The Gotham Center is a university-based research and educational center, devoted to advancing scholarly and public understanding of New York City’s rich and living past. The organization was founded in 2000 by Mike Wallace, Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay College and The Graduate Center, CUNY, after his landmark work Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, co-authored with Edwin
Burrows, won the Pulitzer. For nearly twenty years, it has been the one academic institution devoted exclusively to promoting this critical field of study. Our goal is to support independent and professional historical work examining the various forces and figures which have shaped life in the city, as well as New York’s contributions to the development of the nation and the world. Through a variety of public-facing initiatives, such as our free lecture series, digital resources, and K-12 programs, we strive to make that knowledge available to the widest possible audience — sharing the best and most interesting new scholarship with groups far beyond the academic community and immediate metropolitan area, while still bringing that work directly into local classrooms and learning spaces. Finally, we endeavor to make research on New York City history more useful to actors influencing culture and policy today, fostering greater awareness and exchange between academic experts and leaders in civil society and government. In all things, we ask New Yorkers to consider how the past has created the present, and what lessons it might offer for the challenges we face in our great city, now and in the future.
