Steinway & Sons Photograph and Print Collection
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The Steinway & Sons Photograph and Print Collection spans the period from 1858 to 1949 and contains images relating to the Steinway & Sons piano manufacturing company, founded and based in New York City.
Historical Note
The Steinway & Sons piano manufacturing company was founded in New York City in 1853 by German immigrant Henry Engelhard Steinweg (who later legally changed his name to Steinway) and his sons.
The business began at 85 Varick Street, but moved to 88 Walker Street by the next year. The success of the business required expansion. By 1856 the factory moved to 91 Mercer Street, and the showroom and business offices to 84 Mercer Street. The next year the showroom expanded into 82 Mercer Street and this remained the main showroom until Steinway Hall was built in 1864. In 1860, a new and larger factory opened on Park Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets. A new wing was added in 1863, as well as townhouses for the Steinway family along 52nd Street. The Steinway operation, mindful of its need to expand, acquired land in Astoria, and by 1879 moved all manufacturing operations to Queens.
The Steinway soon became the American piano of choice for the discerning, especially after garnering the Grand Gold Medal of Honor at the Paris Exposition of 1867. Steinway Hall, built to showcase the pianos and their sound, was a 2,000-seat auditorium on Union Square that also served as a general-purpose meeting space. It doubled as the home of the New York Philharmonic until the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891. Steinway Hall was closed in 1925.
In 1871, Henry E. Steinway, Sr. died and control of the firm passed to his sons Henry, William, Charles G., and Albert. The family sold Steinway & Sons in 1972.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into two series by format: Photographs and Prints.
Scope and Content Note
The Steinway & Sons Photograph and Print Collection spans the period from 1858 to 1949 and contains images relating to the Steinway & Sons piano manufacturing company, founded and based in New York City. The collection is divided into two series by format: Photographs and Prints.
Subjects
Organizations
Families
Genres
People
Topics
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as Steinway & Sons Photograph and Print Collection, PR 166, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Provenance
Gift of Henry Z. Steinway, 1997 and 2000.
About this Guide
Edition of this Guide
Repository
Series I: Photographs
Scope and Contents note
Series I highlights Steinway & Sons factories, showrooms, employees, and events. In addition, a few photographs show early Steinway family residences on East 52nd Street. An early Steinway & Sons factory and showroom at 82-84 Walker Street is shown in an early photograph, as is the much larger factory built at Park Avenue and 53rd Street in the early 1860s. Many photographs show the exterior and interior of Steinway Hall, a 2,000-seat auditorium on Union Square that served as a general-purpose meeting space, as well as the home of the New York Philharmonic until the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891.
Several photographs show annual dinners and luncheons given for the Steinway & Sons staff. Others show dinners at which Steinway family members were in attendance. These were usually music-related groups, such as the New York Musicians Club, and the Society of the Friends of Music. A photograph shows a dinner celebration for the 70th birthday of Walter Damrosch.
Henry E. Steinway, his sons Henry, William, Charles G, and Albert Steinway are shown in several photographs. Photographs include albumen prints, silver gelatin prints, stereographs, and a few modern copy prints, made from glass negatives in the possession of the LaGuardia Community College Library. Most bear detailed descriptions written by Henry Z. Steinway on the verso or on separate sheet of paper enclosed with each photograph. Photographers represented in the collection include Pach Brothers, S. Beer, and A.B. Bogart.
PEOPLE and EVENTS
Steinway & Sons employees [including Nahum Stetson], ca. 1895-1904
Steinway & Sons employee dinners, ca. 1900-1914
General note
See also: Oversize
Steinway family members at other dinners
General note
See: Oversize
BUILDINGS
82-84 Walker Street, 1858
General note
See also: Oversize
52nd-53rd Street, Steinway factory and family residences, ca. 1861-1898
General note
See also: Oversize
Steinway Hall, 109 East 14th Street, 1866-1925
General note
See also: Oversize
Windsor Arcade, Fifth Avenue, branch store, ca. 1904
Series II: Prints
Scope and Contents note
Series II contains mainly pages from nineteenth century picture magazines, in which Steinway Hall is shown. These were collected by Theodore E. Steinway (1883-1957) in an attempt to form a collection of as many images of Steinway Hall as possible. The Hall is shown used for concerts, literary readings, political meetings, and other events, including a Shaker convention and an 1873 commencement of the Women's Medical College. In addition, an 1873 image of the exterior of Steinway Hall in the Daily Graphic is purported to be the first example of a half-tone print used in a periodical.
Steinway Hall (etching), undated
Daily Graphic, 1873-1879
General note
See also: Box 2, Folder 15
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, 1867-1873
General note
See also: Box 2, Folder 16