New York At Its Core Exhibition
In the exhibition’s second gallery, witness the dizzying evolution of New York as it grew into the modern global metropolis we know today. During the 20th century, cycles of financial growth and crisis continually reshaped the city’s economic, cultural, and social life, as did the influx of new waves of people from across the country and around the world. Steep challenges – extreme poverty and urban crowding, the Great Depression, the fiscal and urban crises of the postwar era, crumbling infrastructure and rising prices, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 – tested and ultimately affirmed the creativity and resilience of the residents of a teeming metropolis that had become the most influential city in the world.
Explore nearly 300 historic objects and images and a central video installation immersing visitors in the rhythms and dynamism of the 20th-century city through vivid, overlapping moving pictures. At a touchscreen station, you’ll find the moving silhouettes of notable people who embody the exhibition’s themes of money, density, diversity and creativity, ranging from industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to music entrepreneur Jay-Z.
To see central video installation film credits, click here.
Gallery Highlights
Learn how the 20th century transformed New York from a metropolis of streetcars and factories to today’s city of bike lanes and skyscrapers.
Find out how New York City survived a roller coaster ride of boom and bust between 1898 and 2012 and emerged resilient in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
View one-of-a-kind artifacts like the architects’ model for the Empire State Building and a ceremonial shovel, made by Tiffany & Co., used to break ground for the city’s first subway.
Immerse yourself in “World City in Motion,” featuring historic film clips of New York as it changed from horse-drawn carriages to taxi cabs, from lindy hop to hip hop and everything in between.
Meet 20th-century New Yorkers, from master builder Robert Moses to activist Antonia Pantoja, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Patti Smith, the “godmother of punk.”
Learn how New York’s Density, Diversity, and Money changed over the 20th century in the animated maps of “Mapping NYC.”
