"The Tenement Museum" article from American Heritage magazine
The history magazine American Heritage published an excellent article about the New York City tenement museum in April 2000. A xerox copy with all the photos is available from HCC library, but the text (with photos omitted) is available online through the GALE database.
Nonfiction Books
Shutting Out the Sky by Call Number: 307.76 HOPISBN: 9780439375900Photographs and text document the experiences of five individuals who came to live in the Lower East Side of New York City as children or young adults from Belarus, Italy, Lithuania, and Romania at the turn of the twentieth century.
Tenement : immigrant life on the Lower East Side by Call Number: 307.76 BIAISBN: 9780618138494Presents a view of New York City's tenements during the peak years of foreign immigration, discussing living conditions, laws pertaining to tenements, and the occupations of their residents.
Cobblestone's "Tenement" issue
The February, 2004 issue of Cobblestone magazine is all about tenements. It is in child-friendly language. You can access all of these articles online (outside of the building you will need the GALE password) by clicking on the articles below or clicking on this link.
*The articles are much, much better in print because there are excellent photos. Please ask for a copy of the printed magazine from the library.*
Fiction Books
Threads and flames by ISBN: 9780670012459After recovering from typhus, thirteen-year-old Raisa leaves her Polish shtetl for America to join her older sister, and goes to work at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory.- Land of Hope byCall Number: PB NIXISBN: 9780836828115Rebekah, a fifteen-year-old Jewish immigrant arriving in New York City in 1902, almost abandons her dream of getting an education when she is forced to work in a sweatshop.
The King of Mulberry Street by Call Number: PB NAPISBN: 9780553494167Dom, a nine-year old stowaway from Naples, Italy, arrives in New York and must learn to survive the perils of street life in the big city.
Uprising by Call Number: FIC HADISBN: 9781416911715In 1927, at the urging of twenty-one-year-old Harriet, Mrs. Livingston reluctantly recalls her experiences at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, including miserable working conditions that led to a strike, then the fire that took the lives of her two best friends, when Harriet, the boss's daughter, was only five years old. Includes historical notes.
Ashes of Roses by Call Number: FIC AUCISBN: 9780805066869Sixteen-year-old Rose Nolan arrives on Ellis Island in 1911 in the hopes of starting a new life, but after most of her family is sent back to Ireland, she must find her own way in a new country and fend for herself and her younger sister.
Dreams in the Golden Country by Call Number: FIC LASISBN: 9780439445634Twelve-year-old Zippy, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, keeps a diary account of the first eighteen months of her family's life on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1903-1904.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
Excellent photographs with captions, plus interviews (might be good for a DBQ).
NYC Tenement Museum
New York City's Tenement Museum is a fabulous place to visit, both in real life and online. Here are some great resources on their site.