
A series of fascinating photographs by a pioneering female photographer show New York in a state of change in the 1930s.

Photographer Berenice Abbott proposed Changing New York, her grand project to document New York City, to the Federal Art Project (FAP) in 1935.

The FAP was a Depression-era government program for unemployed artists and workers in related fields such as advertising, graphic design, illustration, photofinishing and publishing.

Rather than focus on the iconic sights, Abbott captured the sidestreets, stores, commuters and domestic areas of the huge city.

Her goal was to photograph urban material, culture and the built environment of New York, documenting the old before it was torn down and recording new construction.

She shot 305 photos as part of the project between 1935 and 1939

Abbott's efforts resulted in a book in 1939, in advance of the World's Fair in Flushing Meadow NY. At the project's conclusion, the FAP distributed complete sets of Abbott's images to high schools, libraries and other public institutions in the metropolitan area.

In a New York minute: In the 1930s the city that never sleeps was changing quickly and photographer Berenice Abbott was commissioned to capture the changes

Pies available at an Automat, 977 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan - an automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drink are served by vending machines. In 1902 Joe Horn and Frank Hardart opened the first U.S. Automat at 818 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia. It was America's first coin-operated cafeteria. Customers would put nickels into slots, turn a knob and open a little glass door to get their food. Horn and Hardart used Swedish-patented equipment they had imported from Berlin, which already sported a successful 'waiterless restaurant'.

Pike and Henry Streets, Manhattan - the photos were taken at a time when motorized vehicles shared the road with horses and carts

Whelan's Drug Store, 44th Street and Eighth Avenue, Manhattan - on sale are displays of electrical appliances, clocks, and a Valentine’s Day display of candy

Penn Station, Interior, Manhattan = today the station is the main intercity railroad station in New York City, serving more than 600,000 commuter rail and Amtrak passengers a day. It is reputedly the busiest passenger transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere

Waterfront South Street Manhattan - photographer Berenice Abbott sought to create a broadly inclusive collection of photographs that together suggest a vital interaction between three aspects of urban life: the diverse people of the city; the places they live, work and play; and their daily activities

Tug boat, from water front, Brooklyn, Manhattan - in the 19th century, New York became a railway hub, and steam tugs aided in transporting rail freight down the river into Manhattan, guiding boxcar barges. By 1929, there were over 700 tugs working in busy New York Harbor. Towing has been largely a family business in the past and many of the tugboat captains you'll hear in this episode work for McAllister Towing, founded in 1864 and still a leading name in New York tugboats

Newsstand, 32nd Street and Third Avenue, Manhattan (November 1935) - The New York Public Library archive contains about three-quarters of the 302 images taken by Abbott for the project.

Herald Square, 34th and Broadway, Manhattan - Scholar Peter Barr noted of photographer Berenice Abbott's work: 'She sought to create a broadly inclusive collection of photographs that together suggest a vital interaction between three aspects of urban life: the diverse people of the city; the places they live, work and play; and their daily activities'

A family on a stoop at Jay Street, No. 115, Brooklyn - many of New York's stoops - a small staircase ending in a platform and leading to the entrance of an apartment building or other building - have disappeared. Yet those that remain are still a beloved architectural feature of the city

Lyric Theatre shows a Charlie Chaplin film, Third Avenue between 12th and 13th street, Manhattan. The Lyric was built in 1903 and hosted Shakespeare plays and notable new shows as Cole Porter's Fifty Million Frenchmen, until it was converted to a movie theatre in 1934.

Huts and unemployed, West Houston and Mercer Street, Manhattan -Abbott often avoided the merely pretty in favor of what she described as 'fantastic' contrasts between the old and the new, and chose her camera angles and lenses to create compositions that either stabilized a subject - if she approved of it - or destabilized it if she scorned it

Hot Dog Stand, West St. and North Moore, Manhattan

Washing dries in a court of first model tenement houses in New York, 72nd Street and First Avenue, Manhatta

Much quieter than today: Run-down properties at Talman Street, between Jay and Bridge street, Brooklyn

Ewen Avenue No. 2565 (Bar and grill), Spuyten Duyvil, Bronx - today the area is an upper middle class neighborhood of the Bronx. The name Spuyten Duyvil may be literally translated as 'Spouting Devil' or Spuitende Duivel in Dutch; a reference to the strong and wild tidal currents found at that location.