2010–2011 Annual Report R Revolution! 170 Central Park West at Richard Gilder Way New York, NY 10024 www.nyhistory.org A 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT B R 1 Charles Willson Peale, George Washington, 1795 (1867.299) 1 3 2 2 Unidentified artist, Martin Luther King, Jr., undated 5 6 3 W. Sharp, Half-length Portrait of Thomas Paine, 1793 4 7 8 9 10 4 F. Bartoli, Portrait of the Seneca Chief, Ki On Twog Ky (also known as Cornplanter), 1796 11 5 Unidentified artist,Portrait of an Unidentified Woman formerly identified as 12 13 15 16 17 Lord Cornbury, ca. 1700–1725 (1952.80) ThE NEW-YOrk HISTORIcaL SOCIETY, ONE OF 14 18 19 20 6 Enit Zerner Kaufman, Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, ca. 1945 (1947.228) 21 AMERIca’S PRE-EMINENT CULTUraL INSTITUTIONS, IS 22 23 24 25 26 7 Unidentified artist, Walt Whitman, undated DEDIcaTED TO FOSTERING RESEarch AND 8 Thomas Satterwhite Noble, John Brown’s Blessing, 1867 (1939.250) 9 Lawrence Kilburn, William Beekman, ca. 1761 (1980.51) PRESENTING HISTOry EXHIBITIONS, arT EXHIBITIONS, 10 Rembrandt Peale, Mrs. George Washington, 1853 (1910.2) AND PUBLIC PROgrams ThaT REVEAL THE dyNamIsm 11 Mathew B. Brady, Abraham Lincoln, 1865 12 John Sartain, Washington Irving, undated OF HISTOry AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE 13 John Wesley Jarvis, DeWitt Clinton, ca. 1820 (1854.1) WORLD OF TOday. FOUNDED IN 1804, NEW-YOrk HISTORIcaL 14 Unidentified artist, Marquis de Lafayette, 1785–1790 (1817.2) has A MIssION TO EXPLORE THE RIchLY LayERED 15 Anthony Meucci, Mrs. Pierre Toussaint, ca. 1825 (1920.5) 16 Joseph Wright, John Jay, 1786 (1817.5) POLITIcaL, CULTUraL, AND SOCIAL HISTOry OF NEW YOrk CITY CONTENTS 17 Asher Brown Durand, James Madison, 1835 (1858.10) AND STATE AND THE NATION, AND TO SErvE as A R 18 J. H. Kent, Susan B. Anthony, undated About N-YHS 1 NATIONAL FORUM FOR THE DIscUssION OF IssUES SUrrOUNDING Message 2 19 Asher Brown Durand, Thomas Jefferson, ca. 1835 (1858.9) Renovation 6 20 Unidentified artist, Lewis Morris II, undated (1979.85) THE makING AND MEANING OF HISTOry. ThE STOry OF 2010 – 2011 21 Unidentified artist, Frederick Douglass, undated Exhibitions 14 Traveling Exhibitions 18 22 James Van Dyck, Aaron Burr, 1834 (1931.57) Education 22 23 Pach Brothers, Alfred Emanuel Smith, undated DiMenna Children’s History Museum 28 24 Abraham Delanoy, Dr. William Beekman, ca. 1767 (1962.68) Public Programs 32 Library 37 25 Unidentified artist, Don Félix Varela, 1878 Acquisitions 40 26 Robert E. Pine, James Duane, ca. 1784 (1948.54) Chairman’s Council 44 Weekend with History 46 Strawberry Festival 48 History Maker’s Gala 50 Contributors 52 Financials 60 C 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT 1 A MEssagE frOM THE chaIrmaN R AND THE PRESIDENT RENOVATION. Our multi-year renovation, the cornerstone of our strategy for growth, is now complete. Our landmark building, originally constructed in 1904 then enlarged with three new wings in 1937, has evolved into a beautiful and Our multi-year renovation, transparent showcase for history, with its new glass entryway the cornerstone of our strategy and exceptional galleries and installations. We invested close to for growth, is now complete. $70 million in this effort, and visitors as well as the most casual passersby now easily recognize our headquarters as a destination for American history and for American art. Statues of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass grace our façade, serving as We have expanded visual markers of the stories we tell inside. our role in and redefined Our renovation also entailed installation of modern temperature telling the American story. and atmospheric controls and better illumination of the interior. At the same time, we expanded the actual space available within our building to allow for improved display of our collections and, most important of all, to give visitors a palpable sense of history Roger Hertog Louise Mirrer upon entry. We added a mezzanine in our auditorium to augment R by one and one-half times our capacity for programs, installing state-of-the-art technology and a multimedia, “destination” film. The New-York Historical Society reached a number of We continue to make important acquisitions, enabling us to Throughout our new spaces we incorporated interactive kiosks significant milestones over the past fiscal year, completing refresh debates and discussions about how our nation came to so that visitors—particularly younger visitors—can experience the final lap of a journey of transformation after years of careful be, and to enliven history classes and workshops for teachers and for themselves the historical process. planning by trustees and staff, and exemplary performance students. As always we seek new ways to ensure that our motto, Now that this work is complete our great institution is positioned by our architects, designers, and guest curators. “Making History Matter,” firmly rings true—as of November 2011 to double the number of visitors served onsite and to make good in a much more hospitable building—as a platform not only for We have expanded and redefined our role in telling the American on its promise that every individual we touch with our exhibitions our own rich offerings, but for partners that have enabled us to story, modernizing our landmark building on Central Park and programs will be inspired to make meaningful connections grow intellectually and materially as well. West and introducing state-of-the-art exhibits and audio-visual between the past and present, and be moved to civic action. effects. We have also solidified our efforts to reach larger, We take pride in the progress that we have made in transforming History has the power to change lives. more distant, and more diverse audiences with powerful new our institution from a dignified yet staid collection of historic installations, provocative public programs, and our brand new treasures to a celebrated locus for engaging in and enjoying the DiMenna Children’s History Museum and Barbara K. Lipman American story. And we are grateful for the active involvement Children’s History Library. and support of our Board and many friends. The City and State of New York have generously helped us to meet our strategic goals. We thank them for their partnership and for their great support. 2 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT 3 R R EXHIBITIONS. The character of the New-York Historical Together with the rich offerings of our Bernard and Irene Schwartz Society is perhaps nowhere better displayed than in the resolve Distinguished Speakers Series and new programs, such as this of our Board and our staff to carry out an ambitious roster of past year’s Harold and Ruth Newman “World Beyond Tomorrow” programs and exhibitions despite extensive physical renovations series on the Reagan-Gorbachev era, the President Bill Clinton underway. The past fiscal year witnessed three, highly successful Lecture Series in American History, and a lecture by Supreme exhibitions, The Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Court Justice Stephen Breyer, we continued to commemorate the Historical Society; Nueva York, a four-century history of Civil War sesquicentennial with acclaimed Civil War historian our city’s relationship with the Spanish-speaking world; and Harold Holzer moderating monthly discussions on the topic Breakthrough: The Dramatic Story of the Discovery of Insulin. with historians and writers. The Grateful Dead, developed with loans from the archive This year, we made several important acquisitions, including of the University of California-San Diego, explored the role the John Lansing, Jr. papers featured elsewhere in this report, of this iconic rock group in the social and political upheavals of History has the photographs from the 1939 World’s Fair, and other notable items. the 1960s—distant history for many people today! Nueva York Our roster of museum and library publications helped build our marked our first collaboration with El Museo del Barrio, across power to change lives. reputation in popular as well as scholarly quarters, with dazzling Central Park, and was displayed in that institution’s newly new catalogues of our permanent collections and new exhibitions, renovated galleries. Breakthrough, which benefitted from a and a book featuring questions often asked of our Library staff. new book on the discovery of insulin by Arthur Ainsberg and Thea Cooper, showed how science, government, higher education, By any measure, this was a very good year, our vision still clear and private enterprise came together to combat one of the oldest despite the tumult and dust of a major renovation and the demands diseases known to humankind. The exhibition relied on collections notwithstanding of New York’s American history museum. and staff at Eli Lilly, the University of Toronto, and other medical and educational organizations. Our traveling exhibition program, “Sharing a National Treasure,” also enjoyed a remarkably productive year, furthering our efforts Sincerely, to reach the widest of audiences. This year’s itinerary included: The American Landscapes of Asher B. Durand at the Fundación Roger Hertog Juan March in Madrid; Masterpieces of the Hudson River School Chairman at the Four Arts in Palm Beach and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth; A New Light on Tiffany in Albuquerque, N.M.; and John Rogers: American Stories at the Palmer Museum at Penn Louise Mirrer State University. More on these exhibitions later on in this Report. President & CEO 4 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT 2010–2011 ANNUAL REPORT 5 RENOvaTIONS The Most Exciting Change Renovation projects increase space for programming and complete our multi-year effort to become a state-of-the-art history facility. R In his review of the renovated New-York Historical Society, Completed over the past three years, the renovations to the published on the eve of our reopening, the New York Times’s building have enabled the Historical Society to meet materially Edward Rothstein wrote, “The three-year, $70 million remodeling the expanded intellectual enterprise which we undertake today: of the New-York Historical Society is not just a cosmetic affair.” to be a great, public forum for historical education, intellectual Indeed it is not.