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Rare Retrospective of Jacob Riis' Photos of City's Slums Goes on Display

By Shaye Weaver | October 16, 2015 11:12am | Updated on October 18, 2015 4:09pm
 Jacob Riis, whose photos of the city's slums at the turn of the 20th century, are known for their shocking content.
Jacob Riis, whose photos of the city's slums at the turn of the 20th century, are known for their shocking content.
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Jacob A. Riis

UPPER EAST SIDE — A retrospective featuring photojournalist Jacob A. Riis's life's work, his letters, scrapbooks, and manuscripts is now on display at the Museum of the City of New York until March.

The exhibit, called "Revealing New York's Other Half," opened on Wednesday and is the first major retrospective of Riis's photography in the U.S. in more than 50 years, according to the museum.

During his time as a reporter, Riis captured revealing and unsettling photos of families in small tenement buildings in the city, small boys huddling in an alleyway and children working in factories around the turn of the 20th century.

Visitors to the exhibit can view the artist's lantern slide lecture "How the Other Half Lives," just how audiences viewed the photos when they were first displayed.

The exhibit is split into six different sections that focus on various aspects of Riis's life, and his many writings from the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library aim to give readers a more complete perspective of his career.

Other objects, like letters from Roosevelt on White House stationery, fundraising correspondence with Louise and Andrew Carnegie and a letter to humanitarian and author Lillian Wald will be on display. Additional items include vintage photographic prints, lantern slides, glass negatives and stereographs.

His work and advocacy was so impactful that former President Theodore Roosevelt called Riis "New York's most useful citizen."

"As our city and our nation continue to struggle with inequality and its effects, this exhibition enables visitors to understand the story of the man who first illustrated life in New York City slums in the 19th century, providing a unique lens for viewing a present day issue," said Bonnie Yochelson, the curator of prints and photographs at the museum.

The exhibit will make its next stops in Washington and in Denmark.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Tickets are $14 for adults and $10 for students and seniors.