New York Transit Museum

🚍 Bus-lovers, get revved up! The New York Transit Museum’s 2024 Bus Festival is rolling into #BrooklynBridgePark on September 8th. At the beloved #BusFestival, guests can explore our collection of vintage buses, enjoy family-friendly activities, shop for bus-themed souvenirs, and enjoy picture-perfect views of retro buses and the Manhattan skyline from Emily Warren Roebling Plaza under the Brooklyn Bridge. Bus Festival is #free! The event runs rain or shine, from 10am – 3:30pm, on September 8th, 2024. RSVP at https://lnkd.in/eScDGGFa for the chance to #win a family membership!

☀️ Summer’s officially here! And so are our summer #camp programs! ☀️ From July 10th to August 16th we offer guided tours to groups K-12, where campers can travel through transit #history in our hands-on exhibits. To learn more about #Summer fun at the New York Transit Museum and register for a #tour, visit: https://lnkd.in/edvYpFju

The New York Transit Museum is grateful to be a Bloomberg Philanthropies grantee and proud to partner in this important work. Thank you to Mike Bloomberg and Patti Harris for your leadership! 

#Transit serves everyone — join the New York Transit Museum's Hilary Goldstein with Charley Cohen and Mira Philipson (she/hers) for a webinar tonight, July 9th, to learn about how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority makes this possible!

ALL ABOARD! It’s time to save the date for Friends of the New York Transit Museum’s annual #gala! This year we are celebrating 120 years of the #subway. The Gala supports all we do here at the New York Transit Museum, from exhibits and school group programs to archival #preservation projects and Nostalgia Rides aboard our vintage trains. We hope you will join us at the Tribeca Rooftop on October 17th! For further information, visit nytransitmuseum.org/gala

Street-level conditions must be documented before work begins underneath. For that reason, our Subway Construction Photograph Collection is filled with images of #NYC above ground. Aerial photographs are more rare, however. That’s why this #NYTMCollection photograph is our First Friday feature for July. The photograph shows an aerial view of Columbus Circle in 1957 with portions of the roadway dug up and construction going on below ground. It was taken as part of a series of survey images documenting the areas above stations that were receiving platform extensions. At this time, the 59th Street station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line was undergoing a platform extension to accommodate longer trains. With the camera facing north, the photo captures automobile traffic on both Central Park West and Broadway going uptown, as well as a view of many of the buildings lining both streets. The entrance to Central Park is visible as well as the park itself. Buildings on #Manhattan's East Side and #CentralPark North can be seen in the distance on the top right. The image notes indicate that the photograph was taken from the roof of 2 Columbus Circle. Though plans for the building that currently houses the Museum of Arts and Design were in the works, at this time, 2 Columbus Circle was likely still the former Boulevard Hotel building. It was home to a shoe store, office space, and a large advertising billboard on the roof. Presumably, the photographer was standing in front of — or on top of — the billboard. Directly across the way is a B&O Railroad motor coach station and a large Coca Cola advertisement with the words “Thirst Knows No Season.” The photograph was taken in August, however, so it would have been the season if there ever was one. Digitization of this and 9,000+ other images was made possible by a Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. View more on our website at https://lnkd.in/ePHrb8cy.

It’s our birthday, too! #OnThisDay in 1976, a group of New York City Transit employees opened the New York City Transit Exhibition, as a part of the United States Bicentennial celebrations. Over fifteen different vintage subway and elevated cars, and a variety of exhibits dedicated to the rich and sprawling history of mass transit in New York were displayed in our beloved Court Street station that had been decommissioned 30 years earlier. The exhibit was only intended to last a few months, but proved to be so popular that its run was continually extended. As we mark our 48th Anniversary, we know it would not have been possible without the support of you – our visitors, who turned a temporary exhibition into the thriving cultural institution we are today. What is your favorite memory made at the #NYTransitMuseum?

Ever wondered what it’s like to be the director of the New York Transit Museum? Ask our #director, Concetta Anne Bencivenga! #Comment questions below to participate in an #AMA and we’ll give you a peek behind the curtain! Concetta will be giving answers until 5pm this Friday! Since becoming director nearly 8 years ago, Concetta has guided us through revitalizing #publicprograms, ushering in new #exhibitions, and embarking on vast archival preservation projects. Her credentials are well-earned after an accomplished career in #education and #museum programming. Concetta honed her institutional leadership skills through executive positions at The IDEAL School of Manhattan, generationOn, and the Please Touch Museum, the Children's Museum of Philadelphia. With this insight, she’s helped us actualize our goal of making transit stories accessible to all. We are so grateful for Concetta’s dynamic leadership, and now she’s ready to tell you all about it!

☀️School’s out for summer! ☀️ Another successful year of learning in #NYC and at the New York Transit Museum! We are so proud to have hosted over 800 visiting school groups for field trips this year -- teaching over 16,000 students STEAM and social studies by examining our region’s innovative #transit system and the people who bring it to life. Have a great #summer teachers, we’ll see you next year! 🚂

Thank you to Al Roker  for naming the New York Transit Museum a #NewYork gem! We’re so grateful for his continued support and honored to be featured in this recent profile from Barron's. The son of a #NewYorkCity bus driver, Al is a long-time friend of the #Museum who truly understands the value of sharing stories. Read more about what Al loves here: https://lnkd.in/eN9Nu2rW Then come see the Museum for yourself! 🚂