How to find Staten Island’s 1940s tax photographs
For an older photograph of a Staten Island building, start with an address and the city’s tax-photo collection. The Municipal Archives collection guide describes photographs made for property-tax assessment, with dates from 1939 to 1951 and most images dating from 1939 to 1941.
A search may not turn up the building you want. The guide says some tax-exempt buildings, vacant lots and properties missed by the photographers are absent. Treat the collection as a place to investigate, rather than a complete picture of every address.
Open the Richmond folder
On the city’s Digital Collections page, choose “1940s Tax Department photographs,” then “Richmond.” That folder contains the Staten Island records. The collection guide also calls this series “Richmond (Staten Island).”
Inside Richmond, enter an address in the “Search within” field and use the “Folder” search button. Entering 17-23 Victory Boulevard, for example, returns the record with that title and the description “Block 1 Lot 1.” Check that the results page still identifies the folder as Richmond.
The folder lists addresses alongside block and lot numbers. Open the record itself before making notes: a result’s address alone does not give you its full description or date range. Keep the record’s link so you can return to the same item.
Read one record closely
The record for 17-23 Victory Boulevard provides a worked example. It identifies the borough as Staten Island, the property as Block 1, Lot 1, and the photograph as nynyma_rec0040_5_00001_0001. Its Start Date is 1939 and its End Date is 1941.
Write down that range as given. The collection’s “1940s” label does not establish that this particular photograph was taken in 1940. If you need an exact date for a caption or a comparison, leave it unresolved until another source supports it.
Keep the address with the identifier
The archive guide explains that the photographs are organized by borough, block and lot. It also describes outtake images identified by film roll and image number. Copy the full identifier from the record rather than rebuilding it from an address.
A useful research note includes the record’s title, link, identifier, date range and block and lot. Add a separate note for what you are trying to establish, such as whether a particular doorway or neighboring building appears. Keeping that question separate helps distinguish the archive’s description from your own interpretation.
Check the record before reusing a photograph
The Victory Boulevard record has a Rights field with conditions for reproduction and publication, plus the archive’s contact information. Read that notice before using a copy in an article, print or other publication. Follow the original record link to inspect the photograph and its accompanying information together.