Hitting the Beach in the 19th Century
Now that the weather has (finally) taken a turn towards summer, many New Yorkers are likely thinking about escaping the city for the beach in the months ahead. Fleeing the … Continue reading
The Hunt
One of the best things about a registrar’s job is the satisfaction that comes from verifying information, seeking out missing documentation, and tying up loose ends. As registrars, we are … Continue reading
Contemplating and Commemorating Rapid Transit in New York City
The recently opened Second Avenue Subway, and dreaded closure of the L train in 2019, has all of us at the Museum looking back on the very beginnings of the … Continue reading
Pilfering the Male Wardrobe: The Gibson Girl’s Retort to Fashion Satire
Capricious, evanescent, outrageous: there has always been something to parody about fashion. It has had its moments of sanity, where form has actually nodded to function, but centuries-worth of acrid … Continue reading
From Dazzling to Dirty and Back Again: A Brief History of Times Square
Originally known as Long Acre (also Longacre) Square after London’s carriage district, Times Square served as the early site for William H. Vanderbilt’s American Horse Exchange. In the late 1880s, Long … Continue reading
Bittersweet: The American Revolution and New York City’s Sugar Industry
Levi Hanford sat confined in a crowded cell. He dropped a moldy biscuit and a small ration of pork into a kettle filled with water. As the bread slowly broke … Continue reading
Napoleon Sarony: Celebrity Photographer
Before paparazzi and the celebrity media we all live with today, there were 19th century photographers, like Napoleon Sarony (1821-1896), who became internationally renowned for their celebrity portraits. Born in Québec, Sarony began his … Continue reading
Using the Museum’s Collections to Teach Photography
The Photography Collection at the Museum of the City of New York is an incredible resource for anyone interested in photography, architecture, social history, New York City, and any number … Continue reading
Mysteries in the Costume Collection
The City Museum’s Costume Collection offers a unique lens not just on New York’s history and aesthetics, but its personalities, too. Our most fascinating acquisitions come from those who’ve lived in … Continue reading
Conner and Kubrick’s New York
Illustrator McCauley “Mac” Conner, born in 1913 and still active today at the age of 101, continues to reside in New York City. He arrived during World War II and … Continue reading
Decadance and Fashion: Costume Treasures
Theatre is a space that grants opportunity for collaboration, inviting artists of different medias to join together to create something much larger than themselves. It is an opportunity to take an any … Continue reading
Chantecler, a Barnyard Fantasy
While digitizing the vast collection of over 30,000 photographs that make up the theatre production files at the Museum of the City of New York, a project generously funded by the Institute … Continue reading
Mel Rosenthal in the South Bronx
Mel Rosenthal (born 1940) grew up in the South Bronx. When he returned to the area 20 years later, after receiving a Ph.D. in English Literature and American Studies from … Continue reading
MCNY Blog: New York Stories 