The Viking was built by John Roach (1813-1887), who came to the United States around 1829 from Ireland and prospered here as a foundryman and engine builder. He was instrumental in developing the iron shipbuilding industry. He sold the Viking in 1884 to ex-Governor Samuel J. Tilden, and it was later purchased by the U.S. government for use as a dispatch boat during the Spanish-American War.

Honeycomb quilts, made up of hundreds of small hexagonal pieces organized around a central wheel, were popular in England and caught on in America in the 1830s. This quilt top was made according to the time-consuming method described in Godey's Lady's Book in 1835, in which each tiny hexagon patch was formed over a template of stiff paper in the same shape. This quilt's paper templates, cut from old letters, bills, and copybook pages, are visible beneath each hexagon of the unfinished top. According to the donor, this quilt top was made by her great-grandmother, Maria Cooper Pillow (b. 1762) of Canterbury, England. Her granddaughter, Eliza Pilcher, married John Vaché Cox in New York City in 1844. The dating of this quilt is based on its two and three color vegetable dyed, roller-printed fabrics of small geometric prints and glazed chintz. In addition, it incorporates an all-over honeycomb pattern, a common quilt design of the period before repeat designs became popular.

The Croton Aqueduct, designed by John B. Jervis, provided the first reliable water source to New York City. It was forty-one miles long running from the Croton Dam in Upstate New York, over the High bridge across the Harlem river, to a receiving resevoir between 79th and 86th Streets in what is now Central Park. It continued on to the distributing resevoir at the current site of Bryant Park. It cost $11.5 million to build and served the city throught the first half of the 20th century.

The design of this tablecloth was based on an early Pennsylvania Dutch Sampler dated 1747. The original is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

George Ehler Stonebridge was an amateur photographer who lived and worked in the Bronx, New York.

George Ehler Stonebridge was an amateur photographer who lived and worked in the Bronx, New York.

George Ehler Stonebridge was an amateur photographer who lived and worked in the Bronx, New York.

This object was once part of the folk art collection of Elie Nadelman (1882-1946), the avant-garde sculptor. From 1924 to 1934, Nadelman's collection was displayed in his Museum of Folk Arts, located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The Historical Society purchased Nadelman's entire collection in 1937.

This needlework picture was made by the donor's mother, Mary Anna Woodgate Walter (1838-1916), and was exhibited in New York's Crystal Palace sometime before 1858. The cast-iron and glass Crystal Palace was completed in 1853, and was designed by Georg J. B. Carstensen and Charles Gildemeister. It was the site of the first World's Fair in the U.S., "Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations," which closed in 1854. Until it burned down in 1858, the Crystal Palace was used to host special events.

George Ehler Stonebridge was an amateur photographer who lived and worked in the Bronx, New York.