The
recent opening of the Nan A. Rothschild Research Center by the Landmarks
Preservation commission marks the first ever municipal archive that is
exclusively focused on an archaeological collection of a city.
Much
of the history of New York – that until now has been buried quite deep – has
now been cataloged and digitized. This includes
a “cone-shaped mold used in sugar refining to an oversize oyster, a
7,000-year-old spear tip to a 19th-century Transferware teapot and a bone from
a passenger pigeon.”
Many
of these archived objects are fantastic ways of learning about the history and
uncover so much more than the actual original object, such as a glass seal
which identified a wine bottle that was waiting its refilling at a local
tavern. There are currently 1,500 boxes of artifacts that come from 31 sites
excavated throughout the five boroughs, including: Stadt Huys (that was New
York’s first major historical dig built to assist William Kieft so that he didn’t
have to entertain guests at his home). It was Nan A. Rothschild herself, a
Barnard College Anthropology Professor Emeritus and Columbia University faculty
member who excavated that. Hence the
repository was named to honor the contributions she had made to the field.
As
well, the archives have been contributed to by the Fund for the City of New
York, the Iron Mountain and the Museum of the City of New York.
