MUSEUM BASED PROGRAMS

Students uncover history's mysteries as they explore the New-York Historical Society's collections and exhibitions in our interactive museum-based programs. Through examination of objects, artwork, images, maps and documents in the museum galleries, students deepen their understanding of New York’s and America’s past. Our inquiry-driven programs expand vocabulary and develop critical thinking skills.

All programs are led by a highly qualified New-York Historical Society Educator or Teaching Artist. Classes can have up to 35 students and must have one chaperone for every ten students. Museum-based programs are ninety minutes and cost $75 per class. Lunch facilities are not available in the museum, but classes are encouraged to enjoy their lunch across the street in Central Park. Choose from our menu of programs listed below, all of which align with and support the Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies and New York State Learning Standards for Social Studies and the Arts. To register, visit www.nyhseducationdb.org.

E = Elementary School; M = Middle School; H = High School

Museum-based Programs

Special Exhibition Programs

Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn M/H
Students will investigate the relationship between the American, French and Haitian revolutions by examining artifacts and documents in the exhibition and two education galleries. They will trace three ideas that were transformed during the Age of Revolution—National Identity, Liberty, and Slavery and Abolition—examining how these ideas spread, changed, and altered the course of both American and global history.

Making American Taste: Narrative Art for a New Democracy H
This exhibition features fifty-five works from the New-York Historical Society’s collection that cast new light on both the history of American art and the formation of American cultural ideals during a crucial period from the 1830s to the late 1860s. By integrating history, literary and religious subjects with now better-known examples of rural and domestic genre, the exhibition explores the broad range of styles and narrative themes that appealed to nineteenth-century Americans seeking cultural refinement. Students will tour highlights of the exhibition and then delve more deeply into the works of art and their historical contexts during an interactive workshop.

DiMenna Children’s History Museum Programs

The DiMenna Children’s History Museum is a permanent gallery devoted to the interests and ability levels of children ages 8-13, and to the social studies requirements of upper elementary and middle school teachers. Occupying the entire lower level of the New-York Historical Society, the Museum explores 300 years of New York City and American history through museum objects, videos, games, maps and touch objects. The Museum is solidly grounded in scholarship and pedagogy, and it also a lot of fun.

The DiMenna Children's History Museum shows students that history is based on evidence and that historians are engaged in a kind of detective work. Teachers can sign up for an educator led workshop to explore this unique exhibition and to make connections to New York and American history. All lessons have the theme of History Detective. Class visits are divided between exploring the DiMenna Children's History Museum's pavilions where students work in small groups and use "Character Cards" as they practice their history detective skills, and time in a DiMenna Children's History Museum classroom.

A DiMenna Children's History Museum curriculum is provided to help teachers prepare students for their visit and to provide opportunities to deepen their understanding of how historians work as well as to maximize their experience at the Museum. The curriculum’s life stories, lesson plans, and primary sources allow a closer look at the many objects, images, and artifacts that are on display.

Collections-Based Programs

Early New York

Life in New Amsterdam E /M
Students will explore artifacts in our museum collection to learn about the exploration and settlement of New Amsterdam, and also how the daily life of these early settlers was shaped by interaction with Native American and enslaved people. Objects from the touch collection will allow students to experience hands-on life in the seventeenth century.

The American Revolution in New York E/M/H
Students will understand the causes, effects and significance of the American Revolution by exploring how it played out in New York. Paintings, documents, artifacts, and objects from our touch collection bring this important moment in our nation’s history to life.

The African American Experience

Slavery in New York E/M/H
Through exploration of artifacts and paintings, students will understand the importance of slavery in the history of New York. This program examines the role enslaved people played in the development of New York under Dutch, British, and American rule.

Seneca Village: People and Community, 1825–1857 M/H
By making a trip to Central Park (weather permitting) and studying primary source documents, students learn about this unique, integrated community with a school, churches and cemeteries that was razed to make way for Central Park.

The Underground Railroad in New York E/M/H
Students will understand the history of the Underground Railroad and how it affected people’s lives in New York State. They will also learn the importance of New York’s African-American community in the development and success of the Underground Railroad by analyzing paintings, artifacts, and documents from this period.

New York and the Civil War E/M/H
Featuring close observation of paintings, historical documents, and artifacts, this program traces the causes, experience, effects and significance of the Civil War. It examines the divisions within New York and throughout the nation over such topics as slavery, war and Abraham Lincoln.

The Nation Grows

Immigration: America Begins in New York E/M/H
Engaging with and interpreting primary sources, students explore the motives underlying immigration, and the experiences and challenges of traveling to and settling in a new country.

Industrialization E/M/H
Students will examine works of art and artifacts that show how industrialization impacted New York and the nation. From the robber barons to the factory workers, they will get to know the New Yorkers who experienced the problems and pleasures of a growing city.

New York-Focus

New York: Portraits of the City E/M/H
Through the study of paintings and sculpture, students take a chronological journey of New York views, including historical images of the metropolis and rich images of its inhabitants and their lives.

New York City: Then and Now E/M/H
Students will explore how New York City has evolved from the Dutch colonial period through the twentieth century. By comparing works of art, artifacts, photographs and prints from various moments in time to their modern day equivalents, they will understand the evolution of the city and learn to think critically about their everyday surroundings.

Historical Inquiry and Discovery

Learning History through Paintings E/M/H
Students will read paintings as both works of art and historical texts. By examining portraits, cityscapes and landscapes, they will learn how to describe, analyze, and contextualize paintings. This program can focus on a particular topic in American history, such as the American Revolution, the Civil War or the history of New York City, or it can explore paintings from numerous periods and the stories they tell.

Objects Tell Stories E/M/H
Students will become historians and observe, describe and interpret historical objects. They will discover objects from the past—from a waffle iron to an eighteenth-century coach—and analyze what they tell us about the time and its people. In the process, they will develop their visual literacy and critical thinking skills.

Toys and Games E/M
This program demonstrates how we became Americans through the games we played. Students will see examples of toys and games from the past and consider how society influences and is influenced by the most basic elements of life, including play.