New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society is an
The New-York Historical Society Museum & Library has been at its present location since 1908. The granite building was designed by
Louise Mirrer has been the president of the Historical Society since 2004. She was previously Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the City University of New York.[1] Beginning in 2005, the museum presented a two-year exhibit on Slavery in New York, its largest theme exhibition in 200 years on a topic which it had never addressed before. It included an art exhibit by artists invited to use museum collections in their works.
The Society generally focuses on the developing city center in
The New-York Historical Society holds an extensive collection of historical artifacts, works of American art, and other materials documenting the history of New York and the United States. It presents well-researched exhibitions on a variety of topics and periods in
Collections
The New-York Historical Society's museum is the oldest in New York City and predates the founding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art by nearly 70 years. Its art holdings comprise more than 1.6 million works. Among them are a world-class collection of Hudson River School paintings, including major works by Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church; iconic genre and history paintings, including works by William Sidney Mount and Eastman Johnson; a vast range of American portraits, including paintings by Rembrandt Peale and Gilbert Stuart; all 435 of John James Audubon's extant preparatory watercolors for The Birds of America;[3] and an encyclopedic collection of more than 800 works documenting the full catalog of representational sculpture in America from the colonial period to the present day.[4]
The Historical Society holds an important collection of paintings and drawings by marine artist
Its research library contains more than three million books, pamphlets, maps, atlases, newspapers, broadsides, music sheets, manuscripts, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings. Among its collections are far-ranging materials relating to the founding and early history of the nation including the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America";[8] one of the best collections of 18th-century newspapers in the United States; an outstanding collection of materials documenting slavery and Reconstruction; an exceptional collection of Civil War material, including Ulysses S. Grant's terms of surrender for Robert E. Lee; collections relating to trials in the United States prior to 1860; American fiction, poetry, and belles-lettres prior to 1850; a broad range of materials relating to the history of the circus; and American travel accounts from the colonial era to the present day.[2][9]
The Society operates a website showing many images from its collection.[10] In 2015, it announced the digitization and posting of over a thousand negatives by photographer Robert L. Bracklow from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[11]
Early history
The Historical Society was founded on November 20, 1804, largely through the efforts of John Pintard.[12] He was for some years secretary of the American Academy of Fine Arts, as well as the founder of New York's first savings bank. He was also among the first to agitate for a free school system. The first meeting comprised 11 of the city's most prominent citizens, including Mayor DeWitt Clinton. At the meeting, a committee was selected to draw up a constitution, and by December 10, the Historical Society was officially organized.
According to the Historical Society's first catalogue, printed in 1813, the museum then held 4,265 books, as well as 234 volumes of United States documents, 119 almanacs, 130 titles of newspapers, 134 maps, and 30 miscellaneous views. It had already collected the start of a manuscript collection, several oil portraits and 38 engraved portraits.
The Historical Society suffered under heavy debt during its early decades. In 1809, it organized a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Henry Hudson in New York Harbor. Inspired by the event, the Historical Society petitioned and later obtained an endowment from the New York State Legislature, to be financed by a lottery in 1814. The failure of the lottery resulted in a debt that forced the Society to mortgage some of its books, which were not redeemed until 1823.
The Historical Society and its collections moved frequently during the 19th century. In 1809, the Historical Society and its collections moved to the Government House on Bowling Green. Constructed as a residence for the President of the United States when New York was the temporary capital, the building had been unoccupied since the government's relocation to Philadelphia in 1790. In 1816, the Historical Society moved to the New York Institution, formerly the city almshouse on City Hall Park.
In 1857, it moved into the first building constructed specifically for its collections, at the then-fashionable intersection of Second Avenue and 11th Street, where it stayed for the next 50 years. The Historical Society later acquired a collection of
Current building
Construction for its eighth home began September 10, 1902.
Two notable stained glass windows are found in the library on the 2nd floor. The Arrival of Henry Hudson was designed by Mr. Calvert of the
Decline and revival
The Historical Society's collection continued to grow throughout the 20th century, but renewed financial woes in the 1970s and 1980s forced the Historical Society to limit access to its collections to professional researchers. In the 1980s, under the leadership of Herbert S. Winokur, Jr., a private equity financier and Enron board member,[17] the Society was forced to use endowment invasion to pay their annual operating costs and cover their salaries, to the point where by 1988, they had only enough money in their endowment to pay for another 18 months of operating expenses.[18][19]
In 1995, grants from the city and state restored public access under the direction of
The museum has mounted exhibits on national themes through history in New York. For instance, beginning in 2005 with Slavery and the Making of New York, 1600s–1827, it mounted the first exhibition ever in New York City on the major but little-known role of slavery in the city's economy and history. During the colonial years, 41% of households had slaves, and much of the city's economy through the Civil War was related to the South and slavery; half of its exports were related to cotton. Devoting the entire first floor to the exhibit, the museum mounted the largest theme exhibit in its 200-year history. It also addressed the strengths of African Americans who resisted slavery and created their own culture, both in New York and the nation.[22]
A related part of the exhibit was commissioning 20 new works by invited artists, some of whom used objects from the museum's collections to create new works and installations on this theme. The second exhibition was New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War, 1827–1865, (November 17, 2006 to September 3, 2007), which explored the economy before the war and strong business ties to the South, events related to the war such as the
Under the direction of Louise Mirrer, a three-year, $65 million renovation of the landmark building on Central Park West was completed in 2011 to enhance public access to the institution's resources. On Central Park West, windows were lengthened to form new entrances, with views into the main gallery, and windows were expanded. To establish "a street presence," the society has installed life-size bronze sculptures outside the building—Abraham Lincoln on Central Park West, Frederick Douglass on West 77th Street—national figures with connections to New York.[24]
After reopening, the Historical Society offered a multimedia installation of major themes of American history through stories and figures from New York's past. It also has a new section for an interactive children's history museum.[24]
Branding
The Historical Society uses an archaic spelling of the geographic name of "New York". Hyphenating the city's old name was common in the 19th century when the institution was founded, and is still used in this context to provide a unique identity.[25]
New-York Historical Society book prizes
The New-York Historical Society gives three books prizes annually.
Presidents
- Louise Mirrer, 2004–present[26]
- Kenneth Terry Jackson, 2001–2004[26]
- Betsy Gotbaum, 1994–2001
- Norman Pearlstine, 1992–1994[27]
- Barbara Knowles Debs, 1989–1992[27]
- Albert L. Key, 1987–1989
- Robert Guestier Goelet, 1971–1987
- Frederick B. Adams, Jr., 1963–1970
- Irving S. Olds, 1962–1963[28]
- Leroy E. Kimball, 1956–1962
- Fenwick Beekman, 1947–1956[29][30]
- George Albert Zabriskie, 1939–1947[30]
- John Abeel Weekes, 1913–1939[30]
- Samuel Verplanck Hoffman, 1903–1912[30]
- Eugene Augustus Hoffman, 1901–1902[30]
- John Alsop King, 1887–1900[30]
- Benjamin Hazard Field, 1885–1886[30]
- Augustus Schell, 1883–1884[30]
- Frederic DePeyster, 1873–1882[30]
- Augustus Schell, 1872[30]
- Thomas DeWitt, 1869–1871[30]
- Hamilton Fish, 1867–1869[30]
- Frederic DePeyster, 1864–1866[30]
- Luther Bradish, 1850–1863[30]
- Albert Gallatin, 1843–1849[30]
- Peter Augustus Jay, 1840–1842[30]
- Peter Gerard Stuyvesant, 1836–1839[30]
- Morgan Lewis, 1832–1835[30]
- James Kent, 1828–1831[30]
- David Hosack, 1820–1827[30]
- DeWitt Clinton, 1817–19[30]
- Gouverneur Morris, 1816[30]
- Egbert Benson, 1805–1815[30]
See also
- The Course of Empire
- History of New York (state)
- History of New York City
- List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 59th to 110th Streets
- New York State Historical Association
References
- ^ "About the President and CEO". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
- ^ a b "About the New-York Historical Society". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ^ "Museum Collections: Paintings". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ^ "Museum Collections: Sculpture". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ISBN 0-8109-1240-6
- ^ "Museum Collections: Decorative Arts". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ^ "Museum Collections: Historical Artifacts". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ^ Touba, Mariam (Nov. 5, 2014) Who Coined the Phrase 'United States of America'? You May Never Guess Archived November 8, 2014, at the Wayback Machine From the Stacks, New-York Historical Society Blog. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
- ^ "Patricia D. Klingenstein Library". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
- ^ "Digital Collections". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
- ^ "New-York Historical Society, Robert L. Bracklow Photograph Collection". Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
- ^ John Noble Wilford (April 15, 2008). "How Epidemics Helped Shape the Modern Metropolis". The New York Times. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
Unlike most upper-class residents, John Pintard, the respected civic leader who was the historical society's founder, remained in the stricken city.
- ^ Vail, R. W. G. (1954). Knickerbocker Birthday. A Sesqui–Centennial History of The New-York Historical Society. 1804–1954. The New-York Historical Society. pp. size=100, id=mdp.39015018011380, page=root, seq=197, num=173 173–4.
- ^ Vail, R. W. G. (1954). Knickerbocker Birthday. A Sesqui–Centennial History of The New-York Historical Society. 1804–1954. The New-York Historical Society. pp. size=100, id=mdp.39015018011380, page=root, seq=215, num=191 191–2.
- ^ "Advocacy Archive—New-York Historical Society". Landmark West!. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
- ^ Raskin, Laura (June 16, 2011). "NY Historical Society Gets $65 Million Makeover". Architectural Record. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
- ^ Goldberger, Paul (April 11, 1994). "Is There Hope for Historical Society?". The New York Times.
- ^ McGill, Douglas C. (August 28, 1988). "Troubled Museums Try to Master the Fine Art of Survival". The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
In recent weeks, the New York Historical Society, which for years had used money from its endowment and from a few wealthy trustees and patrons to compensate for growing annual deficits, finally reached ...
- New York Times. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
Last January, after many years of using money from the Historical Society's endowment to pay for yearly operating deficits, the trustees determined that the endowment had dwindled to the point where the institution would be bankrupt in 18 months.
- Manhattanville Collegefrom 1975 to 1985, has been named interim director of the Historical Society. She replaces James B. Bell, the director since 1982, who resigned last month after the institution's financial crisis came to light and after The New York Times disclosed that many of the Historical Society's possessions had been rotting in warehouses.
- ^ McGill, Douglas C. (July 10, 1988). "Hundreds of Art Works Damaged By Mildew in Museum Warehouse". The New York Times. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
Hundreds of paintings, decorative art objects and artifacts that the New-York Historical Society is storing in a Manhattan warehouse are in such acute stages of deterioration that some may be permanently lost. ...
- ^ "About the Exhibit" Archived April 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Slavery and the Making of New York, New-York Historical Society, accessed 3 May 2012
- ^ "About the Exhibit" Archived April 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War, 1827–1865 (November 17, 2006 to September 3, 2007), New-York Historical Society, accessed 3 May 2012
- ^ a b Pogrebin, Robin (April 11, 2011). "A Bunker of History Begins to Open". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
But with a $65 million renovation that is nearing completion, the museum is reaching out to the public with a redesign that tries to be welcoming and to communicate the treasures that lie within a building originally designed by architects who specialized in banks.
- ^ "It Can Hyphen Here: Why the New-York Historical Society Includes a Hyphen". New-York Historical Society Museum & Library. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
- ^ a b "CUNY Administrator to Lead Historical Society". The New York Times. March 13, 2004. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
The New-York Historical Society named Louise Mirrer, the chief academic officer of the City University of New York, as its new president, succeeding Kenneth T. Jackson, a historian who will return to teaching at Columbia University.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "5 Mar 1963, Page 13 - The Philadelphia Inquirer at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "Fenwick Beekman, M.D. (1882–1962)". New-York Historical Society. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
- ^ Hathi TrustDigital Library. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
Further reading
- Shapiro, Gary. "Celebrations of Learning Knickerbocker", The New York Sun, May 4, 2006
- Regis, Necee. "Don't Expect to Relax on your visit to NYC", The Boston Globe, November 21, 2005
- Fine Art Connoisseur, November/December 2006
- The American Musicals Project, Official website
- Miller, Dan. "Focus on Education: Fifth Graders Visit Slavery Exhibit", The Queens Times, November 24, 2005
- Review of Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America, Teachinghistory.org
External links
- New-York Historical Society website
- New-York Historical Society archival records at the New-York Historical Society Library
- New-York Historical Society at Google Cultural Institute
- The New-York Historical Society—Documentary produced by Treasures of New York