The Museum will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 26 and 27.

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Education programs are made possible through endowments established by:
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Hearst Foundations
Charina Endowment Fund Endowed Fund for American History at The New York Historical
The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation

Public funds are provided by:
Institute of Museum and Library Services
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature

Lead support for Education programs at The New York Historical is provided by:
The Achelis and Bodman Foundation
Edith and Frances Mulhall Achilles Memorial Fund
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation
Roger and Susan Hertog
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation
KHR Family Fund
Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang
Mellon Foundation
Jean Margo Reid
Sandy and Dick Rippe
Gillian V. Steel and Robert Steel
David M. Rubenstein
Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang
The Thompson Family Foundation

Major support is provided by: 
Veronica Atkins
Irma L. and Abram S. Croll Charitable Trust
Deutsche Bank
John & Patricia Klingenstein Fund
Edward Ludwig, in honor of Sister Ann Jordan, CSJP
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
The Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts
The Waterfall Foundation
Whiting Foundation
Marie and John Zimmermann Fund
Anonymous

Additional support is provided by:
The Acorn Hill Foundation Inc.
Alice Lawrence Foundation
George Asch
The Barker Welfare Foundation
Herb Block Foundation
Cynthia and J. Hyatt Brown
Con Edison
Consulate General of the Netherlands
Erika Davis
Jane and Bill Donaldson
Mary Ann Fribourg
Seth Meisel
Lori and Mark Fife
Barbara and Stephen Friedman
Lucy and William Friedman
Herb Block Foundation
Alice Lawrence Foundation
Sandra and Lowell Mintz
Shelley Mulitz
Henry Nias Foundation
Steven L. Rattner
Michael and Dafna Schmerin
Richard E. Sylla
Szilvia Tanenbaum
Tiger Baron Foundation
The Michael Tuch Foundation
The Winston Foundation
Marie and John Zimmermann Fund

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Exhibitions

Traveling

Explore the New-York Historical exhibitions that available as traveling shows.

Exhibition Category Page – TRAVELING

Installations

Current

What's on view at New-York Historical? Get an up-close look at all of our current exhibitions and installations.

Exhibition Category Page – CURRENT

Upcoming

Browse a round-up of upcoming exhibitions from the New-York Historical Society

Exhibition Category Page – UPCOMING

Past

Exhibition Landing Page – PAST

Online

Explore our online exhibitions that cover such a wide array of topics as the Black American experience, the environmental history of the Hudson River, and the history of the presidency.

Exhibition Category Page – ONLINE

Breakfast University

Program Genre – TALKS

Talks

Program Genre - EDUCATION

Education

Program Genre – WOMENS HISTORY

Women's History Salons

Program Genre – MEMBERS

Members

Program Genre – TOURS

Tours

Program Genre – FAMILY

Family

Free daily tours at 1 pm and 2:30 pm (subject to availability)

Hours (Global)

Due to a private event, the Museum will be closed on Wednesday, November 12.

Microsite Program Genre – EXTENDED VIRTUAL COURSE

Extended Virtual Course

Microsite Program Genre – SPANISH COURSES

Spanish Courses

Microsite Program Genre – IN PERSON MUSEUM COURSE

In-Person Museum Course

Microsite Program Genre – VIRTUAL COURSE

Virtual Course

Microsite Program Genre – NATURALIZATION ASSISTANCE EVENT

Naturalization Assistance Event

Microsite Program Genre – NATIONAL PARTNER COURSE

National Partner Course

Parallax Images for Backgrounds (hidden ua5 test 8)

For collection image requests that are unrelated to current and upcoming exhibitions, visit our Rights & Reproduction Department.

Please continue in your email application. Feel free to add any additional information, then send the email. If you're email application did not automatically show up please send an email to communications@nyhistory.org.

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Admission is pay-as-you-wish from 5–8 pm on Fridays; we participate in Culture Pass through the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Public Library

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Get Directions

Subway: Take the B (weekdays only) or C to 81st Street. We're also a 12-minute walk from the 72nd Street station for the 1, 2, and 3 trains at Broadway at 72nd Street. For a complete subway map, visit the MTA website.

Please note: The 81st Street subway station is  not wheelchair accessible. The closest accessible subway station is the 72nd Street station.

Bus: The M79 bus travels east/west on West 79th Street across Central Park, with a nearby stop on West 81st Street. Other buses also stop at or nearby, including the M7, M10, M11, M86, and M104 buses. For complete bus information, visit the MTA website.

There is a limited amount of street parking on 77th Street, 76th Street and Central Park West.

Nearby parking garages can be found at:
203 W 77th Street, (212) 362-2308
205 W 76th Street, (212) 874-7600 
201 W 75th Street, (212) 874-0581

All garages are between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.

All you need to know about conducting research in the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library

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Patricia D. Klingenstein Library

Temporarily Closed—Learn More

The New York Historical 
170 Central Park West
at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street)

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Visitor Map 11.30.25.pdf

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Visit Information

Bikini, bombshells, bazookas: in the post-World War II US, these words held more than one meaning. From Hollywood’s blonde bombshells to bullet bras, postwar popular culture was interlinked with wartime technologies that shaped—symbolically and physically—women’s bodies. 

Join Isabelle Held, Mellon Foundation Gender and LGBTQ+ History Postdoctoral Fellow and author of Atomic Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies, and Keren Ben-Horin, Curatorial Scholar in Women's History, in conversation to explore how wartime industry reshaped popular culture, consumption, and bodies. To trace the origins of technologically driven fashion objects ranging from nylon stockings and foam butt pads to silicone breast implants, they will look back at how the postwar US became entangled in plastics. 

Bikini, bombshells, bazookas: in the post-World War II US, these words held more than one meaning.

Don English, Lee Merlin: “Miss Atomic Bomb,” 1957. Las Vegas News Bureau. Courtesy of LVCVA Archive, Las Vegas.

The Robert H. Smith Auditorium at The New York Historical, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024

Isabelle Held

Keren Ben-Horin

By Phone: Contact our call center at (212) 485-9268 from 9 am – 5 pm daily.

Online: Click on the “Register” button at the top of this page. If you need assistance, please send an email to womenshistory@nyhistory.org

Lead support for the Center for Women's History programs provided by Joyce B. Cowin, Diane and Adam E. Max, Jean Margo Reid, and the Mellon Foundation.

From Bullet Bras to Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies

From Bullet Bras to Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies

Event Details:

Location:

Ticket Instructions:

Champion History

From Bullet Bras to Bombshells: How Plastics Shaped Postwar Bodies

Event Details:

Location:

Ticket Instructions:

Champion History

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