Photographs - South Street Seaport Museum

The South Street Seaport Museum collects visually striking photographs depicting the New York City waterfront, spanning from the late 19th century to the present day. This collection contains thousands of negatives and glass plates, lanterns and slides, stereoscopic cards, and vintage prints.

Highlights include the Thomas W. Kennedy Collection of ca. 1890-1915 glass plate negatives depicting the Seaport and Lower Manhattan, the Beken of Cowes and Stuart Bale photographs documenting transatlantic ocean liners of the mid to late 20th century, the Fairchild Aerial Surveys Inc. aerial photographs of New York Harbor ca. 1930-1960, and the Barbara Mensch Collection, which captures the vibrancy of the Fulton Fish Market and its workers prior to the Market’s relocation to Hunts Point in 2005.