Scope and arrangement
Arrangement
Two series: I. Dossier Files; II. Card Indexes
Victory Hall Association records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
Records of the Victory Hall Association consist of dossier files and index cards containing basic information on over 8,000 men and women from New York City who died in military or civilian service during World War I. Dossier files, which are arranged alphabetically, consist of an index card listing the name of the deceased, rank, military or naval unit, name and address of a relative, a portrait photograph, the Victory Hall Association's correspondence with the family, and in some files, a typed military record prepared by the Association. Correspondence consists primarily of the Association's standard request for a photograph and biographical information about the deceased and the family's reply. Dossier photographs are copy prints prepared from those loaned by the relatives.
The Victory Hall Association, Inc. was founded in 1919 to collect subscriptions for the erection of a combined war memorial and convention center, Victory Hall, in New York City. The memorial would contain bronze plaques inscribed with the names of the war dead, vaults holding copies of their military record, as well as an auditorium, exhibit halls, meeting rooms, and sports facilities. The site selected for the building was an empty lost stretching the entire block bounded by Lexington and Park Avenues in the east and west, and by 42nd and 41st Streets to the north and south. The organization's president, George W. Wingate, led the fight to have the city donate the land for this purpose. The plan was hotly debated during 1920, with the strongest opposition coming from Acting President of the Board of Aldermen, Fiorello LaGuardia, who denounced the idea as a real estate speculation scheme. He refused to let the city give away what was probably the most valuable piece of property in the world. The city eventually sold the property and Victory Hall was never built.
The records of the Victory Hall Association consist of dossier files and index cards containing basic information on over 8,000 men and women from New York City. who died in military or civilian service during World War I. The Dossier Files, which are arranged alphabetically, consist of an index card listing the name of the deceased, rank, military or naval unit, name and address of a relative, a portrait photograph, the Victory Hall Association's correspondence with the family, and in some files, a typed military record prepared by the Association. The correspondence consists primarily of the Association's standard request for a photograph and biographical information about the deceased and the family's reply. The dossier photographs are copy prints prepared from those loaned by the relatives. Many of them had deteriorated to the point where it was necessary to remove them from the collection and replace them with photocopies where possible. The extensive Card Files contain over 8,000 index cards similar to those in the Dossier Files arranged in two series, Branch of Service and Location. The Branch of Service card file is divided into eleven subseries: Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Customs Intelligence Service, War Workers, Nurses, Allied Forces, French Military, Italian Military, and Miscellaneous. In each subseries the cards are arranged alphabetically by the name of the deceased. The Location card file is divided into six subseries, the five boroughs of New York and an "out of town" file of families residing outside the Greater New York area. The index cards are arranged alphabetically within each of the subseries.
Two series: I. Dossier Files; II. Card Indexes
1925, Received from the Victory Hall Association
Accessioned by MY/FW, December 1985; Supersedes accession of December 1984
Entire collection available on microfilm; New York Public Library; *ZL-435