When F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby in 1925, the Valley of Ashes he described as “fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens,” was a very real place. This wasteland between Brooklyn and Queens was known as the Corona Dump, where the Brooklyn Ash Removal Company disposed...

Ilonka Karasz (1896-1981) designed in a variety of media, including wallpaper, silver, textiles, and furniture, but was probably best known for her New Yorker magazine cover illustrations. She designed 186 covers in total beginning in 1925. She was the first woman admitted to the Royal School of Arts and Crafts in Budapest. After emigrating from...