Murder in the City: New York 1910–1920

Victims butchered in their beds, stabbed in stairwells, shot in the street; married couples, crooks and archbishops; grimy boarding houses, dusty bars, dirty streets; crimes of passion, greed or gang warfare – all photographed dispassionately by the New York Police Department.

Crime scene photography revolutionized New York’s police work in the 1910s. Murder in the City: New York 1910–1920 gathers previously unpublished police photographs and matches them with the relevant newspaper reports of the time, telling the whole stories behind the photographs. There are also tales of missing persons, street accidents and botched robberies, as well as stunning archive photographs illustrating the rapidly expanding metropolis. Whether your interest is in crime or social history, the stories featured give us an excellent insight into the lives these victims led.

Despite its graphic subject matter, this is a handsomely presented work of 150 black- &-white photographs – some shocking, some beautiful – and period artworks. Combining extensive research in the New York City Department of Records and the Library of Congress, Murder in the City: New York 1910–1920 is a unique piece of social history.