Museum of the City of New York

“Knee-pants" at forty five cents a dozen -- A Ludlow Street Sweater's Shop, Jacob Riis, ca 1889. From the collection of Museum of the City of New York, 90.13.1.151.

Introduction: Jacob Riis and His Work

Women's Lodging Room in W. 30th Street Station

Jacob Riis’s “Magic Lantern” Lecture

By the turn of the 19th century, New York City’s Lower East Side neighborhood was the most densely populated place in the world. The neighborhood had a higher mortality rate than the rest of the city. Many reformers, like Jacob Riis, advocated for the creation of parks and playgrounds that would provide children with more places to exercise and access fresh air. They used photography to provide powerful visual evidence of the need for open, recreational spaces to combat the spread of disease.

Playgrounds and Parks in the City

“‘I scrubs.’ Little Katie from the W. 52nd Street Industrial School,” Jacob Riis, ca 1890. From the collection of Museum of the City of New York, 90.13.1.132

Little Katie

Jacob Riis used a different technique for each of these three photographs he took to show the plight of individuals in neighborhoods like the Lower East Side in the late 19th century. As you examine the images and read about his process, consider how his portrayals evolved and debate the ethics of Riis’s approach to depicting working-class New Yorkers.

From Candids to Portraits

Jacob Riis took advantage of a new technology - flash powder - to capture images that had previously been impossible to photograph: the city by night and dark interior scenes.

Images and Technology in Jacob Riis's Era

For immigrants in turn-of-the-century New York, labor frequently blurred the line between work and home, at times involving whole families. Examine this image and the text below to consider how different reformers envisioned solutions to the labor problems of the day.

Immigration and Labor at the Turn of the 20th Century

Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was a pioneering newspaper reporter, author, and social reformer in New York City in the late 19th century. His then-novel idea of using photographs to illustrate his writing about urban poverty created a rich historical record that was rediscovered in the 1940s and has since established Riis as a forerunner of modern photojournalism. The Museum of the City of New York holds the collection of NYC images that Riis used in his career. See more at https://collections.mcny.org

Jacob A. Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half

Civics and Government

Social Studies

U.S. History

Visual Arts

The Arts

More Images and Activities

Jacob Riis often photographed children in the street to show the conditions in which they lived, worked, and played.  

- What do you see children doing in this photograph?

- What do you notice about their surroundings? 

- What can we infer about their daily lives from viewing this image and reading Riis’s title?

A group of children and two women sitting near an inclined cellar door on Hamilton Street. Shopkeepers hammered the cellar door with nails to stop children from using it as a slide.

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The "Slide" that was the Children's only Playground once.

Riis often photographed street scenes in the Lower East Side. Notice the caption of this image, in which he refers the “street” as the “school children’s only playground.’

This photograph shows people walking on Hester Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood.

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Hester Street. The Street, the school children's only playground.

Jacob Riis lobbied for parks and playgrounds to offset the density of the tenement districts. During the administration of Mayor William L. Strong (1895-1897), Riis served as secretary to the Advisory Committee on Small Parks, which successfully petitioned for the seizure of private property to construct three Lower East Side parks.

-Describe the scene in this photograph.  

-How would you describe the buildings in the background? 

-Why do you think playgrounds like this drew a crowd? 

-How might playgrounds address density and public health? 

This photograph shows a large crowd gathered around a swing set in Seward Park.

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[Neighborhood crowd in Seward Park.]

Starting in the 1880s reformers saw playgrounds as important places to improve the quality of life for children. Early playgrounds ranged from open spaces to sandboxes, to early experiments with playground equipment like monkey bars and slides. In dense cities where space was scarce, playgrounds on rooftops specially adapted to the urban environment. 

-How does this play space compare to those in the other photographs in this series?

This photograph shows boys playing ball on the rooftop playground of a public school.

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Roof playground (boys) -- Public School.

In the late 19th century, New York experienced a large wave of immigration. Between 1870 and 1900, nearly 12 million people immigrated to the United States, with the majority entering through New York and settling there. Immigration was a major factor in the city’s notable population growth in this era, and the city’s population more than tripled between 1870 and 1900. By the turn of the century, the Lower East Side was the most densely populated place in the world. 

-How would you describe this neighborhood?  

-What are people doing in this photograph? 

This photograph shows Mulberry Street, crowded with vendors peddling their wares on carts and wagons. 

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[Mulberry Street.]

In neighborhoods like the Lower East Side, large families crowded into small apartments in tenement buildings that were close together and, in many cases, lacked indoor plumbing or running water. Lack of running water or fresh air led to the spread of diseases like typhoid and tuberculosis. 

-What do you notice about the housing in the Mulberry Bend? 

-Why might this type of housing contribute to the spread of disease?

This photograph shows Mulberry Bend, a place surrounding a curve on Mulberry Street. Mulberry Bend was described as one of the worst parts of the Five Points slum by Jacob Riis in the book "How the Other Half Lives".

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The Bend.

This picture shows a neighborhood called Mulberry Bend. Before, both sides of the street were crowded with tenement buildings with families living close together. Many people protested about the state of living conditions in the neighborhood, calling it unsanitary and unsafe. Riis published numerous articles in national magazines, and for nearly 10 years advocated to improve the Mulberry Bend, which was part of the infamous Five Points. In 1888, the city had agreed to condemn the west side of Mulberry Street and build a public park. The land was finally cleared in 1895, and two years later, Mulberry Bend Park was completed. This postcard, from 1910, shows the neighborhood after the buildings on the left side of the street were taken down by the city to build Mulberry Bend Park. Many reformers argued that people - especially children - needed open space to play and breathe fresh air. 

As you examine this postcard, and compare it to the previous two image of Mulberry Street.  

-What changes were made to this neighborhood? 

-Based on the design of the park, how do you imagine this public space was used? 

-Are there changes you would make to this park that could benefit the neighborhood? 

-This picture was used on the front of a postcard. Why do you think it would have been used in that way? 

This postcard shows Mulberry Bend Park, named after a curve Mulberry Street, which was part of the notorious Five Points slum. Mulberry Bend was demolished in 1897 and the park took its place. Mulberry Bend Park was renamed Columbus Park in 1911.

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Jacob A. Riis: Revealing New York’s Other Half

Playgrounds and Parks in the City

The "Slide" that was the Children's only Playground once.