What to see: exhibition highlights

Preservation in Progress: Picturing Immigration

Opens April 12

How do we care for and keep our collections for generations to come? Experience a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes of a museum object and witness the restoration of one of the most significant items in the Museum’s collection: Samuel Bell Waugh’s massive painting The Bay and Harbor of New York. This depiction of New York’s busy waterfront shows a group of Irish immigrants disembarking at Castle Garden, a massive registration hall opened in 1855. Preview the exhibition with CBS’s Dave Carlin, and stop by on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays to see conservator Gary McGowan at work. While you’re here, look closely at the process, methods, and tools it takes to preserve items, why we make the choices we do, and explore more moments of arrival.

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Coming up:

Spring Break begins next week! Drop in for daily Family Activities starting Saturday April 20—there’s something everyday through Sunday, April 28. Enjoy storytime, arts and crafts, scavenger hunts, and more. Registration is recommended.

Join a Watercolor and Nature Exploration Workshop Saturday, April 20 at 1pm (registration required; ages 9+) in conjunction with our school break programming. This afternoon features a painting tutorial and guided garden exploration produced in partnership with the Central Park Conservancy.

Close out the week with an afternoon of song and entertainment featuring Dandy Wellington at Uptown Jazz: Titans of Tin Pan Alley on Sunday, April 21 at 1:30pm.

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What to discover:

DIGITAL CONTENT: VIDEO

NYC Midcentury Fashion Secrets

Take a look at another behind-the-scenes venture with the Museum’s collection. This digitization project focused on our costume collection and was part of the 2016 exhibition Dressing Room.

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MCNY BLOG: STORIES
Jackie Robinson Day
On April 15 we celebrate Jackie Robinson Day-commemorating the day Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first African American to play Major League Baseball.

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