The Secret Library High Above Grand Central
A small, undigitized collection, the Williamson Library gives insight into the earliest days of New York’s High Line.
By Jennifer Krichels, Superscript October 11, 2013Sitting largely unnoticed in a secluded spot above the Apple Store, the Williamson Library is a private research collection housed inside Grand Central Terminal. Facing the main concourse, the library was founded by Frederick Ely Williamson, the president of the once-mighty New York Central Railroad (NYCR) in the 1930s and 1940s. The library can be visited only by appointment. Once the appointment is made you have to meet the sole librarian in spy-like fashion at the concourse’s clock; from there you will be led through the station’s rafters to two anonymous gunmetal gray doors, beyond which lies an archive of more than 3,000 railroad-related books, periodicals, and objects.
![]() |
Frederick Ely Williamson, founder of the library and president of the New York Central Railroad from 1935–1944. Photo courtesy of Fortune magazine via iridetheharlemline.com
|
The Williamson’s holdings have never been translated into digital form. Some, like the original red carpet for the NYCR’s Twentieth Century Limited express passenger train, never can be. Others that have been crucial to the city’s development, like the bulk of historical records on New York Central’s West Side Improvement—what we today call the High Line—have languished here for decades.
One of the jewels of the library’s High Line holdings is a collection of advertisements projecting the elevated railroad’s development as the birth of a new West Side, of rail living comfortably alongside the automobile. The car will not kill the train, the ads collectively say, an irony that puts into perspective the High Line’s later transformation.
The Book

Robert Hammond
The High Line we know today has taught us that technological obsolescence is not necessarily a terminal fate—and in fact it can inspire transformative ideas. The same can be said of the Williamson Library and its yet-to-be-digitized collections. Though often forgotten high above Grand Central’s hustle, it stands as a reminder that each era can build upon the previous one with great success.

Announcements
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell
Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy
By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020
Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison
Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn
By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Forthcoming: October 2020
An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes
By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019
A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman
Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context
By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020
An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor
David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020
A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.
Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller
Teaching Graphic Design History
By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019
An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.
Recent Articles



