Mayor Robert F. Wagner

Serving as mayor from 1954 to 1965, Robert F. Wagner presided over New York City during a time of great growth and change. In addition to massive infrastructure projects - many spearheaded by the 'Master Builder' himself, Robert Moses - Wagner was also responsible for developing some of New York's most important cultural institutions, including Lincoln Center, Shakespeare in Central Park, and the City University of New York. In his third term, he helped put an end to Tammany Hall, decisively breaking the political machine's hold on New York City government.

Wagner was the son of a four-term U.S. Senator who had been a staunch leader of the New Deal Coalition, and many saw his mayoral actions concerning public housing, education, workers' rights, and anti-discrimination as an extension of his family's political legacy.

As crime in the 1950s was on the rise, Wagner was forced to confront an increase of youth gang violence, dramatic surges in subway related incidents, and devastating race riots in Harlem.

In these tapes, we hear some mundane machinery of city government, but also, when taken as a whole, a unique aural portrait of a city between its post-war boom years and tumultuous times to come.

Oh yes, and there's some great music too. 

The Mayor Robert F. Wagner collection includes audio reformatted from acetate open-reel tape and 16" transcription discs pulled from the NYC Municipal Archives. The collection spans his entire time as mayor, but the extant recordings concentrate on his third term, 1961-1965.