About this class
New York City History is a structured course in historical research, designed for learners who want to understand how the city came to be and to develop the skills historians use to find that out. The course uses New York as its subject and research as its method. Learners study the city's growth from a harbor settlement to five boroughs while practicing how to read a map, examine a photograph, search an archive, and build an account from evidence.
Instruction combines source analysis with guided research and presentation. Each week introduces a period or theme in the city's history, examines it through maps, photographs, newspapers, and records, and concludes with applied practice in the classroom. Across the term, each learner researches one block, building, or neighborhood of their choosing and presents the findings to the group.
What you’ll learn
By the end of the term, learners will be able to:
- Read historical and present-day maps, and compare them to describe how a place has changed
- Search digital archives and photo collections, including those of the New York Public Library and the NYC Municipal Archives
- Examine a photograph or document as evidence, asking who made it, when, and why
- Distinguish a primary source from a secondary source and explain why the difference matters
- Place major events in the city's history on a timeline and explain how they connect
- Organize research notes and cite where information came from
- Present research findings to a group, clearly and with supporting evidence
Topics covered
- Lenapehoking and New Amsterdam: the land and its first communities
- The street grid of 1811 and how the city was planned
- The harbor, the Erie Canal, and New York as a center of trade
- Immigration and tenement life on the Lower East Side
- Bridges, subways, and the 1898 consolidation of the five boroughs
- The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance
- Skyscrapers, the New Deal, and the building of the modern city
- The fiscal crisis of the 1970s and the city's recovery
- Research methods: maps, photographs, newspapers, census records, and oral histories
- Presenting history: organizing evidence and telling an accurate story
How the class works
The course follows an inquiry-based approach. Sessions open with a source, such as a map or a photograph, and a question about it. Learners work through the source together, connect it to the week's topic, and then spend time on their own research projects with instructor support. The final sessions are given to presentations, with each learner sharing what they found and how they found it.
Who it’s for
For anyone curious about how New York became the city it is and interested in learning how to research the past. No prior coursework in history is required.
When it meets
Tuesdays, 1:00pm – 2:30pm, at 1350 6th Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10019.
January
4 sessions
- January 5
- January 12
- January 19
- January 26
February
4 sessions
- February 2
- February 9
- February 16
- February 23
March
5 sessions
- March 2
- March 9
- March 16
- March 23
- March 30
April
4 sessions
- April 6
- April 13
- April 20
- April 27
Register by month
Registration is by the month at $75 per session. Join any month: you don’t have to commit to the whole term, and you’re welcome to start later than January.
January 2027
4 sessions · $300
February 2027
4 sessions · $300
March 2027
5 sessions · $375
April 2027
4 sessions · $300
All 4 months come to $1,275.
Enroll for this classPick any months you want on the enrollment page and pay once. Payment is handled securely by Stripe. Trouble checking out? Email hello@thegrovenyc.org.
Classes at The Grove are non-credit, personal-enrichment programs offered by Big Apple Coaching LLC. Participation does not confer academic credit, professional certification, or licensure.