After many years of work, the New York City Municpal Archives (Muni for short) today launched an online gallery of images. More than 870,000 images of life in the city can now be viewed on Muni’s website. You can either search or browse through the gallery. Some of the images date back to the 1880s. If you have ancestors who entered the United States through the port of New York, or who lived in the city for any time, you will enjoy looking at these images.

Images are both black and white and color. If you see an image you like, you can order a print or a digital file for your personal use. You can also license images for commercial use. Some of the images are also subject to third-party licensing. You can view the online gallery on the Muni website.

Like the 1940 census, the site is struggling under the increased traffic of launch day today. If you can’t get in, you can see a sample of some of the images on the Gothamist blog.