The Libraries is pleased to announce a new digital collection! The Biggert Collection contains over 1,300 items with architectural imagery spanning the dates 1850 to 1920, from more than 350 cities and towns in 45 states, as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. possessions. The collection’s billheads, letterheads, envelopes, checks, and business cards document the rise of the United States as an industrial nation, in often elaborate vignettes of factories, warehouses, mines, offices, stores, banks, and hotels.

New York City is particularly well-represented with over 100 items portraying structures below Houston Street alone. The images represent a variety of settings (such as factories, warehouses, mines, offices, stores, banks, and hotels) across a range of enterprises from printing, roofing, and brewing to wagon works, cordage, and merchandising.