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LOC -- Bain's original caption is incorrect. Close scrutiny of the sign shows that the fundraising drive is for both the YMCA -- AND the YWCA. There is an M perched directly above the W on the sign. It should properly be rendered YM/YWCA, or YMCA/YWCA.

The fundraising "clock" sign was positioned on a prominent corner, but this was the Wall Street construction site for the new headquarters of J. P. Morgan -- not the site of the future YM/YWCA. The address on the sign, 25 Broad Street, was the location of the existing YMCA headquarters, not of the J. P. Morgan erection. New York's four-million-dollar whirlwind campaign for a new YM/YWCA was the largest fundraising project in world history up to that time. Campaign "clocks" like the one shown here were erected at various strategic locations to keep the project in the public eye. This story in the "New York Times," November 13, 1913, mentions another one: query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9501E...

Bain's photographer overdid his coverage of this spectacle, but that probably was all for the best, since half of his shots were grievously underexposed:

Construction site of the new headquarters building of J. P. Morgan & Co. The Bain/LOC image above was posted on April 23, 2010. See the explanation of the photo in the comments that follow this image: Yet another photo was posted on May 14, 2010: And this one, on May 28, 2010: LOC posted a Bain photo of the finished headquarters building on Nov. 4, 2011:

See