Education
Discover dynamic education programs and curriculum resources about the history of our city, state, and nation.
Education Mission
The New-York Historical Society Education Division provides dynamic programming and curriculum resources for students and teachers in New York and beyond. Historical study sparks curiosity and creativity, promotes cultural understanding, and fosters an empowered citizenry to strengthen our democracy. Our staff of passionate professionals draws on our world-renowned collections to engage learners of all ages in the study of our collective past.
Education programs made possible through endowments established by:
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Hearst Foundations
The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation
Public funding provided by:
Institute for Museum and Library Services
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature
Important support provided by:Barker Welfare Foundation
BNY Mellon
Con Edison
Deutsche Bank
Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Keith Haring Foundation
Hearst Foundation, Inc.
IBM
The JPB Foundation
Susan and Robert E. Klein
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
New York Community Trust
Henry Nias Foundation
The Pinkerton Foundation
Fred and Joan Pittman
Placer Partners and Ray Lent, Managing Partner
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Gillian V. and Robert Steel
Susan Waterfall
Tiger Baron Foundation
and an anonymous donor.
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Help us present groundbreaking exhibitions and develop educational programs about our nation's history for more than 200,000 schoolchildren annually.
HISTORY ON BROADWAY
Teach your students to be savvy media consumers. In this engaging five-lesson series, American musicals take center stage. Analyzing this 20th-century medium allows students build their critical thinking and media literacy skills by comparing the vision of the past promoted by Broadway classics with primary sources that tell the real story. Each series culminates with the students expressing their newly acquired knowledge through role-play or creative writing exercises.
Every History on Broadway series is five lessons long. Each program is written to last one class period, up to an hour. For New York City schools, a minimum of two programs per day is required to book; for schools outside the five boroughs the minimum is three programs per day. Series cost $600/class for NYC schools or $750/class for schools outside the five boroughs. A $120 planning session fee is added for each series, and an educator will come to your school to set dates and review content with participating teachers.
Questions? Contact schoolprograms@nyhistory.org or 212-485-9293.
WHAT DOES EACH RESIDENCY INCLUDE?
Planning Session:
An educator visits your school to meet with the participating teachers to introduce the program and review unit objectives, technology available in the classroom, and school and museum policies.
Session 1
The class watches or listens to a clip from an American musical along with a primary source, learning the skills used to interpret media and examine a song as a source.
Session 2
After reviewing the content and skills learned in the first lesson, students view and consider a second song to further their understanding of the musical’s interpretation of the historic era. They explore primary sources—such as photographs, paintings and documents—to gather more evidence on the topic.
Session 3 & 4
Building on the foundation of the musical study, students use theater exercises—such as role-play, improvisation, and playwriting—along with additional sources to expand their content knowledge.
Session 5
In the final session, students return to the musical to reflect
