The Society for New York City History was created as a forum for the discussion of current research into New York City's rich, ever-unfolding history, and the issues involved in bringing that history to a wider and culturally diverse audience.

Principal qualifications for membership in the Society, in order of importance, are --

• A deep personal affection for New York City and its history and institutions,

• An active role in sharing what you have learned with a wider public, through books, articles, walking tours, lectures, broadcast media, school and college teaching, etc., and

• A strong background (not necessarily academic) in one or more areas of the city's history,

Meetings are held monthly throughout the year at the Society's Upper West Side headquarters. Topics covered at these informal sessions range from broad issues of political and social history to detailed studies of specific streets or buildings, city planning and development issues, and new research on obscure historical figures.

Most Society members have published at least a few books and articles. Virtually all members create and lead historical tours, conduct academic courses as professors or instructors, serve as witnesses at Landmark Commission hearings, curate historical exhibitions at area museums and libraries, or some combination of these. Information is provided below about some of our members. They may be contacted individually for further information on their specialties.

Peter Salwen (President-Elect) is the author of Upper West Side Story: A History and Guide (Abbeville Press), which The New York Times described as "an engaging romp through time and space, filled with charming period photographs, spicy folklore, outrageous personalities and even a walking tour." He also created and leads the celebrated "Mark Twain's New York" tour of Twain-related landmarks in lower Manhattan.

Joe Zito, a former newspaperman and a retired New York City police lieutenant as well as an authority on architectural history of New York City. Among other specialties, Joe is the unrivalled authority on the history and characters of Manhattan's Clinton area, better known by its proper name of "Hell's Kitchen."

Marvin Gelfand, journalist and raconteur extraordinary, is a frequent contributor to American Heritage and other leading historical journals. His marvelously entertaining tour of the Broadway theater district, widely imitated but never equalled, richly evokes the aura and legends personalities and legends of Broadway's golden years. Another popular favorite is his "New York Lovers and Losers" tour (Marvin's special Valentine's Day offering), which is usually sold out weeks in advance. Reach him at (212)222-5343 for information on these and other specialty tours.

Joyce Mendelsohn, lecturer-author, was the first Director of Education at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and teaches courses on New York Neighborhoods at the New School for Social Research. She is a contributor to New York Walks (Henry Holt, 1992) and author of Touring the Flatiron: Walks in Four Historic Neighborhoods (New York Landmarks Conservancy, 1998). Her latest book is The Lower East Side Remembered & Revisited: History and Guide to a Legendary New York Neighborhood (Lower East Side Press, 2001).

Jeffrey Kroessler, Ph.D., is the founder of the Queensborough Preservation League and co-author of Historic Preservation in Queens. He serves as an adjunct professor in urban history at Long Island University's Brooklyn campus and is well-known as a curator of major exhibitions at the Queens Historical Society, Fraunces Tavern, and elsewhere. Most recently, he wrote and curated the outstanding centennial exhibition "Lighting the Way" for the Queens Borough Public Library.

John Tauranac has authored several particularly outstanding books on New York, including Essential New York (Holt Rinehart & Winston), Elegant New York (Abbeville Press), and most recently The Empire State Building (Little, Brown).

Richard McDermott is the publisher of The New York Chronicle, which he established in 1987. A retired science teacher in the New York City public schools, Richard has most recently been conducting research into the city's oldest taverns -- including the discovery of the oldest continuously operating bar in New York, the Bridge Cafe (since 1847).

Bill Harris is a terrifyingly prolific writer, with more than 200 books to his credit (and counting), including many on New York. His New York: an Anthology, edited with Mike Marqusee (Cadogan/Salem House), has been called "the best and most neatly packaged collection of writings on New York -- from Walt Whitman to Kathy Acker -- that you'll find."

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Here's a recent press article about SNYCH:

They Love New York!

Local urbanophiles keep history
alive and well with talk, tours

By Esther Cohen

---

Reprinted from New York Newsday, Tuesday, November 18, 1995

A ritual steeped in nostalgia takes place on the last Thursday of every month in a dark bar on the Upper West Side.

Enthusiastic people crowd around a table to talk about New York. They speak of the city like lovers. They gather at the same table at Donahue's bar, just to talk. The numbers vary, but at least a few of them always show up.

They call themselves the Society for New York City History, or SNYCH (pronounced "snitch"). "We started meeting 15 years ago, when we were all going to Barry Lewis' wonderful lectures on the city," said Joyce Mendelsohn, a retired schoolteacher.

Mendelsohn now leads urban tours, including a walk of "Edith Wharton's New York" that she created for Women's History Month. "We meet in this bar because it's near Val Ginter. He lives down the block."

Ginter, the group's acknowleldged leader, is Valerian Ginter, proprietor of Ginter-Gotham Urban History. Ginter said that he came to New York from Chicago, for a job in television. "I've always loved trains," he said. "So 20 years ago, along with Michael George, who was a writer for Dan Rather, I created the tour of Grand Central Station." The tour, still happening every Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., is run by the Municipal Arts Society. And sometimes Ginter still leads it.

"E.B. White said that the settlers make this city," said Marvin Gelfand, of Ginter. Gelfand, a native New Yorker, conducts his own tour business, called Walk of the Town. "This bar," he said, "belonged to Jack Donahue. It's always been a bar for cops. I found it when I was working on a book. I told Jack's daughter, Debby, 'Other people's fathers might be able to get you into Harvard or Yale, but yours can get you out of jail.'"

Peter Salwen, author of Upper West Side Story, created the group's name. "We tried 'Ye Olde New Amsterdam Chowder and Marching Society' for awhile, but some people thought that just a trifle old-fashioned," he said. Salwen leads a unique tour of Mark Twain landmarks in the city. "It sounds strange to some people, but ninety years ago, Twain was the city's favorite celebrity," he said. "They used to call him the 'Belle of New York."

"But we're not tour guides," Ginter said. "A tour guide is something else. There are 600 tour guides in New York today. Their business is commerce. They sell helicopter rides and jewelry. I have nothing against them. But they're different from what we are. They buy a book and pass an exam and that's it."

Many of the group's members have written articles and books, but Bill Harris has the long lead on numbers. "I've written and edited 200 or so," he said. "About 15 are on New York, including a New York literary anthology. There's an O. Henry story in there about gridlock."

SNYCH members are well-represented in Kenneth Jackson's forthcoming Encyclopedia of New York. "It's going to be everything about the city, more or less," said Ginter, who wrote 25 articles for the book.

James Kaplan is a part-time tax lawyer in the city Law Department. "I probably know more about the Brooklyn Navy Yard than anyone else," he said. "We all have our styles and our subjects, and our different way of leading."

Ed O'Donnell is the group's newest member. With Seth Kamil, he founded Big Onion tours in 1991. O'Donnell and Kamil are doctoral candidates in American ethnic and urban history at Columbia University. Big Onion runs more than 20 tours. "It's the GM of our business," Gelfand said.

"I'm not a professional like the others," Margie Berk said. She was a docent at the Old Merchant's House, and one of the founders of the Union Square Community Coalition to reconstruct the area. "But I just love this city."

"People don't know that New York was the first capital of the of the U.S." Mendelsohn said. "The first congress met here. And so did the first senate."

"I just found out that Strawberry Fields is named for an orphanage in England," Gelfand said.

"The number of books about this place is in the six figures," Ginter said. "Why do we have to know about all this? As a child in Chicago, I felt that everything originated in New York," he said. "I've never lost that sense."