Featured Database: Ancestry Library Edition

Since the launch of Napster in 1999, there has been a massive transformation in how we create and consume media. This class charts the waves of change over the past two decades. We’ll start by looking at the tools and technology that underpin the digital revolution.  We’ll then trace what’s happened...

Meet the badass Brooklynites who brought us the ballot. Behind the stately facades of Brooklyn Heights’ most gracious brownstones lies the history of firebrand feminism! The wise “women of Brooklyn” were doctors, lawyers, educators and orators who made some of the foremost contributions to the Suffrage movement. Join us for a walk through their...

Full Course Name:  The Pope DOES Wear a Funny Hat: Symbolism in Medieval and Renaissance Art Ever wondered why the Pope wears a hat shaped like a fish, or why baby Jesus is depicted squeezing a tiny bird to death? Now is your chance to find out! Learn about the history behind well known symbols in western Medieval and Renaissance art. Impress...

New York City at the turn of the 20th century was a rapidly growing industrial city with a flourishing crime rate to match! Unsolved murders, mob assassinations and daring heists colored the front pages of every newspaper. Come and learn about some of the most shocking crimes committed during the time when New York was forming...

The Gorgeous Mess that is the American Christmas Media Experience Have you ever seen the Radio City Christmas Show with the Rockettes? Actual SHOWGIRLS?!?? It is deeply insane. Watch clips from the show with us on a projector in a cozy living room and follow us down the rabbit hole, discussing how it encapsulates all of America in a deeply paradoxical...

In this introduction to the principles of Feng Shui,you will learn how to apply basic corrections and adjustments. Included are: a general history; discussion of schools and methods of practice; and use of color, form, and materials.  No prior experience is required.

Everything that has happened in 2019 has set us up for the shift in consciousness that is underway. In the upcoming days, we will see the manifestation of that transformation, as many visionaries have predicted. This will be a landmark year, a time of personal, national, and planetary upheavals.  Some of the finest astrologers and prophets from...

Rice around the world is thought of as Asian. But rice is just as African as it is Asian. Oryza glaberrima was cultivated from wild rice that needed humans when the Sahara was drying. That knowledge fueled the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade where Africans were brought west. Rice dominated the United States and particularly South Carolina for two hundred...

This class will give you an overview of the court systems in the United States, including what kinds of cases go to what kinds of courts, and how a case can end up at the United States Supreme Court.   We’ll also look at when and how a person or group of people can use the courts to challenge a law or practice that they believe...

Join the longest-running informal foreign affairs discussion program in the country. Increase your awareness and understanding of timely, thought-provoking foreign policy issues involving the US. Each week another thematic/geographic issue is placed in its historical context. Topics are: Climate Change and the Global Order India and Pakistan Red...

Much of what we know in today's American Culture, and how we have come to know it has been shaped by European colonization and western imperialism. How do we dismantle harmful systems of oppression rooted in the exploitation of the “other”? This Olio two-part series traces historical events that created the foundation for an exploitative, unjust...

It’s almost time to “Get Out the Census” and the stakes could not be higher for New York City in terms of federal funding and electoral representation. What are government, community and civic leaders doing to ensure that every single resident of New York City is properly counted in April 2020? Despite the political controversies...

While many animals today face the threat of extinction, the numbers of dogs and cats are only climbing. They’ve tagged along at humanity’s heels since the Ice Age, an important part of our quest for world domination. But how did they evolve from wild predators into pampered pets? This class will explore the long and fascinating...

Forensic Architecture is both a recent, transdisciplinary research method and a specific research group headed by the method’s originator, the scholar Eyal Weizman. Combining architectural studies of the built environment, forensic investigation, geography, ecology, ethnography and journalism, Forensic Architecture takes up not the traditional architectural...

From zero-sum games and the “prisoner’s dilemma” to rational actors and the Nash equilibrium, game theory has grown from a bold conjecture into a deeply influential mode of analysis in political science, economics, psychology, business, mathematics, and even military strategy. Based on a theory of simple card games developed by John Von Neumann...

This lecture series is a semi-secret preview of Sarah Lohman’s upcoming food history book, Endangered Eating: Exploring America’s Vanishing Food! Over the coming months, she’ll lead eight classes, each focused on a single chapter of her book. It’s your chance to get the scoop on Sarah’s work, help her with questions and feedback,...

This lecture series is a semi-secret preview of Sarah Lohman’s upcoming food history book, Endangered Eating: Exploring America’s Vanishing Food! Over the coming months, she’ll lead eight classes, each focused on a single chapter of her book. It’s your chance to get the scoop on Sarah’s work, help her with questions and feedback,...

New York City’s Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) is an unparalleled public-private initiative dating back to the 19th century. Today, it provides City support to 34 institutions across the five boroughs that help cement New York’s status as the cultural capital of the world. This robust public investment in diverse private non-profit organizations...