GUIDED TOUR OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OVERVIEW
The New York Historical Society, www.nyhistory.org, has provided us with the following details
about the Sunday, December 9th visit. Remember that the cost for the tour, including entrance to
all other parts of the museum (including the three special exhibits), is included in your FIVS
registration fee.
You may want to come early. The museum is open from 11:00am to 5:00pm on Sundays. There
are four floors of exhibitions to explore and you may wish to view a floor plan before touring the
museum. We have included a description of the three exhibits later in this document. You may
also wish to have lunch at the Society’s lunch room before the tour.
Here is the itinerary for the visit of the New York Historical Society.
ITINERARY
[1:30pm] ARRIVAL: Please plan to arrive 30 minutes prior to the tour to be part of the group
check-in. Make sure you arrive on time – as the tour will begin promptly as scheduled. Notify
either Bennett Caplan (+1 202 486-1390) or the New York Historical Visitor Services at +1 212485-9285 if you will be late. If you arrive earlier to see the special exhibits, please proceed to the
Admissions desk and tell them that you are part of the FIVS tour so that you can receive a ticket.
At 1:30pm, we will gather at the Monumental Treasures display case opposite the main entrance.
[2:00pm] BEGIN TOUR: The guided tour of Highlights from the Permanent Collection will
last approximately one hour. After the tour and the movie, you’ll be able to explore all of the
galleries on your own – they are filled with art and history.
[3:00pm] FILM: After the tour, we will see the 18-minute panoramic film experience, New York
Story, which covers over 400 years of the city’s history. Reviewers say:
* “Not to be missed is a panoramic film of New York.” - New York Times, Nov. 13, 2011
* “…We were also absolutely blown away by the film which manages to convey more about
New York and its history than one could imagine ever being crammed into 18 minutes.” - Carol
Leimas, New York NY
[3:30pm] ACCESS TO ALL GALLERIES AND THE STORE: You will be free to visit the
galleries and explore the store! You may want to stop by the Museum Store to check out all the
wonderful New York Historical Society and New York City related items they have. It was
hailed as “the best-curated cache of thoughtful, culturally significant gifts” by The Village
Voice. You can receive 10% off simply by showing your group tour sticker!
SPECIAL EXHIBITS
WWII & NYC
When World War II broke out, New York was a cosmopolitan, heavily immigrant city, whose
people had real stakes in the war and strongly held opinions. WWII & NYC will explore the
impact of the war on the metropolis, which played a critical role in the national war effort, and
how the city was forever changed.
The presence of troops, the inflow of refugees, the wartime industries, the dispatch of fleets, and
the dissemination of news and propaganda, changed New York, giving its customary commercial
and creative bustle a military flavor. Likewise, the landscape of the city acquired a martial air, as
defenses in the harbor were bolstered, old forts updated, and docks became high security zones.
The exhibition will range from the mobilization of workers to the frenzy of shipbuilding, from the
home front arts and entertainment industry to the dispatch of troops to the European theater, from
the struggles over Civil Rights and segregation to the Times Square celebration of V-J Day.
These were the times that saw raucous men in uniform celebrating their last stateside moments,
tearful families embracing their sons, women with lunch pails off to work, celebrity-studded bond
rallies and calls for justice at home and abroad from African-American patriots.
Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group
of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism. The paintings for
which the movement is named depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area,
including the Catskill, Adirondack, and the White Mountains.
After a national tour, 45 important 19th-century landscape paintings by the artists of the Hudson
River School, including Thomas Cole’s five-part series The Course of Empire and other
masterworks by Cole, John F. Kensett, Albert Bierstadt, Jasper F. Cropsey, Asher B. Durand and
others will once again be on display at the New-York Historical Society. "There is no better
illustration of the life cycle of a great power than The Course of Empire...[Cole] beautifully
captured a theory of imperial rise and fall to which most people remain in thrall to this day,"
said Niall Ferguson in Foreign Affairs.
John Rogers: American Stories
John Rogers (1829–1904) was unquestionably the most popular sculptor of the 19th century. In
his lifetime he sold over 80,000 works and earned the epithet “the people’s sculptor.” Rogers’
wide range of subjects included the Civil War, domestic life, popular theater and literary themes
from Longfellow, Irving and Shakespeare. Rogers wished to make his sculptures available and
affordable to the widest possible audience. In an era when most Americans had little access to
works of art, Rogers groups were commonplace in the homes of the middle and upper class. More
than any other artist of his era, Rogers reached Americans en masse, addressing issues that
shaped their lives and that defined the American experience.
In addition to 40 plasters and master bronzes that he used to create the plasters, ephemeral
materials from the N-YHS Library and Print Room will vividly illustrate how his works were
presented and promoted to the public. The exhibition will be enriched with a selection of
paintings from the Society’s acclaimed collection to show how Rogers carried on the American
genre tradition.
Click on the following link for more detailed information on the exhibitions:
http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions
08 August 2012