October Programs & Exhibitions at the New York Historical Society
NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
170 Central Park West, New York, N.Y. 212-873-3400 www.nyhistory.org
EXHIBITION AND PROGRAM LISTINGS
October 2009
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: This release contains information covering October 2009. FOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND DETAILED PRESS RELEASES, you may contact the Communications Office at 212-485-9263 or visit our online press room for a selection of exhibition press releases and images.
EXHIBITIONS
John Brown: The Abolitionist And His Legacy
September 15, 2009 - March 25, 2010
Planned by the Gilder Lehrman Institute in collaboration with N-YHS
Presented at the New-York Historical Society
October 16, 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of John Brown's doomed raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859. Brown, an ardent abolitionist who believed in racial equality, embraced violence as a means to end slavery. Executed in 1859, he has been both vilified as a murderer and celebrated as a martyr. This exhibition of rare materials from the Gilder Lehrman Collection and N-YHS explores Brown's beliefs and activities at a critical juncture in American history and invites us to ponder the struggle for civil rights down to the present.
Dutch New York Between East and West: The World of Margrieta van Varick
September 18, 2009 - January 3, 2010
Presented at the Bard Graduate Center, 18 West 86th Street
Dutch New York explores the life, times, and possessions of a fascinating woman and her family. Born in the Netherlands, Margrieta van Varick (1649-1695) spent the better part of her life at the extremes of the Dutch colonial works: in Malacca (now Malaysia) and Flatbush (now Brooklyn). Arriving in Flatbush with her minister husband, Rudolphus, in 1686, she set up a textile shop, having brought with her an astonishing array of Eastern and European goods. We know about the wealth of objects thanks to an inventory taken in 1696 documenting her personal and commercial belongings. The groundbreaking research for this exhibition, drawing on the rich and deep collections of the Society and with selected loans from other museums in the U.S. and abroad, and its accompanying catalogue makes an original contribution to the histories of New York City, Dutch colonial and commercial networks, lives of women in the Dutch overseas colonies, and material culture of New York under Dutch and English rule. The exhibition has been curated by Marybeth De Filippis, Assistant Curator of American Art at the N-YHS and a BGC graduate; Deborah L. Krohn, Associate Professor and Coordinator for History and Theory of Museums at the BGC; and Peter N. Miller, Dean and Chair of Academic Programs at the BGC.
Lincoln and New York
October 9, 2009 - March 25, 2010
Presented at the New-York Historical Society
From the launch of Abraham Lincoln’s 1860 campaign with a speech at Cooper Union through the unprecedented outpouring of grief at his funeral procession in 1865, New York City played a surprisingly central role in the career of the sixteenth President—and Lincoln, in turn, had an impact on New York that was vast, and remains vastly underappreciated. Now, for the first time, a museum exhibition will trace the crucial relationship between America’s greatest President and its greatest city, when the New-York Historical Society presents Lincoln and New York. The culminating presentation in the Historical Society’s Lincoln Year of exhibitions, events, and public programs, this extraordinary display of original artifacts, iconic images, and highly significant period documents is the Historical Society’s major contribution to the nation’s Lincoln Bicentennial.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Monday, October 5, 11:00 am
Hudson River School Gallery Tour
Kimberly Orcutt, Associate Curator of American Art will explore the extraordinary depth and richness of the New-York Historical Society's landscape paintings by artists of the Hudson River School, who forged the first self-consciously "American" artistic vision.
Wednesday, October 14, 6:30 pm
Lincoln's New York: The City in the 1860s
Harold Holzer, Barry Lewis
Abraham Lincoln visited New York--its churches, streets, shops, and its leading photo gallery--when he arrived here for his Cooper Union speech in 1860. A year later he returned as President to a mixed reception, a divided and impassioned public, and a hostile mayor. What was the New York Lincoln encountered, and after his assassination, conquered?
Saturday, October 17, 11:00 am
The African-American Freedom Trail Walking Tour
Christopher Paul Moore
The NYC Underground Railroad: Walk in the path of Frederick Douglass, one of the city's greatest Underground Railroad "passengers," who arrived as a runaway slave, disguised as a sailor, at a Hudson River dock in 1838. The tour uses historical documentation to follow Douglass's trail through Manhattan's early free Africian-American community, known as Little Africa (now known as Tribeca). Visit the historic sites of the city's first black churches, boarding houses, newspapers, and other locations of the African-American Freedom Trail. The tour concludes at the colonial-era African Burial Ground, where some 20,000 African men, women, and children were interred in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Wednesday, October 21, 6:30 pm
Remembering David Herbert Donald: Tributes to a Great Historian
Harold Holzer, Jonathan Alter, Jean H. Baker, Matthew Pinsker
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and incomparable Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald died earlier this year--but his enormous influence lives on. Three generations of Donald students, all famed in their own right, gather to recall the fabled scholar and assess his impact on the field. A night of fond memories and serious history alike.
Thursday, October 22, 6:30 pm
Empire of Liberty
Gordon S. Wood
Join us for Gordon S. Wood's account of the early American Republic, from 1789 to the end of the War of 1812, a period marked by tumultuous change in all aspects of American life--from politics and law to the economy and culture—during a pivotal era, when America took its first unsteady steps as a new and rapidly expanding nation.
Thursday, October 29, 6:30 pm
Lincoln's Constitution: From the Civil War Amendments to the Warren Court
Benno Schmidt, Akhil Reed Amar, Charles Ogletree
The Civil War Amendments caused a constitutional revolution--in civil rights and civil liberties, in the relations between the nation and the states, and in the power and authority of the Supreme Court. But this fundamental reconstruction of the Constitution took a century to manifest itself. Why was this revolution so long deferred, and why and how did the Warren Court, in the middle of the 20th century, build a new constitutional order on amendments ratified in the middle of the 19th?
To Purchase Tickets By Phone Call Smarttix (212) 868-4444
LIVING HISTORY DAYS
What was life like as a soldier during the Civil War? Visitors to the New-York Historical Society can find out as reenactors show what life was like for soldiers and civilians alike. The New-York Historical Society’s Living History Days series will take place on Saturdays from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM, in conjunction with the Society’s exhibit Lincoln and New York. The program is free with museum admission.
Civil War reenactors will display original weaponry and show visitors what life was like both on the battlefield and on the sidelines of the war on:
October 10: 119th New York Infantry
October 17: 6th Regiment U.S. Colored Troops
October 24: 13th New Jersey Infantry
October 31: 2nd New Jersey Brigade
THE FUTURE A SERIES OF EXPERT DISCUSSIONS
Wednesday, October 28, 6:00 pm
The Future of the Stock Market and the World Economy
Byron R. Wein, James Chanos, Leon Cooperman, James Grant, Lewis Sanders
The potential meltdown of the global financial system is like nothing we've seen for 80 years. Is long-term investing possible any more? How long until the economy starts growing again? Will inflation pick up? If so, what's the best protection? A diverse group of leading industry figures will help us figure it out.
To Purchase Tickets go to www.smarttix.com. Click on New-York Historical Society link
MUSIC
The following performances and talks are free with museum admission.
Mr. Lincoln, a play
Mr. Lincoln is an original play by Tom Klingenstein, which chronicles the reunion of two fictional characters who meet each other--and Lincoln--when he comes to New York in 1860 to deliver his Cooper Union speech. Mr. Lincoln is at once a touching and bittersweet tale of love and a celebration of the power of Lincoln's character and words, and his ability to inspire others. It was written to complement the New-York Historical Society's exhibition on Lincoln and New York.
Performances on:
Friday, October 9, 7 pm; Saturday, October 10 and October 31, 2:00 pm & 4:00 pm; Saturday, October 17, 5:00 pm; Saturday, October 24, 4:30 pm. Sunday, October 11, 2:00 pm; Sunday, October 18, 1:00 pm & 4:30 pm; Sunday, October 25, 2:00 pm & 4:00 pm.
Sounds of the City Friday Concert Series
Performances by musicians from the Mannes College of Music
October 16: The Music of Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), 6:30 pm
October 23: The Piano Sonatas of Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), 6:30 pm
October 30: Felix Mendelssohn and J.S. Bach, 6:30 pm
Saturday, October 17, 2:00 pm
Jazz Conversations
JaRon Eames, Phoebe Jacobs
Performance by JaRon Eames, host of the longest-running weekly jazz TV show, and his trio plus a conversation with Phoebe Jacobs, legendary publicist for Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald.
Saturday, October 24, 2:00 pm
A Salute to the United Nations
Edvinas Minkstimas, Dane Johansen, Sean Lee
A cutting-edge performance of romantic and 20th-century music by an emerging international trio.
INFORMATION HOTLINE:
To reach the Museum's offices, call: 212.873.3400.
ONLINE INFORMATION:
http://www.nyhistory.org
MUSEUM HOURS:
Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am to 5:45 pm
Friday until 8:00 pm
ADMISSION:
Adults $12.00
Senior Citizens & Educators $9.00
Students $7.00
Children under 12 FREE
Museum Members FREE
Fridays from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Pay as you wish
