New-York Historical Society

As the antiquated hyphenated name implies, the New-York Historical Society is the city’s oldest museum, founded in 1804 to preserve the city’s historical and cultural artifacts. It was also New York’s only public art museum until the Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in the late 19th century. Though it’s often overlooked by visitors tramping to the nearby American Museum of Natural History, it shouldn’t be, as its collection of more than 60,000 objects is as quirky and fascinating as NYC itself. Only here can you see 17th-century cowbells and baby rattles and the mounted wooden leg of colonial-era statesman Gouverneur Morris. The Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture, which opened in 2000, is a 21,000-sq-ft showcase of more than 40,000 objects from the museum’s permanent collection, and features items such as fine portraits, Tiffany lamps and model ships. The place always hosts unique special exhibits, too, with recent examples including ‘Lincoln and New York’ and ‘John Brown: The Abolitionist and his Legacy.’