Norvin H. Green collection of elevated railroad photographs, circa 1890-1910, 1937-1941

This digital collection includes 3,417 cellulose nitrate photographic negatives from the Norvin H. Green Collection of Elevated Railroad Photographs. Norvin Hewitt Green (1894-1955) was a business executive, civic leader, railroad enthusiast, and trustee of The New-York Historical Society who compiled a photographic record of New York elevated railroads that focuses on the dismantling of most of the lines between 1939 and 1941, hiring the firm of H.F. Dutcher to document the demolition in almost 4,000 views. Views show the changes block by block as the heavy skeletal structure and stations were removed along Manhattan's Sixth Avenue line (1939), Ninth Avenue line (1940), and Second Avenue line (1941); and along Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue, Fulton Street, and Sands Street lines (1941).