Did you know that Village Preservation members receive advance notice of many of our public programs? Our tours and other programs sometimes offer limited seating or spaces. By becoming a member, you can take advantage of that advanced notice and register before the general public. Find out how to become a member here.

For information about our past programs, including lecture recordings, click here.

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James and Karla Murray’s Great Bars of New York City

In a city of over 8 million people, New York City’s bars, pubs, dives, speakeasies, and cocktail lounges provide respite from the relentless pace of daily life, offering an intoxicating blend of camaraderie and ambiance. 

Over the past three centuries, the city’s fabled watering holes have become the stuff of myth, legend, and lore, immortalized in film, literature, theater, television, and song. Now, at a time when people yearn for personal connection in an increasingly virtual world, these independent, street-level businesses remain vital centers of community.

To pay tribute to their importance, photographers James and Karla Murray — the award-winning team behind Store Front NYC — introduce Great Bars of New York City, the inaugural volume in a series devoted to quintessential New York culture and its small businesses. They bring 20 years of experience as architectural and interior photographers together for the first time in book form to tell stories of people rooted in place, inviting readers to pull up a stool and raise their glass in celebration.

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The American Civil War in Manhattan

As the inevitability of the Civil War increased, New York faced conflicts within its varied population. Family connections with the South brought personal strife for some. Business interests dreaded the potential loss of Southern markets for finished goods. Ever-present ethnic and class tensions increased.

Once war was declared, New York officially supported the Northern cause. But as the war dragged on, ethnic and class tensions escalated between the Irish and Black communities, and the poor and the governing class. 

Highlights on this tour include:

• Abraham Lincoln, the candidate and president
• Horace Greeley, the abolitionist editor
• The Confederate plot to burn down New York
• The Draft and Draft Riots
• The Monitor and New York shipbuilding
• General Grant, General Sherman, and Admiral Farragut

Please note: Registration is NOT confirmed until you receive a personalized email from our Programming Team. We will check your membership status before sending your personalized registration confirmation.

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The Battle for Intro. 2: The New York City Gay Rights Bill, 1971–1986

Initially proposed in 1971, the Gay Rights Bill in New York City was the first of its kind in the nation, meant to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, and public accommodations. After 15 years of grassroots activism and strident opposition, the bill, known as local law Intro. 2, passed in City Council in 1986 by a vote of 21 to 14, making New York the 51st city in the country to pass such a measure.

Join us as we revisit the heated debates about gay and lesbian rights during the mayoralties of John Lindsay, Abe Beame, and Ed Koch — and consider the question of why it took so long for the bill to pass. Stephen Petrus, Director of Public History Programs at La Guardia and Wagner Archives at La Guardia Community College, in conversation with Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman, will discuss his work as curator of a new exhibit on the Gay Rights Bill. He will focus on the roles of advocates like the Gay Activists Alliance and opponents including the Catholic Church, the Police Department, and the Fire Department, as well as look at the special role that downtown residents and communities played in this defining civil rights battle. 

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DIY Historic Preservation: A Conversation with Dan Campo

Join us as Dan Campo discusses his new book Postindustrial DIY: Recovering American Rust Belt Icons (Fordham University Press, 2024) with Village Preservation Special Projects Director Juan Rivero.

The culmination of more than a dozen years of on-the-ground investigation, ethnography, and historical analysis, Postindustrial DIY chronicles grassroots efforts to recover, rebuild, and enjoy architecturally iconic but economically obsolete places in the American Rust Belt. It assesses the efforts of do-it-yourself actors who have craftily remade former industrial sites into collective preservation projects and democratic grounds for arts and culture, environmental engagement, regional celebrations, itinerant play, and in-the-moment constructions.

Transcending the disciplinary boundaries of architecture, historic preservation, city planning, and landscape architecture, Postindustrial DIY suggests new ways to engage, adapt, and preserve architecturally compelling sites and bottom-up strategies for urban revival.

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Rose Schneiderman: A Voice for Women and Workers

Rose Schneiderman, a tiny Jewish immigrant, was one of the most influential labor and suffrage activists of the early 20th century. She remains a heroine to activists around the world and was a resident of both the Village and the Lower East Side. Her grand-niece, Annie Schneiderman Valliere, will share both a personal and historical perspective on the life and impact of this trailblazer.

From 1906 until the achievement of partial suffrage in 1920, Rose Schneiderman tirelessly spoke and marched in the halls and streets of New York, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and as far south as Tennessee in the fight for women’s suffrage. Unfortunately, much of the significant work done by Schneiderman and other working-class women to secure these historic suffrage gains has been nearly forgotten.

Schneiderman Valliere will discuss the activist’s contributions to the suffrage movement, her reasons for opposing the Equal Rights Amendment, and her extensive work for human rights from 1909 through the 1940s, both in New York and on the national and international stages.

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Ghosts, seances, and the macabre go hand in hand with Greenwich Village’s reputation as a haven for Bohemians, writers, and artists. Washington Square Park was once a mass grave with over 20,000 bodies buried there. In the 19th century, Spiritualism swept the country as people wanted to talk to the dead. But where did Spiritualism get its start?

Join Barbara Weisberg for this special event, just in time for Halloween, as she recounts a fascinating story of spirits and conjurors, skeptics, and converts in the second half of 19th-century America viewed through the lives of Kate and Maggie Fox, the sisters whose purported communication with the dead gave rise to the Spiritualism movement — and whose recanting 40 years later is still shrouded in mystery.

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The Beginnings of the Salmagundi Club

The Salmagundi Club. How did this famed Greenwich Village institution get its start? This talk discusses the formation and the early years of the Salmagundi Club from 1871 to 1917, including the open public exhibitions, and the interaction of the club with the early artists and art community in Greenwich Village.

The talk will cover the history of the locations of the Salmagundi Club as it moved from local village studios to the later clubhouses.

Discussion also includes the formation of the early exhibitions that were open to the public — local artists, men and women, and not just club members. There will be examples of Salmagundi Club art from the archives that are rarely seen by the public.

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Plaque Unveiling: Frances Perkins

Join us for the ceremonial unveiling of a plaque honoring lifelong champion of workers’ rights Frances Perkins at her place of residence in Greenwich Village. We will hear about her trailblazing career and her legacy as an activist and one of the architects of the New Deal while serving as Secretary of Labor during the FDR Administration.

This is our 24th plaque unveiling. Our plaque program has honored and marked the homes of local figures from Jane Jacobs to James Baldwin; Allen Ginsberg to Charles Mingus; Frank O’Hara to Frank Stella; and Martha Graham to Lorraine Hansberry, as well as historically significant sites such as the former NAACP headquarters, the Fillmore East, and Julius’ Bar.

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Register for Our Real Estate Continuing Education Course Today!

During this course taught by a talented and knowledgeable mix of professionals in the field, you will learn about historic preservation, the NYC Landmark Law, and practical tips for brokers; the influence of Classical architecture on the stylistic development of townhouses, apartment buildings, and tenements; the evolution of regulatory reforms and zoning laws that shaped urban design and building types in the context of socioeconomic, cultural, and political forces; and the realities of working with the Department of Buildings and other NYC regulatory bodies today.

Our acclaimed 22.5-hour course includes all recent legal requirements including Cultural Competency, Ethical Business Practices, Recent Legal Matters, Implicit Bias Awareness, Agency Law, and Principles of Fair Housing and Discrimination.

This course is designed for real estate agents but is also open to the general public not seeking credits at a discounted rate.

See the course schedule here. This course will take place over three days, all live, in-person instruction at the Parish Hall of the historic St. Mark’s in the Bowery Church.

Thursday, October 10: 9-6:00
Thursday, October 17: 9-4:30
Thursday, October 24: 9-5:30