: The young republic was a mere quarter-century old in November
1804 when wise old heads organized New York's first museum, the
New-York Historical Society. Its stated purpose was "discovering,
procuring, and preserving whatever may relate to the natural,
civil, literary, and ecclesiastical history of our country, and
particularly of the State of New-York."
The society was billeted in Federal Hall where George Washington
had been inaugurated 15 years earlier. In those days, New York
was a city of some 70,000 souls who lived in the two-mile area
between the Battery and Houston Street. Greenwich Village was
exactly that - a village. The organization at first was pretty
much devoted to meetings and discussions of literature and
natural history, but the early acquisition of founder John
Pintard's library in 1809 set the society on course. By then the
society's collections included 4,265 books, 234 volumes of
government documents and a startling range of almanacs,
newspapers, maps and engravings, manuscripts and portraits.
In the 200 years since its founding, the society's collections
have exploded in quality, range and volume. Now, when the
New-York Historical Society mounts a show, it has the ability to
draw from an astonishing range in its own collections.
