Adored for its diversity, thriving nightlife, and signature pizza, New York City offers its residents and guests a wealth of opportunities to explore its urban landscape, which is filled with a rich history. Attracting further attention to the fine details of NYC’s history, the New-York Historical Society recently announced its plans to open three new exhibits this fall.
This American history museum and library is set to make the New York history scene even more robust with its three new niche exhibits that are set to start in early September. The New-York History Society will highlight Robert Caro’s life and publication of The Power Broker, as well as explore women’s history through everyday clothing and three centuries of New Yorkers and their furry friends.
Each exhibition will be distinctly its own, with the Upper West Side institution beginning its fall program on September 6th with the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Power Broker, Robert A. Caro’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Robert Moses. This installation will include Caro’s own hand-edited manuscripts, notes, and drafts, all of which demonstrate how the writer turned a massive 522 interviews, the onslaught of reportage, archival documents, and other research materials into the book. Museum visitors, for the first time, will be able to read several pages of Caro cut from the final version of The Power Broker, and An Evening with Robert Caro is scheduled to be held on Monday, October 7. Caro’s exhibit at the New-York Historical Society will be on view through February 2, 2025.
The exhibit, Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore, will open on September 27, showcasing clothing from the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection in the Joyce B. Cowin Gallery of Women’s History. Diving into the history, economics, and real stories behind fashion and how women have worked and dressed over two centuries, this collection includes a well-worn Depression-era house dress, a college student’s psychedelic micro mini, and an Abercrombie & Fitch wool suit bought off-the-rack in NYC in 1917 and was remade into a Relief uniform worn behind enemy lines in France.
“Clothing has always played a crucial role in women’s lives, reflecting their evolving roles, identities, and social conditions. This exhibition celebrates the impressive history and untold narratives embedded in our clothing. We hope visitors come away with a deeper understanding of the intersection of fashion, culture, and women’s enduring spirit,” stated Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New-York Historical society.
The Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore exhibit will have other artifacts and images for visitors to examine how women have influenced, adapted, and defied societal expectations through the clothes they chose to make, purchase, and alter through June 22, 2025.
Later in the fall, Pets and the City is set to open at the historical society on October 25 and will highlight over 300 years of the history of pets in New York. This exhibit begins with the role of animals among Indigenous cultures, such as the Lenape and Haudenosaunee, as well as the hunting culture that accompanied settlers from Europe, before moving on to shine a light on the pampered pooches many have become today. This immersive exhibition will be a collection of art, objects, photographs, documents, and memorabilia from the New-York Historical Museum and Library collections, as well as film and television clips.
