Our Mission

The Museum of the City of New York celebrates and interprets the city, educating the public about its distinctive character, especially its heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation. Founded in 1923 as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum connects the past, present, and future of New York City. It serves the people of New York and visitors from around the world through exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections.

Our History

The Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923 by Henry Collins Brown, a Scottish-born writer with a vision for a populist approach to the city. The Museum was originally housed in Gracie Mansion, the future residence of the Mayor of New York. Hardinge Scholle succeeded Henry Brown in 1926 and began planning a new home for the Museum. The City offered land on Fifth Avenue on 103rd-104th Streets and construction for Joseph H. Freedlander’s Georgian Colonial-Revival design for the building started in 1929 and was completed in 1932. During the next few decades, the Museum amassed a considerable collection of exceptional items, including several of Eugene O’Neill’s handwritten manuscripts, a complete room of Duncan Phyfe furniture, 412 glass negatives taken by Jacob Riis and donated by his son, a man’s suit worn to George Washington’s Inaugural Ball, and the Carrie Walter Stettheimer dollhouse, which contains a miniature work by Marcel Duchamp. Today the Museum’s collection contains approximately 750,000 objects, including prints, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, paintings, sculpture, toys, and theatrical memorabilia.

Board of Trustees

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

James G. Dinan, Chair
Susan Henshaw Jones, Ronay Menschel Director
Newton P.S. Merrill, Vice Chair & Chairman Emeritus
Thomas M. Flexner, Vice Chair
Ronay Menschel, Vice Chair
James E. Quinn, Vice Chair
Bruno A. Quinson, Vice Chair
Lawrence J. Simon, Vice Chair

Hilary Ballon
Jeremy H. Biggs
Carolyn Brody
Michael Bruno
James E. Buckman
James Cacioppo
Pamela H. Cloud
Marvin H. Davidson
Todd DeGarmo
Vernon Evenson
James P. Druckman
Barbara J. Fife
Laura Lofaro Freeman
Mark F. Gilbertson
Leslie V. Godridge
Lorna B. Goodman
David Guin
James E. Hanley
Sylvia Hemingway
Jane Hoffman
Robert Jain
Robert A. Jeffe
Stephen J. Ketchum
Joan Khoury
Stanford G. Ladner
Stephen S. Lash
James A. Lebenthal
Nancy Mahon
Martin J. McLaughlin
Gurudatta Nadkarni
Jane B. O’Connell
Daniel J. Osheyack
Tracey Pontarelli
Kathryn Prounis
Valerie Rowe
Mary Burwell Schorr
Ann Spence
Mitchell S. Steir
Jeffrey S. Tabak
Elizabeth Farran Tozer
Daryl Brown Uber
William C. Vrattos

EX OFFICIO MEMBERS

Hon. Michael R. Bloomberg
Hon. Bill De Blasio
Hon. Ruben Diaz Jr.
Hon. Kate D. Levin
Hon. John C. Liu
Hon. Marty Markowitz
Hon. Helen Marshall
Hon. James P. Molinaro
Hon. Christine C. Quinn
Hon. Scott Stringer
Hon. Dennis M. Walcott
Hon. Veronica M. White

David C. Clapp, Chairman Emeritus
Mrs. William T. Comfort, Vice-Chair Emerita

TRUSTEES COUNCIL

Margery Fortgang
Martin Mertz
Hebe Dowling Murphy
Donald Oresman
Suzanne Randolph

Select Museum Staff

Office of the Director

Susan Henshaw Jones, Ronay Menschel Director
Colleen Blackler, Executive Assistant & Manager of Board Relations

External Affairs/Development

Susan Madden, Senior Vice President for External Affairs
Stephen Diefenderfer, Deputy Director of Development
William J. Dale, Manager of Development Operations
Michelle Levengood, Director of Event Sales

Operations

Jerry Gallagher, Chief Operating Officer
Peter Capriotti, Director of Merchandising and Visitor Services
Kate Lindquist, Director of Communications, Marketing, and Digital Strategies
Justyna Zajac, Communications Manager
Nilda Rivera, Manager of Licensing and Reproductions

Collections

Lacy Schutz, Director of Collections
Michael Dressler, Collections Manager
Giacomo Mirabella, Chief Registrar
Winona Packer, Registrar for Exhibitions and Loans
Morgen Stevens-Garmon, Theater Archivist
Lindsay Turley, Manuscripts and Reference Archivist

Curatorial Affairs

Sarah M. Henry, Deputy Director & Chief Curator
Donald Albrecht, Curator of Architecture and Design
Sean Corcoran, Curator of Prints and Photographs
Phyllis Magidson, Curator of Costumes and Textiles

Public Programs

Frances Rosenfeld, Curator of Public Programs
Emily Miranker, Manager of Public Programs Operations

Education Programs

Franny Kent, Director of FAO Schwarz Center
EY Zipris, Manager of Program and Professional Development
Joanna Steinberg, Saturday Academy Coordinator
Stephanie Dueno, New York City History Day Coordinator

Finance

Brian K. Herrin, Chief Financial Officer
Nancy Mercado, Manager of Human Resources

Annual Reports

• To view the Museum's Biennial Report for 2011-12, click here.
• To view the Museum’s Annual Report for 2010, click here.
• To view the Museum’s Annual Report for 2009, click here.
• To view the Museum’s Annual Report for 2008, click here.