Events
DORIS offers programs, tours, and activities related to our holdings. Join our mailing list to be the first to know about exhibition openings, upcoming events, recent blog posts, and much more.
Note: If you require an auxiliary aid or service in order to attend a DORIS event, please contact the Disability Service Facilitator.
Note: To request language interpretation services, please contact the Language Access Coordinator at least three (3) business days before an event.
Lunch & Learn: The Women's House of Detention
Online (Zoom)
Tuesday, October 6 - 1:00-2:00pm
Join the NYC Department of Records & Information Services (DORIS) each month for our virtual Lunch & Learn Series – an intimate conversation with agency staff and special guests focusing on the collections of the Municipal Archives and Library and the history of New York City.
On Tuesday, October 6, in commemoration of LGBTQ+ History Month, historian Hugh Ryan will reconstruct the little-known lives of the cis women, trans men, and nonbinary people incarcerated in the Women's House of Detention, making a uniquely queer case for prison abolition — and demonstrating that by queering Greenwich Village, the House of Detention helped define queerness for the rest of the United States.
From the lesbian communities forged through the Women’s House of Detention to the turbulent prison riots that presaged Stonewall, discover the story of one building, the people it caged, the neighborhood it changed, and the resistance it inspired.
RSVP to join us by clicking here.
Neighborhood Stories: Sharing New York Memories
31 Chambers Street, New York, NY 10007
Wednesday, October 21 - 11:00am-12:00pm
Join us at the historic Hall of Records on October 21st to learn about the City’s oral history initiative, Neighborhood Stories!
On Wednesday, October 21, the NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) presents Reflecting on NYC History: A Community Forum, a full day of programming at the historic Hall of Records.
Earlier this year, DORIS launched a new website for the Neighborhood Stories project, a unique storytelling initiative that gathers and permanently preserves oral history-style interviews with New York City residents, connecting local history with the records of City government maintained in the collections of the Municipal Archives and Library.
Join us to learn how you can share your New York memories and help preserve the history of the city and its neighborhoods. Drawing on photographs, documents, maps, and other materials from the Archives, we’ll explore how the official record and personal stories can tell different sides of the same place, community, or moment in New York’s history.
Bring—or simply think of—a photograph, object, memory, or family story connected to New York. Come ready to look closely, share a memory, ask questions, and consider what you or someone you know might contribute to the growing record of New York life.
Learn how the project began, how to get involved, and how your story can help preserve New York City history for future generations.
RSVP to join us by clicking here.
Lunch & Learn: Searching the Archive for Hidden Voices
Online (Zoom) and In-person (31 Chambers Street, New York, NY, 10007)
Wednesday, October 21 - 1:00-2:00pm
Join the NYC Department of Records & Information Services (DORIS) each month for our virtual Lunch & Learn Series – an intimate conversation with agency staff and special guests focusing on the collections of the Municipal Archives and Library and the history of New York City.
Join us as researchers Hugh Ryan and Riah Lee Kinsey discuss their experiences navigating archival spaces while researching LGBTQ history.
On Wednesday, October 21, the NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) presents Reflecting on NYC History: A Community Forum, a full day of programming at the historic Hall of Records.
Join us at 1:00pm for a conversation with author Hugh Ryan and archivist Riah Lee Kinsey. The speakers will discuss their experiences conducting archival research at a range of institutions, with a particular focus on their work at the Municipal Archives and Library.
Discover how their research has shaped their understanding of present-day New York and informed the ways they interpret LGBTQ history. The conversation will be moderated by archivist Tara Hart.
Join us either virtually (via Zoom) or in person (limited seats available).
RSVP to join us by clicking here.
"Person Place Thing" with Randy Cohen & DORIS Commissioner Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz
Online (Zoom) and In-person (31 Chambers Street, New York, NY, 10007)
Wednesday, October 21 - 7:00-8:30pm
Join Randy Cohen and DORIS Commissioner Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz for a live recording of "Person Place Thing" at the NYC Surrogate’s Courthouse!
On Wednesday, October 21, the NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) presents Reflecting on NYC History: A Community Forum, a full day of programming at the historic Hall of Records.
At 7:00pm, the NYC Department of Records & Information Services (DORIS)’s Commissioner, Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, will join Emmy-Award-winner Randy Cohen for a live recording of "Person Place Thing".
"Person Place Thing" is an interview show based on the idea that people are especially engaging when they speak, not directly about themselves, but about something they care about. Guests share a person, a place, and a thing they find meaningful. The result: surprising stories from great talkers.
Join us either virtually (via Zoom) or in person (limited seats available).
RSVP to join us by clicking here.
Lunch & Learn: Indigenous New York - Ironworkers Who Shaped Manhattan
Online (Zoom)
Tuesday, November 10 - 1:00-2:00pm
Join the NYC Department of Records & Information Services (DORIS) each month for our virtual Lunch & Learn Series – an intimate conversation with agency staff and special guests focusing on the collections of the Municipal Archives and Library and the history of New York City.
On Tuesday, November 10, Dr. Allan Downey will delve into the vibrant histories forged by Indigenous peoples throughout twentieth-century New York City.
The Mohawk (Kanien’keha:ka) and other Indigenous ironworkers - renowned for their daring work, balancing thousands of feet in the air while constructing iconic landmarks such as the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center, and the United Nations Headquarters - have had a discernible impact on the landscape of New York City and other major North American urban centers since the 1880s.
Join us to learn how the Kanien’keha:ka ironworkers became synonymous with New York City. They have taken on an almost mythic presence in the city’s folklore, figures as recognizable as its landmarks and well-known across the United States and beyond.
RSVP to join us by clicking here.
Lunch & Learn: Urban Histories, Local Voices - A Conversation on NYC Chinatowns
Online (Zoom)
Thursday, November 19 - 1:00-2:00pm
Join the NYC Department of Records & Information Services (DORIS) each month for our virtual Lunch & Learn Series – an intimate conversation with agency staff and special guests focusing on the collections of the Municipal Archives and Library and the history of New York City.
On November 19, we welcome Dr. Tarry Hum, Professor Emeritus at CUNY and 2025 Caring Across Generations Fellow, and Marc Kirkeby, historian, writer, and former contributor to our For the Record blog, for a conversation about the evolution of infrastructure, demographics, and community life in two dynamic neighborhoods: Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens.
Dr. Tarry Hum is the author of Making a Global Immigrant Neighborhood, Brooklyn’s Sunset Park (2014) and lead editor of Immigrant Crossroads: Globalization, Incorporation, and Placemaking in Queens, NY (2021). Her research focuses on immigrant urbanism and growth coalitions, transnational capital, and urban and community planning.
Marc Kirkeby’s work has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, NY Daily News, and Rolling Stone. Visit Archives.NYC to explore Marc’s 2017 Sunset Park series.
RSVP to join us by clicking here.