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

William C. Vrattos, Chair; Whitney W. Donhauser, President & Ronay Menschel Director; James G. Dinan, Vice Chair & Chairman Emeritus; Newton P.S. Merrill, Vice Chair & Chairman Emeritus; Ronay Menschel, Vice Chair

Elizabeth Belfer, Jason Berg, Lucinda Bhavsar, Todd DeGarmo, Mignon Espy Edwards, Barbara J. Fife, Robert Finger, Thomas M. Flexner, Cynthia Foster Curry, Elba Galvan, Leslie V. Godridge, Robert Goldstein, Lorna B. Goodman, Elizabeth Graziolo, David Guin, John Heller, Stephanie Hessler, Robert A. Jeffe, Leah C. Johnson, Suzanne Karr, Stephen J. Ketchum, Stanford G. Ladner, Naml Lewis, Jennifer Marrus, Doris P. Meister, Gurudatta Nadkarni, Jane B. O’Connell, José Pagan, Tracey Pontarelli, Kathryn Prounis, Nathan Romano, Arthur J. Rosner, Valerie Rowe, Neel Shah, Mitchell S. Steir, Daryl Brown Uber, Peter Volandes, Nicole Washington, Julee Wilson

Ex Officio Members

Hon. Eric Adams; Hon. Brad Lander; Hon. Jumaane D. Williams; Hon. Adrienne E. Adams; Hon. Mark Levine; Hon. Vanessa Gibson; Hon. Antonio Reynoso; Hon. Donovan Richards, Jr.; Hon. Vito J. Fossella; Hon. Laurie Cumbo; Hon. David C. Banks; Hon. Susan M. Donoghue

Trustees Emeriti

David C. Clapp, Chairman Emeritus, Mrs. William T. Comfort, Vice-Chair Emerita, Marvin H. Davidson, Trustee Emeritus, Bruno A. Quinson, Trustee Emeritus, Elizabeth Farran Tozer, Trustee Emerita

Trustees Council

Marjorie K. Fortgang, Stephen S. Lash, Martin J. McLaughlin, Hebe Dowling Murphy, Suzanne Randolph

Select Museum Staff

Office of the Director

Whitney W. Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director & President

Collections

Leela Outcalt, Director, Collections
Lauren Robinson, Manager of Licensing and Collections Digital Assets
Sheryl McMahan, Registrar

Curatorial Affairs

Sarah M. Henry, Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Chief Curator and Deputy Director
Sean Corcoran, Curator of Prints and Photographs
Sarah Seidman, Puffin Foundation Curator of Social Activism
Lilly Tuttle, Curator
Tracy McFarlan, Associate Director of Curatorial Projects

Development

Keith Butler, Vice President, Development
Alyson Casey, Director, Corporate Relations
Charley Harris, Manager, Patron Services
Corin Infantino, Director, Institutional Giving
Jackie Zirman, Director, Special Events

Education and Engagement

James C. Horton, Vice President, Education and Engagement
Frances A. Rosenfeld, Director of Public Programs
Maeve Montalvo, Director, Frederick A.O. Schwarz Education Center

Finance

Osman C. Kurtulus, Chief Financial Officer
Jordi Valls, Controller

Information Technology

Julius Erwin Quito, Director of Information Technology
Jake LaMalfa, Manager of Information Technology

Marketing and Communications

Sheryl Victor Levy, Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Marissa Martonyi, Design Director
Tara Dawson, Associate Director, Digital Marketing

Operations

Jerry Gallagher, Chief Operating Officer
Cherisse Challenger, Director of Event Sales
Henry Galindo, Director of Facilities/Chief Engineer
Lindsay Vint, Retail Buyer

Information and photos taken from the site: www.mcny.org

Maps