Incredibly peaceful and clean New York City In The 1930s (28 pictures)
Photographer Berenice Abbott documented New York City for the Federal Art Project (FAP) between 1935 and 1938. FAP was a New Deal program (thanks, Franklin Roosevelt!) for unemployed artists that operated from 1935 to 1943. Abbott’s series, “Changing New York,” captures a city that looks incredibly peaceful and clean compared to today’s Big Apple. The photographs were published as a book for the 1939 New York’s World Fair which attracted over 44 million visitors to the city.
The New York Public Library has more of Abbott’s photos on flickr.
