Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St
New York, NY 10029
212.534.1672
mcny.org

The Museum of the City of New York embraces the past, present, and future of New York City and celebrates the city’s cultural diversity. It does so through its rich collections, a lively schedule of exhibitions, and an array of programs for adults and children. The Museum is dedicated to fostering an understanding of New York’s evolution from its origins as a settlement of a few hundred Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans to its present status of one of the world’s largest and most important cities.
 
The Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923. Its first home was Gracie Mansion. The Museum opened the doors of its new building at 1220 Fifth Avenue in 1932.

Current exhibitions:

Campaigning for President: New Yorkand the American Election
Jun 24 through Nov 4

From the time that it hosted the first presidential inauguration in 1789, New York City has always played a pivotal role in national politics. Campaigning for President: New York and the American Election explores the effects of New York on the strategies of presidential electoral campaigns for over 200 years and highlights the role of New York candidates, third parties, powerbrokers, and voters in the race for president. The exhibition features rarely seen, provocative, and often humorous campaign memorabilia from the collections of the Museum of Democracy, including a commemorative coat button from George Washington’s inauguration, a James Garfield oil lamp, A "Robert Kennedy for President" paper dress, and an original copy of the famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline. Presented in collaboration with the Museum of Democracy.

New York Fast Forward: Neil Denari Builds on the High Line
Jun 10 through Oct 12

Known for his bold architectural and urban concepts, Los Angeles-based architect Neil Denari is helping to transform New York with the design of his first freestanding building, called HL23 and located on 23rd Street abutting the High Line elevated railway bed. The exhibition brings together models, full-scale building sections, and computer renderings illustrating the design and construction of HL23. Historic and contemporary images of the High Line, which is itself being transformed from an abandoned freight transport line into one of the nation’s most innovative public parks, demonstrates the striking contrast between New York’s industrial past and the transformation of this Chelsea neighborhood into a global center of art and culture.

 
Catholics in New York, 1808-1946
May 16 through Dec 31

Catholics in New York 1808-1946, on view May 16 through December 31, 2008, at the Museum of the City of New York, will explore the social and political history of the diverse group of people who established the formidable Catholic presence in New York. The exhibition, the first of its kind, traces their growth from a tiny religious minority to a powerful force in the city and shows how, by organizing to build their own communities, institutions, and political organizations, Catholics reshaped the fabric of life in all five boroughs. A companion illustrated publication, edited by Terry Golway and published by Fordham University Press, will be available in the Museum’s Shop.

The exhibition is organized around three central themes:

• How Catholic community life revolved around New York's parishes, starting with the earliest, such as St. Peter's, old St. Patrick's, and St. Brigid's in Manhattan, and the distinctive subculture that arose in their heavily Catholic neighborhoods;
  
  
• The creation of a vast system of health, education, and social welfare institutions, including parochial schools, the New York Foundling Hospital, and healthcare centers such as St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan and St. Mary’s Hospital in Brooklyn, originally founded by Catholics to provide services that embraced their religion and that would be insulated from anti-Catholic prejudice; and
  
  
• The rise of Catholics as a force in New York politics, framed by such New York figures as William R. Grace (1832-1904), the Irish-born businessman who in 1880 was elected the first Catholic mayor of New York City; Alfred E. Smith (1873-1944), the governor from the Lower East Side who became the first Catholic to be nominated by a major political party for President of the United States, in 1928; Vito Marcantonio (1902-1954), the Congressman and American Labor Party leader from East Harlem; and many others.

Woven throughout all three sections is how this "community of immigrants" defended its Catholic identity in response to widespread anti-Catholicism. The exhibition begins with a prologue that looks at anti-Catholicism in the colonial period; it concludes with the implementation of the G.I. Bill, which paved the way to higher education, low-cost home mortgages, and ultimately the migration to the suburbs for many of New York’s Catholics, and with an epilogue that presents the new face of Catholic New York since World War II.

Interactive Online Feature:

Explore an interactive map of parochial schools in New York in 1945 and add your own memories and photos. View the map.

In addition to the exhibition, the Museum will present a number of evening public programs on topics related to Catholics in New York 1808 - 1946. The Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University, will also present the Bicentennial Lecture Series on New York Catholics.

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