Archival Materials
This collection of archival materials includes recent planning documents from Stockholm and Barcelona as well as articles, brochures and reports published in the early 1970s when Roosevelt Island was considering its pneumatic collection system, and complete facsimiles of certain archival materials excerpted in the gallery exhibit in 2010. Also included are audio recordings of Edward Logue, and Frederick Richmond, and a transcript of the Fast Trash Symposium held in conjunction with the exhibit in 2010.
Fast Trash Symposium
Transcript of the symposium organized in conjunction with the Fast Trash exhibit. Independent experts, planners and officials from cities in Europe and Canada experienced with pneumatic collection systems describe the process and the context in which the decision was made, and then discuss with their New York City counterparts.
Stockholm Service Statement
In October 2008, Stockholm’s Traffic, City Development, and City Planning Administrations worked in collaboration to examine the consequences of a municipal takeover of the City’s 400 privately owned pneumatic collection networks, and also to illustrate alternative options for handling the financing and operation of the same. This service statement outlines the agency’s recommendations to the City Council.
Barcelona Master Plan for Pneumatic Collection
This master plan produced by the municipality of Barcelona describes all of the existing pneumatic collection networks as well as networks that are currently under construction, projected, areas under study and areas where networks are not viable. By transposing the costs and benefits of pneumatic collection across the city’s diverse neighborhoods, the Barcelona master plan allows policymakers to incorporate pneumatic collection, among other strategies, in their long-term plans.
UDC chief Edward J. Logue on Roosevelt Island and innovation
Excerpt of an interview with Edward J. Logue at his office in Boston, Massachusetts on January 16, 1991 by Professor Ivan D. Steen, for the Oral History Program, Department of History, University at Albany, SUNY. (Logue Interview 9, 62:32-68:20)
Public Works article
UDC Annual Report 1974
The UDC describes the development from the perspective of the 50 families and individuals who paid deposits in advance of the marketing program, and who would be the first residents to move in to the 2100 apartments of the first phase.
American City article
Article written by Gibbs & Hill engineers BT Kown and EA Kass describing plans for the Roosevelt Island system as a case study for other applications.
Executive Housekeeper article
Article written by Roy W. Young, manager of Custodial Services at Walt Disney World, describing the equipment and operations of the park’s system two years after the park opened.
Flakt brochure
Additional pages from a product brochure sent to Roosevelt Island’s chief engineer in 1973 by Flakt SF Air Control Inc., a Swedish manufacturer of automated vacuum collection systems (later merged with Centralsug).
What is UDC?
UDC brochure outlining the purpose, structure and resources of the new state agency.
UDC and Housing Development
UDC brochure describing the agency’s focus on mixed-income housing development.
Scandinavian Times article
Research Study on Refuse Collection for Welfare Island
Between 1970 and 1972 the engineering firm Gibbs and Hill produced a series of studies and reports exploring strategies for sewage disposal, electricity, gas and steam supply, refuse collection and disposal, and transportation. This preliminary study on refuse collection is of particular interest because it discusses the technical, geographic and policy issues that the island had to address and compares pneumatic systems with other alternatives.
The Island Nobody Knows
Catalog for the 1969 exhibition “The Island Nobody Knows” at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The exhibition was produced by the Office of the Mayor and the UDC in conjunction with the official announcement of plans for the island’s development.
East Island Plan
Presented in 1961, the East Island plan sought to transform Welfare Island into a car-free residential community of 70,000. Here is the 20-page proposal produced by architect Victor Gruen based on the ideas ofindustrialist Frederick W. Richmond, later a member of US Congress.
Frederick W. Richmond on the East Island Plan
Conversation with Juliette Spertus at Richmond’s home in New York City on March 24, 2011. Frederick W. Richmond is an industrialist and served as a member of Congress from 1974 to 1982.
The New York Post Office Underground Pneumatic Tube System
