New-York Historical Society Teen Historians

Lite beer was first introduced by Miller in the mid- 1970’s. It was not the first attempt to market a light beer – Gablinger had tried to market a similar product in the late ‘60s with little success. Customers found this Gablinger light beer to be a watered down, worse version of normal beer, which…

The Ziegfeld Follies is an integral part of early twentieth century Broadway history. Illustrious producer Florenz Ziegfeld produced nearly 24 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies, many of which were performed at the New Amsterdam Theater. Inspired by the French Folies-Bergere, his musical revues featured large casts of women singing and dancing in a manner considered sensual but not as…

In July 13, 1863, massive riots spread across Manhattan, due to unfavorable conditions that the Conscription Act established. However, this hastily changed from being a riot for equitableness to be a hunt for black people. Thousands of buildings were burned during the riots, although most of them were owned by African-Americans. The racial nature of…

In studying the grand Broadway theaters of the “roaring twenties”, I have unearthed a New York gem: the Hippodrome, an iconic theater built in 1905. My research on the marquees depicted in Howard Thain’s “The Great White Way” led me to this mammoth of a theater that, to my great dismay, was demolished in 1939….

Epic scenes like above are hard to find these days. And these moments are only possible because of this seemingly-unrelated item: The stock ticker has been an essential part of daily transactions at the Wall Street stock exchange for almost 90 years; since its inception in 1868, by the Western Union Telegraph Co, it has…

As time went on, the fascination that people had with Grand Central grew, particularly because the station’s development coincided with the Roaring Twenties, the era of luxury and consumerism. In fact, the terminal became one of the many industries that contributed to the rise in consumerism. It developed even more by adding more hotels, restaurants,…

  I am studying the artistic side of the Tiffany Lamps for my research project with the New-York Historical Society, where there is a vast collection of the lamps. I will be focusing on the various motifs, such as the dragonfly, pond lilies and grape clusters, the thinking behind the lamps, and how the different…

Inspired by the New-York Historical Society’s huge collection of campaign buttons, as well as the upcoming election, I have chosen to study the evolution of presidential campaigns through the 20th century. As I’ve been watching the campaign commercials of the Republican nominees, I’ve been struck by the degree to which presentation has trumped content. This…

On Tuesday my group and I went on a trip to Grand Central Terminal in order to plan our creative project. Because we have been researching Grand Central’s history, we instantly noticed all of the innovative additions to the station. First we noticed all of the multimedia screens, showing trains’ arrivals and departures. As we…