New York Historical Society Museum & Library

[foxy]

I'm kind of a museum junkie and belong to several NY museums. The crowds at The Met and MoMA can be pretty exhausting so I thought I'd start visiting some of the smaller museums. There are no crowds so it makes for a nice quiet experience. The collection is a great slice of everything New York. There's a terrific film with some heart stopping views of NY. Lots of fun facts. Who knew that 168 different languages are spoken in the borough of Queens? The showcases are filled with stuff you'd just love to drag onto "The Antiques Roadshow". I didn't try the restaurant but it looked really nice as did the gift shop if you're looking for some better quality NY souvenirs. The website http://www.nyhistory.org tells you everything you need to know.

[+ Charlie]

In the days before the Internet, I used to go there to do genealogical research on my family, who were New Yorkers. They had unusual resources, such as commercial directories from the 19th century, in which I found information that I still haven't been able to find again anywhere else. I even found the election results from my grandfather's run for the state senate in 1901. One year they had a big exhibition on the Blizzard of 1888, including a photo of the street on which my maternal great-grandparents lived, where my great-grandfather died of pneumonia caught during the blizzard.

[+ beethoven]

I've been a docent at the New-York Historical Society for ten years. Delighted that you've found one of New York's treasures! Did you know there's a docent tour every day except Monday at 2 pm? It's free with museum admission. Every docent gives a different tour (if we included every object we could, the tour would last all day!), and few docents even give the same tour twice. Feel free to PM me with questions about what you saw there, or about anything else!

[foxy]

Taking docent tours is a wonderful way of getting a deeper appreciation of the objects on view and you get to ask questions which you can't do with a recorded tour. Also a great chance to meet like minded people who are part of the tour which makes it that much more fun... and perhaps even a little romance. If you have a PBS members card you get a two for the price of one admission, so bring a friend.

[+ Charlie]

The Winter issue of my partner's Columbia Univ. alumni mag has an interesting article on a new installation at the N-YHS.