The New York Historical Society welcomes rebranding and a wing dedicated to the history of American democracy, the museum announced Sunday. Philanthropists Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar L. Tang made it possible by donating $20 million to the institution.
The historic Upper West Side museum, which opened in 1804 and still hosts exhibits on the history of New York and America, is the oldest museum in the city. Within its halls are permanent exhibits and temporary displays on topics such as slavery, human rights, feminism, and politics, which always qualified it as an interesting place historically and educationally.
The museum chronicles 400 years of American history through sculptures, drawings, statues, design works such as Tiffany lamps, and historical objects evocative of American history such as the Bible used for George Washington’s inauguration in 1789. It is also designed to accommodate children who can learn about history by playing in the dedicated room. The facility also has an auditorium that shows short films recounting significant historical events.
Now, however, after a full 220 years, the New-York Historical Society is changing its name to New York Historical. As stated on the museum’s official website, the new wing will complement the institution’s majestic architectural complex on Central Park West and will serve as the home of the Academy for American Democracy at New-York Historical and the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Center for Teaching Democracy. The new space will allow them to increase the number of students in the Academy tenfold, from 3,000 to 30,000 per year, and increase the number of educators reached through the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Center for Teaching Democracy.
The top floor of the new wing will house America’s first museum dedicated to the history of the LGBTQ+ community.
Ken Weine, senior vice president and chief content officer of the museum, pointed out that rebranding, which will go into effect on Tuesday, was intended with the goal of distinguishing the museum from the many other historical societies in the country, but also to be make it more welcoming, since the word “society” included in the official name may have “a little bit of a high-sounding air,” he said.
Weine acknowledged that instead, the new, more simplified name “New York Historical” does not necessarily “make grammatical sense,” but compared it to an Apple’s marketing campaign and its well-known “Think different” slogan.
