CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Museum of the City of New York

Founded in 1923 as a private not-for-profit corporation by Henry Collins Brown, a writer of Scottish origin, the museum recounts the past, present and future of New York, highlighting in particular diversity as its heritage, the opportunities it offers and its continuous transformation.
Over the years the permanent collection has been enriched with numerous objects including some of Eugene O’Neill’s manuscripts, a room complete with Duncan Phyfe furniture, 412 glass negatives taken from Jacob Riis and donated by his son, a dress worn at George Washington’s Inaugural Ball, the Carrie Walter Stettheimer dollhouse, which contains a miniature work by Marcel Duchamp, as well as photographs by photographers Percy Byron, Jacob A. Riis and Berenice Abbott. Finally, the contribution of private collections such as that of J. Clarence Davies who offered a collection of 15,000 paintings, prints and maps. Today the museum’s collection contains about 750,000 objects, including prints, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, paintings, sculptures, toys and theater memorabilia. In addition to the permanent collection, the museum offers temporary exhibitions, school and public programs.

References

Francis Morrone. The Architectural Guidebook to New York City . Gibbs Smith, 2002. pp. 868-869
About The Museum (Museum of the City of New York)
Museum of the City of New York (Wikipedia)