Primary sources are incredibly important to decipher the decision making process. Especially when it comes to procurement, and other government decision making. I found out there is a Municipal Library at City Hall (well, adjacent), part of the New York City Department of Records and Information Services. Searching their records, I found this handy primary document:
The plan for Welfare Island: technical report
Prepared for New York State Urban Development Corp.
By: Philip Johnson & John Burgee, Architects.
Contributor(s): New York State Urban Development Corp.
Publication Date: October 7, 1969
Call number: S Ur1.96 pfwi
I love finding original primary documents, the digitization of card catalogs has made finding a lot of these items easier; the hard part is gaining access the original or getting a digital copy of it sent. I no longer have an academic credential, and because of COVID many research libraries are still closed or appointment-only. Luckily, librarians are amazing. I mean, amazing. While I don’t have the full 196 pages scanned and in may possession, they have been great about scanning parts of the document so I can zero in on what parts of the technical report will be useful.
About Roosevelt Island
Read more about Roosevelt Island here:
- Roosevelt Island Urban Plan
- Jane’s Walk 2021 – Street Furniture: Where Policy Meets our Bodies (completed)
- Other Jane’s Walks on Roosevelt Island
- Roosevelt Island Wikipedia Entry
