Gordon Burris photographs
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Approximately 312 photographic prints by Gordon Guild Burris (1903–1988), a Canadian-born civil engineer employed by the Turner Construction Company in New York during the 1920s and 1930s. Burris photographed the construction projects to which he was assigned, such as the Hotel Lexington, Bloomingdale's department store, and the Port of New York Authority Commerce Building / Union Inland Terminal No. 1 (all in Manhattan), Pilgrim State Hospital (Brentwood, Long Island), the New Jersey Bell Telephone Headquarters (Newark), and the Convention Hall at Asbury Park, New Jersey. He often took shots of the surrounding neighborhoods from upper floors of the incomplete structures. The collection also includes views of campgrounds, parks, beaches, boats, bridges, and waterways in the vicinity of greater New York City, as well as images of friends, coworkers, and of Burris himself. Some photographs document his native Nova Scotia in 1922–1923.
Biographical Note
Gordon Guild Burris was born on 21 April 1903 at Stewiacke, Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada, to William Norman and Anne Kerr (Guild) Burris. He studied surveying at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, in the class of 1922–1923 (see the group photos in Folder 1, below, where he is identified by his initials, "G. B."). He emigrated to the United States on 5 June 1923, crossing the border via the Grand Trunk Railway, and settled at Detroit. Ten days later he declared his intention to become a U.S. citizen. Burris completed the naturalization process in 1931, signing the oath of allegiance on January 12. By then he had been living for two years at a Bronx, New York, Y.M.C.A. (470 East 161st Street), and working for the Turner Construction Company as an engineer. It is unclear if his official duties included photographing the building projects to which he was assigned, or if Burris simply enjoyed taking pictures as a hobby. Whatever the reason, he captured construction methods and machinery in addition to the surrounding neighborhoods of the unfinished structures from their upper stories.
Burris served in the U.S. Army between 1942 and 1945, although a 1932 photograph of him in uniform captioned "Pvt. G.G. Burris" attests to an earlier term (see Folder 35, below). He eventually became a photographer for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts at Richmond.
Burris died, age 85, at Morristown, Lamoille County, Vermont, on 6 June 1988. He never married.
Arrangement
The entire collection is housed chronologically in one small box. Gordon Burris kept his photographic negatives and prints in numbered, dated envelopes. (Only numbers 10–17, 21–43, 51–52, and 58–62, covering the years 1927–1935, are part of the present collection.) On the envelopes Burris typed a caption for each image inside, the date he shot it, focal length, exposure time, and other details. He also wrote or typed an expanded version of each caption on the reverse of its corresponding print. The prints and empty envelopes (each envelope held from six to twelve negatives and prints) are now stored in folders, with the envelopes behind the prints. A few unnumbered, but dated envelopes are interfiled chronologically (folders 1, 22, 30, 37, and 38). The last folder (44) holds four postcards.
Scope and Contents
The collection contains approximately 312 photographic prints from the years 1922–1923 and 1927–1935. (Roughly 278 negatives on possibly unstable, nitrate base film have been transferred to cold storage in the N-YHS Conservation Lab). The majority of the photographs were taken by Gordon Guild Burris, who dated and captioned each image.
The earliest group of photographs (Folder 1) captures his native Nova Scotia in 1922–1923, just before he left for the United States. Of interest to researchers of the built environment of greater New York City are the views taken at Turner Construction Company jobsites. Burris worked for Turner as an engineer, and, possibly as one of his duties, documented the progress of the buildings and their environments. Among the Turner projects are the following, listed in the order in which they first appear in the collection:
- New Jersey Bell Telephone Headquarters, 540 Broad Street, Newark (Folders 5–8, 10)
- Hotel Lexington, 511 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan (Folders 11, 13, 18, and 20)
- Bloomingdale's, Lexington Avenue at 59th Street, Manhattan (Folders 21, 23–24, 27–29)
- Pilgrim State Hospital, Brentwood, New York (Folders 24, 26)
- Convention Hall, Asbury Park, New Jersey (Folder 25)
- Port of New York Authority Commerce Building (currently home to Google's New York offices), 111 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan (Folders 34–35)
Burris traveled with friends and coworkers in the vicinity of greater New York City, often by ferry or excursion boat, and so documented the waterways, bridges, and boats he saw. He photographed campsites and parks, too, such as Indian Point Park, an amusement venue previously on the site of the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, New York (Folder 15), and points of interest, like the Fire Island Lighthouse (Folder 33). The myriad locations of the photographs are noted in the container list, below.
Subjects
Organizations
Places
Conditions Governing Access
Negatives stored in N-YHS conservation lab freezer, shelf B2. Other materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Conditions Governing Use
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 the Gordon Burris Photographs, PR 333, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Credit line (for exhibition labels): Gift of Richard C. Nylander.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Richard C. Nylander (cousin of the photographer), March 2017.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processed by Archivist Joseph Ditta, August, 2017.
Repository
View Inventory
[Nova Scotia], 1922–1923
Scope and Contents
Scenes at Darlings Lake, Nova Scotia, and group photos of the surveying class at Dalhousie University, Halifax, April 1923 (Gordon Burris is identified in the latter by his initials, "G.B.").
Envelope 10, 1927 September 3–November 5
Scope and Contents Note
New Jersey Palisades; Perth Amboy and Elizabeth, New Jersey; Staten Island; Grant's Tomb.
Envelope 11, 1927 November 5–12
Scope and Contents
New Jersey Palisades; Grant's Tomb; Perth Amboy and Elizabeth, New Jersey; Staten Island.
Envelope 12, 1927 November 12–1928 January 29
Scope and Contents
Staten Island; Pelham Bay Park; Sea Bright, New Jersey; Y.M.C.A. Building, Orange, New Jersey.
Envelope 13, 1928 February 5–18
Scope and Contents
Views from roof of New Jersey Bell Telephone Headquarters (540 Broad Street, Newark); men in front of "Turner Construction Company" sign.
Envelope 14, 1928 February 18–March 25
Scope and Contents
Views from roof of New Jersey Bell Telephone Headquarters (540 Broad Street, Newark).
Envelope 15, 1928 March 25–April 7
Scope and Contents
Views from roof of New Jersey Bell Telephone Headquarters (540 Broad Street, Newark).
Envelope 16, 1928 April 8–May 12
Scope and Contents
Views from roof of New Jersey Bell Telephone Headquarters (540 Broad Street, Newark); man in front of "Turner Construction Company" sign; Manhattan from New Jersey Palisades.
Envelope 17, 1928 June 3–10
Scope and Contents
Passaic River; and Y.M.C.A. Camp Kittatinny at Lake Fairview, Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey.
Envelope 21, 1928 October 14–December 30
Scope and Contents
Views of New Jersey: Kearney, from the roof of New Jersey Bell Telephone Headquarters (540 Broad Street, Newark); Kearney Yacht Club; Wanaque Reservoir and Dam, at Wanaque and Ringwood.
Envelope 22, 1929 April 27
Scope and Contents
Views from the roof and 27th floor of the Hotel Lexington construction (511 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan).
Envelope 23, 1929 May 18
Scope and Contents
Passaic River and Kearney Yacht Club, New Jersey.
Envelope 24, 1929 June 2
Scope and Contents
Views from roof and upper stories of Hotel Lexington construction (511 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan), including New York Central Building and American Tubular Tower; Ellis Island; Liberty Island; Jersey City; Brooklyn.
Envelope 25, 1929 June 2–July 4
Scope and Contents
Statue of Liberty; Long Beach and Babylon, Long Island.
Envelope 26, 1929 July 4–7
Scope and Contents
Babylon, Long Island; ships on Hudson River; Bear Mountain; Bear Mountain Bridge; Indian Point Park (amusement park previously on the site of the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, New York).
Envelope 27, 1929 July 7
Scope and Contents
Hudson near Bear Mountain and Newburgh, New York; cable railway at Mount Beacon.
Envelope 28, 1929 July 7
Scope and Contents
Mount Beacon and Beacon, New York.
Envelope 29, 1929 July 7–20
Scope and Contents
Mount Beacon and Beacon, New York; employees on Hotel Lexington construction (511 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan).
Envelope 30, 1929 July 20–August 11
Scope and Contents
Bellevue Hospital from East River; Bronx Y.M.C.A. (470 East 161st Street); Rye Playland; Rye Beach; Rockaway Beach.
Envelope 31, 1929 August 17–September 1
Scope and Contents
Mombasha Lake, Monroe, New York; Glen Island Park, New Rochelle; Prospect Park, Brooklyn; and the Chrysler Building under construction, seen from the Hotel Lexington (511 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan).
Envelope 32, 1929 December 21–1930 March 15
Scope and Contents
Boats on Hudon River; lower Manhattan skyline; excavation for new Bloomingdale's store (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street, Manhattan).
Miscellaneous snaps received, 1930 March 2, 17
Scope and Contents
Mrs. Susan Churchill of Darlings Lake, Nova Scotia, and Gordon Burris.
Envelope 33, 1930 March 15–April 5
Scope and Contents
Bloomingdale's construction (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street, Manhattan).
Envelope 34, 1930 May 18–20
Scope and Contents
Pilgrim State Hospital construction (Brentwood, Long Island); Bloomingdale's construction (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street).
Envelope 35, 1930 May 31
Scope and Contents
Avon by the Sea, Belmar Beach, and Convention Hall construction, Asbury Park, New Jersey; views of ships in New York Harbor.
Envelope 36, 1930 June 14–21
Scope and Contents
Pilgrim State Hospital construction employees (Brentwood, Long Island), and Point O' Woods (Point Aux Woods), Fire Island.
Envelope 37, 1930 June 28
Scope and Contents
Bloomingdale's construction (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street, Manhattan).
Envelope 38, 1930 June 28
Scope and Contents
Bloomingdale's construction (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street, Manhattan). Includes shot of water tower.
Envelope 39, 1930 August 10–October 4
Scope and Contents
Bloomingdale's construction (Lexington Avenue at 59th Street, Manhattan); dredge near Oyster Bay, Long Island.
[Photómaton envelope], 1930 December 26
Scope and Contents
Seven small Photómaton (coin-operated photo booth) headshots of Gordon Burris.
Envelope 40, 1931 July–August 2
Scope and Contents
Dr. Emma Putnam, and friends / coworkers at Rye, New York.
Envelope 41, 1931 August 2
Scope and Contents
Friends / coworkers at Rye, New York.
Envelope 42, 1931 October 11
Scope and Contents
Fire Island, New York, including Fire Island Lighthouse.
Envelope 43, 1932 January 24
Scope and Contents
Port of New York Authority Commerce Building / Union Inland Terminal No. 1 construction (111 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan).
Envelope 51, 1932 July 19–September 3
Scope and Contents
Port of New York Authority Commerce Building / Union Inland Terminal No. 1 construction (111 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan), and Camp Moore, Sea Girt, New Jersey.
Envelope 52, 1934 July 4–August 5
Scope and Contents
Friends / coworkers at White Plains, New York; High Bridge, Harlem River.
[unnumbered envelope], 1935 May
Scope and Contents
Hell Gate Bridge, East River.
[unnumbered envelope], 1935 June 7
Scope and Contents
Tinted photograph of the SS Normandie leaving for Europe on her first eastward crossing.
Envelope 58, 1935 June 16
Scope and Contents
Glen Island Park and Fort Slocum, New Rochelle, New York; Electric Ferry coming from Port Washington, Long Island.
Envelope 59, 1935 June 22–July 4
Scope and Contents
SS Normandie leaving for Europe on her second eastward crossing (at Pier A, Battery); Pelham Bay Park; SS Belle Island, which ran to Roton Point Park, Rowayton, Norwalk, Connecticut.
Envelope 60, 1935 July 19–August 4
Scope and Contents
Ships docked in Hudson, lower Manhattan; Ann Mary Hyland (coworker's child).
Envelope 61, 1935 August 4
Scope and Contents
Ann Mary Hyland (coworker's child).
Envelope 62, 1935 August 18
Scope and Contents
Bronx River Parkway.
Postcards (4), 1929-1931
Scope and Contents
Missing Title
- The Lexington / Lexington Avenue at Forty-Eighth Street / New York City [typed list of Turner Construction Company employees on verso, ending with "G. Burris, — Feb. 2, 1929 to Oct. 30, 1929"].
- Bronx Union Branch, Young Mens [sic] Christian Association / 470 East 161st St. Near Third Avenue, New York City [color].
- Bronx Union Branch Young Men's Christian Association / 470 E. 161st St., Near Third Ave., New York City [black and white].
- Broadway Camp Talcott / Huguenot Orange Co., N.Y. [dated on recto: "Sept. 5–6 & 7, 1931"].