Behind The Scenes

Phoebe Snow lives up to her surname. She has pale skin and is dressed entirely in white. From the pristine ostrich plumes that adorn her hat to the spotless boots that protect her feet, Phoebe Snow is obsessively, almost compulsively, clean. She’s also a fictional character, invented by an advertising firm in an early push…

It is fitting that the exhibition Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow coincides with Betye Saar: Keepin’ It Clean, for it is the legacy of Jim Crow that the contemporary artists Betye Saar tackles. Black Citizenship begins with the struggle for equality during the tumultuous years of Reconstruction and ends with the late-19th and 20th century…

If you were watching television in the 1990s, you are probably familiar with the jingle “the touch, the feel, of cotton. The fabric of our lives.” In many ways, cotton has also long been the fabric of our country. Many correctly associate the growing of cotton in the United States with the institution of slavery….

Yikes! This aggressive-looking machine is patented under the name “Lightning” and is cold to the touch.  Because it’s made from cast iron, when you lift it, its weight drags your whole body down and turns your arm to pudding. It has four gears; each is a different size, and each is necessary. When activated, these…

The New-York Historical Society was founded on November 20, 1804. To celebrate our birthday, we’re taking a look back on the construction of the New-York Historical Society’s permanent home at 170 Central Park West. Before settling along the park, New-York Historical lived at seven other locations around the city between 1804 and 1908. Here’s a…

Revolutionary War hero, treasury secretary, founder of the Bank of New York, architect of America’s financial system—Alexander Hamilton’s accomplishments are too numerous to list. In his lifetime of just 47 years, Hamilton helped secure America’s freedom and shaped the contours of the young republic in its earliest days. The Bank of New York (now BNY…

As October 31 draws near, ghosts appear in New York windows, and cobwebs creep over city bushes. Crisp leaves heap in piles along sidewalks where wrinkled gourds line up to watch crunchy commutes. All across the state New Yorkers still “inhale the witching influence of the air, and begin to grow imaginative, to dream dreams,…

This fall, we opened a powerful new exhibition Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow, which explores the struggle for full citizenship and racial equality that unfolded in the 50 years after the Civil War, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Fourteenth Amendment. On September 7, to open the exhibition, we welcomed Dr. Brenda…

We are building a research railroad! In 2017 the New-York Historical Society received a special grant to begin the enormous task of cataloging the Jerni Collection in an effort share its wonders with the greater public. These funds come from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Founded in 1996, IMLS serves as an…