Gilded Age New York
Invisible Magicians: Domestic Servants in Gilded Age New York
What was life like for a valet, a cook or a scullery maid in the mansions of late 19th century New York? How were houses with…
Articles
History, stories, and deep dives from the Bowery Boys.
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Bowery Boys BookshelfSpending the summer with two Pulitzer Prize winning histories
July 25, 2022
Two books won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in History this year, underscoring the excellent offerings on the history shelf in 2021. They are two wildly different stories but they share a similar theme -- the complicated relationship between the United States and foreign nations.…
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Health and Living
Hot as Hell: Surviving the deadly heat wave of July 1911
The New York Tribune of July 7, 1911, says it all: "Heat's Scythe Mows Down 56 On Fifth Day." The city was in the midst of…
Bowery Boys Bookshelf
‘Freedomland’: A New Book Explores the Story of Co-Op City
Most New Yorkers have probably never been to Co-Op City, the massive residential development in the Bronx. And that's partially by design. This historic development, built…
Bowery Boys Bookshelf
That Kid From Bensonhurst: ‘The Adventures of Herbie Cohen’
Playboy Magazine called Herb Cohen "the world's greatest negotiator" and whether or not that was true, Cohen could convince you that it most certainly was. He…
Music History
Forever Lena Horne: Nine New York places to celebrate her life and legacy
The superstar and civil rights activist Lena Horne had such a dynamic, multi-faceted and enduring career -- starting in 1933, she worked regularly well into the…
Bowery Boys Bookshelf
‘Rebels at Sea’: How Privateers Helped Win American Independence
Privateers have been much maligned in history, so much so that perhaps you didn't realize their important role in gaining America its independence from Great Britain.…
It's Showtime
The Ultimate Guide to Judy Garland’s New York: From the World’s Fair to the Palace Theatre
Frances Ethel Gumm was born 100 years ago (June 10, 1922) in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, a world away from the glamour of Hollywood and the lights…
The Gilded Gentleman
Victory and Apollo: Black Artist Models Hettie Anderson and Thomas McKellar
The tale of two artist's models named Hettie Anderson and Thomas McKeller -- their stories little known until recent years -- and the magnificent art they…
Bowery Boys Bookshelf
‘The Doctors Blackwell’: The riveting biography of two medical mavens
In 1857 Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell threw open the doors to the New York Infirmary for Women and Children at 58 Bleecker Street, revolutionary as being…
New York Islands
Whatever happened to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Island?
Welfare Island (once the more enticingly named Blackwell's Island) was New York's depository of human services, once a dour place of horrifying asylums and miserable workhouses. In…
Bowery Boys Bookshelf
‘Manhattan Phoenix’: How The Great Fire of 1835 Transformed New York
When a terrible fire swept through lower Manhattan on the late evening of December 16, 1835, and into the morning, many believed the city would never recover.…
Museums
The Origin of Met Gala and its Surprising Roots in the Lower East Side
The Met Gala is the most outrageously glamorous event in New York City, a fundraising benefit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute that also serves as a kickoff…