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| What Made New York New York? Henry Hudson, George Washington and a Silver Subway Shovel | What Made New York New York? Henry Hudson, George Washington and a Silver Subway Shovel |
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| WHAT better artifact to feature in an exhibition called “New York at Its Core” than a metal contraption designed to remove the pits from an apple. | WHAT better artifact to feature in an exhibition called “New York at Its Core” than a metal contraption designed to remove the pits from an apple. |
| The object is among 400 being readied by the Museum of the City of New York for its first permanent exhibition, a 6,600-square-foot display ambitiously intended to evoke the very essence of the metropolis that has been known as the Big Apple (pits and all) since the horse-racing writer John J. Fitz Gerald popularized that nickname in The New York Morning Telegraph 95 years ago. | The object is among 400 being readied by the Museum of the City of New York for its first permanent exhibition, a 6,600-square-foot display ambitiously intended to evoke the very essence of the metropolis that has been known as the Big Apple (pits and all) since the horse-racing writer John J. Fitz Gerald popularized that nickname in The New York Morning Telegraph 95 years ago. |
| The museum is devoting its entire first floor to demonstrating how money, density, diversity and creativity have distinguished the city from other North American colonies since the earliest European settlers arrived four centuries ago and began what was then New Amsterdam as, in effect, a for-profit company. | The museum is devoting its entire first floor to demonstrating how money, density, diversity and creativity have distinguished the city from other North American colonies since the earliest European settlers arrived four centuries ago and began what was then New Amsterdam as, in effect, a for-profit company. |
| “People expect, and we should deliver to them, the full scope of New York City history,” said Sarah Henry, the museum’s chief curator. “It’s inherent in our name and incumbent upon us as a museum to provide that.” | “People expect, and we should deliver to them, the full scope of New York City history,” said Sarah Henry, the museum’s chief curator. “It’s inherent in our name and incumbent upon us as a museum to provide that.” |
| The permanent exhibition, opening in November, is intended as a springboard to temporary displays, which will be shown on the upper floors of the museum’s neo-Georgian red brick and white marble building facing Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street. | The permanent exhibition, opening in November, is intended as a springboard to temporary displays, which will be shown on the upper floors of the museum’s neo-Georgian red brick and white marble building facing Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street. |
| The museum was founded in Gracie Mansion, now the mayor’s official residence, nearly a century ago, in 1923, by Henry Collins Brown, a Scottish-born advertising salesman and journalist, as the city approached its tricentennial. | The museum was founded in Gracie Mansion, now the mayor’s official residence, nearly a century ago, in 1923, by Henry Collins Brown, a Scottish-born advertising salesman and journalist, as the city approached its tricentennial. |
| For its new home, the museum honored the city’s role in the nation’s founding: It laid the cornerstone for the Fifth Avenue building in 1929, on the 140th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration in New York, and opened its doors in 1932, on what was then promoted as the 174th anniversary of Alexander Hamilton’s birth. | For its new home, the museum honored the city’s role in the nation’s founding: It laid the cornerstone for the Fifth Avenue building in 1929, on the 140th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration in New York, and opened its doors in 1932, on what was then promoted as the 174th anniversary of Alexander Hamilton’s birth. |
| The $10 million exhibition caps a 10-year, $97 million renovation and expansion overseen by Susan Henshaw Jones, who retired late last year as the museum’s director. The project was recently inherited by her successor, Whitney W. Donhauser. | The $10 million exhibition caps a 10-year, $97 million renovation and expansion overseen by Susan Henshaw Jones, who retired late last year as the museum’s director. The project was recently inherited by her successor, Whitney W. Donhauser. |
| “An exhibit of this scope — three full galleries devoted to New York City’s past, present and future — doesn’t exist anywhere else in the city,” Ms. Donhauser said. | “An exhibit of this scope — three full galleries devoted to New York City’s past, present and future — doesn’t exist anywhere else in the city,” Ms. Donhauser said. |
| “New York at Its Core” is divided into sections: “Port City,” from 1609, when Henry Hudson arrived, to 1898, when the five boroughs consolidated to form Greater New York; “World City,” from 1898 to 2012; and “Future City Lab.” | “New York at Its Core” is divided into sections: “Port City,” from 1609, when Henry Hudson arrived, to 1898, when the five boroughs consolidated to form Greater New York; “World City,” from 1898 to 2012; and “Future City Lab.” |
| In each section, visitors will receive a primer on the four themes that curators sliced from the Big Apple: money (the impact of the marketplace and efforts to tame its excesses); density (the challenges it posed and the opportunities it presented); diversity (the varying responses to a diverse population, from outright conflict to relative tolerance to a measure of indifference); and creativity (how this potent blend of forces fostered innovation). | In each section, visitors will receive a primer on the four themes that curators sliced from the Big Apple: money (the impact of the marketplace and efforts to tame its excesses); density (the challenges it posed and the opportunities it presented); diversity (the varying responses to a diverse population, from outright conflict to relative tolerance to a measure of indifference); and creativity (how this potent blend of forces fostered innovation). |
| Visitors can explore digital and video images, compare historical and contemporary vistas and consider the impact of individual personalities (David Rockefeller’s vision to revitalize Lower Manhattan) and policies (how population sprouted along new subway routes). | |
| “New York at Its Core” was conceived and executed with a team of historical advisers and organized by Dr. Henry; Hilary Ballon, an architectural historian at New York University; and Steven H. Jaffe, a writer and historian. It is being designed by Studio Joseph, Local Projects and Pentagram. | “New York at Its Core” was conceived and executed with a team of historical advisers and organized by Dr. Henry; Hilary Ballon, an architectural historian at New York University; and Steven H. Jaffe, a writer and historian. It is being designed by Studio Joseph, Local Projects and Pentagram. |
| Among the artifacts borrowed or culled from the museum’s collection of 750,000 (including its popular doll houses and fire engines) are a Lenape war club, a cross-section of a wooden water pipe from Aaron Burr’s Manhattan Company (whose covert purpose was to create a bank), Milton Glaser’s original graphic for the “I ♥ NY” campaign, a grim “Welcome to Fear City” leaflet distributed to tourists by the disgruntled police union in the 1970s, a ceremonial Tiffany silver shovel used to break ground for the I.R.T. subway, Calvert Vaux’s drafting kit (he and his partner, Frederick Law Olmsted, designed Central Park) and a handwritten list of guests to be admitted free to Studio 54 (including Ringo Starr and Liberace). | Among the artifacts borrowed or culled from the museum’s collection of 750,000 (including its popular doll houses and fire engines) are a Lenape war club, a cross-section of a wooden water pipe from Aaron Burr’s Manhattan Company (whose covert purpose was to create a bank), Milton Glaser’s original graphic for the “I ♥ NY” campaign, a grim “Welcome to Fear City” leaflet distributed to tourists by the disgruntled police union in the 1970s, a ceremonial Tiffany silver shovel used to break ground for the I.R.T. subway, Calvert Vaux’s drafting kit (he and his partner, Frederick Law Olmsted, designed Central Park) and a handwritten list of guests to be admitted free to Studio 54 (including Ringo Starr and Liberace). |
| The last gallery engages visitors in imagining the future city by posing a series of “what ifs” that invite speculation about issues like the impact of a subway to Staten Island, climate change and suspending alternate-side parking not just on the two dozen religious holidays already recognized but on every one. | The last gallery engages visitors in imagining the future city by posing a series of “what ifs” that invite speculation about issues like the impact of a subway to Staten Island, climate change and suspending alternate-side parking not just on the two dozen religious holidays already recognized but on every one. |
| Museumgoers can design their own street, building or park and respond to other New Yorkers mouthing off, courtesy of Neil Goldberg, a video artist. | Museumgoers can design their own street, building or park and respond to other New Yorkers mouthing off, courtesy of Neil Goldberg, a video artist. |
| “Our history was not inevitable, but a variety of reasons converged to produce what it is that makes New York New York,” Dr. Henry said. “It didn’t have to turn out this way. | “Our history was not inevitable, but a variety of reasons converged to produce what it is that makes New York New York,” Dr. Henry said. “It didn’t have to turn out this way. |
| “The future’s not fixed,” she added. “It wasn’t fixed in 1609, either.” | “The future’s not fixed,” she added. “It wasn’t fixed in 1609, either.” |