Randall Comfort photographs of historic sites in The Bronx and Upper Manhattan
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Abstract
A small collection of photographs documenting historic houses, bridges, trees, and natural features in then-rural Bronx and Upper Manhattan at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Many have been lost to time; some, like the Valentine-Varian and Dyckman Houses, survive as official New York City landmarks. The photographs were taken by lawyer and amateur historian Randall Comfort (1871-1959), who included many in his 1906 book "History of Bronx Borough, City of New York." The prints were likely made from Comfort's negatives by Beecher Ogden (1873-1963), a fellow photographer of New York City subjects.
Historical note
Lawyer Randall Comfort (1871-1959) was an amateur historian and photographer whose focus was The Bronx. Over the course of his career he produced a number of papers and publications on New York City's northernmost borough, chief among them the History of Bronx Borough, City of New York; Compiled for the North Side News . . . with Collaboration of Charles D. Steurer, A. D. Meyerhoff (New York: North Side News Press, 1906). Many of the photographs in the present collection appear in this work. Comfort was also responsible for the Bronx portion of the Historical Guide to the City of New York, compiled by Frank Bergen Kelley, second edition (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1913), which incorporated and expanded on the 1906 excursion he planned for the City History Club of New York.
Beecher Ogden (1873-1963), an associate of Comfort's, was a photographer who specialized in recording historic New York City views, which he sought to make publicly accessible by placing them in libraries and museums. His images can be found in the collections of the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Museum of the City of New York, and the New-York Historical Society. On April 22, 1956, a Daily News profile of Ogden, who was then 83, stated that he was "engaged on a special project of reproducing the famous Randall Comfort photos, which were made in connection with a history of the Bronx published in 1906." The backs of most of the photographs in the present collection carry Ogden's stamp along with an "RC" number ("RC" standing for Randall Comfort), suggesting the prints were made for this project, whatever it might have been.
Arrangement
The collection is organized in two series:
Series I. Bronx, 1889-1911
Series II. Manhattan, 1891-1901
Within each series, photographs are grouped under their respective neighborhoods, which are listed alphabetically. Captions and dates have been transcribed from the backs of photographs to the container list below. The bracketed "RC" after most titles stands for "Randall Comfort," and proceeds what is likely a number keyed to the original negative (e.g., [RC 18]). All but nine of the fifty-three photographs are stamped on verso "Beecher Ogden, 38 Monroe St., N.Y. 2."
Scope and Contents
The Randall Comfort Photographs of Historic Sites in The Bronx and Upper Manhattan document notable residences, trees, bridges, and monuments between 1889 and 1911, a time when urban development was just beginning to reach the northern portions of New York City. While many of the 17th, 18th, and 19th-century houses Comfort photographed have since been lost (like the Lorillard Mansion in Bronx Park and the Century [or Nagle] House in Inwood), a handful survive, either as officially designated New York City landmarks (such as the Hadley House in Fieldston, The Bronx, and the Hamilton Grange in St. Nicholas Park, Manhattan), or by having been repurposed (like the Dennison-White Mansion, incorporated into a housing project at 745 Fox Street, Bronx). Comfort included many of these photographs or descriptions of their sites in his History of Bronx Borough, City of New York; Compiled for the North Side News . . . with Collaboration of Charles D. Steurer, A. D. Meyerhoff (New York: North Side News Press, 1906). Further descriptions appeared in the Historical Guide to the City of New York, compiled by Frank Bergen Kelley, second edition (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1913), for which Comfort supplied the Bronx portion based on a 1906 excursion he mapped out for the City History Club of New York.
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Access Restrictions
This collection may be stored offsite. For information on arranging to consult it, please go to 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: www.nyhistory.org/rights-and-reproductions.
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as: "Randall Comfort photographs of historic sites in The Bronx and Upper Manhattan, PR 452, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society."
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Unsolicited, anonymous donation, 2022.
Separated Materials
The collection included an engraving, "Old House N.W. Cor. Peck Slip & Water St." from D. T. Valentine's "Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, for the Year 1858," which has been placed in the New-York Historical Society Collection of Geographic Images (PR-20), Series I, Box 23, Folder 11.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Archivist Joseph Ditta arranged and described this collection in January 2023.
Repository
Series I. Bronx, 1889-1911, inclusive
Bronx Park [2 photographs], 1892, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "De Lancey Pine, Bronx Park, West Farms" (1892) [RC 18]
• "Lorillard Mansion, Bronx Park" (undated) [RC 75]
City Island [1 photograph], 1901, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Macedonian Hotel, City Island" (1901) [RC 47]
Eastchester [4 photographs], 1889-1892, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Reid's Mill, East Chester, Photo 1889, Built 1732 [sic; 1739]" (1889) [RC 4]
• "Reid's Mill, Eastchester" (1939) [sic; ruins blown down 1900] [RC 4]
• "Reid's Miller's House, Eastchester" (1892) [RC 22A]
• "St. Paul's Church, Eastchester, [built] 1765" (1891) [RC 15]
Fieldston [1 photograph], undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Hadley House, Mosholu, N.Y.C." (undated) [RC 51]
[A designated New York City landmark, the Hadley House stands at 5122 Post Road.]
Fordham [2 photographs], 1889, 1897, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Fordham Ave & 171st St, Bronx" (1889) [RC 6]
• "Fordham Manor Reformed Church, Bronx" (1897) [RC 81]
Highbridge [2 photographs], 1899, 1901, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Cromwell Farm House, 165th St." (1901) [RC 35]
• "Townsend Poole Cottage, Bronx" (1899) [RC 40]
Hunts Point [6 photographs], 1890-1908, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Faile Mansion, Hunts Point, Bronx, Built 1832" (1908) [RC 64]
• "Fox Mansion, Bronx" [Foxhurst?] (undated) [RC 92]
• "Hunt Inn, Fox Corners, Bronx" (1890) [RC 7]
• "Hunt Mansion, Hunts Point, N.Y." (1898) [RC 29]
• "Monument—Joseph Rodman Drake, Hunts Point, Bronx" (1892) [RC 25]
• "Vyse Mansion, Bronx" (1893) [RC 91]
Kingsbridge [3 photographs], 1898–1906, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Free Bridge, Kingsbridge, N.Y. City" (1906) [RC 22]
• "Kings Bridge, 230 St., Bronx" (1898) [RC 21]
• "Macomb Mansion, Kingsbridge, Bronx" (1899) [RC 30 (A)]
Longwood [1 photograph], 1900, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Dennison White Leggetts Lane, Bronx" (1900) [RC 42]
[Dennison-White residence, restored and incorporated into a housing project at 745 Fox Street.]
Morrisania [5 photographs], 1889-1910, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Dr. J. E. Comfort [residence], Morrisania, Bronx" (undated) [RC 1]
• "Daddy's house, Bronx, 1315 Franklin Ave." (1910) [Daddy = Dr. J. E. Comfort, father of Randall Comfort]
• "Horses in pasture (Dr. Comfort)" (1889) [RC 2]
• "Gouverneur Morris Mansion, Bronx Kills" (1891) [RC 12]
• "Morris Farm House, Morrisania" (1898) [RC 31]
Mott Haven [1 photograph], 1911, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Stephens Mansion, 138th St., Mott Haven" (1911) [RC 86]
Norwood [1 photograph], 1898, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Isaac Varian Residence, Williamsbridge, Bronx" (1898) [RC 38]
[A designated New York City landmark now known as the Valentine-Varian House at 3266 Bainbridge Avenue.]
Pelham Bay [6 photographs], 1892-1911, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Glover's Rock, Pelham Bay Park" (1910) [RC 74]
• "Jacob Lorillard Mansion, Pelham Bay Park" (1911) [RC 84]
• "Lord Howe Chestnut, Pelham" (1902) [RC 60]
• "Pell Treaty Oak, Pelham Bay Park" (1911) [RC 79]
• "Split Rock, Pelham Bay Park" (1901) [RC 39]
• "Spy Oak Tree, Pelham Road, Bronx (1892) [RC 17]
[Glover's Rock and Split Rock survive in Pelham Bay Park.]
Riverdale [1 photograph], 1901, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Cottage, no name, once stood on Canal St. [in Manhattan]" (1901) [RC 49]
Spuyten Duyvil [1 photograph], 1901, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Berrian Farm House, Spuyten Duyvil" (1901) [RC 34]
Throggs Neck [2 photographs], 1901, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Wilkins Farm House, Castle Hill, Bronx, Unionport" (1901) [RC 61]
• "Zerega Homestead, Zerega Point, Bx., Photo 1901, Built 1687" (1901) [RC 63]
Tremont [1 photograph], 1900, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Washington Ave 173rd St Tremont" (1900) [RC 43]
Van Cortlandt Park [1 photograph], 1906, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Monument on Indian Field, Pelham [sic]" (1906) [RC 73]
[This is the memorial to the Revolutionary War Stockbridge Massacre in what is now Van Cortlandt Park.]
Wakefield [1 photograph], 1901, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Washington Gun House, Wakefield, Bronx" (1901) [RC 59]
West Farms [5 photographs], 1892-1911, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Johnson's Tavern, West Farms" (1892) [RC 37]
• "Samuel Purdy Mansion, West Farms" (undated) [RC 71]
• "Soldiers Monument, West Farms Cemetery" (1911) [RC 78]
[Old West Farms Soldiers' Cemetery, at 2103 Bryant Avenue, is a designated New York City landmark.]
• "Uncle Daniel Mapes Temperance House, West Farms (The Peabody Home)" (1902) [RC 27]
• "West Farms Presbyterian Church, West Farms" (1892) [RC 26]
Williamsbridge [1 photograph], 1908, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Houstace [sic] House, Williamsbridge" (1908) [RC 72]
Series II. Manhattan, 1891-1901, inclusive
Hamilton Heights [2 photographs], 1891, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Alexander Hamilton's Thirteen Trees, Convent Ave., N.Y." (1891) [RC 13]
• "Residence—Alexander Hamilton, Convent Ave. Sign over entrance St. Luke's Church" (1891) [RC 14]
[The Hamilton Grange, since relocated to 414 West 141st Street in St. Nicholas Park, is a designated New York City landmark.]
Inwood [2 photographs], 1899, 1901, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "'Century House' [Nagle House], Inwood" (1901) [RC 50]
• "Inwood, N.Y. Dyckman Farm House" (1899) [RC 28]
[A designated New York City landmark, the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum stands at 4881 Broadway on the corner of West 204th Street.]
Manhattanville [1 photograph], 1900, inclusive
Scope and Contents
• "Ottendorfer Pagoda, Hudson River & 133rd St" (1900) [RC 58]