Labor Day, August 30 – September 1, 2025
Eugene de Salignac’s Workers
Michael Lorenzini
NYC MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES
Labor Day, August 30-Sept. 1, 2025
Issue # 1523
Brooklyn Bridge, showing painters on suspenders, October 7, 1914. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
For Labor Day, we thought For the Record would look back on Eugene de Salignac’s photographs of workers. His most famous photograph is, of course, of workers on the Brooklyn Bridge, but many of his photographs emphasize labor. Some of de Salignac’s most intriguing photographs are his portraits, limited in number, but often stunning. Most are of City workers engaged in (or just pausing from) their daily tasks, be that welding, chiseling stone, giving radio broadcasts or filing paperwork. There is often an ease to his subjects that suggests de Salignac’s rapport with them. He frequently caught them in unguarded moments, often in the distinctive settings of their work sites and with the tools that epitomize their labor. Some, like the portrait of the worker in the subway cut, transcend time to become iconic American types. This was the great age of industrialized labor and de Salignac would have known that the City’s transformation would not be possible without the sweat of the City’s vast and varied workforce.
De Salignac himself was also a City worker, who from 1906 to 1934 was the sole photographer for the Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures. Some of the images reproduced here are from his rarely seen photo albums, which were organized around specific projects or themes.
Queensboro Bridge, motor room, Penn Steel Plant, Blackwell’s Island, April 22, 1907. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Queensboro Bridge, pin in place, upper deck, northeast, May 2, 1907. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Williamsburg Bridge, Caisson #2, general view of workers, October 14, 1911. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Williamsburg Bridge, Caisson #2, interior view at airlock, October 14, 1911. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Williamsburg Bridge, burning nut at base of column, September 10, 1915. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Pump and Hose Company, Jamaica, Queens, June 26, 1911. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Comptrollers Office sales tax division, August 19, 1938. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Riveter, Brooklyn Bridge, new William Street Subway cut, November 19,1928. Photo by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges/Plant & Structures Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
OUR QUEENS BUS ROUTES ARE CHANGING THIS
SUNDAY, AUGUST 31ST
WE HAVE POSTED THE NEW ROUTE MAPS ON THE BACK OF THE CHAPEL BUS SHELTER
TO SEE INDIVIDUAL ROUTE DETAILS GO TO:
https://www.mta.info/schedules/bus/queens
PHOTO OF THE DAY
AMANDA MATTHEWS, SCULPTOR OF
THE GIRL PUZZLE
TOUCHING UP ONE OF THE ARTWORKS IN PREPARATION
FOR A PHOTO SHOOT.
Credits
NYC MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES
Eugene de Salignac’s Workers
Michael Lorenzini
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Copyright © 2025 Roosevelt Island Historical Society, All rights reserved.Our mailing address is:
rooseveltislandhistory@gmail.com
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