Exhibition Partnership with the Museum of the City of New York

The Gotham Center is pleased to announce that it will be partnering with the Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) on an exhibition for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. The collaboration builds on the Gotham Center’s NYC Revolutionary Trail, now in production to become a multimedia walking tour app.

“Occupied City: New York and the American Revolution” will open on May 1, 2026, roughly one month before the July 4th holiday kicks off the semiquincentennial. The 7,000 square-foot exhibition will take over MCNY’s entire third floor for a year, offering an immersive exploration of the city’s pivotal role during the Revolutionary War. Visitors will gain an unprecedented look at New York from 1763, the start of the Imperial Crisis, through George Washington’s inauguration in lower Manhattan, at the end of the Critical Period, during which the city served as the nation’s first capital.

The exhibition will reveal how New York’s diverse population – from revolutionaries and founding fathers to British loyalists, enslaved Africans, free Black residents, and Native peoples – shaped the events that would ultimately give birth to America. It will highlight the city’s strategic importance and the profound challenges faced by its residents during British occupation, as well as the resilience of New Yorkers during this time. Through a dynamic mix of historical objects, interactive media, and immersive environments, the exhibition will transport visitors into the Revolutionary era, spotlighting how the city transformed and endured through periods of military conflict, occupation, and eventual triumph.

To learn more, view the press release here.

And this early spotlight in the New York Times.