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South Street Seaport Museum

Controversy Over Development At New York’s Seaport Historic District

January 21, 2021 by James S. Kaplan 3 Comments

South Street and Brooklyn Bridge (c. 1900)On January 5th, 2021, the City of New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission held a virtual public hearing at which more than a hundred people testified about Howard Hughes Corporation’s proposal to build a 47-story residential building at 250 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, at the heart of the South Street Seaport Historic District.

Fights over the appropriateness of tall buildings in Historic Districts are not unusual in the City of New York, but this one is uniquely centered on the purposes of historic preservation and the role cultural institutions play in helping to build and sustain communities, and themselves. [Read more…] about Controversy Over Development At New York’s Seaport Historic District

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Maritime History, New York City, South Street Seaport, South Street Seaport Museum

South Street Seaport Museum 50th Anniversary Celebration

September 2, 2017 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

seaport museum 50th anniversaryThe South Street Seaport Museum will celebrate its 50th Anniversary with a dockside celebration and benefit at Pier 16 in New York City, featuring cocktails and dinner, on Tuesday, September 19, 2017.

The celebration will begin at 6 pm with a VIP cocktail reception in the Captain’s saloon and on the quarterdeck of 1885 sailing ship Wavertree. At 6:30 pm the general admission cocktail reception will begin aboard Wavertree. A dockside dinner featuring catering by Cipriani will be held at 7:30 pm. [Read more…] about South Street Seaport Museum 50th Anniversary Celebration

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: New York, South Street Seaport Museum

Migrants and Millionaires on the Great Liners, 1900-1914

June 8, 2017 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

south street seaport museumThe South Street Seaport Museum has announced its newest exhibition, Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914 beginning on June 23, 2017, open Wednesday to Sunday 11 am – 7 pm, at the Museum’s mezzanine gallery level, accessible from the main entrance of the Museum on 12 Fulton Street. An Opening Reception will be held Thursday, June 22, 2017 from 7 to 9 pm, RSVP required. Click here for reservation info.

Millions: Migrants and Millionaires aboard the Great Liners, 1900-1914 is one of the first exhibitions to examine, side-by-side, the dichotomy between First Class and Third Class passengers aboard ocean liners in the early 20th century. [Read more…] about Migrants and Millionaires on the Great Liners, 1900-1914

Filed Under: History, New Exhibits Tagged With: South Street Seaport Museum

South Street Seaport Museum Celebrating 50 Years

April 28, 2017 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

south street seaport museumOn Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 1 pm, the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The celebrations will continue for an entire year (April 2017-April 2018) with special programming and exhibitions. [Read more…] about South Street Seaport Museum Celebrating 50 Years

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: New York City, South Street Seaport Museum

South St Seaport Among America’s Endangered Places

July 22, 2015 by Simeon Bankoff 3 Comments

South Street Seaport in the 1970sThe South Street Seaport has been named one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Places according the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Since 1988, the National Trust has used this campaign to raise awareness about the threats facing some of the nation’s greatest treasures.

The South Street Seaport is a designated NYC Historic District and is considered the first World Trade Center, as it was NYC’s birth place of commerce. [Read more…] about South St Seaport Among America’s Endangered Places

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Architecture, Historic Preservation, Manhattan, Maritime History, National Trust, New York City, New York Harbor, NYC, South Street Seaport, South Street Seaport Museum

Resilience and History: 2 Years After Superstorm Sandy

November 13, 2014 by Kathleen Hulser 1 Comment

BigULeveeSince 2013 the Rockefeller Foundation has been celebrating its 100th Anniversary with a focus on resilience, a theme devised to match its mission of global engagement with big problems. Judith Rodin, the president of Rockefeller Foundation has even found time to write a whole book, The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong. Mayor de Blasio has an Office of Resilience and Recovery run by Daniel Zarrilli, and New York has won a place in the 100 Resilient Cities Project which is trying to build stronger urban systems to resist catastrophes before they happen. But the waters are rising, and New York has been drenched again and again. Can human actions defy the cycle of damage and the predictions of future devastation proclaimed with every conference on climate change and disaster’s aftermath? [Read more…] about Resilience and History: 2 Years After Superstorm Sandy

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Advocacy, Disaster Management, Hurricane Sandy, New York City, New York Harbor, NYC, Public History, South Street Seaport Museum

Four New Online Resources For New York History

April 2, 2013 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

l-retro-computer-ads-80s-eg_largeHere’s a quick look at some of the latest New York History resources to hit the web:

The Museum of the City of New York and the South Street Seaport Museum have launched a joint “catablog” which provides online access to finding aids for their archival collections.  The archivists at both museums will continue to make more finding aids accessible via the Catablog as the collections are processed. [Read more…] about Four New Online Resources For New York History

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Hudson River Valle Heritage, Museum of the City of New York, Online Resources, Palisades Interstate Park Commission, Photography, Slavery, South Street Seaport Museum

Sandy Update: The South Street Seaport Mess

November 7, 2012 by Kathleen Hulser Leave a Comment

As downtown Manhattan assesses damage, more specifics are being reported, especially in low-lying Zone A. The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY), which is running the South Street Seaport Museum ,says that the storm surge waters soaked drawers of metal type in the Bowne and Co., Stationers. [Read more…] about Sandy Update: The South Street Seaport Mess

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Hurricane Sandy, Kathleen Hulser, Museum of the City of New York, New York City, South Street Seaport Museum

Sandy Damage Along Historic Waterfront, Islands

November 4, 2012 by Kathleen Hulser Leave a Comment

Hurricane Sandy’s damage to historic areas was concentrated along the waterfronts, islands and harbor in the New York area. Information is quite sparse at present, since power is still lacking in many places, and officials have not made damage assessment tours. [Read more…] about Sandy Damage Along Historic Waterfront, Islands

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Ellis Island, Fire Island National Seashore, Gateway National Recreation Area, Governors Island, Hurricane Sandy, Jones Beach, Liberty Island, South Street Seaport Museum, Statue of Liberty

After 25 Years, Albany Instiute Director Leaving

January 26, 2011 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

George R. Hearst III, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Albany Institute of History & Art, announced Tuesday that he has accepted the resignation of Christine M. Miles, who has served as the Institute’s executive director since 1986.

Citing a personal decision to explore new challenges, Miles tendered her resignation at an executive session of the board, held following its regular meeting on Monday, January 24.

“It is with mixed emotions that the board has accepted Chris Miles’ resignation as director of the Albany Institute,” Hearst said in making the announcement. “Chris’s contribution to the arts in the Capital District cannot be overstated. Not only has the Albany Institute enriched, educated, and stimulated our region under her expert direction, the arts community as a whole has benefited immeasurably from her skill, dedication, and experience.”

Throughout her tenure, Hearst noted, Miles has guided the Albany Institute, the oldest museum in New York State, through numerous advancements and challenges. Her long-range and strategic planning has brought the museum into its fourth century of service, Hearst said, and, especially in recent years, through some of the most difficult times the arts have ever faced.

“For almost 25 years, her vision has established the Albany Institute as one of New York’s most respected and distinguished institutions,” Hearst said. “We will continue to depend on Chris’s dynamic and insightful stewardship as we prepare to enter a new and exciting phase for the museum.”

Miles says her decision to resign as executive director of the Albany Institute was one of the most difficult she has made in her career.

”Obviously, this is not a decision that is made lightly,” she said. “The Albany Institute has been the center of my professional career for a major portion of my life. And, like so many other museums and arts institutions, it currently faces substantial financial challenges. However, I believe that the foundation we have worked to build here will help sustain this magnificent institution as it continues to meet these challenges. I look forward to assisting the board and staff in this time of transition.”

Prior to joining the Albany Institute in 1986, Miles was director of the Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City, and also held positions as director, curator, researcher, and project director at such prestigious institutions as the Octagon Museum of the American Architectural Foundation in Washington D.C.; the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City; the Museum of the City of New York; and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

During Miles’s term as executive director, in 1994, the Institute commenced a major capital campaign to fund a $20 million renovation project that added new buildings and state-of-the-art collections storage facilities, and substantially enhanced the museum’s educational, administrative, and exhibition spaces. The Institute broke ground on the project in 1998 and was closed from 1999 to 2001, when it reopened its new spaces to the public during a Grand Opening Gala.

Miles was also instrumental in helping the Institute gain a number of major grants and awards, according to museum officials, including a $250,000 New Audiences for the Year 2000 Award from the New York State Council on the Arts; a $500,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge, which enabled the museum to build its first true endowment; a $750,000 NEH Preservation and Access grant to aid in re-cataloging the collection, improving intellectual accessibility, and funding completion of the new collections facility; more than $750,000 raised over four years to fund the recent Hudson River Panorama exhibition, launched in conjunction with the statewide quadricentennial celebration in 2009; and, most recently, a $147,000 Museums for America Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services to fund a website redevelopment project entitled, Digital Renaissance.

Under her direction, the museum has expanded its outreach to include classrooms and students in 26 states and 42 New York counties. Educational offerings have grown to include home school programs, weekend Art for All programs, Vacation Art Breaks, and summer programs. A wide range of lectures, gallery talks, demonstrations, and performances are held each year, as well as popular community-wide events such as the Institute’s Free Thanksgiving Weekend and annual Museum Gala.

Additional accomplishments include overseeing publication of the Institute’s first book documenting its collections, 200 Years of Collecting (Hudson Hills Press, 1998); and the mounting of numerous nationally and internationally recognized exhibitions, including Thomas Cole: Drawn to Nature (1993); Matters of Taste: Food and Drink in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art and Life (2002); the 350th Anniversary Celebration of the Founding of Albany (2002); Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession (2005); Excavating Egypt (2006), and Hudson River Panorama: 400 Years of History, Art, and Culture (2009).

Miles has also served on the boards of numerous civic and arts groups, including WMHT Public Television; the Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau; the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, the University at Albany Foundation; and the Albany Local Development Corporation. She is a past president of the Museum Association of New York State and the Gallery Association of New York State.

In 2008, the Albany Roundtable selected Miles to receive its prestigious Good Patroon Award for her commitment to making the museum a broadly accessible cultural and educational resource. Established in 1988, the annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to the community by institutions and individuals. In 1996, she received the Women of Excellence Award from the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce.

“Christine is starting a new chapter in her life,” Hearst said. “We are proud and thankful for the outstanding work she has done to make the Albany Institute of History & Art such a vital and vibrant part of our community, and the board wishes her every success in her future endeavors.”

Hearst said that the Albany Institute Board of Trustees will establish a recruitment committee to begin a national search to replace Miles, who will remain as executive director to oversee the transition during the course of 2011.

Photo: Christine Miles, Executive Director of the Albany Institute of History & Art (R) in conversation at a New York Council for the Humanities Event in 2010. Courtesy NY Council for the Humanities.

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Albany Institute For History and Art, Fraunces Tavern Museum, Museums-Archives-Historic Sites, Public History, South Street Seaport Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art

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