Remembrance is the authentic capital of museums. This is particularly true of history museums, whose collections are the fountainhead of individual and communal memory. Portrait collections present the visual memoir of individuals and families. Holdings of landscapes and cityscapes evoke recollections of shared spaces, reinforcing an affinity with particular places and an awareness of their transformations through time.

In 1923 the Museum of the City of New York was established as America's first museum with the mission of preserving a city's remembrances, an objective as simple as it is profound. The Museum's founders believed that the material culture their new institution gathered would encourage natives and newcomers alike to learn about and value their distinctive and shared histories and, in so doing, would strengthen their sense of themselves as New Yorkers.

The collections assembled by the Museum of the City of New York over the past seventy-five years form the memory bank of one of history's most imposing communities. Jan Seidler Ramirez has probed a significant segment of this treasury: the Museum's sizable holding of city scenes. In her essay "Painting the Town: Collecting Cityscapes and Urban Character at the Museum of the City of New York," she links the Museum's collection of city views with the persistent attempt by visual artists to explore and preserve the complexities of the urban stage in a city undergoing perpetual transition. By placing the Museum's collection of urban scenes in the context of New York's evolution, she has confirmed the significance of the Museum's holdings as a resource central to the study of New York City.

This project would not have been possible without the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts; the National Endowment for the Humanities; Furthermore, the publication program of The J. M. Kaplan Fund; the Moore Charitable Foundation; and W. Cody Wilson. The Museum of the City of New York is grateful for the contributions of collaborating scholars Michele H. Bogart and William R. Taylor. Their informed insights stimulate consideration of this genre from new and differing perspectives. Barbara Ball Buff applied her knowledge of urban-scene painting in prepar-ing entries that add historical dimension to the art. Peter Simmons, the Museum's Deputy Director for Exhibitions, Publications, and Electronic Media, guided this book to completion with intelligence and perseverance. His associate, Kassy Wilson, meticulously prepared the manuscript for publication. Finally, the Museum thanks those curators and donors who over the years have contributed their talents and generosity to assembling a collection that serves as an irreplaceable visual memory for present and future generations of New Yorkers.

Robert R. Macdonald
Director
Museum of the City of New York