samuel Goodrich had similar intentions in his Pictorial History of the United States. A picture portraying the arrival of the first slaves to Virginia in 1619 is included in the 1846 edition (fig. 1). The accompanying text describes the slave trade and the emancipationist energy that followed the Revolutionary war and suggests that resistance to slavery grew in proportion to the extension of the trade. Recognizing slavery's central role in the narrative of American history, Goodrich wanted young schoolchildren to remember their ancestors who worked to end slavery and to block colonization schemes to send freedmen back to Africa.2 But whereas the images and stories of individual slaves—and Northern abolitionists—grace the pages of antebellum Northern texts and texts written in the first decade after the war, slaves and slavery are conspicuously absent from later classroom histories. Indeed, the image of the first slaves arriving in the colonies was unceremoniously removed from the 1877 edition of Goodrich's Pictorial. Later editions of the text eliminated slavery altogether, an editorial decision that gave Goodrich the space to add glowing predictions for the nation's future rather than burdening his history text with the weight of the nation's slave past. In the 1877 edition of Pictorial, all images of slaves and slavery were gone, and Goodrich applauded national reconciliation efforts, because "the time had come to bury the past [for] both North and South were ready to forget and forgive."3 In the thirty-one years between editions of Goodrich's popular school history, Americans on the battlefield and on the home front argued about the end of slavery and the meaning of American nationalism. Wartime government policies such as emancipation and freedmen's civil rights, the wartime draft, and the income tax extended the scope and the powers of the federal government, permanently redefining the relationship between the individual citizen and the nation. The postwar nation that emerged held great possibilities for freedmen. Congress considered legislation requiring [End Page 283] Click for larger view Figure 1 [End Page 284] federal monitoring of elections and a generous aid to education bill...

BY THE NUMBERS: ASIAN LONGHORNED BEETLE AND THE NEW JERSEY EXPERIENCE

New Jersey has two active quarantines currently under the jurisdiction of the USDA's Cooperative Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Eradication Project. Encompassing just over twenty (20.2) square miles, these quarantines are located in the northeastern and central coastal regions of the state, in close proximity to the ports of New York, Newark, and Elizabeth. Public education and media outreach have been instrumental in confirming the presence of ALB in New Jersey, as both quarantines are the result of citizens' reports. Twenty five personnel have been directly assigned to this eradication effort, with outside contractors taking up the remaining effort. Nearly 33,000 trees have been inspected, resulting in 11,000 (33%) removals of infested or high-risk host species trees. Major losses have occurred in populations of Norway and red maple, London planetree, and American elm, species which have received widespread praise (and unfortunate over-planting) for their tolerance of urban planting sites. Regulatory Contracts (597) and Compliance Agreements (137) were necessary to formalize the quarantine and to create strong working partnerships between the USDA, municipalities, and industry to gain access to all trees and to control the movement of all “green material” in the quarantine areas. Municipalities currently cooperating in the New Jersey Community Forestry Program have begun offsetting this major deforestation and canopy cover loss with the planting of 2,545 nonhost trees, with full reforestation expected over the next several years. In addition, >22,000 trees have been treated with Imidacloprid as a possible deterrent to any activity or spread of ALB in the Garden State.

Institutional change in the Port of New York

Innovation, organizational capabilities, and environmental values combine to determine institutional change for a major marine port. This conceptual framework is applied to the case of dredged material management for the Port of New York and New Jersey. During the century under review, the institutional setting has changed significantly with: (1) environmental considerations moving from nearly irrelevant to central: (2) the number of interests and organizations increasing; and (3) the decision processes becoming far more complex. Ultimately, the new institutional setting influences organizations and individual decisions. As a result of the changes, the practice of dredged material disposal in ocean waters has been limited based on the level of bioaccumulation of selected contaminants. In response to institutional changes, ports requiring deepened channels must rapidly innovate to meet new environmental obligations for material disposal in order to enhance organizational capabilities necessary to maintain competitive advantages in maritime commerce. Successful marine ports will anticipate and meet new societal expectations related to the environment as a condition for continued legitimacy. Collectively these changes imply that ports have moved beyond a carefully circumscribed mission of transportation and economic development to that of a prominent user of coastal space with broad obligations to the public.

Scheduling material handling vehicles in a container terminal

Increasing global trade has created the need for efficient container ports. The goal of the port is to move containers as quickly as possible and at the least possible cost. Goods that are delayed at the port are inevitably tardy when delivered to the customer, and thus sanctioned by late charges. Two key activities in the port are (i) unloading of containers from truck and then storage in the export area, and (ii) removal of containers from import storage and then loading onto the trucks. Since containers are large and heavy, specialized material handling vehicles are required for transporting them within the terminal. The focus of this paper is on port terminals where straddle carriers are primarily used to move containers. Container terminals typically have well developed computer and communication networks. Through these networks a terminal scheduler will control and schedule the movement of the straddle carrier fleet in real time. The objective of the terminal scheduler is to minimize the empty travel of straddle carriers, while at the same time minimizing any delays in servicing customers. This paper presents a straddle scheduling procedure that can be used by a terminal scheduler to control the movement of straddle carriers. At its core, the procedure is driven by an assignment algorithm that dynamically matches straddle carriers and trucks, as each becomes available. The procedures were developed and tested in collaboration with the largest container terminal operator in the Port of New York and New Jersey. Using a simulation model of the real system, the superiority of the proposed procedure over two alternative scheduling strategies is illustrated.

The New Port of New York and New Jersey Operational Forecast System

he real-time Port of New York and New Jersey Operational Forecast System (NYOFS) became operational on 10 February 2003 at NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) in Silver Spring, Maryland. NYOFS generates hourly nowcasts and hourly forecast guidance out to 30 hours of currents and water levels for the Port region, including Raritan Bay, Newark Bay, and Upper Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Arthur Kill, the lower Hudson River, and the East River. NYOFS graphical products—including time series, maps, and animations of water levels and currents, nowcasts, and forecast guidance—are disseminated through an NOS Web site (http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/ NYOFS/nyofs.shtml). The model predictions are displayed as a graph of the water-level height and current velocity at measurement stations and other locations throughout the bay (Fig. 1). The system has been incorporated into NOS’s Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS®), which provides an operational monitoring system (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) for quality assurance and control of the NYOFS inputs, operational procedures, and product dissemination. Historically, mariners navigating in New York Harbor have used NOAA’s tide and tidal current tables for the best estimate of expected water levels and currents. However, these tables cannot predict changes due to wind, atmospheric pressure, and river flow, which are often significant (Fig. 2). Furthermore, the tide water level and tidal current predictions are available at only a few locations. Although new technology, such as PORTS, at selected locations maintained by NOS provides near-real-time information to the users, there is still need for more information for assuring navigation safety. These include 1) near-real-time water level and current information at locations without gauges, 2) shortterm (1–2 days) water level and current forecast guidFig. 1. NYOFS nowcast/forecast guidance locations.

User Charges for Port Cost Recovery: the US Harbour Maintenance Tax Controversy

The US incurs significant costs in order to maintain its ports and harbours. The harbour maintenance tax, introduced in 1986 under the Reagan-era overall initiative to cut back the average tax burden, has been controversial since its inception. Its imposition on US exports was declared illegal by the Supreme Court. A proposal by the Clinton administration to introduce a harbour services user fee did not gain the support of stakeholders and thus the earlier status quo continues today with the nation's trading partners protesting vehemently. The paper analyses recent US Army Corps of Engineers data on harbour maintenance expenses in the Port of New York and New Jersey and proposes a simple yet realistic user fee model, radically different from any previous proposal, that would comply with the US Supreme Court's constitutionality test while imposing a relatively minor burden on port users. In addition, using the US as an example, the paper contributes to the general discussion on infrastructure pricing and cost recovery through user charges and in this way it addresses, albeit on the fringe, broader public policy issues such as those of mandated taxes and private versus public interest.

Hudson-Raritan Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Project: Implementation of Representative Restoration Sites and Estuary-wide Studies.

Hudson-Raritan Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Project: Implementation of Representative Restoration Sites and Estuary-wide Studies.The United States Army Corps of Engineers has been authorized to conduct a feasibility study for the Hudson-Raritan Estuary Ecosystem Restoration Project. This project extends over the majority of the estuary, and includes the Port of New York and New Jersey. Included in the project area is Lower New York Bay (to the Sandy Hook-Rockaway transect), Upper New York Bay, Newark Bay, the Hackensack and...Author(s)Robert WillSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 21: Hudson-Raritan EstuaryDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2002ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20020101)2002:2L.2013;1-DOI10.2175/193864702785665346Volume / Issue2002 / 2Content sourceWatershed ConferenceFirst / last page(s)2013 - 2023Copyright2002Word count114

Quarantine! East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892

Howard Markel's book adds to the growing body of insightful historical literature exploring public health and social responses to disease. It focuses on the cholera and typhus epidemics of 1892, which were not particularly important in terms of the number of people affected but were critical to the racial politics of a city experiencing a large influx of immigrants, including Jews from Russia. After the arrival of the SS Massilia carr ying Russian Jews, a typhus epidemic broke out in New York City. Cyrus Edson, the chief sanitary inspector for New York, focused virtually exclusively on the ship's passengers in his fight to contain the epidemic, even though the evidence was scanty that Russian Jews brought the disease in or that they were its sole victims. Individuals were either sent to the infectious disease hospital or quarantined in the boardinghouses serving as their first destination in New York. The cholera epidemic proved somewhat more difficult to contain, but the focus of public health efforts was the same. This time, William Jenkins, health officer of the Port of New York and chief of the quarantine station, implemented a quarantine of all steerage passengers arriving in ships from Germany and other cholerainfected European ports. The class and racebased nature of those quarantines is evident in the different handling of cabin passengers, who were released immediately upon arrival in port. Steerage passengers were either detained on board their ships or sent to isolation hospitals.

Health-Based Criteria for Sediment Disposal Options: A Case Study of the Port of New York/New Jersey

Approximately 4 million cubic yards of sediment are dredged annually from the Port of New York and New Jersey in order to maintain navigable channels. In many cases, the sediments contain elevated levels of numerous contaminants. The New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region II employ a framework of sediment quality evaluation to determine whether contaminated sediments are suitable for open ocean disposal (i.e., do not pose a health risk from bioaccumulation in human food chain) or whether more extensive and costly disposal methods are required. The degree to which chemicals can bioaccumulate from sediments into benthic invertebrates is a key determinant in the permitting decision. The maximally “acceptable” levels of bioaccumulation (bioaccumulation criteria) have been developed over a period of several years, using a variety of different methods. We reviewed the technical bases of these criteria and found that, while some values can be considered “risk-based,” others are based on historical background concentrations, Food and Drug Administration Action Levels, limits of detection, and other non-“risk-based” methodologies. Hence, the degree of uncertainty and health protection (or lack thereof) in the criteria varies considerably among the chemicals. We also reviewed the outcomes of several permit applications and found that the bioaccumulation criteria were not applied consistently. We propose the following refinements to the decision-making process: (1) bioaccumulation screening values based only upon risk-based criteria, using a single method that is applied for all chemicals; (2) increased consistency in decision-making and considerations of site-specific information where appropriate; and (3) assured availability of testing results for review and analysis by interested parties.

Dredged material decontamination demonstration for the port of New York/New Jersey

Management of contaminated dredged material is a significant challenge in the Port of New York and New Jersey as a result of more stringent regional ocean placement regulations with escalating costs for upland placement. One component of an overall management plan can be the application of a decontamination technology followed by creation of a product suitable for beneficial use. This concept is the focus of a project now being carried out by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, the US Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, the US Department of Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and regional university groups that have included Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutgers University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Stevens Institute of Technology. The project has progressed through phased testing of commercial technologies at the bench scale (15 liters) (Marcor, Metcalf & Eddy, Gas Technology Institute, Westinghouse Science & Technology, BioGenesis, International Technology, and BioSafe) and pilot-scale (1.5–500 m 3) (BioGenesis, Gas Technology Institute, and Westinghouse Science & Technology) levels. The technologies developed by Gas Technology Institute and BioGenesis are now going forward to commercial demonstration facilities that are intended to treat from 23 000 to 60 000 m 3 of dredged material during their first operational period in 2001–2002. Beneficial use products are soils and cement. Treatment costs for the final commercial facilities are estimated at US$ 39 per m 3. Selection of the technologies was made based on the effectiveness of the treatment process, evaluation of the possible beneficial use of the treated materials, and other factors. Major elements of the project are summarized here.

Harbor Safety Committees: A Construct for Comprehensive Harbor Stewardship1

ABSTRACT The Port of New York and New Jersey is a dynamic port boasting the United States' third largest container port. The 30 billion gallons of petroleum or petroleum products delivered to or originating from the port make it the largest petroleum port in the country, and the 50 million passengers transported annually on New York's waters by public and private ferries play a significant role within a finite system. Concomitant with increased waterway usage, there also have been changes in the desires of the public and governmental agencies for greater environmental protection, enhanced safety, public access to the waterfront, passenger and cargo security, and stakeholder coordination. The old stepwise incremental issue approach is too narrow to be efficient or effective in meeting these public demands. The port has been moving from a discreet modal analysis methodology, to an integrated systems-based approach in the form of a Harbor Safety Committee (HSC). A systems-based approach, involving multiple stakeholders, allows for inclusive and combine multiple economic, environmental, and social considerations in analyses to optimize and improve waterways system performance—from both safety and economic perspectives. HSCs also are playing an increasing role in identifying and mitigating risks resulting from increased waterways usage. New York's HSC is comprised of more than 60 firms, organizations and individuals, all having a vested interest in the port complex and the interaction between the different waterways users.

Patterns of Irish Emigration to America, 1783–1800

THE general features of Irish emigration to colonial America are clear and relatively undisputed: it was largely of Ulster origin; the majority sailed for the Hudson and Delaware valleys; and the departures peaked at three points: 1717-20, 1725-29, and during the nine years prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution. (1) As such, when the passenger trade resumed after the Treaty of Paris (1783), it did so within structures that were well established and familiar as well as along shipping lanes that were managed by commercial networks and families that often spanned the Atlantic. But the later emigrants also sailed during a period of more coordinated passenger travel, while the agents who managed the business preferred to engage paying passengers rather than indentured servants. Thus American independence not only redefined political relationships between the old and new worlds, (1) but it also marked a reorganization of the passenger trade between Ireland and America. I After 1783, most Irish emigrants saw the new republic, in the words of one emigrant letter, as a Plentifull Countery [sic], which before a year or two ... will be extremely enviable. (2) Despite the impact of such letters, the presentation and understanding of the emigration process were even more greatly influenced by the management and fortunes of Ireland's two major industries, linen and provisions. Also, the commercial structures of these industries, more often than not, determined the choice of one American destination over another and where the majority of Ireland's emigrants would actually land. In the northern province of Ulster linen had long been central to the economy and, although Dublin remained its major port of export, most of the eighteenth-century product came from the northern part of the island. In the nature of things Ulster also emerged as a major market for American flaxseed, 96 percent of which originated in the two ports of New York and Philadelphia in 1766-67. Moreover, several Irish merchants, through either full or occasional partnerships with houses in America, owned much of the tonnage that sustained this flaxseed/linen roundabout and managed it through networks of personal, family, and church connections that were geographically split only by the Atlantic. For example, the Belfast firm of John & James Holmes sent its ship Barclay on at least one trip to the Delaware every year, principally because the Holmes's brother, Hugh, was a partner in the Philadelphia-based firms of Holmes & Ralston and Holmes & Rainey. In any event, both the Delaware and the Hudson were central to Ulster's external trade, and this was reflected in the region's shipping advertisements for America. Of the 442 sailings that were advertised in the provincial press between 1750 and 1775, 53.5 percent and 18.5 percent were for Philadelphia and New York, respectively. (3) The corollary of these connections was that prior to the American Revolution the middle colonies became the major attraction for Ulster's emigrants, especially if they were servants. After all, the holds of the flaxseed vessels had to be filled for the return journey to America. John and Robert Ogle suggested to their Philadelphia correspondent in 1774 that servants and redemptioners make an advantageous returning freight to vessels loaded from you to us, & is all paid down at Shipping. (4) Thus the management of servants was central to the cash flow of Ulster-American trade, and merchants and ship-captains as well as their agents traded in people as they would in any commodity. As a result, the networks that linked the weavers, brokers, and merchants of the linen industry were also used to promote emigration from Ulster, while on the other side of the Atlantic the central role of the middle colonies in both the importation and distribution of servants and other Irish immigrants was assured. After 1783 Ireland's linen industry underwent a remarkable revival. …

Cooperation, Capture, and Autonomy: The Interstate Commerce Commission and the Port Authority in the 1920s

“Historically, geographically, and commercially New York and the industrial district in the northern part of the state of New Jersey constitute a single community,” declared the Interstate Commerce Commission in the New York Harbor case in 1917. In spite of that overwhelming fact, the railroads in the port region had never worked cooperatively to manage New York harbor. Instead, competition led them to invest vast sums in individual terminal facilities and prevented them from using those facilities jointly to solve the urgent transportation problems of the region. This failure to cooperate took on national importance during World War I, when the collapse of service at the port led President Woodrow Wilson to federalize the railroads. In light of the failure of private managers to coordinate their efforts more effectively, the ICC endorsed the idea that dramatic public steps should be taken to encourage greater cooperation among railroad companies: “It is necessary that the great terminals at the port of New York be made practically one,” the commission affirmed, “and that the separate interests of the individual carriers, so long an insuperable obstacle to any constructive plan of terminal development, be subordinated to the public interest.”With this apparent blessing from the ICC, the New York, New Jersey Port and Harbor Development Commission was created in 1917 to recommend a cooperative, bi-state solution for the port.

Method Used to Salvage Warehouse Subjected to Severe Settlement

A section of Newark Bay was filled in during the early 1960s as part of a large expansion of port facilities for the Port of New York. The filled areas were preloaded and subsequently used as building sites. While preloading was generally successful, one of the buildings has sustained unanticipated settlements as great as 0.6 m (2 ft). The subject building is a single-story, steel structure, 195 m (640 ft) long and 48.8 m (160 ft) wide, used for warehousing. Building columns for this structure are supported on spread footings. By the late 1980s, visible deformation of many of the building columns became a matter of general concern. The question arose as to whether rehabilitation could be accomplished at a cost that would be justified by current rentals for warehousing. The structure was first transformed from a portal system to a shear wall system. Then the building columns were analyzed in a novel manner. This analysis resulted in minimal alterations to the columns, consisting largely of stress relief, w...

Dredging, environmental issues and port experience in the United States

This article discusses the regulatory and operational issues which have recently confronted a number of U.S. ports as a result of their dredging programmers. It describes the environmental concerns which have led community groups to raise legal objections to the traditional practice of ocean dumping of dredged material, the federal/state regulatory framework within which these objections have been considered and recent legislative changes to that framework. The paper describes in some detail the specific case of the Port of New York and New Jersey, which has experienced severe delays in its dredging programme since 1992 (and a resulting loss of business) as well mounting costs for dredged material disposal. The paper concludes that, complicated as the technical problems involving dredged material disposal may be, it is the political and economic issues involved which are likely to be decisive in the eventual outcomes for affected ports.

"Crazy brained": mental illness in colonial America.

“Crazy Brained”: Mental Illness in Colonial America Larry D. Eldridge (bio) In 1937 Albert Deutsch painted a dismal picture of how the mentally ill were viewed and treated in colonial America: Regarded as sub-human beings, they were chained in specially devised kennels and cages like wild beasts, and thrown into prisons, bridewells and jails like criminals. They were incarcerated in workhouse dungeons, or made to slave as able-bodied paupers, unclassified from the rest. They were left to wander about stark naked, driven from place to place like mad dogs, subjected to whippings as vagrants and rogues. 1 Since then, scholars have challenged that gloomy portrait, citing Deutsch’s tendentious approach to the subject and his lack of evidence to support such a sweeping and desolate conclusion. Their work has centered largely on the eighteenth century, leaving the seventeenth for the most part still a dark and uncertain time. This study explores those earlier years. What was the nature of mental illness in early colonial America? [End Page 361] How did colonists understand and interpret it? How did they respond to it? And what do those understandings and responses reveal about colonial society? Focusing on the American colonies during the 1607–1700 period, I address these questions. Addressing them is no easy business. Evidence regarding the mentally ill in the early colonies is scattered and elusive. It comes not from meticulous records and scientific observations, but from the odd comment in a colonist’s personal papers, the occasional battle over control of an estate, the rare prosecution of a mentally disturbed person for some infraction, or the infrequent official effort to provide for an isolated “idiot.” Such examples can be found only by sifting through hundreds of mostly unindexed volumes of colonial records. The eighty-two cases that form the foundation of this study are drawn from the official records of the mainland and Caribbean British-American colonies; from contemporary correspondence, diaries, and journals; and in some instances from secondary sources. 2 Colonists’ descriptions of the mentally ill came in a wide variety. Some were uncommon, but readily identifiable, as when people were said to be “out of their wits” or “deluded.” 3 A Pennsylvania man said of Edward Lawrence in 1698 that he was “not in his right mind.” 4 An Andover, Massachusetts, man was said to be “one part off the moon,” harking back to an ancient notion that mental illness had lunar causes; that, of course, [End Page 362] is the source of the word “lunatic,” which was also used to describe mentally disturbed persons. 5 Other expressions were more common, including variants of the word “mad,” which colonists often used as a metaphor for anger, frustration, and extreme behavior, as we do today. In 1671 John Forman testified regarding a provocation he had witnessed in Newtown, New York: the instigator had “clap[ped] his hand upon his arse a purpose to make George Wood mad.” 6 In 1659 a Maryland witness reported that Captain Bradnox “swore like a madman.” 7 In 1689, after a group of commissioners replaced Matthew Plowman as customs collector of the Port of New York, he, “like a madman, gave them an account of the money there.” 8 When the English Caribbean colony of St. Kitts (St. Christopher) fell to French forces in 1671, the resident settlers refused to take an oath of fidelity to the French king. The new commander roundly criticized them in a letter “for such a medley of madness and loyalty.” 9 Sometimes the word was even incorporated into colonists’ names, as when a New York court ordered in 1695 that “Mad James” be kept at community expense in King’s County. 10 Colonists employed other synonyms for mental illness as well. Among the most common were variants of the words “crazy,” “distempered,” and “distracted.” The Massachusetts General Court once described Sarah [End Page 363] Thorne as “crazy brained.” 11 In 1685, New York colonists asked officials to remove one man from an Albany neighborhood “because of the danger of houses taking fire because of his craziness.” 12 Some years later, Virginia authorities said of one woman that she was “craised and not in her right senses...

Migration from the Russian empire: lists of passengers arriving at the port of New York. v.1: January 1875-September 1882; v.2: October 1882-April 1886

Migration from the Russian empire: lists of passengers arriving at the port of New York. v.1: January 1875-September 1882; v.2: October 1882-April 1886

The problem of the children; waifs of the city's slums

Jacob Riis was born in 1849 in Denmark and arrived at the Port of New York in 1870. After seven years of semi-poverty he became a police reporter covering the tenements on the city's east side. During the post-Civil War period industrialization, urbanization, and immigration had combined to undermine living conditions in the quickly growing cities of America. It was about life in the tenements of these cities that Riis wrofe.