New-York Historical Society

but though never violently american like some later writers who have consciously sought to throw off the trammels of english tradition irving was in a real way original his most distinct addition to our national literature was in his creation of what has been called the knickerbocker legend he was the first to make use for literary purposes of the old dutch traditions which clustered about the romantic scenery of the hudson colonel t w higginson in his history of the united states tells how mrs josiah quincy sailing up that river in seventeen eighty six when irving was a child three years old records that the captain of the sloop had a legend either supernatural or traditional for every scene and not a mountain reared its head unconnected with some marvelous story The material thus at hand Irving shaped into his Knickerbocker's History of New York, into the immortal story of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, both published in the sketchbook, and in later additions to the same realm of fiction such as Dolph Haliger in Bracebridge Hall, The Money Diggers, Wolfert Weber, and Kid the Pirate in The Tales of a Traveler, and in some of the miscellanies from the Knickerbocker magazine collected into a volume in 1855 under the title of Wolfert's Roost.

the book which made irving's reputation was his knickerbocker's history of new york eighteen o nine a burlesque chronicle making fun of the old dutch settlers of new amsterdam and attributed by a familiar and now somewhat threadbare device to a little old gentleman named diedrich knickerbocker whose manuscript had come into the editor's hands The book was gravely dedicated to the New York Historical Society, and it is said to have been quoted as authentic history by a certain German scholar named Goeller, in a note on a passage in Thucydides.

This story, though well vouched, is hard of belief, for Knickerbocker, though excellent fooling, has nothing of the grave irony of Swift in his modest proposal, or of Defoe in his short way with dissenters.

its mock heroic intention is as transparent as in fielding's parodies of homer which it somewhat resembles particularly in the delightfully absurd description of the mustering of the clans under peter stuyvesant and the attack on the swedish fort christina knickerbocker's history of new york was a real addition to the comic literature of the world a work of genuine humor original and vital walter scott said that it reminded him closely of swift and had touches resembling sterne it is not necessary to claim for irving's little masterpiece a place beside gulliver's travels and tristram's shandy but it was at least the first american book in the lighter departments of literature which need no apology and stood squarely on its own legs it was written too at just the right time although new amsterdam had become new york as early as sixteen sixty four the impress of its first settlers with their quaint conservative ways was still upon it when irving was a boy The descendants of the Dutch families formed a definite element not only in Manhattan, but all up along the hills of the Hudson, at Albany, at Schenectady, in Westchester County, at Hoboken, and Communipaw, localities made familiar to him in many a ramble and excursion.

We have six galleries, and our artwork really goes wide variety from contemporary to historic.

So right now we have Lone from the New York Historical Society, The Coast and the Sea, really traditional Hudson River school and really traditional marine painting from, you know, 1700 to 1900.

We also have Gio Rutherford of Spooky Waters of the World.

Gio is a New York Times bestselling author and illustrator from Sauk City, Wisconsin, who is TikTok famous, but also has written and illustrated these fascinating books about... spooky waters of the world.

That's a cool thing on your card.

I curate all drawings, all attempts of people to represent reality, and all that comes out of their head, even if it's not reality, I guess, in the drawings at the New York Historical Society across the street from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

You're also a professor of emeritus.

And I have actually written books without Jay, but now it would be very difficult for me because we have forged such a wonderful relationship and process of looking at art and representations of astronomical phenomena.

Image courtesy of Lawrence Schiller.

The New York Historical Spotlights Marilyn Monroe's agency and power through the lens of Lawrence Schiller.

On view November 20, 2026 to March 28.

2027.

100 years later and America still can't get enough of Marilyn Monroe.

In honor of the centennial anniversary of the year she was born in 1926, the New York Historical presents a new exhibition on her life, career, and her lesser-known attempts to wrestle control of her legacy.

On display from November 20, 2026 to March 28, 2027 in the Jean Margot Reid Center for Women's History, Marilyn Monroe Centennial, photographs by Lawrence Schiller juxtaposes the legendary stars on-camera and off-camera persona with images taken by photojournalist Lawrence Schiller on two film sets, Let's Make Love in 1960 and Monroe's last and unfinished film Something's Got to Give in 1962.

This is followed by a play-by-play of the career milestones and wider film history that led to her becoming a cultural phenomenon.

The nomination was researched and written by a Grove resident, a volunteer named Carl Luss.

In 2021, about 70 of those old snapshots went on display in the courtyard of the New York Historical Society in Manhattan.

Women in trousers.

A man in a mermaid costume.

a Grove resident, a volunteer named Carl Luss.

In 2021,

About 70 of those old snapshots went on display in the courtyard of the New York Historical Society in Manhattan.

Women in trousers.

Two years later, he photographed her for her last film, the unfinished Something's Got to Give.

To mark 100 years since Ms. Monroe was born, photographs of her shot by the now 89-year-old Mr. Schiller are going on display at the New York Historical.

We reached Lawrence Schiller in Los Angeles.

Lawrence, I wonder, after all these years, are you tired about talking about Marilyn Monroe?

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has won a $250,000 prize for his contributions to American history.

The New York Historical awarded him the inaugural David M. Rubenstein Prize for the Advancement of American History.

The jury praised Burns for his work on topics like the American Revolution and the Civil War.

They noted his films have brought the history of the U.S. to more people than perhaps any other single body of work.