Virtual presentations of our treasured collections and select exhibitions are currently available for individuals and groups! Join us for a live, interactive journey through history, as Museum docents or curators answer your questions and walk you through a slideshow of objects and imagery via Zoom, an easy-to-use video conferencing platform that requires no special login or membership.

Scheduled Presentations

Below are our scheduled presentations for individuals. Click on the links to purchase tickets. Scroll down for information and pricing for our private group presentations.

Private Group Presentations

In addition to the scheduled presentations, private presentations may be reserved for groups of fewer than 10 people to up to 95 people per program. It's the perfect way to connect remotely with family and friends, colleagues, and various constituents through an engaging online exploration of history. Email group.tours@nyhistory.org for more information and read about the available presentations below. Pricing is $250 for a group of up to 50 people; $350 for a group of 51-100 people. Pricing considerations may be made for groups with budgetary restrictions. Reserve one today!
 

New! Scenes of New York City: The Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld Collection

A major exhibition to mark the landmark promised gift from philanthropists and art collectors Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld, Scenes of New York City features works by artists Marc Chagall, David Hockney, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Louise Nevelson, Georgia O’Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, and Andy Warhol, among others. Join us virtually for a celebration of views of New York City seen through a remarkable collection of works including paintings, works on paper in various media, and sculpture.

Safe/ Haven: Gay Life in 1950s Cherry Grove

During weekends and summers in the pre-Stonewall era, gay men and women, including many New Yorkers, traveled to the secluded beach town of Cherry Grove on Fire Island where they found opportunities for sexual exploration and self-expression—behavior that was both stigmatized and criminalized in the straight world. Together with creative figures like Truman Capote, W.H. Auden, Carson McCullers, and Patricia Highsmith, these visitors to the Grove took pleasure in the costumed parties, theatrical events, and liberated atmosphere that this gay sanctuary provided. This docent-led virtual presentation explores the gay and lesbian community that flourished during the 1950s in Cherry Grove through photographs and additional ephemera from the unique holdings of the Cherry Grove Archives Collection.

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The New-York Historical Society honors the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG)—the trailblazing Supreme Court justice and cultural icon—with a special exhibition and virtual presentation in fall 2021, based on the popular Tumblr and bestselling book of the same name. A traveling exhibition organized by the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg takes an expansive and engaging look at the justice’s life and work, highlighting her ceaseless efforts to protect civil rights and foster equal opportunity for all Americans.

First Jewish Americans: Freedom and Culture in the New World

This captivating story—explored in the New-York Historical Society’s past exhibition The First Jewish Americans: Freedom and Culture in the New World—is now available as a virtual presentation. Images featured in this presentation include archival documents, maps, ritual objects, rare portraits, and the 16th-century diary—lost for 80 years—of a Mexican Jewish man persecuted for his faith.

Cover Story: Katharine Graham, CEO

Native New Yorker Katharine Meyer Graham (1917-2001) never expected to become the president, publisher, and CEO of the Washington Post. But she thrived in that position—and even helped end a war and a corrupt U.S. presidency by publishing the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate investigation and informing an outraged public. On this virtual presentation, Curator Jeanne Gutierrez discusses the current exhibition and delves into a transformative period in Graham’s life, as her devotion to the Post helped her evolve from a self-effacing widow into a decisive media executive.

Nature and American Art: Highlights from the New-York Historical Society’s Permanent Collection

Experience the natural beauty of the United States through the eyes of artists in New-York Historical's collection. Discover how an evolving understanding of science and the emergence of early conservation movements shaped the 19th-century work of naturalist John James Audubon and the landscape painters of the Hudson River School.

Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow

Based on our 2018-19 exhibition, this virtual presentation explores Black Americans' struggle for equality under the law from 1865 through World War I. Learn about both Southern and Northern roles in this dark chapter of our history as well as Black New Yorkers’ organizing and community-building in the face of discrimination.

Meet the Presidents: A Look at the American Presidency 

Discover the evolution of the presidency and executive branch and how presidents have interpreted and fulfilled their leadership role with exhibition highlights from Meet the Presidents. Highlights include the actual Bible used during George Washington’s inauguration in 1789 and a student scrapbook from 1962 chronicling John F. Kennedy’s leadership during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
 

Women March

Discover 200 years of women's activism and celebrate the centennial of women's suffrage and the 19th Amendment with exhibition highlights from Women March. Led by curators from New-York Historical's Center for Women's History, this interactive virtual presentation uses photographs, campaign posters, and historic footage to uncover the stories of women throughout the centuries who organized and marched to end slavery, win the vote, and protect reproductive rights, among other crucial causes.

 

A New Light on Tiffany

Explore the New-York Historical Society’s collection of Tiffany lamps—one of the world’s largest and most encyclopedic—and the intricate techniques that created them with this interactive virtual presentation. View masterpieces of this elegant American art form and hear the personal stories of head designer Clara Driscoll and her team of “Tiffany Girls,” whose contributions were nearly forgotten by history.

 

Objects Tell Stories: Treasures of the New-York Historical Society

Founded in 1804, the New-York Historical Society is New York's oldest museum with collections that cover four centuries of American history and art. Hear the stories behind some of our most treasured historical pieces in this interactive virtual presentation. Among the highlights: the camp bed that George Washington slept on at Valley Forge; the silver Tiffany & Co. controller handle that was used on the maiden voyage of the NYC subway in 1903; the Hudson River School paintings of Thomas Cole and Frederic E. Church; and John James Audubon’s preparatory watercolors for The Birds of America.

The Eighth Wonder of the World: The Brooklyn Bridge

Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was hailed as “the eighth wonder of the world.” Well over a century later, it still stands as one of the world’s most recognizable spans. This interactive virtual presentation explores the amazing history of the bridge’s construction and the heroic and sometimes tragic stories of the men and women who made it possible. Discover how the bridge’s construction helped lead to the consolidation of New York and how old world engineering know-how and modern industrial innovation came together to complete the project.
 

Lincoln & New York: The City That Made Him President

On February 27, 1860, Abraham Lincoln took the stage at Cooper Union and delivered an address before a crowd of 1,500 people. This speech catapulted Lincoln onto the national stage and helped propel him to the White House just one year later. In this interactive virtual presentation, learn about New York during this era and why the city was instrumental in creating and sustaining the evolving image of Lincoln as a partisan politician, statesman, wartime commander-in-chief, emancipator, and ultimately, a martyr to union.
 

WWII & NYC: The Big Apple Goes to War

New Yorkers did not suffer the devastation experienced by citizens of London, Moscow, Berlin, or Tokyo during World War II. But New York City was a center of activity and contributed disproportionately to the final victory. New York produced everything from battleships to brassieres and periscopes to penicillin, and more than three million troops and over 63 million tons of supplies passed through New York Harbor en route to the battlefield. In this interactive virtual presentation, hear little-known stories such as how a group of German saboteurs landed on Long Island only to take the LIRR in the wrong direction, and why a portion of the FDR Drive is built atop rubble from Bristol, England.
 

Images: Nature and American Art: Robert Havell Jr. (1793–1878), View of Hudson River from near Sing Sing, New York, ca. 1850. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society, Purchase, Watson Fund, 1971.14. Bill Graham: Baron Wolman. View from the audience: The Rolling Stones at Day on the Green Oakland Coliseum Stadium, Oakland, California, July 26, 1978. Iconic Images/Baron Wolman; Women March Women's March 2017 by Vlad Tchompalov; The Brooklyn Bridge: William J. Roege photograph collection, 1910-1937. Patricia D. Klingenstein Library; Lincoln and New York: Louis Lang, Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment, N.Y.S.M. from the Seat of War, 1862-1863. Oil on canvas. New-York Historical Society; WWII and NYC: Irving Boyer, Prospect Park, ca. 1942–1944. Oil on academy board. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Selwyn L. Boyer, from the Boyer Family Collection.