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 are made possible through endowments established by
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Hearst Foundations
The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation
Public funds are provided by
Institute of Museum and Library Services
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer
New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature
Education programs at New-York Historical receive generous support from
Gillian V. and Robert Steel
Pine Tree Foundation of New York
Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Altman Foundation
IBM
The Hearst Foundation, Inc.
Sherri and Darren Cohen
Deutsche Bank
Onassis Foundation USA
Rice Family Foundation
Susan Waterfall
Robie and Scott Spector
Keith Haring Foundation
Con Edison
Alan Shuch and Leslie Himmel
Richard Reiss
Barker Welfare Foundation
Consulate General of the Netherlands
Dan W. Lufkin
Susan and Robert E. Klein
The Michael Tuch Foundation
Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation
GWG Foundation
Placer Partners and Ray Lent, Managing Partner
Henry Nias Foundation
an anonymous donor
SUPPORT THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Help us present groundbreaking exhibitions and develop educational programs about our nation's history for more than 200,000 schoolchildren annually.
| Out of an abundance of caution, the New-York Historical Society has cancelled all in-person school programs through April 30. To serve our learning community during this challenging time, we are developing a suite of free online history courses for students of all grade levels. If you would like to receive updates about our rollout of Digital Learning programs, sign up for our Digital Learning mailing list. |
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
Explore the residency topics available for your students.
Complete our booking form to start the scheduling process.
History on Broadway is funded in part by the Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation.
