Past Exhibitions – Main Gallery
The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982
January 22, 2023
We are proud to announce two exhibits by photo-based artist and arts educator, Christopher López. “The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982” shines a light on horrific events from Hoboken’s early period of gentrification. This visual and oral history project will be on display in our Main Gallery…View Details
The Avenue: A History of Washington Street
August 1, 2021 - December 23, 2022
There's an old Hoboken saying: “If you can’t find it on Washington Street, you’re not looking hard enough.” The Museum's curatorial team has taken up the challenge with its latest exhibition: “The Avenue: A History of Washington Street.” Visit the Digital/Virtual Exhibit "The Avenue!" Tracing…View Details
Greetings from Hudson County: A Postcard History Then & Now
January 27, 2019 - July 4, 2021
“Greetings from Hudson County: A Postcard History Then and Now” comprises over 700 historic postcards from all 12 cities and towns of Hudson County. Most of the postcards date from the Golden Age of postcards, the 1900s – 1920s, showing parks, street scenes, scenic views…View Details
World War I Centennial, 1917-2017: Heaven, Hell or Hoboken
August 6, 2017 - December 23, 2018
“World War I Centennial, 1917-2017: Heaven, Hell or Hoboken” explores how Hoboken and its residents were transformed by the United States entry into World War I on April 6, 1917. The city was declared the main point of embarkation for the U.S. Expeditionary Force bound…View Details
Hoboken People and Places, 1976-1994: Photographs by Michael Flanagan
January 22 – July 2, 2017
When he moved to Hoboken in the mid-1970s, Michael Flanagan was already a seasoned photographer with a passion for developing his own prints through meticulous experimentation. His camera of choice was a large format, four-by-five-inch Linhof view camera, mounted on a tripod. The equipment was…View Details
Frank Sinatra Centennial
August 2, 2015 – July 3, 2016
Frank Sinatra: The Man, the Voice, and the Fans Honoring the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hoboken's most famous native son, the exhibition, "Frank Sinatra: The Man, the Voice, and the Fans," will open on Sunday, Aug. 2, with a free opening reception from…View Details
The Extraordinary Stevens Family, A New Jersey Legacy: 1776-1911
January 25 – July 5, 2015
Click here to take an interactive virtual tour "The Extraordinary Stevens Family, A New Jersey Legacy: 1776-1911" detailed the lives and careers of two generations of the family The New York Times referred to as “one of New Jersey’s first families.” The Stevenses were inventors…View Details
Hoboken, Ellis Island, and the Immigrant Experience, 1892-1924
August 3, 2014 – December 23, 2014
Click here to take an interactive virtual tour of the exhibit. If Hoboken seems crowded today, with a population just over 50,000, imagine how crowded it was between 1892 – 1924, the peak period of U.S. immigration. Following the Immigration Act of 1891, which established…View Details
Hoboken: One Year After Sandy, Lessons Learned about Preparedness, Resiliency, and Community
October 2013 - July 2014
Click here to take an interactive virtual tour of the exhibit. One year after Superstorm Sandy hit, Hoboken still bears the traces, some visible, some invisible. Many flooded homes have been repaired, others have not. Many residents spent days or months cleaning out their homes…View Details
Mapping the Territory: Hudson County in Maps, 1840-2013
January – September 2013
Click here to take an interactive tour of the exhibit. Most of us use maps to learn how to get to where we need to go, but maps can also tell us a lot about where we have been and how we arrived at our…View Details
I Belong: A History of Civic and Social Clubs in Hoboken
July – December 2012
Hoboken has always been a haven for newcomers. So perhaps it’s not surprising that from as early as the 1700s, social clubs have sprung up as a way for people to connect with others around shared interests. From purely social groups like the Turtle Club—an…View Details
Driving Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels
January – June 2012
Click here to take an interactive virtual tour of the exhibit. Through this exhibition, we celebrated the 85th anniversary of the Holland Tunnel and the 75th birthday of the Lincoln Tunnel. Love them for the access they provide to New York City, or curse them…View Details
Yum Yum, Tootsie Rolls, and Chocolate Bunnies on Motorcycles… A Sweet History of Hoboken
January – December 2011
Buddy Valastro put Hoboken on the national culinary map with his popular TLC cable network show, “Cake Boss,” but did you know that Hoboken has been a confectionary powerhouse since the mid-19th century? It’s such a rich (and tasty) legacy, the Museum has traced a…View Details
Surveying the World: Keuffel & Esser + Hoboken, 1875–1968
January - December 2010
Hoboken’s Keuffel & Esser Made Instruments that Drove an Age of Progress K&E, the initials carved into the roofline of the building at the corner of Third & Adams, are the only visible trace of a company that played a significant role in America’s phenomenal…View Details
Up and Down the River: A History of the Hudson, 1609–2009
March – December 2009
A hundred years ago, New York City threw a two-weeklong public celebration of a double anniversary: the tricentennial of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the river and the centennial (plus two) of Robert Fulton’s first successful steamboat crossing in 1807. One of the largest public anniversaries…View Details
Heaven, Hell or Hoboken: A City Transformed by World War I
September 2008 – January 2009
The designation as a port of embarkation meant national fame for Hoboken – General John J. Pershing’s promise to the troops that they’d be in “Heaven, Hell or Hoboken” by Christmas of 1917 became a national rallying cry for a swift end to the war,…View Details
Greetings from Hoboken: A Postcard History
January - August 2008
Corresponding with the greatest growth spurt in Hoboken’s history, 1898 – 1930, a simple change in postage from 2 cents to 1 transformed the medium of souvenir postcards into a national craze. Known among collectors as the “Golden Age of Postcards,” the first half of…View Details
Hoboken Tunes: Our Musical Heritage
July - December 2007
Frank Sinatra may have put Hoboken on the world map, but his is not the only musical career this town has fostered. Stephen Foster lived here when he wrote I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair. A few years after Sinatra, and just…View Details
From Another Time: Hoboken in the 1970s
January – July 2007
A Trip Back to the Seventies: Imagine a Hoboken before the high-rise residential towers and ubiquitous nail salons, cell phone stores, realtors and shoe boutiques. This exhibit celebrates the Museum’s latest book, From Another Time: Hoboken in the 1970s, where visitors will be transported back…View Details
