Show NEW YORK HISTORY FROM EARLY DAYS museum groups vividly recall the past among the tattered letters odd maps mapa and prints time darkened portraits and other fragmentary memorabilia or which line the walls walla of the new museum of the city of new york there runs the series of model groups group in which dwight franklin and ned J L bu burns afis have recaptured the long past of the greatest city of the world they are delicate little panoramas beautifully constructed ted and finely modeled and breathing a sudden life and vitality into the dead relies relics about them as they repeat the veritable scenes amid which those old letters passed or those quaint dresses were worn peter Stuyvesan ts sword looks simply like something in a museum until near it one sees the governor himself fully as vivid as life it only about one tenth as aa large storming over colonel Cart cartwrights wrights demand for surrender while the seventeenth century sunshine lies placidly upon the ramparts of nieuw amsterdam fort outside the door well the fort has lain buried for many years somewhere beneath the foundations of lower broadway roter peter stuyvesant is as dead its as a doornail and so is the pleasant bucolic life of the little outpost of dutch empire which once occupied what was once the tip of oc manhattan in the model those times are arc as alive aslant aa last nights supper club so sa are the pleasant blue waters and wooded slopes of the east river so much plea pleasant pleasanter santer cr than today as they are seen through the windows of the beekman mansion while general howe interrupted with wineglass in hand and a root mot lipow upon his lips tosses the irritated glance of authority over his shoulder to see what the guards have brought in its an infernal young rebel suspected of espionage nanie name of nathan hale biale one almost hears the voices and one suddenly understands a lot about the american revolution alive too are the ahe waterfront crowds under the long jib booms on south street or the indians three centuries earlier in their encampment at inwood these models are an essential and fascinating part of ill the new exhibit something which distinguishes it from those of other museums they give tin on incomparably better idea of th the 0 times they portray than do for example the models of old london in the great london museum and they suggest how wonderful will be the record which tills museum will contain when time has enriched its collections and broadened their scope to cover the countless fields of new yorks life and activities down to the present time As yet of course there are many lacunae the contemporary scene Is hardly touched some types of exhibit may prove difficult to acquire new yorks growth for example has been so swift and so destructive as to leave few of the old idd shop fronts old signs and utensils pieces of furniture and paneling which are important items in the london collection but the beginning Is such a fine one offering so many possibilities that money and support for expansion must surely be forthcoming one hopes that good slices of it will be spent on further work from mr franklin and mr burns new york herald tribune |