1918 was a year to be remembered for the Spanish Flu pandemic, the ending of World War l and at the local level, the opening of the first Municipal Museum in the United States.
The seeds of a Municipal Museum go back to the 19th century. The old City Hall was slated for demolition and an appeal was made in a letter-to-the-editor of The New York Times, to not demolish it, but use it as a municipal museum. [1] In the end City Hall remained intake and never became a home for the museum.
In the years that followed, the good government movement was gaining popularity and as early as 1904 an article in The New York Times put forth the idea of a museum of municipal progress, to pay tribute to Andrew Haswell Green, a New York City Planner and civic leader who was thought “The Father of Greater New York.”
“To the Editor of the New York Times“: A museum of Municipal Progress is one of our most urgent needs for educational purposes…” [2]
The New York Times, July 16, 1904.
However, before the creation of a municipal museum there were popular budget exhibits in 1910 and 1911. “The heads of New York’s departments showed by charts, pictures, object lessons and through personal representatives how much of the tax-payers’ money they spend, how they spend it, and how much they need for the next year.” [3] Towards the end of the 1911 exhibit in a “letter-to-the-editor”, Henry Moskowitz wrote. “Everyone who has attended the Budget Exhibit has been deeply impressed with the richness of the material.” [4] Ralph Blumenthal, Distinguished Lecturer in the library at Baruch College, provides more detail in his blog post: Hottest Ticket On Broadway — The Budget!
Visitors to the Budget Exhibit, 1912. New York Public Library Digital Collections
The movement gained momentum and finally in 1917 a new Municipal Museum opened in the uptown campus of the College of the City of New York.
“The first municipal museum in the United States has just been established through the efforts of the College of the City of New York, co-operating with the various city departments. It is intended to act somewhat as an academic clearing house between the citizens of the city, and those who govern it, supplying statistical data and general information to municipal employees and civic workers, and co-operating with real estate boards of trade, merchants associations, bureaus of city, inquiry, municipal research societies, and welfare leagues.” [5]
The museum was under the direction of Mr. Francis J. Oppenheimer, who was the originator of the idea of a clearing house for the citizens of the city and the city government, Committee members included Deputy Comptroller Edmund Fisher and Dr. Sidney C. Mezes, President of the College of the City of New York, It was decided that there would be a permanent budget exhibit providing information about city expenditures. There would also be models of the new subways, ferry terminals, school houses, playgrounds, etc. [6]
Greater New York. c.1 v.6 1917. November 12, 1917.
Mayor-elect John Francis Hylan was extremely supportive of the new venture. “We have ‘monkey houses,’ and ‘botanical gardens’ and ‘lion houses’ but this is the first ‘house’ to be built for Father Knickerbocker in which to ‘tell his story.’ ” [7]
By December 1917 a decision was made to relocate the new museum downtown to the old City College building at Lexington Avenue and Twenty-third Street. Some of the materials were to come from the budget exhibits, but most of the items were used in New York’s exhibit at the Panama-Pacific exhibition. “For some time it has been going, as a sort of trial beat in the main building of the new City College group uptown.” [8]
The Sun, December 9, 1917.
The Board of Trustees of the City College of New York on March 7, 1918 requested permission to take bids for alterations and repairs of the old Free Academy building to accommodate the new museum. [9] That same month The City College Quarterly announced that the exhibit of city government which was in the uptown campus was being packed-up to move to the 23rd Street building. Word on the formation of the museum traveled to Paris and the Institute of Civics in Paris was preparing to establish a similar museum. [10]
Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the College of the City of New York, Thursday, March 7, 1918.
It was a long time in the making but a municipal museum finally was founded on our campus. There is still a story to be told, but the answers have been elusive. How long did the museum last? Did it morph into the Museum of the City of New York, founded in 1923? Do any remnants of the museum still exist? Unfortunately, using arm-chair scholarship the full story is extremely difficult to locate. If anyone has the answers please let us know. I am sure our CUNY community will rise to the challenge! Have fun!
Notes
[1] “To Preserve the City Hall: It Might Be Used As a Municipal Museum,” The New York Times, January 19, 1893, p.10.
[2] “Andrew H. Green Memorial Favors Plan for Museum of Municipal Progress,” New York Times, July 16, 1904, p.6.
[3] Leorard P. Ayres, “New York Budget Exhibit,” Publications of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 12, No.92 (December 1910): p.371.
[4] Henry Moskowitz, “One That Would Make the Budget Exhibit Permanent is Demanded ,” Letter-to-the-Editor,” New York Times, October 20, 1911, p.12.
[5] “Municipal Museum Opens: Exhibits of All Departments Shown at City College,” New York Times, November 18, 1917, p. 21.
[6] “First Municipal Museum is Opened in This City,” Greater New York, November 12, 1917, p.15-16.
[7] “New York Established the First Municipal Museum,” American Municipalities, Vol. 34, 1918, p. 104.
[8] Harry Esty Dounce, “Municipal Museum Shows Graphically City’s Activities,” The Sun, Sunday, December 9, 1917, p.4.
[9] Proceedings of the Board of Trustees of the College of the City of New York, Thursday, March 7, 1918, p.14.
[10] The City College Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 1, March 1918, p. 27.