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New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West at 77th Street
Events:
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Two Scholars Discuss The Social And Spiritual Impact Of The Suffering Caused By The American Civil War
Noted scholars Drew Gilpin Faust and David W. Blight in conversation
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 6:30 pm
ADMISSION: Non-Members: $15; Students, Educators, and Seniors: $10; Members: $8
The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
During the war, approximately 620,000 soldiers lost their lives. An equivalent proportion of today’s population would be six million. Historians Drew Gilpin Faust and David W. Blight explore the impact of this unprecedented carnage from every angle—material, political, intellectual, and spiritual—and delineate the ways death changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation and its understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
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Exhibition:
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Plague in Gotham!: Cholera in Nineteenth-Century New York
EXHIBITION AT N-Y HISTORICAL SOCIETY EXPLORES EPIDEMIC THAT KILLED THOUSANDS OF NYC’S MOST VULNERABLE
April 4 through June 28, 2008
ADMISSION: Members: Free; Adults: $10; Teachers, Seniors: $7; Students: $6; Children Under 12: Free
A new exhibition at the New York Historical Society, Plague in Gotham!: Cholera in Nineteenth-Century New York, will examine the deadly epidemics that hit New York City beginning in 1832, killing thousands of citizens and highlighting deep divisions of race and class. Plague in Gotham!: Cholera in Nineteenth-Century New York will run from April 4 through June 28 at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West (at 77th Street).
In 1832 the causes of cholera were unknown, and certain activities viewed as immoral -- such as intemperance -- were thought to make people more susceptible to the disease. Some directly attributed the vulnerability of the lower classes to contract cholera as a God-given punishment. The exhibit provides a view inside New York’s poorest neighborhoods, notably the Five Points, where cholera hit hardest. Those who could deserted the City, but for the poor communities of African- and Irish-Americans, escape was not an option.
Visitors to the exhibition will see maps illustrating the rapid spread of the epidemic and displays of remedies that reflect the limited scientific understanding of the disease. The exhibit also features portraits of New York’s cholera victims drawn from life -- and death -- at a hospital on Rivington Street. Also on view are daily reports issued by the Board of Health at the height of the epidemic, used by citizens to map the epidemic’s impact. Portraits and memorabilia of those who risked their lives to aid victims and fight the plague accompany these lists. An idyllic portrait by Asher B. Durand of his children, painted at the family’s New Jersey retreat while the cholera epidemic raged across the Hudson, provides vivid contrast to these tortured faces.
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