City Readers Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library

The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library located in New York City at the corner of 77th Street and Central Park West in Manhattan. Founded in 1804 as New York's first museum, the New-York Historical Society presents exhibitions, public programs and research that explore the rich history of New York and the nation. The New-York Historical Society Museum & Library has been at its present location since 1908. The granite building was designed by York & Sawyer in a classic Roman Eclectic style. Renovation of its landmark building was completed in November 2011 which makes the building more open to the public, provides space for an interactive children's museum, and other changes to enhance access to its collections.

Since 2004, the president of the Historical Society has been Louise Mirrer, who was previously Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the City University of New York. Beginning in 2005, the museum presented a groundbreaking two-year exhibit on Slavery in New York, its largest theme exhibition in 200 years, on a topic it had never addressed before. It included an art exhibit by artists invited to use museum collections in their works.

Since the Society generally focuses on the developing center city on Manhattan Island, the Long Island Historical Society was founded in 1863. It was later renamed as the Brooklyn Historical Society, located in the borough across the East River. This borough was consolidated into the "City of Greater New York" in 1898. The BHS also has materials pertaining to the greater city and its region.