Selling the holidays
The holiday season brings with it a barrage of advertisements, on television, online, in your inbox, and printed in magazines and newspapers. The holidays are also a time for sending … Continue reading
Clement Clarke Moore and Santa in the City
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade has marched down Central Park West and Sixth Avenue, which means it is time to turn our attention to another popular season for New York City, … Continue reading
The Space is the Place; the Museum’s Collection on Theaters
With Archtober – New York City’s annual Architecture and Design Month – almost upon us, it has got my theater archivist’s mind turning to the city’s history of theater buildings. So this week I offer … Continue reading
From Sea to Stall
A visit to my local Greenmarket on Saturday mornings is as much a part of my routine as a cup of coffee. And without a doubt, September is one of my … Continue reading
My Hand-tinted Summer: The Cabinet Card Collection
The Museum holds an amazing collection of cabinet cards and carte-de-visites featuring an array of Broadway entertainers, opera singers, and popular personalities (as well as some of their pets), … Continue reading
Conserving the Rufus King Traveling Medicine Chest
The New York City of statesman and diplomat Rufus King (1755-1827) was a grim place. Disease crippled the city, with its rampant overcrowding and meager sanitation. And despite their stature, the … Continue reading
Brigs, Barges & Wild Rovers: Transit from the Port of New York
Before the mid–20th century, when air travel took over as the fastest mode of transporting people and our things around the globe, our ancestors primarily relied on ships for trade … Continue reading
Lost Cures: Jacques & Marsh, Druggists
In 1979 and 1980, a team of archaeologists led by Diana Wall and Nan Rothschild, excavated the Stadt Huys Block. This site was located between Pearl, Stone, and Broad Streets and … Continue reading
Augustus Hepp’s Central Park in Blue
In 1853 the New York State Legislature set aside an expanse of land on the island of Manhattan that would eventually become Central Park. Five years later a design competition … Continue reading
Folded and Feathered: bringing hand fans to the Collections Portal
Long before air conditioning was a common amenity in most residences and buildings, high society New York women established their “cool” with an opulent, yet useful accessory: the hand fan. … 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
Cymbeline; what’s a love story without some scandal?
It was January 25, 1897, the opening night of William Shakespeare’s romance Cymbeline, based on the legend of an early Celtic British king, at Wallack’s Theatre. The lavish production starred … Continue reading
Bringing the American Civil War to high school students
This spring the Collections Department has been collaborating with our colleagues in the Frederick A.O. Schwarz Center to use archival material to support education programming. The City Museum developed Surpass! a … Continue reading
MCNY Blog: New York Stories 