Immigration
Chop Suey’s Un-birthday
We like to use this blog as a place to mark moments in time that are important to our collective past and present. But it can also be important to take stock of what is not, along with what is. What moments are missing from our collective memory? Or, what histories are impossible to pin […]
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Once Home to Soldiers, Immigrants, and a Beluga Whale: The Remarkable Story of Battery Park’s Castle Clinton
If you’ve ever had a picnic in Battery Park or taken a trip to the Statue of Liberty you’ve probably walked through Castle Clinton, a medieval-looking fortress dating back to 1808 that sits by the water’s edge. This structure, now used as a ticket office and information center for tourists heading to Liberty Island, has […]
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Opera Brought New Sights and Sounds to Our Sanctuary
For the past two weeks, I have witnessed the Museum at Eldridge Street transform into an opera stage, but also a home where mothers and daughters squabble and comfort each other, where lovers make plans and love, and where people come together to remember those they have lost. Last Sunday, Museum at Eldridge Street finished […]
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Larry David, Cousin Bernie and Me
I admit it. Television shows that trace the family roots of celebrities, like Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots provide all the suspense I can handle. I get too scared watching thrillers, much less horror movies, and these programs have the ability to get me nervous about what may lie ahead […]
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Travelling Tefillin – Warsaw, to the Wild West, to Eldridge Street
On June 18, 1904, Meyer Wagner boarded the ship Germanic in Southampton, England. He was bound for New York. So were his two younger sisters, but his young wife, Rose, remained in Warsaw. The couple’s three-year-old son, Walter, wasn’t quite ready for transatlantic travel. The trip took nine days. Upon arrival, Meyer went straight to […]
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Love, Year-Round at Eldridge
It doesn’t need to be Valentine’s Day for us to feel love in the air at the Museum at Eldridge Street. Our 131-year-old landmark building inspires effusive language from anyone who visits – and who could blame them? The sanctuary’s sumptuous decorative motifs are really quite romantic. After all, the interior was specifically designed to […]
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Artist Uses City Streets to Highlight What Divides – and Unites – Us
This blog post was researched and written by two interns at the Museum at Eldridge Street: John Hanson and Eliana Schechter. Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist-activist, has undertaken arguably the most extensive public art project in New York City’s history. Titled “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors”, and sponsored by the Public Art Fund, the project […]
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Making a House a Home: Immigrant Acclimation to American Society
Read about how the Eldridge Street Synagogue contributed to immigrant acclimation to American society through the lens of a fictitious museum exhibition as imagined by Museum at Eldridge Street intern Jennifer Hernandez. As someone who lives in a community of immigrants, I was compelled to apply for an internship at the Museum at Eldridge Street. […]
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Egg Rolls, Egg Creams and Empanadas Festival – A Day of Community and Culture
Envisioning a Community Collaboration When I first imagined a Chinese-Jewish Festival over fifteen years ago, I knew that it would be an undoubtedly fantastic event for the neighborhood. Plus, I knew it would be wonderfully relevant to our museum’s celebration of the immigrants who make our neighborhood special. I imagined Chinese and Jewish artists and musicians sitting side […]
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Pushcarts: The Hustle to the American Dream
Think about the last time you bought something off the street in New York City. Perhaps it came from a cart, a stall, or even a truck. Perhaps your purchase was a pretzel, a tamale, or a pair of sunglasses. Chances are likely if you started chatting with the person selling to you, you would […]
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