Riis Collection

RIIS: BANDITS ROOST, 1887. An alley at 59 Mulberry Street in New York City. Photographed by Jacob Riis, c1887

STREET URCHINS, c1888. Children in Mullens Alley, off Cherry Street in New York City. Photograph, c1888, by Jacob Riis

NYC: TENEMENT LIFE, 1900. The Hells Kitchen area on New Yorks west side. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1900

NEW YORK FOUNDLING, 1890. Sister Irene, a sister of Charity, with children at the New York Foundling, which she helped found in 1869. Photograph by Jacob Riis, 1890

LOWER EAST SIDE, NYC. Hester Street, early 1890s. Photographed by Jacob Riis

NYC: TENEMENT LIFE. Rear tenement, Roosevelt Street in New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

NYC: TENEMENT LIFE. Interior of tenement housing in New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1889

CHILD LABOR, 1889. A 12-year-old boy pulling threads in a New York City garment sweatshop. Photographed by Jacob Riis, c1889

SWEATSHOP, 1890. A necktie workshop in a tenement on Division Street, New York City. Photograph, 1890, by Jacob A. Riis

RIIS: BOTTLE ALLEY, c1890. A view of Bottle Alley on Baxter Street in New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

RIIS: POLICE STATION LODGERS. Women sleeping in the 18 Eldridge Street Police Station. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

NEW YORK: POVERTY, c1890. Under the dump at West 35th Street. Photograph by Jacob A. Riis, c1890

NEW YORK: LODGING HOUSE. City Lodging house - Hell Dive. Photograph by Jacob A. Riis, c1890

NEW YORK: POVERTY, c1890. Scotty in his lair, a pile of abandonned lumber and bricks at the Harlem River. Photograph by Jacob A. Riis, c1890

PEDDLERs BED, c1890. A peddler in his lodgings in the cellar of a Ludlow Street tenement. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

RIIS: IMMIGRANT GIRL, 1892. I Scrubs. Little Katie, who keeps house in West 49th Street and attends the West 52nd Street Industrial School. Photograph, c1892, by Jacob Riis

RIIS: MULBERRY BEND, c1888. The Mulberry Bend. Photograph, c1888, by Jacob Riis

RIIS: PUSHCART, C1910. A vendors pushcart on a street in New York City. Photograph, 1910, by Jacob Riis

NYC: NEWSBOYS, c1890. Boys shooting craps in the hall of the Newsboys Lodging House, New York. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

RIIS: NEW YORK VAGRANT. An elderly female vagrant with her plank bed at the Eldridge Street police station. Photograph, 1890, by Jacob Riis

TENEMENT LIFE, c1890. A Jewish cobbler preparing for Sabbath Eve in a Ludlow Street coal cellar. Photographed by Jacob Riis, c1890

NYC: TENEMENT, c1890. A child standing in the hallway of a tenement building. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

NYC: TENEMENT LIFE. Police station lodgers. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1889

RIIS: NYC TENEMENT LIFE. An Italian immigrant mother and baby in a tenement home in New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1889

LOWER EAST SIDE, c1890. A tenement mother and child. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

POLICE STATION LODGERS. Polices station lodgers at the West 47th Street station, photographed by Jacob Riis in the early 1890s

NYC: TENEMENT LIFE. Boys sleeping on the porch of a tenement building in New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

JACOB A. RIIS (1849-1914). American (Danish-born) journalist, writer and photographer

JACOB RIIS (1849-1914). American journalist. Cover of the first edition, 1890, of How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York

JACOB RIIS (1849-1914). American (Danish born) journalist and reformer. Riis photographed in the early 1890s as he himself photographs a vegetable stand in the Mulberry Street Bend, New York City

NEW YORK: SWEATSHOP, c1900. Workers in a clothing sweatshop on Ludlow Street in New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1900

HOME INDUSTRY, 1890. A family of Bohemian cigarmakers at work in their tenement home on the Lower East Side, New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

NEW YORK: TENEMENT, c1890. A young immigrant boy learning to write in a tenement apartment on Jersey Street in New York Citys Lower East Side. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1890

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, c1892. Saluting the Flag in the Mott Street Industrial School, New York City. Photograph, c1892, by Jacob Riis

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 1890s. A Lower East Side public school in New York City. Photograph, 1890s by Jacob A. Riis

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, c1894. A class in the condemned Essex Market School on the Lower East Side of New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1894

ELLIS ISLAND: ROOF GARDEN. Children of detained or waiting immigrants, playing on the roof garden at Ellis Island, New York City. Photograph by Jacob Riis, c1900

NEW YORK NEWSBOY, c1901. Newsboy in a Duane Street, New York, lodging house. Photograph, c1901, by Jacob Riis

Night school in the Seventh Avenue Lodging House in New York City. The school was run by the Childrens Aid Society
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, c1890. Night school in the Seventh Avenue Lodging House in New York City. The school was run by the Childrens Aid Society. Photographed, c1890, by Jacob Riis

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, c1890. The First Patriotic Election in The Beach Street Industrial School, New York City. Photograph, c1890, by Jacob Riis

JACOB A. RIIS (1849-1914). American (Danish-born) journalist, writer and photographer. Photographed in c1906

RIIS: LOWER EAST SIDE. Ice on a burnt-out building in the section of the Lower East Side called Jewtown. The suspected cause of this and many other fires in the neighborhood was arson

TENEMENT LIFE, NYC, c1889. Lodgers in a Bayard Street tenement. Photograph, c1889, by Jacob Riis

RIIS: NEW YORK, 1901. Young street Arabs sleeping on a steam grate from an underground newspaper press room for warmth. Photograph, c1901, by Jacob Riis

NEW YORK: TENEMENT, c1890. Bathtub stored in a tenement air shaft. Photograph by Jacob A. Riis, c1890

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"Capturing the Grit: Jacob Riis and his Unflinching Lens on New York City's Underbelly" Step into the past with Jacob Riis, a pioneering photojournalist who exposed the harsh realities of life in late 19th-century New York City. In "Riis: Bandits Roost, 1887, " he unveils an alley at 59 Mulberry Street, known as a den for criminals and outcasts. In "Street Urchins, c1888, " Riis shines a light on the children of Mullens Alley off Cherry Street – innocent faces amidst squalor and poverty. Moving to Hells Kitchen in NYC's west side, "NYC: Tenement Life, 1900" reveals cramped living conditions that plagued countless families. With compassion at heart, Riis captures Sister Irene from New York Foundling in 1890 caring for destitute children. His lens then turns to Division Street's sweatshops where workers labor tirelessly in "Sweatshop, 1890. " "Bottle Alley, c1890" offers a glimpse into Baxter Street's struggles while highlighting the resilience of its inhabitants. The haunting image of women sleeping at Eldridge Street Police Station is unveiled in "Riis: Police Station Lodgers. " Venturing further into despair, Riis exposes poverty beneath West 35th Street's dumpsite in "New York: Poverty. " Meanwhile, Scotty finds solace amidst abandoned lumber piles in his lair captured by Riis' lens. The Lower East Side comes alive through Hester Street’s bustling scene depicted by Riis' camera during early 1890s. Finally, we witness a peddler finding respite within Ludlow Street tenement cellar – his humble abode showcased in “Peddlers Bed. ” Jacob Riis’ photographs serve as powerful reminders of humanity’s struggle against adversity and inequality.