The exhibition traces the origins and development of central themes of American life—colonization, slavery, religion, politics, and natural history—through 16 rare books from the 17th and 18th centuries. The special installation reveals the beginnings of American principles that would inform the nation’s founding documents, like equality, freedom of religion, the separation of church and state, and freedom of the press while also showing how many of those principles were either denied or came at the expense of enslaved and Indigenous peoples.
Mon – Thu CLOSED
Fri (Members & age 65+ & immunocompromised) 10am – 11am
Fri 11am – 8pm
Sat – Sun 11am – 5pm
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street)
New York, NY
40.7793487, -73.9739079
Close Encounters in the Colonies: Treasures from the David M. Rubenstein Americana Collection
