Discover our interactive digital exhibits, which provide a fascinating, in-depth historical look at life on the Lower East Side. Current exhibits include Brick by Brick: The Many Lives of 103 Orchard Street, In Praise of Stuff: The Tenement Museum’s Collections, and Tenement Women: Agents of Change.
Digital Exhibits
The Stories of 103 Orchard Street
A Special Digital Storytelling Experience
Explore the changing community through videos, photos, documents, and oral histories in this dynamic digital storytelling experience. See how the Lower East Side in the 1900s, Loisaida in the 1960s, and Chinatown in the 1980s overlapped and get a glimpse of the families and cultures that defined the neighborhood.
Brick by Brick: The Many Lives of 103 Orchard Street
Historical PreservationCollections/Archives
Our tenement at 103 Orchard Street is unlike any other tenement. It has a long, rich, and sometimes complex history hidden behind layers of sturdy brick and an ornamental cornice. While the Museum spend several months operating out of 103 Orchard Street while 97 Orchard Street was under construction, and this digital exhibit explores the history of this building to explore how New York City uses tenement buildings as residences, businesses, and cultural centers through the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
In Praise of Stuff: The Tenement Museum’s Collections
Historical PreservationCollections/Archives
Discover how the Tenement Museum brings the stories of our tenement families to life through the objects in our collections: everyday items that were either left behind in the buildings, heirlooms donated by the families of former residents, relayed to us through oral histories, or purchased in order to accurately recreate a space. This exhibit includes interactives such as videos, immersive 360 photos, oral histories, and slideshows, allowing you to experience our collections in even greater depth.
Tenement Women: Agents of Change
Women’s HistoryGrassroots Activism
From politics to pop culture, women on the Lower East Side have long led movements for social, cultural, and political change. Explore the digital exhibit to discover stories of workers and activists, creators and changemakers who brought new ideas to their homes, streets and factories, and consider how their legacies survive today.
Beyond Statistics: Living in a Pandemic
History of MedicineLife & Death
This interactive exhibit traces the stories of five former residents of the Museum’s tenement buildings, from the 1860s through the 1990s, who lived with and ultimately died from, contagious disease. We invite you to look closer and examine the stories of individuals who live with illnesses, past and present. Who are they, and what are their experiences?
Immigrants Mean Business: An Enduring History of Entrepreneurship
NYC HistoryLocal Economics
This digital exhibit, in partnership with the Small Business Services Administration, is adapted from our successful 2019 on-site exhibition. It explores how immigrant entrepreneurs persevered through times of economic and public health crises, both in the past and today.
The Census: Reading Between the Lines
Census RecordsCollections/Archives
On April 1, 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) released the 1950 Census records. The public can freely access census records 72 years after each decennial census and for a museum dedicated to public records research, this is especially important.
In this digital exhibit, get a behind-the-scenes look at how our Museum historians have used the census to learn how residents of the Lower East Side lived.
More to Explore
Videos
Movies, documentaries, book talks, panel discussions, and more! Check out our archive of educational programming — made for researching students, history lovers, and the curious-minded.
Blog ⋅ Notes from the Tenement
From curious anecdotes and fun recipes to scholarly research and deep dives, get a behind-the-scenes look at special Museum content on our blog – curated by our historians and staff.