Immigration

The Creative Milieu of Tin Pan Alley

September 8, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a few blocks of Manhattan’s 28th Street housed sheet music publishers, composers, songwriters, and agencies. Nicknamed Tin Pan Alley, it was home to the nation’s music industry.

The playhouse being the main venue of entertainment, Broadway musicals and Union Square vaudeville acts demanded an unceasing supply of songs. A dense concentration of creative talent laid the foundation for the “Great American Songbook,” a canon of songs and jazz compositions that have stood the test of time. [Read more…] about The Creative Milieu of Tin Pan Alley

With ‘Operation Rotten Apple’ Upstate Police Round-Ups Surge

September 4, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Federal authorities arrested 2,197 people across New York last month during what they have derisively named “Operation Rotten Apple,” the highest monthly immigration arrest total since the Trump administration’s round-ups began in New York State. [Read more…] about With ‘Operation Rotten Apple’ Upstate Police Round-Ups Surge

25 New Netherland Biographies Published

September 2, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In the spring of 1613, a sailor named Jan Rodrigues arrived at the shore of the Hudson River from a Dutch trading ship, likely the Jonge Tobias. Identifying himself as a free individual, he became the earliest documented Black man in New Netherland. Jan Rodrigues is the subject of one of 25 new, peer-reviewed biographical sketches published by the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society in August, part of the NYG&B’s New Netherland Settlers initiative. [Read more…] about 25 New Netherland Biographies Published

Buffalo’s Hispanic Roberto Clemente League

August 24, 2026 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Buffalo‘s Puerto Rican Roberto Clemente League was founded in the 1970s to create a Hispanic baseball league and included the Leones (Lions), the Boricuas (Puerto Ricans), and the Caribes (Piranhas).

The league grew throughout the 1980s, eventually including many other teams and creating a women’s softball team. [Read more…] about Buffalo’s Hispanic Roberto Clemente League

Newcomers: Anthony and Grietje and the Founding of New York

August 11, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

A man thought to be a Muslim from Morocco and a German barmaid fleeing poverty are hardly the images we have of America’s august founders. In Newcomers (Liveright, 2026), Alan Mikhail upends the traditional story of America’s origins through the revelatory tale of a seventeenth-century immigrant couple by the names of Anthony and Grietje.

Married in Amsterdam, the destitute pair emerged from lives of piracy and prostitution in Europe and arrived in 1630s Dutch New Amsterdam, hoping to build a new life. Upon landing on New York City’s shores, the swarthy Anthony was attacked for being the Muslim he was not, while Grietje, branded a whore by crude harbor denizens, would become the model of an independent colonial American woman, defiantly mooning her attackers rather than accepting their derision. [Read more…] about Newcomers: Anthony and Grietje and the Founding of New York

Italian Immigrants & Mechanicville’s Brick Industry

August 5, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

When Holyoke, Massachusetts investors sought New York State’s permission to build a large power dam and paper mill in Mechanicville, in eastern Saratoga County, NY, in 1882, one thing they knew they would need was tons of bricks.

Brickmaking was among the oldest trades in America, almost as widely distributed as town-building. But certain places blessed with superior clays, inexpensive fuel supplies, and shipping facilities to nearby markets became centers for the brick industry. [Read more…] about Italian Immigrants & Mechanicville’s Brick Industry

A Short History New York Pasta Makers

July 23, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Although some industrial production of pasta took place prior to the industrial revolution, the introduction of steam-powered machines during the nineteenth century enabled the mass production of pasta and marginalized the artisanal production of the staple in Italy. [Read more…] about A Short History New York Pasta Makers

Sauerkraut Boulevard & NYC’s German-American Enclave

June 29, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp 4 Comments

New York’s vibrant immigrant history created a diversity of ethnic enclaves in the city. When over time demographics changed or newcomers assimilated deeper into metropolitan culture, the identity of such areas diminished. Little Poland, Little Syria, Little Africa, Little Vienna, and the French Quarter (Little Paris) were once lively parts of Lower Manhattan but have long since disappeared (Little Italy and Chinatown being notable exceptions).

They contributed to the city’s rich tapestry of food. Many dishes that are considered today as quintessentially American have an immigrant origin. [Read more…] about Sauerkraut Boulevard & NYC’s German-American Enclave

19th Century NY Law and Birthright Citizenship

June 22, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

In August 1829 the passenger ship Emily arrived from Liverpool and anchored in New York Harbor. Like many 19th century ships entering New York’s bustling port, Emily carried migrants intent on making a new life in the city. Passages such as the Emily’s were commonplace but the actions of her master, William Thompson, proved exceptional.

Thompson, likely on the order of shipowner George Miln, flagrantly ignored an 1824 New York State law intended to regulate the flow of migrants into the metropolis. [Read more…] about 19th Century NY Law and Birthright Citizenship

Karl Peterson: New York’s Crescent Wrench King

June 21, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

“A self-made man is the description which best fits Karl Peterson, a manufacturer of Jamestown. He has a natural gift for mechanics and is of an inventive turn of mind, quick to grasp the possibilities in any circumstance which may arise, and equally quick to develop the new idea presented to him,” wrote John P. Downs and Frederick Y. Hedley in their 1921 History of Chautauqua County. [Read more…] about Karl Peterson: New York’s Crescent Wrench King

Hoboken: A Tale of Immigration & Frank Sinatra

June 19, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Located on the River Scheldt (Schelde), Hoboken is a southern district of the city of Antwerp in Flanders. The name originates in the medieval Dutch phrase Hooghe Buechen (Hoge Beuken, or tall beech trees). Today there is a geriatric hospital in Hoboken named Hoge Beuken. The first historical records of the place date from the year 1135.

The New Jersey area of Hoboken on the western shore of the Hudson River was inhabited by Lenape indigenous people who called it Hopoghan Hackingh (Land of the Tobacco Pipe) for its green-veined rock from which they carved their pipes. [Read more…] about Hoboken: A Tale of Immigration & Frank Sinatra

Champlain Frontier Loyalists During the American Revolution

June 15, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

During the American Revolution, the Province of New York was a stronghold of Loyalism. While a difficult matter to estimate with any degree of certainty, available records would seem to indicate that the Loyalists may have constituted an actual majority of the total population.

The statement has even been made that New York furnished more men to the British forces engaged in the war than to the American. [Read more…] about Champlain Frontier Loyalists During the American Revolution

New Eyes on Alice Austen: Queering the Museum

June 7, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Staten Island photographer Elizabeth Alice Austen (1866–1952) is best known for her street photography and intimate depictions of women’s lives and relationships in the Victorian era.

“New Eyes on Alice Austen,” a groundbreaking permanent exhibition at the Alice Austen House Museum finally puts her into an appropriate LGBTQ+ history context with respect denied her during her lifetime. [Read more…] about New Eyes on Alice Austen: Queering the Museum

Germany and the 1876 United States Centennial

June 5, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

The Allied invasion of Normandy (D-Day) on June 6, 1944, was the moment that cemented the “special relationship” between the United States and Great Britain. The operation required full integration of military planning and intelligence sharing, forging a transatlantic bond that shaped the post-war era.

Winston Churchill coined the phrase in 1946 at the beginning of the Cold War. Today, it is a myth that perpetuates the illusion of British influence, concealing an unbalanced alliance. Ever since the 1956 Suez Crisis there has been an asymmetrical dynamic in which Britain plays a minor role. [Read more…] about Germany and the 1876 United States Centennial

St. Vincent’s Hospital: New York City’s Other ‘Ground Zero’

June 4, 2026 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village began in 1849 with a simple, but radical mission: to care for all those in need regardless of race, creed, or financial means. For more than 160 years, the hospital carried out that work, serving notables and the nameless alike, from impoverished immigrants and those stricken by devastating nineteenth-century epidemics to AIDS patients and the victims of the attacks of 9/11.

Part of the former Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers healthcare system in New York City, St. Vincent’s closed on April 30, 2010, was demolished two years later and has become luxury condos. [Read more…] about St. Vincent’s Hospital: New York City’s Other ‘Ground Zero’

Poetry: Nurtured by the Two Bridges Community

May 30, 2026 by Lawrence Venturato Leave a Comment

Nurtured by the Two Bridges Community

The neighborhood located between the
Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges
On NYC’s Lower East Side was the
Final destination for countless immigrants
Whose hard labor helped build America so
Future generations could prosper and grow
Enjoying our land of abundant opportunity
Nurtured by the Two Bridges community

In Memory of Frank Mosco, founder of the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, and his son Vincent.

Barricades, Black Berets & Manhattan’s French Quarter

May 28, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Every city has its own character shaped by a dynamic interaction of physical, socio-cultural, and historical features. As a “living, breathing thing,” the process of urban identity formation is in flux, not static, and never final.

Over time, creative milieus have clustered in poor city areas. Affordable housing attracted immigrants, artists, and students. Densely populated sites were crowded with workshops, cafés, bars, and brothels. Maze-like streets were impossible to police, offering cover to radicals and activists. [Read more…] about Barricades, Black Berets & Manhattan’s French Quarter

Arnold Rothstein’s Saratoga Club & The 1919 World Series Scandal

May 20, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Arnold Rothstein was of the most famous of America’s 20th century criminal masterminds, and for more than 20 years, the New York City native spent his summers in Saratoga Springs, gambling on the horses by day – and just plain gambling by night.

He first started coming to Saratoga on a regular basis in 1904, when he was 22 years old, and he largely gave up on Saratoga after 1925 – by then, he was able to make so much money bootlegging liquor that he no longer spent much time gambling at the Saratoga Race Course. [Read more…] about Arnold Rothstein’s Saratoga Club & The 1919 World Series Scandal

Marlene Dietrich: Park Avenue’s Goddess of Smoke

May 18, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp 2 Comments

Born in Berlin-Schöneberg in December 1901, Marie Magdalena (Marlene) Dietrich made an early career in her home city before achieving international stardom. Mentored by the legendary Max Reinhardt at his Deutsche Theaterschule (German drama school), she then joined his stage company.

Throughout the 1920s, she performed in Berlin and Vienna, including roles in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah. [Read more…] about Marlene Dietrich: Park Avenue’s Goddess of Smoke

Emma Lazarus, Nativism & The Gates of Immigration

May 7, 2026 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Poet Emma Lazarus was active from the mid-1860s until her death in 1887. She descended from a well-established Sephardic family in Manhattan. Her presence coincided with the arrival of waves of Ashkenazi refugees from Eastern Europe. Their customs, Yiddish language, and political activism were distinct from the assimilated Sephardic community.

Emma created two contrasting sonnets on immigration, both dated 1883. Set against the socio-political background of their time of publication, these poems highlight some of the historical and continuous controversies surrounding the issue. [Read more…] about Emma Lazarus, Nativism & The Gates of Immigration

Immigration

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