Families, businesses, and organizations hang service flags in their windows to indicate the number of their members serving in the military during wartime. The banners were first designed in 1917 by US Army Captain Robert L. Queissner, an Ohioan with two sons serving in World War I, and the idea spread rapidly. The practice increased during World War II, with many families making theirs by hand. A blue star represents a living individual; these may be covered with silver stars to represent those been wounded or captured, or with gold for those who have been killed.

From the early nineteenth century and into the twentieth, Niagara Falls became a destination for tourists who sought to encounter not only the spectacle of the majestic falls, but the Native Americans they associated with the region. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) merged traditional styles of beadwork with Victorian tastes to create a souvenir market for “Indian curiosities,” enabling their beadworkers to earn income through a cottage industry.

During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Tuscarora and Mohawk developed a style of raised beadwork sewn in parallel lines, visible in this example. Women worked their motifs over paper patterns that remained intact when finished, embellishing purses, hanging pincushions, daguerreotype frames, and “whimsey” forms such as boots, hearts, horseshoes, and strawberries. Birds are a commonly found motif in Haudenosaunee beadwork.

This flag was raised by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. on the flagpole in front of the firm's 140 Broadway headquarters on June 26, 2015, within 15 minutes of the Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage.

Created entirely from shoelaces donated by museum visitors and New York City students, Nari Ward’s We the People interrogates the first three words of the Constitution’s Preamble. At different moments in American history, those three words—"We the People"—have proven unstable in meaning. Ward urges his viewers to consider which people it defends. By scaling this iconic text to a monumental size, the work is simultaneously legible and ambiguous, depending on the viewer’s physical proximity to the piece.

For nearly a century, Surma Books & Music Co. was a cultural hub for New York City’s Ukrainian immigrant centered community in the East Village, also known as Little Ukraine. Until its recent closure, the store had been located at 11 East Seventh Street since 1943.

Myron Surmach Sr., its founder, arrived at Ellis Island from the Ukraine in 1910. He settled in New York City after working various odd jobs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Joining a Czech gymnastics group prompted him to open his shop in 1918 to sell gym clothing and Ukrainian books. It evolved into a general store, selling phonographs and washing machines, but Surmach also offered services such as letter reading. The business grew to include ethnic music publishing during the 1920s and 1930s—perhaps a fitting occupation, since “surma” also refers to a Ukrainian woodwind instrument.

During the 1950s, the store’s offerings shifted toward the marketing of “folk” through craft items and publications. Surmach’s son, Myron Jr. (1932–2003), assumed the business and began carrying products such as ceramics, religious icons, embroidered shirts, and wooden objects made by the Hutsul highlanders. In addition to selling traditional craft, Surma offered the tools and supplies to practice them, including a large selection embroidery flosses and fabrics, as well as jacquard ribbons with “folk” patterns, albeit made in Germany.

For nearly a century, Surma Books & Music Co. was a cultural hub for New York City’s Ukrainian immigrant centered community in the East Village, also known as Little Ukraine. Until its closure in 2016, the store had been located at 11 East Seventh Street since 1943.

Myron Surmach Sr., its founder, arrived at Ellis Island from the Ukraine in 1910. He settled in New York City after working various odd jobs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Joining a Czech gymnastics group prompted him to open his shop in 1918 to sell gym clothing and Ukrainian books. It evolved into a general store, selling phonographs and washing machines, but Surmach also offered services such as letter reading. The business grew to include ethnic music publishing during the 1920s and 1930s.

During the 1950s, the store’s offerings shifted toward the marketing of “folk” through craft items and publications. In addition to selling traditional craft, Surma offered the tools and supplies to practice them, including a large selection embroidery flosses and fabrics, as well as jacquard ribbons with “folk” patterns, albeit made in Germany.

For nearly a century, Surma Books & Music Co. was a cultural hub for New York City’s Ukrainian immigrant centered community in the East Village, also known as Little Ukraine. Until its closure in 2016, the store had been located at 11 East Seventh Street since 1943.

Myron Surmach Sr., its founder, arrived at Ellis Island from the Ukraine in 1910. He settled in New York City after working various odd jobs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Joining a Czech gymnastics group prompted him to open his shop in 1918 to sell gym clothing and Ukrainian books. It evolved into a general store, selling phonographs and washing machines, but Surmach also offered services such as letter reading. The business grew to include ethnic music publishing during the 1920s and 1930s.

During the 1950s, the store’s offerings shifted toward the marketing of “folk” through craft items and publications. In addition to selling traditional craft, Surma offered the tools and supplies to practice them, including a large selection embroidery flosses and fabrics, as well as jacquard ribbons with “folk” patterns, albeit made in Germany.