Calendar of Events

All Virtual Events are recorded and posted to the Museum’s YouTube page.

Most of our virtual programs are offered free of charge.
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JANUARY

On YouTube!
Celebrating New Year’s Day 2025 with the Tredwells
Paying social calls on friends and family on the first day of the new year was one of Old New York’s most cherished customs. Join us – virtually – for good cheer to toast the New Year and learn how New Yorkers like the Tredwells celebrated the day.

In this immersive video experience, we’ll go back in time to the mid-19th century to meet the Tredwells and hear how they’ve been decking the house for New Year’s Day and preparing their lists of social calls. Join us as we continue the 19th century tradition of renewing, reviving, and reaffirming friendships that last the whole year through. Watch on YouTube.

 

Wednesday, January 22, 6:30 p.m.
Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing
Book Talk with Elizabeth L. Brock
Co-Sponsored by Salmagundi Club, Coffee House Club, Village Preservation, and Victorian Society NY
In the 19th century, the complex cultural meaning of hair was not only significant – it could affect one’s place in society. After the Civil War, hairdressing was a growing profession and the hair industry a mainstay of local, national, and international commerce. In Beyond Vanity, Elizabeth L. Block expands the nascent field of hair studies by restoring women’s hair as a cultural site of meaning in the early United States. With a special focus on the places and spaces in which the industry operated, Block argues that the importance of hair has been overlooked due to its ephemerality as well as its misguided association with frivolity and triviality. As Block clarifies, hairdressing was anything but frivolous. Free, registration required. Register for “Book Talk with Elizabeth L. Brock.

Event Location: Salmagundi Club, 47 5th Avenue

 FEBRUARY

Saturday, February 1, 3 p.m.
“Where Shadows Linger:” An Afternoon Ghost Tour
On this afternoon tour, we’ll explore some of the spookiest true tales of ghostly sightings at the Merchant’s House, as well as highlights from our ongoing research into strange and supernatural occurrences at the house. We’ll also test out some newly-built handheld paranormal sensors, and discover why The New York Times calls us “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House.” 60 minutes, strictly limited capacity. $20; $10 MHM Members and children ages 8-12. (Children under 8 are not permitted.) Purchase Afternoon Ghost Tour Tickets.

 

Wednesday, February 12, 6 p.m.
Ask A … Hospice Social Worker
Virtual Program
Join thanatologist Matilda Garrido and former hospice social worker (now in private practice) Carolyn Garnter, LCSW,FT, to discuss the spiritual and emotional care offered to those in hospice. Matilda and Carolyn will discuss the benefits of hospice and how this model of whole patient care changes the experience of the patient and family in the last days and weeks. Matilda and Carolyn will also discuss some of the common end of life experiences, including dreams and visions, shared by those approaching end of life. A Q&A will follow the program. Free (suggested donation $10); register for “Ask A Hospice Social Worker.”

From Mark Twain’s ghost haunting the “House of Death” on West 10th Street to the multiple cemeteries underneath Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village has a long association with death and the afterlife. In keeping with its neighborhood’s theme, the Merchant’s House Museum seeks to lift the veil around death and dying as we move into the 21st century.

In our second year of the popular “Ask A…” series, thanatologist Matilda Garrido interviews those working in the fields of end of life and beyond. Join us for historical perspective, emerging ideas, and open discussion around topics usually hidden.

Carolyn Gartner, LCSW, FT is the founder of The Center For Integrated Grief, a group therapy practice. She is a licensed clinical social worker and a Fellow in Thanatology (the study of dying, death and bereavement). Prior to this she worked in hospice for 9 years. Her book, Death, Brooklyn, and the Gritty Side of Grace, is about her experiences. She hosts a podcast on YouTube with the same name. She has been interviewed by HuPost, Parade Magazine and American Tributaries Podcast.

 

Saturday, February 22, 3 p.m.
A Tredwell Tour with Museum Historian Ann Haddad
Join Museum Historian Ann Haddad, who has been researching the Tredwell family for over 10 years, as she shares stories (both fact and family lore) of the occupants of East Fourth Street, as well as their ancestors and descendants, from the outspoken Loyalist who butted heads with Alexander Hamilton, to the renowned Bishop of New York who became embroiled in a shocking scandal, to the young man whose pleas for a daughter’s hand fell on deaf ears. Ann Haddad opens the Tredwell closet to reveal all the skeletons! $20, MHM Members Free; purchase tickets for A Tredwell Tour.

Current Exhibitions

Exhibitions are included with regular museum admission.

Ongoing
Manhattan’s First Landmark
This year, New Yorkers celebrate the 60th anniversary of the City’s groundbreaking Landmarks Law signed on April 19, 1965. The Merchant’s House, because of its remarkable state of preservation and importance in the history of New York City, played a significant role in the landmarking movement from its very beginning. Only 20 buildings were designated at the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s initial meeting in September 1965; the Merchant’s House was the first in the borough of Manhattan. Original documents, photographs, correspondence, and press clippings tell the story of how preserving the Merchant’s House was recognized as critical, from its inception as a museum in the 1930s, through the start of the landmarking movement in the 1950s, to the passage of the Landmarks Law in April 1965 and the designation of the House at the first meeting of the Commission in September.


Opens Wednesday, January 22
“Finest Surviving:” Ornamental Plasterwork at the Merchant’s House Museum
The 1832 Merchant’s House is one of only 120 buildings in New York City distinguished as an exterior – and interior – landmark. Its intact original ornamental plaster work is considered the “finest surviving” from the period. Learn how the plaster walls, ceilings, and ornamentation in the Merchant’s House were created in the 19th century. On display, original 1832 plaster fragments, as well as molds and plaster casts created by sculptor and ornamental plasterer David Flaharty, who used the same methods as the early 19th century artisans during a house-wide restoration in the 1970s.

 

VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS | ONLINE OFFERINGS