Themes in American History

After work this Friday, I decided to go to the MCNY, which is located at 1220 Fifth Avenue. I was accompanied by my girlfriend, who I had decided to impress with my (extensive, yes I said extensive) knowledge of NYC history. When we were approaching the building, from a distance of about 100 yards, I noticed a statue outside the museum, and excitedly and confidently declared that it was the statue of Alexander Hamilton. To her surprise (and to be honest, mine as well) I was absolutely right. After such an auspicious start, I was looking forward to entering the museum.

When we paid and went in ad looked around, I felt like a historian watching “Gangs of New York”. I was terribly disappointed. Maybe we just chose the wrong time to go but half the museum was closed for renovations. There were some beautiful pictures on the first floor on one side and The American Style: Colonial Revival and the Modern Metropolis exhibition on the other. The pictures were modern and so its placement in this museum was lost on me.

At the other end, The American Style exhibition was a lot more fascinating and interesting. There were many interesting exhibits – and what I liked most about it was trying to figure out which era it belonged to and what historical significance it had. Unfortunately, most of my guesses ranged from way off to pathetically way off. But as they say, alls well that ends well. Just as we were about to leave the room, the last exhibit was depicting George Washington’s inauguration. At this my girlfriend said, “Ohh I didnt know this happened in NY”. I realized it was another opportunity to show off – I went into a lengthy narration starting with the British coming thru NYC and George Washington’s army fighting well but having to retreat in the night to the French assisting America win the revolutionary war and George Washington declaring independence in NYC. How I would love to say at this moment that my girlfriend was very impressed with my knowledge – all I got was “Good for him! Is this enough for your extra credit?”

We then moved to the second floor which was filled with an exhibition about the life of Joel Gray. Joel Gray was a performer and photographer of whom I had never heard. They had some fascinating information, pictures and other exhibits from his life. All I can say is that I wish it was from either Alexander Hamilton, Robert Moses or someone we had studied about. Around the corner, was a room which showed the interior decoration of the nineteenth century, which was really amazing!! Right between Joel Gray and the old but amazing furniture was the  Timescapes!! Timescapes is a 22 minute documentary on NYC by PBS!! For those of you, who cannot understand all the exclamations and the excitement, PBS also made the documentary which we watch in class. I thought it would serve 3 purposes – (1) give me enough material to write in this blog, (2) be like a quick recap of everything we learned just before the exam, and (3) give me another opportunity to show off and impress my girlfriend with my knowledge about NYC history (Yes some guys never quit).

Timescapes left me happy but even unsatisfied. As you can imagine, getting the history right from Hudson landing in Manhattan in the early 1600s to 9/11, 2001 within 22 minutes is an impossible task. When they skimmed over the revolutionary war and Alexander Hamilton, it was saddening but to not mention the Draft Riots, Tweed, or Amsterdam Vallon (kidding) did make me feel like I was being robbed. Overall, in the limited time available they did do a pretty good job – I can attest to that as my girlfriend with a nice big smile said, “now that was interesting”.

Overall, it was a very fascinating trip, which reiterated the fact that I do have a passion and liking for history – something that I did not realize before this class. Just as we stepped out of the museum into the pouring rain (I swear I am not making this up) and took a left to go towards the subway on 103rd st, we realized that we were standing at the statue of DeWitt Jackson. I felt like this was the perfect ending for a trip to the NYC Museum, as I strongly believe that DeWitt Jackson played the most important role, with the grid and the Erie Canal, in the modernization of NYC.

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With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century, came a reformation of American culture. It was only a matter of time before new technology too over the world. New Yorkers saw it coming; however, they were not aware of how quickly it would revolutionize the country. By the 1920s, the New York was fl0urishing beyond belief. Goods were now advertised by people trying to sell them. Production of those goods increased. This mass-consumer culture which characterized the United States (Chudacoff 186) was centered in New York. “Leisure activities were another type of consumption mostly supported by city dwellers. A mania for sports, movies, and music gripped every city. Passionate interest in sports had been building since the late nineteenth century. In 1923, 300,000 fans attented the six-game Wold Series of baseball between the New  York Yankees and New York Giants” (Chudacoff 186). Baseball became a popular sport and was practiced by most people  in sandlots, beaches, tennis courts and golf links. In addition, motion pictures drew large crowds as it became a popular attraction with an average attendance of 110 million people per week in a nation with a population roughly over 120 million people.

One of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game, Babe Ruth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People crowd New York City's Warners' Theatre for the showing of Don Juan.

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Today I visited “The Lost Museum.” This virtual museum looked very realistic; I felt like I was actually visiting the museum. I can see how historical and artisitc the museum. Unfortunately, this museum burned down, which I found ironic because in the Picture Gallery, there was an article written by P.T. Barnum that spoke about mysterious fires in New York City and he was trying to identify the criminal behind these fires. “The Lost Museum” portrayed how it was one of the most entertaining landmarks in New York City during its time. If it were still standing, it would defnitely continue to be an attraction in the Big Apple. This museum doesn’t only act as an art gallery but it contains documents that explain some very shocking events in American History including the fires that raged throughout the city and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. New York City is currently known for its various museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Natural History; therefore, P.T. Barnum’s “The Lost Museum” would flourish in nowadays. It possesses many valuable artifacts from America’s nineteenth century entertainment and history. There were images and even figures of animals, tall people, presidents, anything; you name it! These aspects of the museum would make it a very useful historical tool of the nineteenth century.

The exhibit that intrigued me most was the one that had images of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, located on the second floor in the WaxWorks Room. I never knew that John Wilkes Booth was accompanied by two other men, David C. Harold and John H. Surrat. The image below shows the rewards that were issued on April 20th, 1865 by the War Department in Washington D.C. for the three men responsible for the murder of America’s beloved sixteenth president. There was another poster a few posts below talking about the image which is dedicated in memory of Lincoln. It’s the flyer for the play at Ford Theater, during which he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. I think that the addition of these historical artifacts adds meaning and value to the museum and definitely shows that this museum was a landmark.

Rewards for Abraham Lincoln's assassination.

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Fire lecture film ironic since museum was burnt down

When I first visited “The Lost Museum” I got bored and I was not interested. Truthfully, the ground floor did not really capture my attention. So, I decided to move up to the second floor and check out if there was something more entertaining. I was impressed based on what I saw on the second and third floor. I was also surprised to see that this museum was different. It actually had a wide variety of exhibits ranging from those that dealt with history, science, and entertainment. The lecture film about fire caught my attention. I thought it was a little funny and ironic that this museum included a lecture film about fire as both Iranistan (Barnum’s mansion) and Barnum’s American Museum burned down. It was also interesting to see the amounts of fires that destroyed New York City and how fires were such a big problem for the city of New York.

“The Lost Museum” showed me something very important about entertainment in 19th century NYC; that it is not much different than entertainment today. The “freak show” aspect of the museum reminded me of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum in Manhattan. The wax figures in the waxworks room on the second floor were similar to Madame Tussauds wax museum also in Manhattan. Many people in New York City visit both of these museums for entertainment purposes probably the same way others visited The Barnum Museum in New York City in the 19th century.

I thought the interactive aspect of this website was a very effective tool to choose to include. It makes the visitors feel like they are in a actual museum. It is as if they are able to walk through it, move up levels and it keeps your attention and interest. The strength of this website is its ability to depict a form of entertainment in the 19th century and show how similar it is to forms of entertainment today. It also informs the visitors of the website about several different historical facts such as the assault on Charles Sumner by Preston S. Brooks (which actually happened). In my opinion, I feel they should have attempted to make the ground floor more interesting or for it to contain more interesting facts as it would impress the viewers and keep  them in the website to continue o to the other floors so they could learn more.

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