Bronx County Historical Society, Poe Cottage, and the Museum of Bronx History [NY]

Description

The Bronx County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of the Bronx, New York City. To this end, the society operates a research library, the county archives, the Poe Cottage, and a local history museum within the 1758 Valentine-Varian House. The 1812 Poe Cottage was Edgar Allan Poe's final home. He lived on site between 1846 and 1849. "Annabel Lee" was written during this time. Poe (1809-1849) is credited with creating the detective fiction genre, as well as being an early writer of American short stories. He is classified as a Romantic author; and his poetry, short stories, and novels lean toward the macabre. Famous works include "The Raven," "The Black Cat," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," "The Tell-Tale Heart," and "Annabel Lee."

The society offers student tours and interactive activities in both historic homes, presentations for students, outreach programs for students, and neighborhood walking tours for students. The Poe Cottage offers period rooms, an introductory video, and guided tours. The Museum of Bronx History offers rotating exhibits. Both the archives and research library are open to the public by appointment. Payment of a fee is required for research assistance.

The Poe Cottage is undergoing renovations. Please check the website to verify that it will be open at the time which you wish to visit.

Yonkers Fire Museum [NY]

Description

The Yonkers Fire Museum is dedicated to preserving the history of the Yonker's Fire Department. The museum houses an impressive collection of firefighting memorabilia and artifacts, including a vintage hand pumper.

The museum offers exhibits and guided tours. The website offers visitor information and a photo gallery.

New York City Police Museum [NY]

Description

The New York City Police Museum presents the cultural history, traditions, and policies of the New York City Police Department—the single largest police force in the world. Artifacts date back to early Dutch settlement. The site includes information relevant to September 11, 2001, as well as a memorial hall honoring officers who fell in the line of duty. Exhibit topics include police dress, transportation, communication equipment, portraits, weaponry, 9/11, and jails.

The site offers exhibits, films, and a child safety program designed for parents and guardians. Reservations are required for school groups.

Van Cortlandt House Museum [NY]

Description

Van Cortlandt House Museum is a beautiful historical house museum located in Van Cortlandt Park, which is in the Bronx. The house was home to the wealthy Van Cortlandt family, and takes visitors back to a period when Van Cortlandt Park was no more than a farm.

The museum offers individual and group tours along with special events. The website offers visitor information.

Morris-Jumel Mansion [NY]

Description

The 1765 Palladian-style Morris-Jumel Mansion is the oldest residence in Manhattan. It served as the headquarters of George Washington between September and October 1776. Given its location on high ground, the residence was attractive to military commanders; and it was used by a number of Englishmen and Hessians for that reason. After the Revolutionary War, the home became an inn; and the interior was decorated in the French Imperial style in the early 19th-century. John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Knox, and Alexander Hamilton all dined at the site in 1790.

The mansion offers period rooms, self-guided tours, one-hour guided group tours of the home, one hour guided group tours of the neighborhood, art workshops, lectures, an annual classical music series, and 90-minute educational programs which meet state educational standards. Reservations are required for group tours, and 10 or more visitors must be present. The website offers a teacher's guide.

Landmark West! [NY]

Description

Landmark West! is an advocacy and education organization striving for preservation of the historical architecture from 59th to 110th Streets between Central Park West and Riverside Drive in New York City's Upper West Side.

The organization offers an educational program titled "Keeping the Past for the Future," which was awarded the American Architectural Foundation's Award of Merit for K-12 Architectural Education in February 2008. The program includes a student workbook, lessons, walking tours, and workshops; and is free to New York City public schools.

Dyckman House Park [NY]

Description

The Dyckman House Park consists of a circa 1784 Dutch Colonial farmhouse, surrounded by a small park, in New York City. The site focuses on the years 1815 through 1820 and 1915 through 1916, referred to by the park as the "farm" and "city" periods of the property.

The park offers period rooms, guided tours, educational programs which meet state educational standards. Reservations are required for groups of ten or more. The website offers pre- and post-visit activities.

Fraunces Tavern Museum [NY]

Description

The Fraunces Tavern Museum commemorates the historical use of the Fraunces tavern, originally built as a residence in 1719. After being remade into a tavern in 1762, the structure served as the early Departments of War, the Treasury, and Foreign Affairs, as well as the site of George Washington's 1783 farewell address to the officers of the Continental Army. The museum currently includes the original tavern and four 19th-century buildings. Exhibits include Revolutionary War topics; an 18th-century public dining room, site of Washington's farewell address; and the Clinton Room, named after New York's first governor of American citizenship, George Clinton. Collection highlights include one of George Washington's false teeth.

The museum offers period rooms, exhibits, educational programs on early American taverns and the Revolutionary War, and lectures.

Museum of the City of New York [NY]

Description

The Museum of the City of New York presents the history of New York City and its people. Permanent exhibits offer artifacts and information relevant to New York's theatrical history, interior design, firefighting, maritime commerce, and toys made or used in the city. The collection consists of 1.5 million items in the following categories: decorative arts; prints, photographs, paintings, sculptures, and drawings of the city and/or its people; theater and Broadway; toys; and costumes and textiles.

The museum offers a 25-minute introductory multimedia presentation, exhibits, lectures, performances, guided school tours, educational programs, self-guided tours, summer programs, educator workshops, an after school architecture and urban planning program, and Saturday American history classes. Reservations are required for all school groups, guided or self-guided. Headsets and neck loops are available for hard-of-hearing visitors, and all films are captioned. The website offers materials for self-guided school groups.

Due to ongoing renovations, the fire engines are in storage; and the halls containing the exhibit New York Interiors (1690-1906) is currently closed.

Worklore: Brooklyn Workers Speak

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Photo, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Construction Workers, 1947
Annotation

This site explores the work lives of Brooklynites (historic and present) as they made their living in the borough. The site has four main sections: Confronting Racial Bias documents discrimination in the workplace; Women Breaking Barriers examines the ways in which women's work roles changed over the decades; Seeking a Better Life takes a look at the issues facing new immigrants; and Changes in the Workplace discusses challenges such as unemployment and job displacement.

Each section contains an approximately 2,000-word article on its respective topic, photographs, and audio files of people speaking about their various vocations. The site also includes eight help wanted advertisements from the 1850s, 1860s, 1920s, and 1930s.

Visitors should not miss the interactive feature Can You Make Ends Meet?, where they can pick one of four vocations, and see if they can stretch their salary out to adequately include housing, transportation, and entertainment.

Telling Your Story allows visitors to share their own recollections of Brooklyn life. The site includes few primary sources, but the personal stories of Brooklyn workers may be useful to students, teachers, or researchers.