Are you looking for some historical perspective as the election season heat up? Our Public Programs have you covered. Enjoy two recordings of past programs below. In the first, author David Levering Lewis and historian David Nasaw discuss Wendell Willkie, a Midwestern businessman–turned–Republican politician, who fought for desegregation, workers’ rights, and small government in his 1940 bid for president. In the second,…

New-York Historical reopens indoors on Friday, Sept. 11, and visitors will have a chance to view Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions: Creating the American Republic, an exploration of America’s long history of constitutional and civic engagement featuring over 40 books and documents from the collection of Dorothy T. Goldman. Our Public Programs series has often delved into…

Last February, New-York Historical celebrated the opening of Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution with a public program that dove into the lasting impact of one of Graham’s most famous achievements: the Fillmore East in New York City. Robert Greenfield, the coauthor of Bill Graham Presents, joined us, along with a panel of Graham’s contemporaries and colleagues to talk…

In August 1920, one last state was needed to ratify the 19th Amendment, and it all came down to Tennessee. Last year, author and journalist Elaine Weiss joined us for a program at New-York Historical to uncover the climactic fight to make a woman’s right to vote the law of the land, with the help of key…

The Roosevelts are one of the most storied families in American public life, and over the years, our Public Programs have explored many branches of their expansive family tree. Enjoy audio recordings of two programs below. The first is an interview with Geoffrey C. Ward, author and the writer of Ken Burns’ documentary series The Roosevelts, about the lives…

In 2017, New-York Historical opened The Vietnam War: 1945–1975, a wide-ranging exhibition that chronicled America’s long, complex, and painful involvement in Vietnam and its effects on our politics and society at home. Our Public Programs series explored many angles on this theme, so listen to two below: the first is a conversation between author Max Boot and moderator General…

Earlier this year, New-York Historical welcomed an esteemed panel of historians including David Blight (a New-York Historical trustee), Edna Greene Medford, and Harold Holzer to discuss the revolutionary—and evolutionary—nature of the relationship between abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln and their remarkable journey to emancipation. Enjoy a recording of the evening below. Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and Emancipation…

Earlier this year, New-York Historical was thrilled to announce the acquisition of the papers of Robert A. Caro, whose works on Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson are considered classics of biography and history. Back in 2009, we hosted Caro for a fascinating evening on Moses, the subject of Caro’s mammoth 1974 book The Power Broker—about a man…

Historians often discuss the lives of noteworthy individuals—kings, emperors, presidents—but in reality the history of the world has been determined by collective action of the people, not by figureheads. In this 2018 public program, renowned historian Niall Ferguson explores how networks—guilds and families, clans and cabals—have cooperated throughout history to shape the ever-changing world. Networks…