News

Discover Barren Island with Author Miriam Sicherman on November 21!

On a now-vanished island in Jamaica Bay, a community of new immigrants and African-Americans transformed the city’s waste into industrial products and built a neighborhood from scratch. In her book Brooklyn’s Barren Island: A Forgotten History, author Miriam Sicherman (of Closet Archaeology fame) traces the development of this oft-forgotten community from the 1850s to 1936, when they were evicted to create New York City’s first municipal airport.

We will celebrate the release of Brooklyn’s Barren Island with a talk and book signing by Miriam Sicherman at the City Reliquary Museum on Thursday, November 21 at 7 pm! Join us to learn more about this fascinating fragment of NYC history.

RSVP on Facebook!

Opening Reception for P.S. NYC – October 24!

Installation view of P.S. NYC

Join us on Thursday, October 24 from 6:30-8:30 pm to celebrate our new exhibition P.S. NYC: Artifacts from NYC Public Schools 1850-1970! Marty Raskin, the inspiration for this show and longtime collector of Board of Education memorabilia, will be on hand to discuss his time attending and working in NYC’s public schools and how he has come to amass this wide-ranging archive. Light refreshments will be available. You can RSVP for the reception on Facebook.

It’s a Stereopanorama-rama on November 7!

Thursday, November 7 at 7:00 pm at the City Reliquary Museum

$15 General Admission$10 Museum Members (Join Today!)

Come and experience a retro-tech time-travel experience unlike any other! Immerse yourself in the 1950s through incredible Midcentury 3-D photographs — taken mostly by amateurs with the Stereo Realist Camera system. Emmy-winning writer and comedian Eric Drysdale has been collecting the amazing images produced by this largely-forgotten technology for 25 years and will share them with you in your own (for the night) high-quality restored vintage stereo viewer. New York City will be highlighted, but all of America is the star. Don’t miss this intimate yet spectacular trip to the past!

There are only 12 tickets available for this evening, so we highly recommend purchasing in advance to guarantee your seat (and stereo-viewer)!

Witching Hour Returns to the City Reliquary on October 27!

Sunday, October 27 – 6:30-10 pm – $10 – Advance Tickets Available Now!

On Sunday, October 27, the City Reliquary will host an October art party experience unlike any other! Produced by Jacquelyn Shannon and Omer Gal of Cookie Tongue, the evening will feature music, performance art, puppetry, film, ritual, dance, and more. Expect the eerie and uncanny, haunting images that appear only in the corner of your eye, sounds that linger on the wind.

Friday, October 25 – Cinema City: Not New York!

Cinema City: Not New York – Friday, October 25 – 6:30 pm

Tickets Available Now – $20 General Admission$15 Members (Join Today!)

The City Reliquary’s Fall event series, Cinema City, continues on Friday, October 25! Presented by Screen Slate contributor and NYC trivia expert (part of the reigning Panorama Challenge championship team!) Cosmo Bjorkenheim, each Cinema City program will explore New York City’s many and varied depictions in film through clips and discussion. From early Edison experiments to recent blockbusters, studio standards to cult favorites, you’ll see New York in a whole new light!

Our second Cinema City program, in Halloween-adjacent fashion, collects instances of other cities in unconvincing New York City costumes. Some film productions have cut costs by filming in Toronto or Cincinnati and dressing up the set to resemble our fair city. While often every effort is taken to create a convincing faux New York, sometimes this aspect of design is completely neglected (like the distinctive Vancouver SkyTrain posing as the NYC subway in Jason Takes Manhattan, or Melbourne’s checkered squad cars standing in for NYPD cruisers in Knowing). This program will explore these and other egregious examples of Not New York as well as appearances of places that have become permanent New York City sets, like the neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati which frequently stands in for 1950s NYC.

Your ticket includes a specially designed menu of themed snacks created by Lucia Jazayeri and Anna Gelb, a.k.a. Forest Dinners! Lucia is the Creative Director for Clover Food Lab. Anna is the Director of Events for Outstanding in the Field. You’ll also receive a drink from our friends at Brooklyn Brewery! (Non-alcoholic beverages will also be available.)

The City Reliquary Proudly Presents: P.S. NYC: Artifacts from New York City Public Schools 1850-1970

As students and teachers return to their classrooms this fall, they follow a 215-year-old tradition of free public schools in New York City. Marty Raskin, lifelong New Yorker, proud alumnus of New York City’s public school system, and retired schoolteacher, has spent decades amassing a collection of NYC Board of Education materials reflecting a significant period of this history, now on view at the City Reliquary Museum. 

Mr. Raskin’s interest in collecting NYC public school memorabilia stems from his own fondly-remembered student experience. Attending P.S. 202 in East New York, he recalls, was deeply formative: “The teachers, principals, and youngsters I grew up with made school an essential part of my life, and helped make me who I am. There was an incredible loving, caring atmosphere there. I became friends with some of my teachers and remained friends with them my entire life.” Mr. Raskin began by collecting Parker Duofold fountain pens of the style used by one of his instructors, and his collection grew from there to include school records, class photos, clothing, building fixtures, furniture, and teaching equipment. A dunce chair, used in the 1850s when pupils were taught in one large schoolroom, and a mechanical eraser cleaner, used in the now-bygone days of chalkboards, are two highlights of the collection on display.

This exhibition illustrates the lived experience of generations of NYC public school students: their fashions, tokens of school spirit, classroom decorations and attendance records. It inevitably invites comparison to the visitor’s own school experience, whether in New York City or abroad. Mr. Raskin’s positive schooling experience inspired a devotion to preserving the history of NYC public education. In prompting visitors to reflect on the similarities and differences with their own education, the exhibition asks them also to consider how to provide to all students the supportive atmosphere experienced by Mr. Raskin, and what those students might achieve as a result.

Mr. Raskin gladly accepts donations of NYC public school memorabilia. He can be reached at [email protected].

Saturday, October 5: Cinema City: Coney Island!

Film still of riders of amusement park ride "The Whip"
Get Aboard!

Tickets Available Now! – $20 General Admission – $15 City Reliquary Members (Join Today!)

The City Reliquary is pleased to announce our Fall event series, Cinema City! Presented by Screen Slate contributor and NYC trivia expert (part of the reigning Panorama Challenge championship team!) Cosmo Bjorkenheim, each Cinema City program will explore New York City’s many and varied depictions in film through clips and discussion. From early Edison experiments to recent blockbusters, studio standards to cult favorites, you’ll see New York in a whole new light!

On Saturday, October 5, 2019, Cinema City kicks off with an exploration of Coney Island on film! Coney Island’s thrill rides and colorful entertainment have made it a popular on-screen destination for more than 100 years. As its fortunes have changed, so too has its depiction on film. Cosmo will trace the history of America’s playground from dream destination to Darren Aronofsky fever dream in this hour-long program. You’ll have plenty of time to explore the City Reliquary’s collection afterward!

It wouldn’t be a film screening – or, indeed, a trip to Coney Island – without refreshments! Included in your ticket is an array of unique Coney Island-themed snacks from culinary creatives Lucia Jazayeri and Anna Gelb, a.k.a. Forest Dinners. Lucia is the Creative Director for Clover Food Lab. Anna is the Director of Events for Outstanding in the Field. You’ll also receive a drink from our friends at Brooklyn Brewery! (Non-alcoholic beverages will also be available.)

See you in the Cyclone line! Get your tickets here!

King Pizza Records Presents Psychic Luau 4!

Illustration of two festive partygoers drinking a huge cocktail listing the band lineup inside.
Art by Rachel Adler

Saturday, September 14, 2019 | Doors at 2 pm | $10

Beer lovingly provided by Brooklyn Brewery

It’s King Pizza Records’ 4th Annual end-of-summer bash! Once again, the country’s finest punk, rock, metal, sludge, psych, and undefinable bands take over the City Reliquary’s backyard. Wear your best Hawaiian shirt and dancing shoes, because this is a packed lineup and you’ll want to stay all day!

Featuring…
| The Royal They
|| Teen Mortgage (DC)
||| The Fucktons Family Band (extended Fucktons lineup!)
|||| Zip-Tie Handcuffs (Boston)
||||| True Dreams
|||||| Matt Witte
||||||| Slug Fest (Cleveland)
|||||||| World’s Greatest Detective
||||||||| Plaid Dracula

Celebrate our New Mural on Saturday, June 29

Mural painting of a swan surrounded by swirling flowers
A preview of the mural by Joaquin Torres Zavaleta

Mural Unveiling Party With Live Music! 1:00-4:00 p.m.!

The City Reliquary Museum is home to New York’s many histories, the multiple, interweaving narratives that make up this city we call home. This summer we are partnering with Argentinian artist Joaquin Torres Zavaleta to create a mural in our backyard, celebrating some of the NYC plants and birds that came from other countries. As these species made their homes here they transformed the urban environment. Some even became local icons, like the ever-present pigeon. Joaquin’s mural asks us to think about migration, settlement, and the ways that cultural exchange is embedded in our cityscapes. We are excited to welcome these birds to our backyard and to highlight how immigration continues to enrich and strengthen our city.

We’ll be celebrating the completion of the new mural with a party on Saturday, June 29! Join us for live music by Julian Harris (who also directed this great video of Joaquin’s work) and Sami y Sarah, and hear from Joaquin about his research and influences.

Many thanks to Residency Unlimited for connecting us with Joaquin and providing refreshments for Saturday’s party!

A Ticker Tape Extravaganza!

Join us for a very special event on Saturday, June 22, from 6:00-9:00 p.m.!

A ticker tape ribbon with event information

Did you know that the first ticker tape parade occurred in New York City during the Statue of Liberty’s dedication in 1886? Curious about what, exactly, ticker tape is? Join us on Saturday, June 22 at the City Reliquary to learn more about the past and present of parades in NYC! We’ll hear from Andy Breslau of the Downtown Alliance, which provides improvement services for lower Manhattan, including the famed “Canyon of Heroes” on Broadway.

If you’ve never qualified to be part of an official ticker tape parade (or even if you have), you can enjoy the experience in our ticker tape photobooth! Souvenir Polaroid photos will be $5.

This ticker tape event is FREE with admission to the City Reliquary Museum.