New
York City is filled with museums that tell the city’s life story, and by
visiting them you can see the evolution of New York from when it was settled in 1609 to
the present day. Here is a quick overview of some of the museums you can
visit when traveling to New York:
Liberty Island and Ellis Island: Take the ferry to both Liberty Island and Ellis Island.
Here you can view the iconic Statue of Liberty
and visit the federal immigration processing center. It is estimated that
40% of Americans can trace their ancestry through Ellis
Island.
Museum of Jewish
Heritage: This museum is said to be a living memorial of the
Holocaust. Through personal objects, photos and films you can learn about
Jewish life in Europe and the United
States. Visit each floor of the museum,
which are separated into chronological themes: Jewish Life a Century Ago, The
War Against the Jews and Jewish Renewal.
The Skyscraper Museum:
New York City is famous for its skyline. This
museum may be small, but it is packed with information about the skyscrapers
and the cities changing visual landscape through the years.
National Museum of the American Indian: This museum, which is one part of
the Smithsonian
Institution, is the first national museum “dedicated to the preservation,
study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history and arts of
Native Americans.”
Fraunces Tavern
Museum: Not only is this a tavern where you
can enjoy a good meal, but it is a museum as well. Tavern-keeper Samuel
Fraunces purchased the tavern in 1762 when the city had a population of only
13,000. The tavern lets visitors experience pre-Revolutionary New York.
Lower East Side Tenement
Museum: This museum preserves a slice of
history as it tells its immigrant inhabitants’ stories. Through the use of
photos, oral stories and personal mementos, six apartments were recreated to
look like those families that actually lived in the tenements from 1863 to the
mid-1930s.
Museum of American Financial
History: New York City is a major financial center: “The
Money. The Power. The History.” is the sign that you see as you enter the
museum on Wall Street. Here you can
learn about the history of Wall Street, entrepreneurs and legendary bank
robbers.
South Street Seaport Museum:
The New York City waterfront
has played a role from immigration to trans-Atlantic shipping. This
museum is the site of the original port
of New York and has over
20,000 paintings, ship models, and historical objects that depict the
history.
Liberty Island - Photo: Andrew Henderson/The New York Times)
Fraunces Tavern Museum - Photo: Robert Caplin /The New York Times)