Rachel Crothers, Sign of the Times
One of the most successful American playwrights of the early 20th century was an unassuming woman named Rachel Crothers. Though not often revived now, the Broadway stage saw over 30 … Continue reading
New York Illustrated by Camera: Manhattan in the 1930s
August is a time for traveling, and so with the city full of visitors this month, we’re turning our attention to the outsider lens on New York, circa 1930. Recently, … Continue reading
The New York Women Who Dismantled Prohibition
Women have been considered some of the most visible advocates of the temperance movement—the movement beginning in the nineteenth century to voluntarily abstain from drinking alcohol. Less known is … Continue reading
The plague of New York City summers
For modern New Yorkers, summer presents a variety of opportunities. Some choose to flee its oppressive heat, inadequately air conditioned offices, and swarms of tourists; while others stay to take … Continue reading
Dorothy Dignam and Gramercy Park
This week we will have a guest post from yet another one of our fabulous summer interns, Mickey Dennis, a student at Washington State University, who is currently pursuing a … Continue reading
Happy Birthday to Berenice Abbott
Thursday, July 17th, is the 116th anniversary of Berenice Abbott’s birth (1898-1991). The Museum of the City of New York holds over 2500 works in the collection by Abbott, who … Continue reading
A visit to Sochi, 1939.
What do the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 1939 New York World’s Fair have in common? The promotion of Sochi, Russia as a tourist destination. As mentioned in a earlier … Continue reading
Relaxing with a summer cocktail – it wasn’t always so easy.
Just because this August has been cooler than usual (or perhaps it just seems that way after July’s heatwave), doesn’t mean those New Yorkers of legal drinking age are any … Continue reading
Berenice Abbott and Elizabeth McCausland in a “Changing New York”
This week, we have a guest post from our fabulous archival intern, Suzanna Calev, who is currently obtaining a double Master’s Degree in Library Science with a concentration in Archives … Continue reading
Discovering the World’s Fair Collections
Thanks to a generous Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), as Project Archivist, I now have the pleasure of exploring … Continue reading
Golden Boy at the Tonys
This Sunday, an estimated six million theater lovers will gather around their television sets for the live broadcast of the 67th Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards, the annual event honoring Broadway … Continue reading
The curious case of the Carolyn Capers
In the normal course of my day as Theater Archivist for the Museum of the City of New York, I can count on encountering objects that impress, interest, inform, or … Continue reading
Art Deco Treasures
Art Deco architecture flourished in Europe and the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. Spurred by the 1925 Paris exhibition Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes which … Continue reading
MCNY Blog: New York Stories 