A Trip to New York Historical Society

By James Kelleher, WPAMC Class of 2020

 

I love a good historical society. For those that know me, I’m sure this is no surprise. I have found some truly wonderful things in the smallest historical societies: not only documents, but objects and their attendant stories. And the societies themselves, particularly small ones, are so clearly a labor of love on the part of the community that it seems cold not to appreciate the work they do and the collections they maintain. New York Historical Society is not, in the least, representative of most societies. Large, well-attended and, I suspect, well-funded, it operates something like a like a city museum at its headquarters at 170 Central Park West. This past Saturday I accompanied a few of my cohort on a research trip to NYHS. While they worked in the library, I perused the collections.

 

Perhaps NYHS is not always well-attended, but they certainly were this weekend. Their current main exhibit is a specially ticketed affair based around Harry Potter and the history of magic, and as far as I could tell most of Saturday’s patrons came to see this exhibit. Though we arrived only shortly after the museum’s opening, the attendant at the ticket counter was quick to point out that the exhibit was sold out for the day. Having not seen the exhibit, I could not judge how related to the museum’s collections and focus it actually was, but it certainly performed the critical, and difficult, task of getting people through the door.

 

I was especially taken with the “Objects Tell Stories” gallery—essentially a reinvigorated showcase of selections from the permanent collection. The periphery of the gallery is segmented into a series of boxes, each organized around a theme such as “Slavery in New York,” “Seats of Power,” “Infrastructure,” “Port,” etc. Highlight objects are also displayed in the center of the room, and digital kiosks provide additional information. I could, and probably will, write a whole blog post about my mixed feelings towards digital media in gallery spaces. For now, I will say that the interactives in this exhibit contributed to my understanding while not distracting me from the objects themselves, a difficult balance to achieve. Objects included in the exhibit ranged from paintings (there was even a series of paintings of New York from different eras), to ephemera, to Duncan Phyfe’s tools and tool chest!

 

Other highlights included the gallery of Tiffany lamps, which emphasized the role Clara Driscoll, head of Tiffany’s glass-cutting department, had in designing a large number of the iconic shades. It was a treat to see the tools and patterns that the workers used to realize Driscoll’s and Tiffany’s designs, including glass-cutting implements, brass patterns, and wooden molds un which the lampshades were assembled and soldered.

 

This all, of course, is to say nothing of the extensive library collections, which my colleagues Bethany McGlyn and Emily Whitted put to good use. Suffice to say the NYHS is worth a visit not only for the researcher, but for even the most casual museum-goer. Not only are the collections fascinating, but they are presented in exhibition designs of a very high quality. It is not to be missed.