The House on Henry Street
The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement
The House on Henry Street chronicles the sweeping history of the storied Henry Street Settlement and its enduring vision of a more just society. Published by NYU Press, June 2020.
"This moving account of Henry Street Settlement reminds us of the good that can be done when dedicated souls heed what President Lincoln called ‘the better angels of our nature.’ This is a very American story—and more important, it’s a very human one."
—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize winner for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
“Everyone who cares about the fight for social justice in American history will want to read this remarkable story.”
–Kenneth T. Jackson, president emeritus of the New-York Historical Society and Barzun Professor of History at Columbia University
Musical Machines and Living Dolls
The Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of Mechanical Musical Instruments and Automata
Machines that play music. Monkeys that ride bikes. Banjos, pianos, and violins that serenade with the drop of a coin. All these mechanical marvels are part of the Morris Museum's renowned Guinness Collection, one of the finest of its kind in the world. This book, written to accompany the exhibition by the same name, tells their story in rich detail through the objects, historic documents, and spectacular imagery.
Brooklyn! An Illustrated History
Talk show host Larry King called this book "the best history of my hometown I've ever read." Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (12th District, NY) called it "an intriguing and comprehensive depiction of the patchwork metropolis we affectionately call 'Brooklyn.'" Winner of a New York Society Library New York City Book Award, Brooklyn! An Illustrated History takes readers on a journey through time via the rich collections of the Brooklyn Historical Society.
Turnpike Treasures
The Souvenirs and Stuff that Celebrate an American Phenomenon
Written to accompany the New Jersey Historical Society's exhibition, What Exit? New Jersey and Its Turnpike, this little book tells the big story of the material culture of the road--and the people who give the highway life, from toll collectors to travelers.
The Heart of a City, the Heart of a Company
100 Years of Cascade and Brooklyn
To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Brooklyn's Cascade Linen and Laundry Company wanted something different than the usual company history. This publication satisfies that request. Based on detailed research, it imagines a day in the life of a late 19th-century routeman, who encounters horses, speeding trolleys, and the new automobile as he delivers clean aprons to city butchers--then compares it with a day in the life of Sammy Fortyz, who navigates the city by truck at the end of the 20th century. Through their challenges, the book shows Cascade's role in metropolitan New York.
A Place Along the Raymondskill
Beaver Lake Through Time
Written for a private client as a history of a summer camp-turned-vacation-home, this book explores 103 acres along the Raymondskill Creek in Pike County, Pennsylvania. Using primary documents and oral histories, it brings to life the 1920s' Beaver Lake Camp for Boys, where, "during the summer," a promotional brochure affirmed, "we are a family." It also tracks the property through time, telling a story of place and of transformation, of the ways that Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, European immigrants, and others found a place to make a start or to reinvent themselves.