This past February, we brought history and technology together for our first cohort of Tech Scholars. Throughout this one-week program, we welcomed a group of 15 high school students from across the city to design and build their own websites to exhibit their research on notable events and figures in women’s history.   The group of…

  At 2pm on May 23, 1914, a group of men wearing cocked hats, white wigs, and knee-breeches, emerged from the Fraunces Tavern, walked slowly up Broad Street, and then turned down Wall Street towards the river, accompanied by the steady beat of a Continental drum corps.  “Had George Washington’s statue on the steps of…

  Tiffany Studio’s stained glass lamps are among the most gorgeous decorative objects ever created and represent an incredible historical moment of American art joining the world stage. While numerous countries are filled with beautiful painting, sculpture and architecture, American stained glass of the late-19th and early-20th century outshines the competition. Tiffany lamps not only…

If you’ve noticed the matzoh displays in your grocery store, you’ll know that Passover is coming up soon. New York’s metropolitan area is home to the world’s largest Jewish population outside of Israel, beginning in 1654, when twenty-tree Jewish refugees established the Congregation Shearith Israel in New Amsterdam. It was the first Jewish congregation in North…

Keith Haring painted this Japanese paper lantern in 1988. Installed on Monday, it’s part of our latest rotation from the Keith Haring Foundation. This rotation, on view through June 2, focuses on Haring’s Pop Shop Tokyo project. On January 30, 1988, (25 years ago yesterday!) Keith Haring opened  the Pop Shop Tokyo, following the successful opening of…

What does New York City look like to a newcomer? For artist Howard Thain, who moved to New York from Texas in 1919, it seemed a place filled with opportunity, which was at once inspiring and daunting. His art captures the excitement, movement and terror that swirl through the city, which challenge every citizen to…

By Timothy Wroten For the world of American art and design, last week was marked by the passing of illustrious designer and ceramicist Eva Zeisel, who was 105. The New-York Historical Society Museum was fortunate enough to work with Zeisel in 2003 to collect and exhibit some of her remarkable designs. Above are some pitchers that were donated to us by…

By Timothy Wroten The modern red-suited, pot-bellied image of Santa Claus is the imaginative descendant of the historical fourth-century bishop St. Nicolas of Myra. Santa’s appearance and many surrounding holiday traditions owe much to the creative influence of some famous nineteenth-century New Yorkers, including Clement Clarke Moore, the author of “A Visit from St. Nicolas.”  …

The New-York Historical Society is dedicated to teaching its visitors about the city’s and country’s past, which includes the HIV/AIDS pandemic that reached its peak in the 1990s, and unfortunately continues today. Today is World AIDS Day, a worldwide day of remembrance for those who have died, support for those who are suffering, and an…