Tenement Museum

Tenement Museum We welcome you into the historically recreated homes of immigrants, migrants, and refugees. Visit us on the Lower East Side!
(1929)

We share their stories to inspire connections between the past and present and to build a more inclusive and expansive American society. We are open every day of the week for building and walking tours. Get your tickets now at tenement.org! If you're interested in promoting your project via our social media network, please email [email protected]. Our community agreement: Be respectful of the memories the Museum preserves.

The Pinkster holiday began as a Christian feast of Pentecost celebrated by Dutch colonists but was later reclaimed and r...
06/05/2026

The Pinkster holiday began as a Christian feast of Pentecost celebrated by Dutch colonists but was later reclaimed and redefined by enslaved and free Black communities in New York. Pinkster became a time for Black New Yorkers to gather, dance, drum, share stories, and celebrate their heritage, usually taking place in late May or early June.

Pinkster held deep personal meaning for the famed abolitionist Sojourner Truth, who chose Pinkster Day in 1843 to change her name from Isabel Baumfree. In her biography, she reflected on the festivities: “everything looked so pleasant there, as she saw retrospectively all her former companions enjoying their freedom for at least a little space, as well as their wonted convivialities, and in her heart she longed to be with them.”

Even as laws and cultural shifts sought to suppress it, Pinkster represented a symbol of community, celebration, resistance, and the enduring legacy of Afro-Dutch traditions in New York.

📷 1) Sojourner Truth seated with photograph of her grandson, James Caldwell of Co. H, 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, on her lap. Library of Congress. 2) Pinkster in Spectator (July 2, 1803)

In 1890, a young medical student named Charles Nesbitt accepted an invitation that would leave a lasting impression. Jus...
06/03/2026

In 1890, a young medical student named Charles Nesbitt accepted an invitation that would leave a lasting impression. Just steps from where the Tenement Museum now stands, at Walhalla Hall on Orchard Street, he encountered a sight that defied the strict norms of his time. Inside the gaslit ballroom, Nesbitt saw hundreds of same-sex couples dancing—masculine-presenting women in tuxedos, men waltzing together, and a warm, dignified atmosphere. He later described it as “a formal evening ballroom among respectable people.”  
 
Located at 48-52 Orchard Street, Walhalla Hall often hosted German singing societies and labor meetings. But on this night, it became a rare safe space for New York’s Q***r community—backed by a city-issued masquerade license that signaled both resistance and a bid for legitimacy.
 
📷 1) 48-52 Orchard Street, 2026 2) Former address of Walhalla Hall at 48-52 Orchard Street (center), now demolished, ca. 1940s. NYC Municipal Archives.
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On our apartment tour 4A: Moores, we tell the story of Rachel Lefevre Moore and her husband Joseph, Black New Yorkers wh...
05/28/2026

On our apartment tour 4A: Moores, we tell the story of Rachel Lefevre Moore and her husband Joseph, Black New Yorkers who created a home in a Lower Manhattan tenement in the 1860s.

Last month, our public history fellow Marquis Taylor found new documents about Rachel—born in the Hudson Valley of New York in 1828, just a year after New York State emancipation. The first generation in her family to be born free, she moves to the city at age 20, working as a domestic servant and a washer woman before marrying Joseph Moore in 1864. In these new documents, we discover more about her family and work life in the Hudson Valley, and also direct connections to the Union Army. Come see how we stitch these clues together, and add your own questions to our research agenda!

Learn more by booking a tour here: https://www.tenement.org/programs/behind-the-scenes-new-research-on-civil-war-era-black-new-yorkers/

📷 Historic Huguenot Street Archives, gift of Amy LeFevre

05/27/2026

🔎 New discovery alert!

Recently, our curatorial team made a first-of-its-kind discovery from under the floorboards of an apartment in 97 Orchard: a shir lamaalot or protective amulet. We have exhibited a similar one on the wall of the Levine family apartment bedroom, which you can tour today. This paper amulet offers protection for a new mother and her baby through a written prayer.

Finding this amulet gives physical evidence to historian Nathaniel Deutsch’s interpretation of Jewish immigrant women maintaining birth rituals in their new country, especially when considering how little these rituals were written about or documented.

🔗 Learn more about this amulet and other Jewish birth customs from Professor Deutsch and our President Annie Polland by visiting this link: https://www.youtube.com/live/0wzmE9Fju6o?si=4lsgjq-_Enh3YxI7

in 1924, The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, signed by President Calvin Coolidge, introduced strict national origin quotas t...
05/26/2026

in 1924, The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, signed by President Calvin Coolidge, introduced strict national origin quotas to shape U.S. immigration policy, favoring Northern Europeans while severely limiting entry for Southern and Eastern Europeans, nearly all Asians, and Africans. It capped immigration at 2% of a nationality’s U.S. population as of 1890, drastically reducing the number of visas.

As an example of how this law affected various people, Italian immigration dropped from over 200,000 in 1921 to around 6,000 in 1925 after the law’s enactment. The Baldizzi family was one such family directly impacted. Adolfo Baldizzi immigrated in 1923, just before the law passed, and was separated from his wife Rosaria –who lived in Italy–for two years due to the new visa restrictions. Adolfo and Rosaria would eventually become U.S. citizens, and Josephine’s memories shared with the museum recall her mother and father’s love of voting and pride in becoming citizens.

Join us on our “Under One Roof” tour to hear the Baldizzi family’s full story.

📷 President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill in 1926, Library of Congress

in 1883, the "Eighth Wonder of the World", the Brooklyn Bridge opened after 14 years. We're reading David McCullough's...
05/24/2026

in 1883, the "Eighth Wonder of the World", the Brooklyn Bridge opened after 14 years. We're reading David McCullough's "The Great Bridge" which, set during the "Age of Optimism", details the full history of the engineering and sourcing of materials. Despite the perilous working conditions and injuries sustained, not one worker quit during its construction. Much of the book is dedicated to the Roeblings, who have a fascinating legacy of multiple generations of engineers and inventors — Even in building the bridge alone! First through John A. Roebling the original engineer whose life was tragically cut short after he contracted tetanus, post toe amputation after they were crushed by an incoming ferry. Then through Washington Roebling, John's son who sustained mental and physical illness from the working environments. Finally, McCullough assures the reader, the bridge's construction would not have come to fruition without the efforts, research and due diligence of Washington's wife, Emily Warren Roebling who, when her husband was indisposed, educated herself on the matters at hand and took over.

📷 1) David McCullough’s Great Bridge. 2) Brooklyn Bridge Under Construction, Library of Congress.

We are thrilled to share an exclusive interview, "Five Questions with Dr. Annie Polland," featuring our very own museum ...
05/23/2026

We are thrilled to share an exclusive interview, "Five Questions with Dr. Annie Polland," featuring our very own museum president on Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse. In this piece, Annie discusses how the museum connects past to present, drawing on history to challenge current narratives about the immigrant experience. Head over to the latest post to discover how our shared history offers a powerful way to better understand today's immigration conversations.

🔗 read it here: https://bit.ly/4v3QgXp

📷: Dr. Annie Polland inside a recreated tenement apartment at 97 Orchard Street NY, NY.

As the country marks its 250th birthday, join us to celebrate times when every day New Yorkers united to further America...
05/22/2026

As the country marks its 250th birthday, join us to celebrate times when every day New Yorkers united to further American democracy. Tenement residents exercised their freedom of assembly, press and speech in remarkable ways: the 1870 parade celebrating the passage of the 15th Amendment, the 1902 Kosher Meat Boycott, the 1974 court case that brought bilingual education to NYC public schools, and the 1982 strike of garment workers in Chinatown.

Come to the tenements to learn and honor this history as part of the broader history of American communities moving our democracy forward, and discuss how we draw on the past to find hope and inspiration today.

On June 23, join us for an evening of tours, conversation, and refreshments.

🔗 Learn more here: https://www.tenement.org/programs/what-does-it-mean-to-be-an-american-tour-and-discussion/.

Today, on her birthday, we celebrate Josephine Baldizzi and the legacy she created at 97 Orchard Street. In 1935, nine-y...
05/20/2026

Today, on her birthday, we celebrate Josephine Baldizzi and the legacy she created at 97 Orchard Street.

In 1935, nine-year-old Josephine lived at 97 Orchard Street with her parents, Adolfo and Rosaria Baldizzi, and her younger brother, Johnny. Life during the Great Depression was difficult, but Josephine’s memories—of her mother’s fried egg sandwiches, playful afternoons with her brother, and singing along to the strum of her father’s guitar—were filled with warmth and love.

Today, Josephine’s children and grandchildren continue to visit the Tenement Museum to honor Josephine and the home she helped create.

📷 1) Josephine (age 9) and Johnny (age 7) Baldizzi in 1935 on the roof of 97 Orchard Street. 2) Josephine Baldizzi Esposito and her godmother, Rose Bonofiglio, on the occasion of her confirmation. Both lived at 97 Orchard in the early 1930s. 3) Josephine and her husband, George, in 1991. (Back row: Their daughter, Maria, and her husband. Front row: Josephine’s grandchildren).

To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we have put together a collection of our favorite books...
05/19/2026

To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we have put together a collection of our favorite books about AAPI stories.

🛒 You can shop for all of these and more online or at our store at 103 Orchard St, New York. Get 25% off online orders with the code AAPI.

List of books:
- Livonia Chow Mein by Abigail Savitch Lew
- Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America by Michael Luo
- Mott Street: A Chinese American Family's Story of Exclusion and Homecoming by Ava Chin
- Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
- Asian American Histories of the United States by Catherine Ceniza Choy
- Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
- The Loneliest Americans by Jay Caspian King
- Islas: A Celebration of Tropical Cooking by Von Diaz
- Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes from My Half-Filipino Kitchen by Arlyn Osborne
- First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home by Frankie Gaw

Address

103 Orchard Street
New York, NY
10002

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm
Saturday 10am - 5:30am
Sunday 10am - 6pm

Telephone

(212) 982-8420

Website

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