New-York Historical Society

"New York’s lost landmarks live again in an engaging museum show." Read the latest on our special exhibition Lost New York. https://on.ft.com/3LfR3Qc

A certificate of freedom 😮 In 1649, Manuel d’ Spanje, an enslaved African man, purchased his freedom from Dutchman Philip Jansen Ringo. Five years earlier, the West India Company had begun granting “half freedom”—freedom with conditions—to some of its enslaved workers. Some were given land so they could farm and earn income, a portion of which would go to their previous enslavers. In this 1651 document, Peter Stuyvesant grants “Manuel de Spangie Negro” property in an area north of New Amsterdam that would become known as the Land of the Blacks (today’s Greenwich Village). The deed vowed that this grant was “permanent, immutable, unbreakable and irrevocable.” "New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam" explores how settlers, Indigenous people, and enslaved Africans experienced the Dutch colony of New Netherland. 🚨 Visit before the installation closes on July 14, 2024. https://bit.ly/43fYq27

NYC’s first subway was an engineering marvel when it opened in 1904. Particularly impressive was the construction of tunnels connecting Manhattan and the Bronx beneath the Harlem River. In February 1902, the New York Times described the ongoing work and planning for the new route: "Up to date the work on the river section has been confined to dredging, but the driving of sheet piling will begin next month. The sheets, or planks, are to be driven through the water and into the soil beneath until their lower ends reach the depth of the tunnel’s bottom. Then a wooden platform will be lowered across their upper ends, after which the excavators will dig out the earth enclosed by the three wooden walls. In the resulting trench steel tubes, lined with concrete inside and with a layer outside, are to be laid, and the trains will run through these tubes, of which there will be two.” In photos from the Subway Construction Photograph Collection, we can see workers alongside the timber, pile drivers, and sections of tunnel still in the process of being placed and connected. Browse more online here: https://bit.ly/3vltImi

Sip on a lil' NYC cocktail history 🥂 How many of you knew the answer? 👇 Tell us in the comments! Join us on Friday evenings after 5:00 p.m. for pay-as-you-wish admission, live jazz, and "lost" cocktails from New York's bygone days. Visit our special exhibition "Lost New York" and explore the landmarks, pastimes, and monuments that once defined this city. https://bit.ly/3RSiymA

The park hang of our dreams 😍 Maurice Brazil Prendergast's painting "At the Park" prompted a writer to declare in 1900 that the artist was the “brilliant” and "high-pitched poet laureate of the picnic, the holiday, the park, the circus, and the celebration; a sort of pictorial embodiment of the Fourth of July, blazing with fiery color and dazzling with festal activity.” 🔎 Can you spot the American flag waving in the distance? See it on view now in our newest exhibition "From Paul Revere to Edward Hopper: Treasures from the Leonard L. Milberg Collection of American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors." Visit now through October 27, 2024. https://bit.ly/3XMl29R 🎨 Maurice Brazil Prendergast, At the Park (Telegraph Hill), ca. 1896–1897, Watercolor on paper, Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Leonard L. Milberg.

Happy #FourthOfJuly! ⁣The Museum is OPEN today! Bring your family for a special celebration today from 11 am to 2 pm. (Kids ages 17 and under get *free admission.*) Celebrate with street food and ice cream that would have been familiar to New Yorkers of 1776. Meet historical interpreters and learn about chef Hercules Posey, an enslaved cook of George Washington who self-emancipated in 1796. Enjoy games, crafts, and a dress-up photo booth. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3VT2bJ2 ⁣ 🎨 Childe Hassam, The Fourth of July, 1916 (The Greatest Display of the American Flag Ever Seen in New York, Climax of the Preparedness Parade in May), 1916. Gift of Richard Gilder, 2016

"It will be the first time the document has seen the spotlight in more than 20 years, alongside a rare original printing of the Declaration of Independence." See the Declaration of Dependence signed by 700 Loyalists on view through July 7th only! Watch more from Spectrum News. https://bit.ly/4cIl9Yk

See the Declaration of Dependence! No, that's not a typo. *Dependence.* Not everyone in the colonies agreed to declare independence from British rule. This petition was written as a rebuttal to the Declaration of Independence. In it, Loyalists pledge their allegiance “to our Sovereign, against the strong tide of oppression and tyranny." Over three days in November 1776, more than 700 New Yorkers loyal to the British crown visited a downtown tavern to sign it. This document provides a glimpse into our nation’s long history of disagreement—from its very beginnings. See this rare document alongside an early printing of the Declaration of Independence in a special installation. See it for one week only—on view July 2nd through July 7th. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4cGaeyj

Celebrate #Pride in today's march in NYC! What were Pride marches like in New York City of the past? Browse Eugene Gordon's snapshots of marches from the late 1980s. Explore more online from our Patricia D. Klingenstein Library. https://bit.ly/3zvqG62

Two symbols of love—immortalized in our collections 🌈 ❤️ Ulysses Grant Dietz, Curator Emeritus at the Newark Museum, gifted us the topper belonging to him and his husband, software engineer Gary Berger. The pair counted themselves as part of a generation of gay men who never expected to get married and had to invent their own symbols of fidelity and partnership. They held a commitment ceremony in 2007 with this plastic topper placed proudly on their cake. (They got legally married on the first day New Jersey allowed same-sex marriages, Oct. 21, 2013.) Another topper our collection celebrates the union of Brooklyn couple Stacey Wong and Tullya Bertrand, who married on August 26, 2023. Wong, a music teacher at a musical theater high school in Times Square, and Bertrand, a consultant in the audiovisual industry, had their wedding at the Chateau at Coindre Hall in Huntington, New York. They purchased this custom cake topper through Etsy seller UseOnesBeam, a maker of hand-painted wooden novelties created from photographs. #Pride 1) Adam & Steve wedding cake topper, 2007, Gift of Ulysses Grant Dietz in honor of Gary N. Berger. 2) Wedding cake topper, 2023, Wood, paint, metal.