Author(s): Louise Mirrer

History

Founded in 1804, the New-York Historical Society is New York City's oldest museum, with a rich history of scholarship, research, and illuminating exhibitions. The museum collection of the New-York Historical Society comprises more than 1.6 million works of art, featuring an impressive collection of Tiffany lamps, paintings by celebrated American portraitists, all the known preparatory watercolors for John James Audubon's Birds of America, and exquisite works by artists of the Hudson River School--including Thomas Cole's monumental series The Course of Empire. The Library is internationally known as a major research venue for the study of American and New York history. Its rich collections include more than five million manuscript items, 350,000 books, and several million photographs, prints, architectural renderings, and related holdings. The Library's vast holdings of printed ephemera documenting daily life, culture, commerce, and politics from the eighteenth through the earlier twentieth centuries are unrivaled. The collections provide a continuous record of New York and American history from the founding of New Amsterdam through the tragic events of 9/11.
The Library's deepest areas of original source material include the Colonial and Revolutionary eras, the Early Republic, the Civil War, and the Gilded Age, with emphases on slavery and Abolition, temperance, social welfare, urban life, and architecture. Now celebrating a groundbreaking renovation and the dedication of its Center for the Study of Women's History, the Museum and Library present highlights from their remarkable holdings, from the folk art collection of sculptor Elie Nadelman to iconic ephemera from all eras of American history, for the first time as a Tiny Folio. An ideal souvenir for the New-York Historical Society's visitors, this charming volume also features a special section of works depicting the city itself, alongside full-color photography and short introductory texts.