Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the City of New York Championing NYC’s history, art, civic life, and pop culture since 1923. Social Media Policy: https://www.mcny.org/social-media-policy

🐰 Happy Easter to all who celebrate! Here’s a look at Easter Sunday in New York City during World War II: crowds gathere...
04/05/2026

🐰 Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

Here’s a look at Easter Sunday in New York City during World War II: crowds gathered outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1941. Opened in the 19th century and designed by architect James Renwick Jr., the cathedral has long been a focal point for major religious celebrations in the city.

📷: United States. Office of War Information, 1941, Museum of the City of New York, 90.28.52.

Did you catch April 2026 cover? You can see the image in person in Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Re...
04/02/2026

Did you catch April 2026 cover? You can see the image in person in Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World and learn more about the relationship between Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly.

Cy and Rauschenberg met in 1951 while they were students at the Art Students League of New York. That summer, both attended Black Mountain College and began a romantic relationship. Not long after, they traveled together to Italy and Morocco, where Rauschenberg experimented with collage, sculpture, and photography. Though their romantic relationship eventually ended, they remained lifelong friends.

Did you know? In the early 1900s, New York’s Lower East Side had its own “Passover Parade,” when crowds gathered on Gran...
04/02/2026

Did you know? In the early 1900s, New York’s Lower East Side had its own “Passover Parade,” when crowds gathered on Grand Street in their holiday best after synagogue.

Passover began at sundown on April 1. The holiday is often marked with a seder, the retelling of the Exodus story, matzah, symbolic foods, and time spent with loved ones around the table. In New York, these traditions have shaped city life for generations.

This 1928 work by Philip Reisman offers a glimpse of Passover in New York. Chag Pesach sameach to all who are celebrating.

📣Big News! MCNY is proud to announce that we’ve commissioned several sculptures for our front terrace, and now we want y...
04/01/2026

📣Big News! MCNY is proud to announce that we’ve commissioned several sculptures for our front terrace, and now we want you to vote for your favorite.

From pigeons to Timbs to the almighty bacon, egg, and cheese, these tributes honor some of the city’s true icons. As the storytellers of New York, we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the everyday staples that make this city, the city.

Did we miss an essential NYC classic? Tell us in the comments. We’re taking suggestions.

There are plenty of reasons to head to the Museum this month!Learn more about each program here: https://www.mcny.org/ev...
04/01/2026

There are plenty of reasons to head to the Museum this month!

Learn more about each program here: https://www.mcny.org/events ✨

These are believed to be the first vehicle to cross the Queensboro Bridge, now officially called the Ed Koch Queensboro ...
03/30/2026

These are believed to be the first vehicle to cross the Queensboro Bridge, now officially called the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge. When it opened to the public in 1909, it created the first direct bridge connection between Manhattan and Queens, linking the east side of Manhattan to Long Island City by way of Roosevelt Island. Before that, getting between the two boroughs often meant taking a ferry. The inscription on this photo even notes that the “coach and four” in the foreground was the first vehicle to use the bridge.

Many New Yorkers also know it as the 59th Street Bridge, a nod to its Manhattan entrance at 59th Street.

Official name aside... what do you call this bridge?

Before the Brooklyn Bridge had a bike lane, it carried horses, wagons, rail cars, and crowds of pedestrians above it all...
03/28/2026

Before the Brooklyn Bridge had a bike lane, it carried horses, wagons, rail cars, and crowds of pedestrians above it all.

When the bridge opened in 1883, New Yorkers crossed it on foot, by horse-drawn carriage, and by rail. These two images, from the promenade in 1903 and the tower around 1916, capture both the bridge itself and the fast-changing skyline around it.

For decades, the promenade was shared by walkers and cyclists. In 2021, the city opened a protected two-way bike lane below and made the promenade pedestrian-only. Now the bridge is changing again: ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the city announced plans to redesign the Manhattan entrance to better separate bike and pedestrian traffic.

Want to learn more about the Brooklyn Bridge and the city it helped connect? Visit New York at Its Core.

03/27/2026

This is your sign to visit us 👀📍

It’s the last month to see Robert Rauschenberg’s New York: Pictures from the Real World at MCNY. The exhibition highlights Rauschenberg’s photographs of New York, capturing the city’s overlooked details, everyday objects, and fleeting moments in a way only he could.

On view through April 19 📸

We’re celebrating with two team portraits from our collection: the 1966 Mets, still a young franchise finding its foot...
03/26/2026

We’re celebrating with two team portraits from our collection: the 1966 Mets, still a young franchise finding its footing in Queens, and the 1979 Yankees, a team that came just after the Bronx Bombers’ championship run of the late ’70s.

Nearly 60 years later, the rivalry still has the city picking sides, with the Yankees already opening the season with a 7–0 win and the Mets taking the field at home today.

Mets or Yankees, where’s your loyalty? ⚾

in 1911, a fire tore through the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory, killing 146 workers in less than 20 minutes. Mos...
03/25/2026

in 1911, a fire tore through the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory, killing 146 workers in less than 20 minutes. Most were young Jewish and Italian immigrant women and girls working on the upper floors of the Asch Building. Locked doors, overcrowded elevators, and a narrow fire escape that collapsed under the strain turned the factory into a death trap.

Taken five days later, on March 30, 1911, this photograph shows the Asch Building in the aftermath of one of the deadliest workplace disasters in New York City history. Public outrage after the fire helped drive a wave of workplace safety reforms in New York, even as many families received little justice: factory owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were acquitted of manslaughter, and some victims’ families received only modest compensation.

Learn more in Activist New York, including the case study “I Am a Working Girl! Upheaval in the Garment Trades, 1900 to 1915.”

Did you know? Prohibition did not go unchallenged in New York. These photographs show an anti-Prohibition parade held on...
03/24/2026

Did you know? Prohibition did not go unchallenged in New York. These photographs show an anti-Prohibition parade held on July 4, 1921, just over a year after the 18th Amendment took effect. With decorated floats, costumes, and signs like “Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake,” the parade turned opposition to the federal ban on alcohol into a public spectacle in the streets of the city.

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