Museums: The New-York Historical Society

The New-York Historical Society is one of those less well-known gems in NYC that merits visiting.  Founded in 1804, the oldest museum in NYC examines American history through a New York lens.  When we visited recently, we saw exhibits on:

• the origin of modern comic books in NYC (a direct response to anti-semitism in the publishing world in the 1930's) (think Superman, Spider Man, Wonder Woman and Bat Man, plus a genuine Batmobile in the museum's lobby)
• NYC's role in the development of the modern computer (think IBM)
• the largest Picasso painting anywhere (a painted tapestry created as a stage curtain for the Metropolitan Opera)
• a model train collection like no other

A steam powered locomotive

Plus, the museum has some authentic NYC history, such as the marble marker that commemorates the Hamilton/Burr duel, which actually occurred in Hackensack, since dueling was outlawed in New York but not in New Jersey.  We also saw exact replicas of the dueling pistols used by Hamilton and Burr.  The originals are locked away in the vault of the their owner, the Chase Manhattan Bank.  We learned that because Aaron Burr did not shoot wide and instead aimed at Hamilton, killing him, he was disgraced and was rarely seen in public following the incident.  Hamilton, of course, shot wide, as a gentleman should.  For that, he is American icon and now the subject of a hit Broadway musical.  Who knew?

We also learned about New York's role in the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass:

          "The life-size bronze figures of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) and Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)
          that stand at either entrance to the New-York Historical Society bring to life the story of freedom
          that is deeply embedded in American history . . . .  Although Lincoln’s home state was Illinois, it was 
          New York politicians, journalists, and imagemakers who engineered his rise to the top of the
          Republican ticket in the 1860 election." 

          "Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, born a slave in 1818 on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, became a free
          man in New York in 1838 after boarding a train for the north with the borrowed identity papers of a
          free black man. In his autobiography, Douglass vividly described his first experience of freedom:  “After 
          an anxious and most perilous but safe journey, I found myself in the big city of New York, a free man—one 
          more added to the mighty throng which, like the confused waves of the troubled sea, surged to and fro 
          between the lofty walls of Broadway.”