Butler's pantry, Hotel McAlpin, circa 1912

glass negative

PHOTOGRAPHS - GLASS NEGATIVES
Rosenfeld and Sons
USA, NY, New York
1912-1913
emulsion on glass
overall: 8 x 10 in.; 20.32 x 25.4 cm

8 x 10 glass plate negative taken by Rosenfeld and Sons in 1915. Image taken as part of long term commissioned work and documentation for the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, ranging from 1910 through the 1940s. View of the Butler's pantry at the Hotel McAlpin, 1912. View of the butlers preparing to deliver a meal ordered via telephone based room service. A butler in the foreground takes the telephone order from a wall phone, while two butlers in the background prepare a small table. A tray labeled "21st Floor" is seen with silver coffee pots, creamer, and empty bottles of ginger ale. The Hotel McAlpin was located near Pennsylvania Station, NY, and had fifteen hundred rooms. It was built to accommodate the increasing number of middle-class travelers using the trains. Handwritten on original negative sleeve: "745 Box 61-7". One image of a series taken by Morris Rosenfeld to advertise the use of the telephone, and to convey the many uses for a private telephone.

1984.187.745

Mystic Seaport, Rosenfeld Collection