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.
Online (Zoom)
Tuesday, February 11 - 1:00-2:00pm
Join the NYC Department of Records and 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 February 11, join us as Dr. Anna Mae Duane discusses her book, Educated for Freedom: The Incredible Story of Two Fugitive Schoolboys Who Grew Up to Change a Nation.
In the 1820s, few Americans could envision the full potential of Black children in a nation deeply divided by slavery. Educated for Freedom chronicles the extraordinary lives of James McCune Smith and Henry Highland Garnet, two Black New Yorkers who rose from the margins of society to become pivotal figures in America's transformation from a slave-holding society to one aspiring toward freedom.
Smith and Garnet first crossed paths at the New York African Free School on Mulberry Street—an ambitious experiment in education founded by leaders who believed in the power of freedom to reshape the nation. Despite the odds, their remarkable achievements defied a country that refused to recognize Black talent and potential.
Join us to explore how their stories, friendship, and legacies illuminate the activism of New York City’s vibrant free Black community and its crucial role in steering the national course toward liberty and justice.
RSVP to join us virtually (via Zoom) by clicking here.
Online (Zoom)
Tuesday, February 18 - 1:00-2:00pm
Join the NYC Department of Records and 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.
In 1890, questioning the accuracy of the city’s population count reported by the federal government, New York City officials launched an independent census using police officers as enumerators. Today, this census is known as the 1890 New York City Police Census.
On February 18, join City archivists to learn more about the newly digitized 1890 census and how you can help transcribe information from this valuable record. Long valued by family historians, the Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) recently completed digitizing the 1890 census with a generous grant from the Peck Stacpoole Foundation. During 2025, the 400th anniversary of the founding of the City government, DORIS is expanding access to records documenting the City and its diverse communities. The 1890 census is an important resource for studying the City’s immigrant population.
Discover the challenges archivists faced in digitizing the fragile census books and learn how you can contribute to this exciting transcription project.
RSVP to join us virtually (via Zoom) by clicking here.
Online (Zoom)
Thursday, March 13 - 6:00-7:30pm
Join the NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) this March for a special Women's History Month virtual presentation.
In January 1978, Rockefeller Center president Alton Marshall announced that Radio City Music Hall would close its doors that April and was slated for demolition, shocking fans worldwide. Determined to prevent this from happening, a group of the Music Hall employees, fans, dancers, and politicians banded together to save the theater.
On March 13, join Rosemary Novellino-Mearns, the former president of the Showpeople’s Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall as she shares her firsthand account of the three-month struggle to reverse Rockefeller Center’s decision.
Using archival media coverage and personal anecdotes, Rosemary will discuss how she and the Showpeople’s Committee fought in a David-and-Goliath battle to preserve the iconic theater for future generations.
RSVP to join us virtually (via Zoom) by clicking here.
Online (Zoom)
Tuesday, April 8 - 1:00-2:00pm
Join the NYC Department of Records and 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 April 8, join architectural historian Dr. Mosette Broderick as she delves into the evolution of one of the most iconic streets in the world, New York’s Fifth Avenue.
Dubbed America’s “Street of Dreams,” the transformation of Fifth Avenue from a country road on the 1807 Commissioners’ Map to a 19th-century symbol of wealth and high society mirrored the dramatic shifts in the city’s early social and architectural landscape.
Explore Fifth Avenue’s 19th- and early 20th-century architecture, from the brownstone rowhouses of NYC mercantile society to the grand European-inspired mansions of arrivistes such as Alva Vanderbilt and Marietta Stevens; and discover how the rise of modern skyscrapers quickly overshadowed it.
RSVP to join us virtually (via Zoom) by clicking here.
Online (Zoom)
Tuesday, April 29 - 1:00-2:00pm
Join the NYC Department of Records and 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 April 29, join us and Dr. David Viola for an in-depth discussion on his upcoming book, You Have Unleashed a Storm: New York City’s Descent into Chaos During America’s Most Explosive Era of Radical Violence.
Using newly declassified files, preserved court records, and archival collections such as the Municipal Archives’ Handschu Collection, Viola delves into the untold history of domestic terrorism and political radicalism that shook New York City in the 1960s and 70s. He will reveal how these records illuminate the city’s rapid transition from postwar prosperity to turmoil and highlight the NYPD’s role in navigating this era of radical violence.
RSVP to join us virtually (via Zoom) by clicking here.