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Written by Marci Reaven, Vice President of History Exhibits With presidential inaugurations in mind, we recently mounted a display of rare artifacts from the first inauguration—George Washington’s. You can see them as soon as you enter the museum. One of the objects is a section of the wrought-iron balustrade, or railing, that adorned the new capitol...

The post The First Inauguration appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

by Ted O’Reilly, Curator & Head of the Manuscript Department As part of the New-York Historical Society’s Presidency Project, the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library is displaying a selection of documents highlighting the earliest moments of the American presidency. Included are a leaf from the notes of Rufus King at the Constitutional Convention (a very rare...

The post The Origins of the American Presidency appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

by Jean Tanis The need for the Electoral College in our electoral process has long been debated, particularly after heated political contests as we saw in 2016. But despite wide discussion, this complicated system still remains murky to many Americans. What exactly is it? How was it developed? And why do some insist it stay...

The post The Evolution of the Electoral College appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Ina R. Bort Recently acquired by the New-York Historical Society, this small plate adorned with the “Votes for Women” slogan is linked to Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, a notable New Yorker whose fascinating, improbable life trajectory began as a society doyenne and ended as suffrage activist. This, the first of three posts, explores perhaps the...

The post Suffrage on the Menu: Traces of the Life and Legacy of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Ina Bort Our last post explored the biography of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, the doyenne-turned-activist we believe commissioned this plate’s manufacture. Today we explore the first of two likely scenarios where this and similar plates may have been used: The suffrage conferences Alva organized at Marble House, her Newport estate, in 1909 and 1914....

The post Suffrage on the Menu, Part II: The Marble House Conferences of 1909 and 1914 appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Sophie Lynford, Acting Assistant Curator of American Art The term “Hudson River School” first appeared in print in 1879 in a review by the American art critic Earl Shinn. “Hudson River School” is an appellation that is still broadly applied to landscape paintings produced in the United States during the 19th century. Shinn,...

The post Beyond the Hudson: The Singular Achievements of Robert Scott Duncanson appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Kelly Morgan Before America’s entry into World War I in 1917, citizens significantly debated whether the United States should remain neutral. Artists contributed to this national conversation through their artwork. Consequently, the government depended on these artists in a variety of ways. From garnering support from the American public to ascertaining information from...

The post Mobilizing the Military: Enlistment Posters in World War I appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Kelly Morgan Last week we looked at a few selections of World War I propaganda posters promoting enlistment culled from the New-York Historical Society. This week, we’ll examine how the posters called on women to support the war effort and utilized female imagery both for the purpose of enlisting soldiers and for their...

The post Christy Girls and Woman Workers: The Depiction of Women in World War I Posters appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Kelly Morgan In this final installment of the propaganda posters series, we’ll be examining the mobilization of the home front through Liberty loan drives and through manufacturing by appealing to the labor force, immigrant groups, and citizens unable to serve in the military or Red Cross. All posters discussed in this post are...

The post “Together We Win”: Unifying the Home Front appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Kelly Morgan, N-YHS Intern, Ph.D. candidate, Drew University Propaganda posters weren’t the only means of transmitting popular sentiment to the American public during World War I. Sheet music, both for popular songs and songs never even recorded, were ubiquitous in American homes. In the early 20th century, even the most popular songs sold...

The post “Over There”: Sheet Music and Propaganda during World War I appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Ina Bort In our last two posts, we explored the life of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and dropped in at her Marble House suffrage conferences in Newport, where “Votes for Women” plates like this one may very well have been used. But it may be that these plates were instead (or also) used—that is,...

The post Suffrage on the Menu, Part III: Alva’s Political Equality Association Lunchroom appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Written by Louise Mirrer, President and CEO, New-York Historical Society I was born in 1953, three months before the signing of the armistice that ended the Korean War. My uncle, a U.S. soldier stationed in the Philippines, came home to New York that summer, bearing souvenirs. Among them was an exquisite embroidered silk kimono. A...

The post Bringing It All Back Home: The Vietnam War in Public History and Personal Memory appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

In July 2010, the U.S. House of Representatives designated the second week of September as National Arts in Education Week. This annual celebration showcases and promotes the positive impact of arts education across the nation and its power to transform student learning. At the New-York Historical Society, arts education is a pillar of our educational mission. The...

The post National Art in Education Week: Meet the Art Educators of the Institution appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

It’s not every day you welcome the NYPD Bomb Squad into your museum…but that’s what happened recently at the New-York Historical Society! This week, we’re opening our groundbreaking new exhibition, The Vietnam War: 1945-1975, exploring the causes and consequences of one of the most divisive and controversial events in American history. The expansive exhibition features...

The post Scanning Bomblets: NYPD Bomb Squad Visits the Museum appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

You have to think a little before you realize they want to talk peace and get ready to fight. – Crystal Eastman Benedict, chair of Woman’s Peace Party, in “Women Ridicule Security League,” The New York Times, June 6, 1915 The outbreak of World War I in Europe launched competing movements for “preparedness” and peace...

The post Crystal Eastman and the Women’s Peace Movement appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Thanksgiving in the modern-day American consciousness often evokes images of turkeys, balloons, pumpkin pies, and, of course, the inevitable reference to the Pilgrims. More than any other Thanksgiving icon, the Pilgrim emerged as the exemplary American success story: religious refugees banned from openly practicing their brand of Protestantism and desperate to retain their English identity....

The post “Pilgrims Going to Church”: Thanksgiving and the Pilgrim in Public Memory appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

On Tuesday, November 14, the New-York Historical Society hosted a discussion, “A Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition.” This Frederick Douglass Council event featured Manisha Sinha as the guest speaker and Eric Foner as the moderator. Manisha Sinha, a James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut, is...

The post Program Recap: The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

On December 15, 2017, the Center for Women’s History at the New-York Historical Society hosted a Salon Conversation titled “Women of the Village.” A hearty crowd filled the Museum’s fourth-floor Skylight Gallery on a snowy Friday evening for a tour of Hotbed in the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery, followed by a conversation between Scholarly...

The post Event Recap: Women of the Village with Blanche Wiesen Cook and Lara Vapnek appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

This year we opened the Center for Women’s History at the New-York Historical Society, the first institution of its kind within the walls of a major U.S. museum. Since then, we’ve been sharing the stories of formidable women whose courage, activism, and determination in the face of resistance inspire us all. It’s been a busy year! A...

The post Women at the Center: Celebrating Our First Year at the Center for Women’s History appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Nursing, which as a profession has long been associated with women, offered opportunities not only for education and employment, but leadership. Long before American women could vote, they were able to influence public policy, often through professional organizations, such as those formed by nurses in the early 20th century. Student Nurses in the Orrin Sage...

The post Finding Women in the Archives: Student Nurses appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Women in New York City have a long history of taking to streets and stages to make their voices heard. The suffrage parades of the 1910s captured the attention of the city and helped convince men that women were engaged citizens who deserved the right to vote. This past weekend, 200,000 women and men again...

The post Women Marching, Then and Now appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

No visit to Hotbed, the exhibition currently on view in New-York Historical’s Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery, is complete without a stop in the “nickelodeon,” our re-creation of an early movie theater. Inside, visitors can see excerpts from the pro- and anti-suffrage films that proliferated in the early 20th century. However, you may be...

The post Finding Women in the Archives: “Ladies without escorts cordially invited” appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Americans have a long history of advocating for their rights and principles. With our Women and the American Story (WAMS) curriculum, teachers can trace this narrative of activism through the women reformers of the 1800s who worked for social change alongside and apart from men—inspiring their students, both boys and girls, to be engaged citizens...

The post The Edmonson Sisters: Teaching Black Women’s Activism in the 19th Century appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Our groundbreaking exhibition The Vietnam War: 1945–1975 is now in its fourth month on display. As its name implies, the exhibition begins the story of the Vietnam War at the end of World War II—but don’t be misled into thinking the exhibition ends when the troops were called home in 1975. It actually continues into...

The post “Where have all the comments gone?”—Visitor Thoughts on the Vietnam War appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Formerly reserved for royalty, the red carpet has been a Hollywood fixture since 1922, when Sid Grauman hosted the premiere of Robin Hood at his Egyptian Theater. The film starred Douglas Fairbanks, the “First King of Hollywood.” Today, the red carpet is synonymous with the Academy Awards, and the parade of stars outside the theater...

The post The Red Carpet, Then & Now appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

One of the highlights of our North Gallery in our 4th-floor Luce Center, which reopened last April, is the magnificent painting Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment, N.Y.S.M. from the Seat of War, painted by Louis Lang (1812-1893) in 1862. The painting depicts the regiment marching off the ship and into the Battery in Lower Manhattan,...

The post Putting the “Fight” in the “Fighting 69th”: Louis Lang and the Historic Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

One of the highlights of our North Gallery in our 4th-floor Luce Center, which reopened last April, is the magnificent painting Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment, N.Y.S.M. from the Seat of War, painted by Louis Lang (1812-1893) in 1862. The painting depicts the regiment marching off the ship and into the Battery in Lower Manhattan, welcomed by...

The post Resurrecting the Regiment: The Return of Louis Lang’s Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

We are building a research railroad! In 2017 the New-York Historical Society received a special grant to begin the enormous task of cataloging the Jerni Collection in an effort share its wonders with the greater public. These funds come from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Founded in 1996, IMLS serves as an...

The post Laying Tracks: Behind the Scenes of the  Jerni Collection Cataloging Project appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

This fall, we opened a powerful new exhibition Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow, which explores the struggle for full citizenship and racial equality that unfolded in the 50 years after the Civil War, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Fourteenth Amendment. On September 7, to open the exhibition, we welcomed Dr. Brenda...

The post Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow: “It Is About What We Remember” appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Revolutionary War hero, treasury secretary, founder of the Bank of New York, architect of America’s financial system—Alexander Hamilton’s accomplishments are too numerous to list. In his lifetime of just 47 years, Hamilton helped secure America’s freedom and shaped the contours of the young republic in its earliest days. The Bank of New York (now BNY...

The post Alexander Hamilton: New York City’s Financial Founding Father appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Yikes! This aggressive-looking machine is patented under the name “Lightning” and is cold to the touch.  Because it’s made from cast iron, when you lift it, its weight drags your whole body down and turns your arm to pudding. It has four gears; each is a different size, and each is necessary. When activated, these...

The post Factory in the Kitchen: Civil War-era Apple Parers appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

It is fitting that the exhibition Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow coincides with Betye Saar: Keepin’ It Clean, for it is the legacy of Jim Crow that the contemporary artists Betye Saar tackles. Black Citizenship begins with the struggle for equality during the tumultuous years of Reconstruction and ends with the late-19th and 20th century...

The post Betye Saar: Reclaiming the Legacy of Jim Crow appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Phoebe Snow lives up to her surname. She has pale skin and is dressed entirely in white. From the pristine ostrich plumes that adorn her hat to the spotless boots that protect her feet, Phoebe Snow is obsessively, almost compulsively, clean. She’s also a fictional character, invented by an advertising firm in an early push...

The post Meet Phoebe Snow, the Fictional Woman Who Gave Glamour to Train Travel—and Coal?! appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

The late, legendary Pete Seeger knew how to sing for a cause. Throughout his career, he performed, rallied, and wrote music for labor rights, civil rights, and the end of the Vietnam War. He was also deeply involved in the environmental movement, particularly when it came to the Hudson River. A longtime resident of Beacon,...

The post Celebrating Pete Seeger: A Producer and Friend on How the Folk Legend’s Music Changed the World appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Most Christian and Jewish Americans, reading about Christ’s resurrection or the Jewish exodus from Egypt during the upcoming Easter and Passover holidays, will not consider the Bible to be an American book. And yet, the Bible was our first American book; its earliest printings, translations, and interpretations reflected the experiences of the first Europeans to...

The post The Bible, America’s First Book: ‘In God We Trust’ at New-York Historical appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Every year on April 22, people around the world pause to rally for the planet. Earth Day has become a global event, part demonstration, part celebration, as concerned citizens lend their support to a natural world that’s increasingly in peril. That sense of urgency was there from the very beginning: April 22, 1970, marked the...

The post Scenes from the First Earth Day: Photos from the 1970 Rallies in New York City appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

The champion racing yacht Marietta set sail from Pier A in lower Manhattan on the chilly late morning of September 22, 1897. Mrs. Edith Gifford was aboard along with fellow members of the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs (NJSFWC) and their male allies from the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society (ASHPS). This...

The post The Palisades in Peril: Meet the Forgotten Women Who Fought to Save the Great Cliffs of the Hudson River appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

May 3, 2019, is an auspicious day in music history. It would’ve been the 100th birthday of Pete Seeger, the late, legendary singer-songwriter and one of the pioneers of American folk music. Seeger, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 94, had an incredible career that stretched from his early days in the 1940s...

The post Pete Seeger at 100: How the Folk Legend Built a Sailboat to Help Revive the Hudson River appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

The first Bible to be printed in America was special for many reasons, but perhaps the most remarkable is this: It was translated into a language that most English colonists couldn’t read. A Geneva Bible, it was printed in Natick, an Algonquin language spoken by the Massachusett people who lived on the land surrounding the...

The post The Fascinating Story of the First American Bible, a Native American Language Translation from 1663 appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

An estimated 44 million people attended the 1939 New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, and witnessed its vision for a shimmering, Art Deco “World of Tomorrow.” Some five million of those visitors got a chance to behold Lift Every Voice and Sing. A sculpture by artist Augusta Savage, it stood at a...

The post Artist Augusta Savage and the Tragic Story of Her Lost Masterwork appeared first on Behind The Scenes.

Rotch Library - NK9288.T46 2015

Rotch Library - JQ1850.A91 T75 2015

Rotch Library - HM554.D47 2016

Rotch Library - PN1997.2.J86 2017

Hayden Library - QB843.P8 I58 2018

Hayden Library - QB500.5.S47 2017

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