Online lecture. David Gellman explores the contradictions of the Jay family’s attitudes toward slavery over multiple generations. Enslaved and formerly enslaved people living in Jay households experienced isolation, even as […]

Reading. Midwood is a restless and intimate volume from a poet James Wood has called “one of the most original voices of her generation.”

In March 1938, German soldiers crossed the border into Austria, which was absorbed into Hitler’s Third Reich. Anticipating this, many Jews fled Austria. Sigmund Freud, however, stayed in his hometown of Vienna, even as prominent people who were close to him undertook a coordinated effort to persuade him to emigrate to England. Join the Museum […]

Maritime-themed book club that meets monthly. Tonight, talk about Dactyl Hill Squad: It’s 1863, and dinosaurs roam the streets of New York as the Civil War rages between raptor-mounted armies down South. Magdalys Roca and her friends from the Colored Orphan Asylum are on a field trip when the Draft Riots break out, and a […]

Between 1945 and the 1960s, the United States government brought more than 1,500 German scientists and engineers into the country through Project Paperclip to work on guided missiles, jet and rocket engines, aerodynamics, aerospace medicine, and submarine technology. The U.S. hoped these specialists could give them an advantage at the end of WWII and into […]

Reading. Registration required. 1863: In a small Creole cottage in New Orleans, an ingenious young Black woman named Stella embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army. Bound to a man who would kill her if he knew of her clandestine activities, Stella has to hide not […]

Professor Sarah Stein has spent a decade seeking out people who experienced fascist rule in Vichy-controlled Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, Nazi-controlled Tunisia, and Italian-fascist Libya. The diversity and eloquence of their accounts is staggering: theirs are the voices of oracles, critics, resistance fighters, soldiers, narrators, translators, philanthropists, and religious leaders of all genders, races, classes, […]

For descendants of Holocaust survivors who became researchers and scholars, whether they devoted their professional lives to the Holocaust or to other topics, the Holocaust often accompanies their professional lives like a shadow. The new book Researchers Remember: Research as an Arena of Memory for Descendants of Holocaust Survivors, discusses this phenomenon through the stories […]

Reading. In this haunting and noirish novel by a leading author and critic, an Indian writer travels to Berlin and soon finds himself slipping into a fragmented, fuguelike state.

Reading. So often, Africa has been depicted simplistically as a uniform land of famines and safaris, poverty and strife, stripped of all nuance. In this bold and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective, weaving a vibrant tapestry of stories that bring to life Africa’s rich diversity, communities, and histories.

Reading. A perfect storm of comedic proportions erupts in a DC bookstore over the course of one soggy summer week--narrated by two very different women and punctuated by political turmoil, a celestial event, and a perpetually broken vacuum cleaner.

Free week­end of read­ings, work­shops, open mics, instal­la­tions, per­for­mances, writ­ing activ­i­ties, book­selling, chil­dren’s pro­gram­ming, a beer gar­den, deli­cious food, and a whole lot of lying around in the grass lis­ten­ing to poetry. By unit­ing the largest com­mu­ni­ty of poets in the coun­try and offer­ing a unique set­ting for lit­er­ary activ­i­ty, the New York City Poet­ry […]

Online lecture. Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), legendary painter, poet, calligrapher and seal maker of the early Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), is considered as one of the greatest and most influential masters of art and literature in China. His special brand of calligraphic style, with fluidity, strength and grace, earned him the honorific title of the “School of […]

In Freedomland, Annemarie Sammartino tells Co-op City's story from the perspectives of those who built it and of the ordinary people who made their homes in this monument to imperfect liberal ideals of economic and social justice. Located on the grounds of the former Freedomland amusement park on the northeastern edge of the Bronx, Co-op […]

China has been on the spotlight for its rapid urbanization and tremendous economic growth. Big cities form a major theme in the mainstream Chinese film industry. On September 13, we will explore a different China —far from the bright lights of Shanghai and Beijing—with independent film scholar Karen Ma and Columbia University professor Richard Peña […]

Lunchtime talk with UCLA Law Professor James Park, author of the forthcoming book The Valuation Treadmill: How Securities Fraud Threatens the Integrity of Public Companies, who will discuss the history of securities fraud regulation from the 1960s until the present. Public companies now face constant pressure to meet investor expectations. The typical public company must […]

Join us at the Museum for a conversation with photographer Martin Schoeller and Sara Softness, the Museum’s Curator of Special Projects. They will discuss the Museum’s new exhibition, Survivors: Faces of Life After the Holocaust, Martin’s acclaimed work, and what inspired him to create this moving instillation. The exhibition will be on view before and […]

In the face of unfathomable horror, fleeting moments of bravery and generosity remind us of our capacity for courage and compassion, even under the most harrowing of circumstances. Seventy-seven years after the Holocaust, a new animated trilogy from Humanity in Action brings three such histories to life. The three films in the series – Voices […]

Lunchtime talk. A climate catastrophe can be avoided, but only with a rapid and sustained investment in companies and projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To the surprise of many, […]

Reading. In The Unfolding, A.M. Homes' first novel since the Women’s Prize award-winning May We Be Forgiven, she delivers us back to ourselves in this stunning alternative history that is both terrifyingly prescient, deeply tender, and devastatingly funny, meanwhile, New York Times best-selling author Jill Bialosky weaves an explosive tale of art and myth, desire […]

Lunchtime talk. A climate catastrophe can be avoided, but only with a rapid and sustained investment in coMerger arbitrage, or merger arb, is the investment specialty focused on investing in announced mergers, acquisitions, takeovers and other corporate reorganizations. It is a practice that combines math, judgment and a keen understanding of various legal, regulatory and […]

Online lecture in Chinese. On August 11, 1872, a group of 30 Chinese government-sponsored students departed from Shanghai and embarked on a transpacific journey to study in the United States. They were led by Yung Wing, presumably the first Chinese student to have studied in the U.S. from 1847-1854. This history-making journey has since been […]

New, maritime-themed book club. Literary selections are announced one month in advance, and Seaport Museum staff and special guests will stir up lively discussions, informed by a shared love of literature, history, and preservation. 'Saved at the Seawall' is the definitive history of the largest ever waterborne evacuation. Jessica DuLong reveals the dramatic story of […]

New York City, arguably the world’s Art Deco capital, is well known for its iconic towers. In a new book, New York Art Deco: Birds, Beasts & Blooms, photographer ANDREW GARN and writer ERIC P. NASH illustrate the myriad ways that Art Deco is drawn in steel, stone, terra cotta, brass, and bronze upon the […]

This LGBTQ+ History Month, the Museum is celebrating the release of Dr. Jake Newsome’s new book Pink Triangle Legacies: Coming Out in the Shadow of the Holocaust. In it, Newsome […]

From celebrity heartthrob, esteemed host of The Viall Files podcast, and adored member of Bachelor Nation Nick Viall comes Don’t Text Your Ex Happy Birthday—a no-holds-barred dating advice book. Custom […]

Reading. An explosive, deeply reported exposé of McKinsey & Company, the international consulting firm that advises corporations and governments, that highlights the often drastic impact of its work on employees […]

In this lecture, Nancy Rubin Stuart reveals the long-neglected voices of the women Ben loved and lost during his lifelong struggle between passion and prudence. Weaving detailed historical research with […]

Poet Sharon Olds in conversation with Sarah Ruhl.

Before 2001, homosexuality was considered a psychiatric disorder and needed to be treated in China. In 2009, Shanghai Pride became the first and largest LGBT event in China that drew […]

Bob Pisani has spent the past 25 years on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He has been on the front line of finance for all the major […]

Ami Sands Brodoff, Jennifer Steil and Alice Kaltman read from their work during this month's virtual salon. The theme: sexuality.

Novelist Jennifer Egan in conversation with Melissa Maxwell

Featuring new work from Mieko Kawakami, Martín Espada, Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Arthur Sze, Camonghne Felix, and more, the latest installment of the acclaimed literary journal Freeman’s explores the irrevocably intertwined lives […]

Judith Koeppel Steel was born in Berlin, Germany at the beginning of World War II. Her family escaped Germany in 1939 aboard the MS St. Louis, only to be turned […]

Fifteen years after the release of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Jewish Book Award winner, The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million is now […]

Lunchtime talk. Entrepreneurs are among the primary shapers of our culture, yet their role in driving progress and influencing society has often been overlooked. As far back as we can […]

New York City, arguably the world’s Art Deco capital, is well known for its iconic towers. In a new book, New York Art Deco: Birds, Beasts & Blooms, photographer ANDREW […]

Reading. In Dani Shapiro’s first work of fiction in fifteen years, she returns to the form that launched her career, with a riveting, deeply felt novel that examines the ties […]

In a blend of history, fiction, and magical realism, The Vanishing, is a new novel from David Michael Slater. The book traces how one girl, as a result of witnessing […]

In this lecture, Keith Beutler will discuss how surviving reported locks of George Washington’s hair in the holdings of more than 100 public archives and historical museums, including Fraunces Tavern […]

In the wake of the reunification of China, the Nationalist government initiated a comprehensive planning proposal, referred to as “the Capital Plan”, to reconstruct the war-torn city of Nanjing into […]

The global economy is at a crossroads. Can finance fix it? Proponents of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing say yes. They claim that new financial strategies that consider all […]

Book presentation. Bits and pieces of the lives led long before the age of skyscrapers are scattered throughout New York City, found in backyards, construction sites, street beds, and parks. […]

An explosive and deeply reported look at the systemic racism inside the American financial services industry, from acclaimed New York Times finance reporter Emily Flitter.

Journalist Helen Epstein is the daughter of Holocaust survivor and Olympic Swimmer Kurt Epstein. Helen has created a photography exhibit that will be on view at the Terezin Memorial from […]

Join Sara Softness, the Museum’s Curator of Special Projects and Elizabeth Miseo, Collections Manager at the Boris Lurie Foundation for a special tour of Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But […]

Reading. An unexpected, poignant, and personal account of loving and losing pets, exploring the singular bonds we have with our companion animals, and how to grieve them once they’ve passed. […]

As one of the “Four Great Masters of Tsinghua University” and a versatile genius in many fields, Prof. Yuen Ren Chao is known for having unparalleled enthusiasm and achievements in […]

Yaffa Eliach (née Sonenson) was born on May 31, 1935 in Eišiškès, Lithuania. She was just six years old when German soldiers invaded her hometown and massacred the Jewish population. […]

Patrick Radden Keefe Presents Empire of Pain in conversation with Ginia Bellafante. The history of the Sackler dynasty is rife with drama—baroque personal lives; bitter disputes over estates; fistfights in […]