N-Y Historical Society Announces Their March 2010 Programs

The Society is dedicated to presenting exhibitions and public programs, and fostering research that reveal the dynamism of history and its influence on the world of today. Founded in 1804, its holdings cover four centuries of American history, and include one of the world's greatest collections of historical artifacts, American art and other materials documenting the history of the United States as seen through the prism of New York City and State.

EXHIBITIONS

Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society
March 5, 2010 - July 4, 2010

In March 2010, the New-York Historical Society will present the first large-scale exhibition of materials from the Grateful Dead Archive. Drawn almost exclusively from the Archive housed at the University of California Santa Cruz, Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society, will chronicle the history of the Grateful Dead, its music, and phenomenal longevity through an array of original art and documents related to the band, its members, performances, and productions. Exhibition highlights from the archive will include concert and recording posters, album art, large-scale marionettes and other stage props, banners, and vast stores of decorated fan mail.

FDR's Brain Trust and the Beginning of the New Deal through March 25, 2010

During the 1932 Presidential primary, FDR gathered around him a core group of political, economic, and legal scholars, many from Columbia University. This "Brain Trust" became the central component of the New Deal. The exhibition focuses on the three key members of the Brain Trust, Raymond Moley, Rexford Tugwell, and Adolph Berle, and two of the cabinet members with whom they worked to bring about FDR's radical changes, Frances Perkins and Harry Hopkins.

John Brown: The Abolitionist And His Legacy
through March 25, 2010
Planned by the Gilder Lehrman Institute in collaboration with N-YHS

This exhibition marks the 150th anniversary of John Brown's doomed raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, VirginiA. Brown, an ardent abolitionist who believed in racial equality, embraced violence as a means to end slavery. Executed in 1859, he has been both vilified as a murderer and celebrated as a martyr. This exhibition of rare materials from the Gilder Lehrman Collection and N-YHS explores Brown's beliefs and activities at a critical juncture in American history and invites us to ponder the struggle for civil rights down to the present.

Lincoln and New York through March 25, 2010

From the launch of Abraham Lincoln's 1860 campaign with a speech at Cooper Union through the unprecedented outpouring of grief at his funeral procession in 1865, New York City played a surprisingly central role in the career of the sixteenth President-and Lincoln, in turn, had an impact on New York that was vast, and remains vastly underappreciated. Now, for the first time, a museum exhibition traces the crucial relationship between America's greatest President and its greatest city. The culminating presentation in the Historical Society's Lincoln Year of exhibitions, events, and public programs, this extraordinary display of original artifacts, iconic images, and highly significant period documents is the Historical Society's major contribution to the nation's Lincoln Bicentennial.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Tuesday, March 2, 6:30 pm

IN THE SHADOW OF FDR: FROM Harry Truman TO Barack Obama
William E. Leuchtenburg, Jonathan Alter
A ghost has inhabited the Oval Office since 1945-the ghost of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR's formidable presence has cast a large shadow on the occupants of that office in the years since his death, and an appreciation of his continuing influence remains essential to understanding the contemporary presidency. Two FDR scholars discuss the continuing relevance of FDR for assessing executive power and the salience of FDR's name in party politics and policy formulation.

Thursday, March 18, 6:30 pm
AN EVENING WITH ANNETTE GORDON-REED

Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed whose most recent book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in History, looks back at the beginning of her career, the historians that influenced her and the works that inspired her. Ticket sales from this program benefit the Society's education programs. Program and champagne reception $75 ($55 of which is tax-deductible)

Tuesday, March 23, 6:30 pm

SUPREME POWER: FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT VS. THE SUPREME COURT
Jeff Shesol, Jeffrey Toobin
In the years before World War II, Franklin Roosevelt's fiercest opponent was neither a foreign power nor "fear itself." It was the U.S. Supreme Court. Beginning in 1935, in a series of devastating decisions, the Supreme Court's conservative majority left much of FDR's agenda in ruins. Roosevelt struck back with an audacious plan to expand the Court to fifteen justices and to "pack" the new seats with his supporters. The ensuing fight was a firestorm that engulfed the White House, the Court, Congress, and the nation.

Thursday, March 25, 6:30 pm
GENEALOGY, GENETICS, AND AFRICAN HISTORY
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute of African American History at Harvard University. He is the editor-in-chief of the Oxford African American Studies Center, the first comprehensive scholarly online resource in the field of African American Studies, and The Root, an online news magazine dedicated to coverage of African American news, culture, and genealogy. In 2008, he co-edited with Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, the African American National Biography, an eight volume set containing more than 4,000 biographical entries on both well known and obscure African Americans. He is the author of In Search of Our Roots, a meditation on genetics, genealogy, and race, and a collection of expanded profiles featured on his PBS documentary series, "African American Lives." Professor Gates's most recent documentary is "Looking for Lincoln," broadcast on PBS in February 2009. Part of the Richard Gilder Distinguished Lecturer Series.
To purchase tickets for Public Programs please call Smarttix (212) 868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com

NEW YORK HISTORY MYSTERIES SCAVENGER HUNT
Saturday, March 13, 2 pm
Test your wits and see how much you know about history at the New York History Mysteries Scavenger Hunt. Participants will form teams, compete for a special prize and search for answers to tricky and humorous questions about Abraham Lincoln, Hudson River School painters, John Brown, Grateful Dead, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, American watercolors and drawings, and other forces that shaped the city.

For more information and to order tickets go to http://www.watsonadventures.com/

LIVING HISTORY DAYS

"History comes alive for the whole family with Living History Days at the New-York Historical Society! Do you want to know what life was like as a soldier in the American Civil War? Please join us on Saturdays from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM, during the exhibition Lincoln and New York as reenactment troops and Living History actors recreate the world of Civil War America. The program is free with museum admission.

Civil War reenactors will display original weaponry and show visitors what life was like both on the battlefield and on the sidelines of the war on:

March 6: 67th New York Regiment
March 13: 6th Regiment, U.S. Colored Troops

March 20: 30th Virginia Infantry, Co. B

LINCOLN DANCE PRESENTATION
Saturday, March 13, 1 pm
Through the dances performed at Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural balls and in his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, this presentation will explore the democratization of America and social change during his lifetime. This program is free with museum admission.

MUSIC

American Musicals Project - The 2010 concert Series
For Spring 2010 the American Musicals Project at the New-York Historical Society presents concert performances of songs from some of Broadway's greatest shows. These are masterworks of musical theater that are helping students in 900 schools learn American history.

March 1: Fiorello!
March 8: Oklahoma! Paint your wagon
March 15: On the Town to South Pacific
March 22: Showboat
For tickets call 212-873-3400 ext.305

The following performances are free with museum admission:
Sounds of the City Friday Concert Series
Performances by musicians from the Mannes College of Music

March 5, 6:30 pm

March 12, 6:30 pm

March 19, 6:30pm

INFORMATION HOTLINE:

To reach the Museum's offices, call: 212.873.3400.

ONLINE INFORMATION:  http://www.nyhistory.org

MUSEUM HOURS:
Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am to 5:45 pm
Friday until 8:00 pm
ADMISSION:
Adults $12.00
Senior Citizens & Educators $9.00
Students $7.00
Children under 12 FREE
Museum Members FREE
Fridays from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Pay as you wish