Experience Summer of Hamilton at the New-York Historical Society! From now until Labor Day, visitors can discover everything the New-York Historical Society has to offer with special $10 museum admission. Enjoy a special discount for our museum-wide celebration of the life and legacy of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, now fervently popular thanks to the hit Broadway musical and best-selling biography. Learn even more about this American hero, his connection to New York, and his lasting influence on U.S. government.
$10 museum admission offer good for in-person ticket purchases, not available online. This offer may not be combined with other discounts.
Museum-wide Programming
Summer of Hamilton
Now on view
This exciting museum-wide celebration of the life and legacy of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton features artifacts and documents from the collections of the New-York Historical Society and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History that bring to life the remarkable achievements of the man who, until recently, was mostly known as the face on the $10 bill.
Hamilton’s connection to New York and his lasting influence on U.S. government come together in this summer-long exploration, allowing visitors to discover even more about this American hero, now enjoying fervent popularity thanks to the history-making, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Hamilton and the best-selling biography by Ron Chernow.
Summer of Hamilton also offers engaging and interactive Friday evening programs, including a free film series that looks at the musicals that inspired Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and family-friendly activities every weekend.
Exhibitions
Collector’s Choice: Highlights from the Permanent Collection
August 19, 2016 – ongoing
Collector’s Choice: Highlights from the Permanent Collection showcases a selection of paintings that characterize the highly individual tastes and historic contributions of several New York City collectors who shaped the New-York Historical Society’s holdings. Joining Picasso’s Le Tricorne ballet curtain, these treasures of New-York Historical include Thomas Cole’s iconic “Course of Empire” series and Charles Willson Peale’s Peale Family Portrait.
Ranging in date from the 14th through the 21st centuries, these American and European works illuminate the collecting interests of Luman Reed, Thomas Jefferson Bryan, and Robert L. Stuart. Colonial portraits of children and marine and maritime subjects each occupy other walls of Dexter Hall, while an installation adjacent to Picasso’s Le Tricorne showcases recently collected works from the 20th and 21st centuries.
Campaigning for the Presidency, 1960-1972: Selections from the Museum of Democracy
August 26 – November 27, 2016
Coinciding with the 2016 presidential election, the New-York Historical Society will showcase more than 120 objects from the planned Museum of Democracy/the Wright Family Collection, considered one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive collections of political campaign memorabilia.
Featured objects from the presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon (1960), Lyndon B. Johnson vs. Barry Goldwater (1964), Robert F. Kennedy’s nomination race (1968), Richard Nixon vs. Hubert Humphrey vs. George Wallace (1968), and Richard Nixon vs. George McGovern (1972) follow the change in tone and aesthetics of 1960s political ephemera and reflect contemporary developments in campaign strategy.
The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems
LAST CHANCE: Through September 25
Celebrating Mo Willems’ beloved children’s book characters, The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems features approximately ninety works, including original art, preliminary sketches, animation cels, and sculptures from some of Willems’ most popular series, like the Pigeon, Knuffle Bunny, and Elephant and Piggie.
Presenting his inspiration, artwork, and characters in an immersive and child-friendly space, New-York Historical’s unique show highlights particular elements of Willems’ life and career in New York, illuminating how the city deeply influenced his iconic characters and the worlds in which they live. The exhibition is organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA.
Photographs by Larry Silver, 1949-1955
Through December 4
The images on display in Photographs by Larry Silver, 1949-1955 capture vignettes of daily life in New York City, many of them through children’s experiences: a boy playing in the debris of a construction site as the new United Nations building towers in the background, children eagerly peering at a toy shop window display, and an apartment building punctuated by laundry hanging out on clotheslines.
The city’s architecture is presented as much as a protagonist as an endless playground for post-war children. This new exhibition highlights the early works of the Bronx-born photographer, who captured day-to-day life in the city’s post-World War II urban environment that has since largely disappeared.
Special Installations
Citizen Soldier: Ebenezer Stevens and the American Revolution
Through October 2
Ebenezer Stevens, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army, rose through the officer ranks during the Revolutionary War and participated in pivotal events like the Boston Tea Party and the battles of Saratoga and Yorktown. His life and military career are explored through objects from New-York Historical’s collection, including Stevens’ Society of Cincinnati badge and officer’s tailcoat, in addition to selections from New-York Historical’s manuscripts and prints collection.
The Fourth of July, 1916
Through October 2
This stunning Childe Hassam painting, recently donated to the New-York Historical Society by Chairman Emeritus Richard Gilder, was painted by the acclaimed American Impressionist artist Childe Hassam. The painting was one of the last of the beloved series of Hassam flag canvases in private hands.
Nature Illuminated: Tiffany Gallery Preview
Through October 2
Uniting a reverence for nature and a fascination with the artistic potential of glass, Louis C. Tiffany and his designers created a revolutionary design aesthetic that brought the beauty of the natural world into the home. Eight of New-York Historical’s stunning Tiffany lamps are on view in the Rotunda, offering a preview of what will be on display in the dazzling new gallery showcasing our renowned Tiffany lamps collection, opening in 2017.
Hamilton Fridays
Pay-as-you-wish Friday Nights (6 ̶ 8 p.m.) at the New-York Historical Society during the Summer of Hamilton offers visitors additional fun ways to learn about the statesman and explore the influences behind the musical.
The 3rd New Jersey Regiment
Friday, Aug. 26, 5 ̶ 8 p.m.
Free
During the Revolutionary War, Alexander Hamilton served as aide-de-camp to General Washington. Living Historians from the 3rd New Jersey Regiment, a reenactment troop, will be stationed at the museum to answer your questions about life on and off the battlefield during the War for Independence. Take a close look at their uniforms and equipment or learn a military drill.
Family Programs
Reading into History Family Book Club Meeting: Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider by Jean Fritz; featuring Beth Huffer, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Sunday, August 28, at 2 p.m.
Free with museum admission
(Recommended for ages 9–12 and their adults)
How did a poor kid from the island of Nevis end up forming our new nation’s economy? As part of Summer of Hamilton, we’ll discuss the middle-grade biography Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider, written by Newbery-Honor author Jean Fritz. Take an up-close look at some rare and precious documents related to Hamilton’s life and times from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History’s vast collection.
CONTACT INFORMATION
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West (at 77th Street)
New York, NY 10024
www.nyhistory.org
212-873-3400
MUSEUM AND STORE HOURS:
Tuesday-Thursday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
New-York Historical offers free daily tours of the museum’s collections at 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
