About the Museum
The Museum of the City of New York fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world’s most influential metropolis. It engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city’s past, present, and future.
Our History
The Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923 by Henry Collins Brown, a Scottish-born writer with a vision for a populist approach to the city. The Museum was originally housed in Gracie Mansion, the future residence of the Mayor of New York. Hardinge Scholle succeeded Henry Brown in 1926 and began planning a new home for the Museum. The City offered land on Fifth Avenue on 103rd-104th Streets and construction for Joseph H. Freedlander’s Georgian Colonial-Revival design for the building started in 1929 and was completed in 1932. During the next few decades, the Museum amassed a considerable collection of exceptional items, including several of Eugene O’Neill’s handwritten manuscripts, a complete room of Duncan Phyfe furniture, 412 glass negatives taken by Jacob Riis and donated by his son, a man’s suit worn to George Washington’s Inaugural Ball, and the Carrie Walter Stettheimer dollhouse, which contains a miniature work by Marcel Duchamp. Today the Museum’s collection contains approximately 750,000 objects, including prints, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, paintings, sculpture, toys, and theatrical memorabilia.
Board of Trustees
William C. Vrattos, Chair; Whitney W. Donhauser, President & Ronay Menschel Director; James G. Dinan, Vice Chair & Chairman Emeritus; Newton P.S. Merrill, Vice Chair & Chairman Emeritus; Ronay Menschel, Vice Chair
Elizabeth Belfer, Jason Berg, Lucinda Bhavsar, Cynthia Foster Curry, Todd DeGarmo, Barbara J. Fife, Robert Finger, Thomas M. Flexner, Elba Galvan, Leslie V. Godridge, Budd S. Goldman, Robert Goldstein, Lorna B. Goodman, Elizabeth Graziolo, David Guin, John Heller, Stephanie Hessler, Robert A. Jeffe, Leah C. Johnson, Suzanne Karr, Stephen J. Ketchum, Stanford G. Ladner, Naml Lewis, Jeanne Manischewitz, Doris P. Meister, Gurudatta Nadkarni, Jane B. O’Connell, José Pagan, Tracey Pontarelli, Kathryn Prounis, Nathan Romano, Arthur J. Rosner, Valerie Rowe, Michael T. Sillerman, Mitchell S. Steir, Daryl Brown Uber, Peter Volandes
Ex Officio Members
Hon. Bill De Blasio, Hon. Eric Adams, Hon. Gale Brewer, Hon. Ruben Diaz Jr., Hon. Hon. Corey Johnson, Hon. James Oddo, Hon. Mitchell Silver, Hon. Scott Stringer, Hon. Jumaane Williams, Hon. Gonzalo Casals, Hon Meisha Porter, Hon. Donovan Richards, Jr.
Trustees Emeriti
David C. Clapp, Chairman Emeritus, Mrs. William T. Comfort, Vice-Chair Emerita, Marvin H. Davidson, Trustee Emeritus, Bruno A. Quinson, Trustee Emeritus, Elizabeth Farran Tozer, Trustee Emerita
Trustees Council
Marjorie K. Fortgang, Stephen S. Lash, Martin J. McLaughlin, Hebe Dowling Murphy, Suzanne Randolph
Select Museum Staff
Office of the Director
Whitney W. Donhauser, Ronay Menschel Director & President
Colleen Blackler, Executive Assistant & Manager of Board Relations
Collections
Lindsay Turley, Vice President of Museum Collections
Matt Heffernan, Assistant Director, Museum Collections
Lauren Robinson, Manager of Licensing and Collections Digital Assets
Curatorial Affairs
Sarah M. Henry, Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Chief Curator and Deputy Director
Sean Corcoran, Curator of Prints and Photographs
Sarah Seidman, Puffin Foundation Curator of Social Activism
Lilly Tuttle, Curator
Tracy McFarlan, Curatorial Projects Manager
Development
Keith Butler, Vice President, Development
Alyson Casey, Director, Corporate Relations
Charley Harris, Manager, Patron Services
Corin Infantino, Director, Institutional Giving
Jackie Zirman, Director, Special Events
Education Programs
Maeve Montalvo, Director, Frederick A.O. Schwarz Education Center
Joanna Steinberg, Curator of Education Programs
Sarah Greenbaum, Education Manager
Hannah Diamond, Education Manager, Professional Learning
Finance
Osman C. Kurtulus, Chief Financial Officer
Yomara Hernandez, Controller
Information Technology
Julius Erwin Quito, Director of Information Technology
Marketing and Communications
Sheryl Victor Levy, Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Marissa Martonyi, Design Director
Chie Miyajima, Digital Producer
Tara Dawson, Digital Marketing Manager
Operations
Jerry Gallagher, Chief Operating Officer
Cherisse Challenger, Director of Event Sales
Henry Galindo, Director of Facilities/Chief Engineer
Lindsay Vint, Retail Buyer
Public Programs
Frances A. Rosenfeld, Director of Public Programs
Lillian Lesser, Manager of Public Programs
Annual Reports
- To view the Museum's Annual Report for 2019, click here.
- To view the Museum's Biennial Report for 2017–18, click here.
- To view the Museum's Biennial Report for 2015–16, click here.
- To view the Museum's Biennial Report for 2013–14, click here.
- To view the Museum's Biennial Report for 2011-12, click here.
- To view the Museum’s Annual Report for 2010, click here.
- To view the Museum’s Annual Report for 2009, click here.
- To view the Museum’s Annual Report for 2008, click here.
Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Statement
As the Museum of the City of New York approaches its second century, we commit to fostering understanding through exhibitions, collections, and programs, by representing this great metropolis in our staff and leadership. The Museum has devised an institutional action plan based not only in its audience-driven mission, but in its committed values regarding inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA). View the Museum's IDEA Vision and Process and our IDEA Action Plan, finalized and approved in April 2019.
In Response to Recent Protests
Read the Museum's Statement on Racial Justice in English and español.
Form 990
- To view the Museum’s IRS Form 990 for 2018 (FY2019), click here.
- To view the Museum’s IRS Form 990 for 2017 (FY2018), click here.
- To view the Museum’s IRS Form 990 for 2016 (FY2017), click here.
- To view the Museum’s IRS Form 990 for 2015 (FY2016), click here.
- To view the Museum’s IRS Form 990 for 2014 (FY2015), click here.
- To view the Museum’s IRS Form 990 for 2013 (FY2014), click here.
- To view the Museum’s IRS Form 990 for 2012 (FY2013), click here.
- To view the Museum's IRS Form 990 for 2011 (FY2012), click here.
Audited Financial Statements
- To view the Museum’s Audited Financial Statements for FY2019 and FY2018, click here.
- To view the Museum’s Audited Financial Statements for FY2018 and FY2017, click here.
- To view the Museum’s Audited Financial Statements for FY2017 and FY2016, click here.
- To view the Museum’s Audited Financial Statements for FY2015 and FY2014, click here.
- To view the Museum’s Audited Financial Statements for FY2014 and FY2013, click here.
Acknowledgements
The relaunch of the Museum of the City of New York’s website has been made possible in part by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation in honor of Susan Henshaw Jones.
The Museum is also grateful to the Altman Foundation for its support of digital initiatives.
Website Accessibility
The Museum of the City of New York is committed to being accessible to all, and we have worked hard to ensure that this website is accessible to people with disabilities. If you encounter problems accessing our online content or have suggestions or questions, please let us know. We will do our best to get you what you need. You can reach us by e-mail at website@mcny.org. Please included 'Website Accessibility' in the subject line.
Social Media Policy
MCNY’s social media pages are intended to encourage storytelling, cross-cultural understanding, and inclusive, lively debate.
To maintain an accessible, informative, and civil space, we ask those who engage with our social media content to abide by the guidelines.
