Calendar of Events

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

JANUARY 2026

On YouTube!
Celebrating New Year’s Day 2026 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.


Sunday, January 4, 3 p.m.
Guided House Tour: Healthcare in Tredwell Times

Curious about healthcare in the 19th century and the illnesses that affected New Yorkers during that era? On this afternoon tour, we’ll explore the diseases and treatments common in 19th century New York. Drawing from firsthand accounts and historical sources, we’ll learn about major outbreaks of cholera, diphtheria, typhoid fever, and the recorded causes of death within the Tredwell family, along with the types of medical care they might have received. This tour will also highlight how the Civil War spurred significant medical advancements and changed the way physicians and nurses were trained. 60-75 minutes. $20, MHM Members $10. Purchase Healthcare Tour Tickets.


Tuesday, January 13, 6 p.m.
Virtual Talk: Cabinet Cards, Cartomania and Celebrity in the Tredwell Home
Co-Sponsored by Village Preservation

Join us on Zoom for a talk featuring the Merchant’s House Museum’s photography collection. Intern Katie Jacobson will discuss the rise of carte-de-visites, cabinet cards, and how the Tredwell family participated in the 1860s burgeoning celebrity culture through collecting celebrity photographs. We will discuss the evolution of early photographic mediums, famous photography studios, and how photographs functioned in homes during the late 19th century. Additionally, we will gain insight into two of the Tredwell women and watch them grow up as photograph trends change. Free (suggested donation $10); registration required. Register for Tredwell Photography Virtual Talk.

Katie Jacobson is the Education & Public Programs intern at the Merchant’s House Museum. She holds a BA in Art History and Cinema Studies from New York University.

Special Exhibition Opens Wednesday, January 21
Slavery in Plain Sight: A 19th Century Merchant’s Home

In 1827, after three decades of “gradual emancipation,” New York State officially abolished slavery. Yet New York City’s economy remained deeply entwined with the slave South — and it was booming. Merchants, financiers, and prominent families continued to profit through investments, insurance, shipping, manufacturing, and especially the cotton trade. New York City was firmly pro-slavery and it was convenient to turn a blind eye.

This exhibition highlights New Yorkers’ complicity with the slave economy, focusing on objects and materials in the Tredwell Collection with direct links to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Mahogany, sugar, tobacco, cotton, and metals are all “in plain sight” in the Tredwell home, as they were in homes throughout the city.

Current Exhibitions

Exhibitions are included with regular museum admission.

Open through January 4 
A Jolly Holiday: Christmas Traditions from New Amsterdam
While filling their home with holiday cheer, the Tredwells were unlikely to be thinking about where these traditions came from. But in fact, many parts of their Christmas celebration were holdovers from New York’s Dutch founding. To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Dutch founding of New Amsterdam, we are highlighting some Dutch traditions that persisted into the 19th century, many of which are familiar to us today: from Santa Claus and Christmas cookies, to New Year’s Day calling, these traditions, and more, got their start in colonial New Amsterdam.

On display, holiday gifts from the Tredwell collection, and holiday decorations throughout the house.

 

 

 

VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS | ONLINE OFFERINGS