The Staten Island Museum: Celebrating 75 Years with the Chamber
By Michael Anderson, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce
If you’re looking to learn about Staten Island history, look no further than the Staten Island Museum.
The Museum dates back to 1881 when a group of 14 young Staten Island naturalists pooled their collections and research efforts out of concern that “the rapid growth of the community [has already] obliterated many of our most interesting natural objects.”
“It really started from the natural sciences side, but then a few years later, history and art were added to the scope,” said Staten Island Museum President and CEO Janice Monger. “Over the years, with different directors, one of those disciplines may have been emphasized more than others. But there’s always been this long-standing commitment about concern over Staten Island’s environment. And I think that’s a thread that has been coming back into more focus in recent years when you look at what Staten Island has experienced with Superstorm Sandy, and other natural events, as well as concerns about climate change.”
The Staten Island Museum opened its original location at the corner of Stuyvesant Place and Wall Street in St. George in 1908 and organized the Section of Arts one year later. In 1918, the Staten Island Institute of Arts & Sciences was incorporated to reflect the broader mission, which also includes local history. While many visitors are aware of the Museum’s current location on the grounds of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, some are surprised to learn that move occurred as recently as 2015. That major relocation and renovation was one of the lasting achievements of the museum’s long-time director, the late Elizabeth Egbert.
“It was a decades-long vision to move to Snug Harbor as plans for that date back to the 1960s when they were saving Snug Harbor as a cultural center,” said Monger. “And the Staten Island Museum supported that effort and, at that point, it was designated that Buildings A and B would be for the Staten Island Museum.”
The move brought significant benefits. The new location was much bigger, allowing for new exhibits. The new space allows the museum to accommodate more schools on a daily basis, circumventing a longstanding challenge at the former location’s one-way street.
“One of the main goals of renovating that building was to give climate control to the collections,” said Monger, who has been President and CEO since September 2017. “For museum collections to be preserved properly, you need temperature and humidity control. And by modernizing the historic building, we were able to achieve that for the collections.”
The site allows for a larger annual fence show so the Museum could continue its “longstanding commitment to local artists,” which was held for 69 straight years before a pause in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the original Fence Show in 1951 was co-sponsored by the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce.
The Staten Island Museum also remains as a critical educational component for Staten Island’s youth. School trips explore the prehistoric days when mastodons roamed the hills of Staten Island -- and instill awe with a 10-foot-tall mastodon sculpture -- or tribes of the Lenape nation lived on and near Staten Island. However, some of the most prominent attention came when the Museum opened the Impractical Jokers: Homecoming exhibit, the first-ever museum exhibition about Impractical Jokers, the hit television series on truTV. The exhibit opened in July 2018 and lasted nearly 10 months, centered around the four Staten Island natives and featured original costumes, props, and art.
“It was super exciting for us and unlike anything we’ve ever done before,” said Monger. “People know Staten Island exists because of that show.
“We had people who came from New Zealand, the UK, and all across the United States just to see this show. That was pretty rewarding to be in a position where we attracted people from everywhere to make a trip to New York and come to the Staten Island Museum,” she added. “The visitors (after the exhibit) would go to the local restaurants and probably visit some of the places and locations from the show.”
The idea of contributing to the Staten Island economic climate -- whether intentional or a byproduct of an event -- is part of why the Staten Island Museum has been a member of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce for 75 years. The Museum is one of only six members able to boast a membership for that long.
“Nonprofits and businesses go hand-in-hand. We need to support one another. A non-profit is a small business. I think sometimes we forget that, but it is guided by a mission, and we have the same organizational concerns as a small business,” said Monger about the 2021 milestone. “The promotional parts of the Chamber have been really helpful as well to share what the Museum is doing. We often work with Chamber members for different needs that we have if we’re looking for vendors or other things. We definitely use that as a resource.
“We’re really proud that we’ve been a member of the Chamber for 75 years. It’s very meaningful to us to be a longstanding cultural organization and, the fact that we can be a member for that long, it’s incredible to know these institutions have existed for this length of time,” she added.
