The History of the City

The Museum of the City of New York is a beacon that helps New Yorkers find events and cultural activities that occur in the city. With such a vast array of exhibitions, it would be an enjoyable experience for anyone. Located on 103rd Street in Manhattan, right next to Central Park, the museum is easily accessible to the general public. It is hard to miss; the front of the building is grand, with multiple stairs that have to be climbed before reaching the top. Once you enter the building, be sure to pick up a detailed map of the floor plan, as it provides the location of each individual exhibit.

The exhibit that most captivated my interest was “Campaigning for President: New York and the American Election”. It was probably set up at this time of the year to promote voting for the upcoming election. I felt attracted to this exhibit because this coming election is the first one in which I can vote. The entrance was composed of a long hallway that features past presidential candidates. However, the names were only in two colors, red or blue. At first, I thought that the colors split them into their parties, Republicans or Democrats. Upon further inspection, I realized that the blue-colored names represented candidates that were New Yorkers, while the red ones who were not. This information was kind of surprising to me since one-fifth of the buttons were blue; therefore, 20% of the candidates were New Yorkers, which is a large percentage if you think about all the other states.

Next in the exhibit was a collection of political memorabilia brought together by Jordan M. Wright. It consisted of a various assortment of presidential campaign buttons, some dating back from the early 1900’s. One of the buttons that stood out was a Donald Trump for Reform in 2000. Wright obtained 1.25 million of these pieces, creating one of most expensive and elaborate collections in the world.

In addition, there were cardboard cutouts of the presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain; even Hillary Clinton was included but that was probably because Clinton was a viable candidate when the exhibit was put on display. The life-size cutouts were a nice touch to incorporate the current election into the theme of New York. Did you know that New York has produced eight presidents and more than twenty-five presidential and vice-presidential nominees? From 1812 to 1972, it wielded more electoral votes than any of the other states. From 1868 to 1956, there was a New Yorker running for either president or vice-president for all but two elections.

Other New York City historical landmarks shown in the museum were Broadway and South Street Seaport. The detailed history of the sites were given, as well as the current uses for them. Overall, the Museum of the City of New York was pleasantly entertaining, and it helped me explore and learn about the culture of the city that never sleeps.