Museum Open

The New-York Historical Society will be open on Memorial Day, Monday, May 27 from 10am to 6pm

The Roberts Court

Speaker: 
Marcia Coyle
Linda Greenhouse (moderator)
Tue, 05/14/2013 - 6:30pm

Note: This event is sold out

 

EVENT DETAILS

The Roberts Court sits at the center of a constitutional maelstrom. Two of the most prestigious Supreme Court experts discuss its direction under Chief Justice Roberts and trace the paths of recent landmark decisions on race, guns, immigration, campaign finance, and health care.

Infanterie Regiment von Donop (Hessian)

Sun, 02/26/2012 - 11:00am

Description

History comes alive for the whole family with Living History Days at the New-York Historical Society! Do you want to know what life was like in the eighteenth century? Please join us as re-enactment troops and Living History actors recreate the world of Revolutionary America. Living History Days will feature appearances by troops of the Continental, Loyalist, British and Hessian armies and, on select days, actors portraying Revolutionary heroes, including George Washington, Benjamin and Deborah Franklin, and the Marquis de Lafayette.

The Thirteenth Amendment

Feb 1 2012 - Apr 30 2012

In honor of Black History Month and Abraham Lincoln's birthday, the New-York Historical Society is proud to display a rare handwritten copy of the Thirteenth Amendment—signed by Lincoln himself—in our Robert H. and Clarice Smith New York Gallery of American History.  The document, which was recently acquired by David Rubenstein, managing director of The Carlyle Group, is on loan to the New-York Historical Society through April 1.

Abraham Lincoln. Manuscript Document Signed (“Abraham Lincoln”) as President, with his Autograph Endorsement (“Approved. February 1, 1865.”) Washington, DC, ca. February 1, 1865. Co-signed by Hannibal Hamlin as Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, Schuyler Colfax as Speaker of the House, and John W. Forney as Secretary of the Senate. 1 p., 15 1/16 x 20 in., on lined vellum with ruled borders.

One of about thirteen manuscripts Lincoln signed in addition to the original, this copy belonged to Schuyler Colfax, House Speaker in 1863 and later Vice President under Ulysses S. Grant. According to Seth Kaller, president of Seth Kaller, Inc., who acquired the document for Mr. Rubenstein in a private transaction, and arranged its loan to New-York Historical, “this is the one that is directly traceable to a leader instrumental in the amendment’s passage. It has not been displayed in New York for more than forty years."

Citizen Founders: Ratification, the People Debate the Constitution, 1787–1788

Speaker: 
Pauline Maier
Jack Rakove
Akhil Reed Amar (moderator)
Tue, 11/09/2010 - 6:30pm

Event Details

 

The American Constitution is our nation's most important document and the battle to ratify it was a crucial turning point in American history. Three experts recall a nearly 225-year-old debate that raged in homes, taverns, and convention halls across the new nation and discuss the key players who fought for and against ratification.

Speaker Bio(s)

 

Notes on the State of Virginia

Title
Notes on the State of Virginia
Date 
1785
Medium 
Book
Description 
Thomas Jefferson’s copy of Notes on the State of Virginia, his only book, inscribed to the Abbé Morellet, and used by the latter to make the first French translation.
Credit Line 
Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.

Haitian Declaration of Independence

Title
Haitian Declaration of Independence
Date 
1804
Description 
The only known surviving copy of the first printing of the Haitian Declaration of Independence (1804, National Archives, London), recently discovered and exhibited here to the public for the first time.
Credit Line 
On loan from the National Archives, UK
Object Number 
CO 1371111
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.

James Madison

Speaker: 
Richard Brookhiser
Benno Schmidt (moderator)
Tue, 10/25/2011 - 7:30pm

Co-Sponsor

Carl Menges

Event details

James Madison was one of the most influential and integral figures in American history: he collaborated on the Federalist Papers and the Bill of Rights, assembled one of the nation’s first political parties and took to the battlefield during the War of 1812, becoming the last president to lead troops in combat. Richard Brookhiser presents a vivid portrait of the “Father of the Constitution,” an accomplished yet humble statesman who nourished Americans’ fledgling liberty.

Declaration of Independence

Title
Declaration of Independence
Medium 
Possibly wood
Dimensions 
Overall: 27 x 37 x 14 in. ( 68.6 x 94 x 35.6 cm )
Description 
Figures carved in the round in groups and set in a room from a painting by Trumbull
Credit Line 
Gift of Mrs. M. H. Greenebaum
Object Number 
1947.23
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.

George Washington’s New York: Walking Tour of Lower Manhattan

Speaker: 
Barnet Schecter
Sun, 11/14/2010 - 11:00am

Among the maps that George Washington owned was British military engineer John Montresor's A Plan of the City of New-York, surveyed in 1766. The map provided Washington with detailed information about the streets and hills of Lower Manhattan as he fortified the city against a British assault in 1776. The map was also useful for planning Washington's triumphant entry into New York on November 25, 1783 as the British ended their 70- year occupation and evacuated the city.