History Detectives

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a civil and human rights leader who helped bend this nation’s arc towards racial justice. To mark and mourn this day, we’re digging into a famous statement of protest associated with Dr. King’s final days: the “I Am a Man” poster…

Today we’re re-visiting an interview with Ruth Behar, author of the middle-reader novel, Lucky Broken Girl. We spoke with Behar in 2018 when her book was a finalist for the Children’s History Book Prize and we are so excited to meet Behar in person this month when she joins us for our monthly family book…

Spring is in the air, which means it’s that time of year again—get ready to dive into reading the finalists for our annual Children’s History Book Prize and help us select a winner! Visit us here on our History Detectives blog over the next four weeks to learn about each of our finalists through interviews…

Every so often at the New-York Historical Society, you might notice a few women who are eager to tell you about the fight for women’s right to vote in the early 20th century—and they always look the part in their circa-1917 period clothing!  Whether celebrating new exhibitions at the Center for Women’s History, our new…

Happy Women’s History Month! This month our Reading into History Family Book Club is exploring the last seven years of the 72-year struggle for national women’s suffrage through Ann Bausum’s book, With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman’s’ Right to Vote. Through this book, we’ll learn more about the daring and sometimes…

Aaaand we’re back! If you haven’t read Part I of our in-depth conversation with Living Historian Michael Crutcher, who modeled for the Frederick Douglass statue outside of the New-York Historical Society’s 77th Street entrance, we suggest you start there. You’ll read all about how and why Michael chose to become a Living Historian who portrays…

Here’s your chance to meet George Washington! Well, not the real George Washington. We are of course talking about Living Historian and good friend of DiMenna Children’s History Museum, Michael J. Grillo! Michael not only portrays George Washington at museums and historic sites all over the place, he is also an experienced historical reenactor, tailor,…

Have you recently passed by the New-York Historical Society and taken a look at our statue of Frederick Douglass? Snapped a selfie with him? If you haven’t, 2018 is the perfect time to do it because we are celebrating 200 years since Douglass was born by getting to know the lesser known origins of the…

At our We the People-themed 2018 Family Benefit Party, families celebrated the history of democracy in the United States, including reenacting elections from the past three centuries. In one of these elections, families had the chance to vote in one of the most historic and often forgotten elections in U.S. history—the election of 1872. Although Ulysses…