Air travel and telecommunications remade the city’s infrastructure—and Joseph’s list records that transformation from Idlewild to Lower Manhattan.
7 stops · 1950–1978 · 5 identified · 2 in research
Thematic. Each stop links to the full project record, where the sources, construction team and archival evidence are set out.
Rita recorded “Idlewild Airport” for 1950.
Why this stop — Rita recorded “Idlewild Airport” for 1950.
Rita’s list
Transcription: Idlewild Airport — 1950
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
Joseph was literally helping build Idlewild's new Jet Age 'aerial city.'.
Why this stop — This confirms Joseph was involved in the Jet Age airport build-out before the later Pan Am, TWA and BOAC jobs on the list.
Rita’s list
Transcription: P.A.A. Hangar - Idlewild — 1957
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
A corrected street number turns a dead end into a strong Murray Hill lead.
Why this stop — The handwriting correction creates a contemporary legal-paper trail and a strong candidate without overstating the still-unproven Kelly scope.
Rita’s list
Transcription: Telephone Building - 38 St. — 1959
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
Joseph worked on the last major terminal built in JFK's original Terminal City.
Why this stop — Another major airport hit: the list catches BOAC's terminal while it was under construction, completing Joseph's remarkable cluster of JFK-era projects.
Rita’s list
Transcription: BOAC — 1968
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
Rita recorded “Pan Am Simulator” for 1969.
Why this stop — Rita recorded “Pan Am Simulator” for 1969.
Rita’s list
Transcription: Pan Am Simulator — 1969
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
Joseph helped build one of Lower Manhattan's most notorious windowless fortresses; forty years later, New York literally cut open its upper walls and turned them into glass.
Why this stop — The physical transformation is unusually literal—masonry walls opened for glass—and the afterlife is equally New York: the converted tower now houses both digital infrastructure and city government.
Rita’s list
Transcription: N.Y. Telephone - Pearl Street — 1973
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
Joseph's second TWA entry catches the famous terminal after the Jet Age dream had already become a traffic problem: Flight Wing 1 was only eight years old when TWA was modifying the complex again.
Why this stop — One of the best repeat-client stories in the archive: the family list may place Joseph at TWA during the original Jet Age build-out and then again in 1978, when the same celebrated terminal was already being altered to cope with the passenger volumes and larger aircraft it helped usher in.
Rita’s list
Transcription: TWA Flight Wing #1 — 1978
Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record
Air travel and telecommunications remade the city’s infrastructure—and Joseph’s list records that transformation from Idlewild to Lower Manhattan.