Guided Tour of New York Crystal Palace 1853

Description

New York Crystal Palace 1853 sheds light on a near-forgotten aspect of New York City's cultural history – America’s first world’s fair, held at the site of present-day Bryant Park. Presenting key objects from the mid-19th century, the exhibition illustrates New York City’s increasing industrialization and fledgling ambitions to contend as a global cultural center. The exhibition also explores the changing social fabric of the era, in which diverse, skilled immigrant populations produced many of the city’s highly sought-after consumer goods; new image-making technologies such as photography altered perceptions of environment and self; and increased public transit opened up new areas of the city to habitation and travel.

Our Gallery educators are BGC Master’s students who have undergone intensive training to work with K-12 students and adapt tour content to meet classroom educators’ curricular goals and standards.