Installation and Interpretation of the Carriage Museum's "Streets of New York" and "Carriages for Sport and Pleasure"

FAIN: GI-50417-12

Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages (Stony Brook, NY 11790-1931)
William Ayres (Project Director: August 2011 to September 2013)
Joshua Ruff (Project Director: September 2013 to February 2014)

Implementation of the reinstallation of two long-term exhibitions with audio tours about the social and economic history of horse-drawn transportation in New York City circa 1900.

Horse-drawn vehicles were key elements of the transportation systems that shaped the American city, both its crowded streets and its recreation areas. This project examines the role that carriages played in diverse urban lives, including immigrant carriage workers, working-class commuters, and wealthy elites. The exhibits "Streets of New York" and "Carriages for Sport and Pleasure" will present carriages as functional tools used by real people, integral to work, mobility, and class status in the American city, in the era before the automobile. From a simulated recreation of city streets to an iPod audio tour and video enhancements, the new galleries will engage and captivate visitors of all ages. This project is the last phase of a 10-year undertaking to transform our nationally-recognized carriage collection into a space that is thoroughly alive and accessible to average visitors.