New York – The New-York Historical Society  honored Robert A. Caro, Jack Rudin and the Rudin family at its annual History Makers Gala.  The gala evening was also an opportunity for guests to preview the exhibition Grant and Lee in War and Peace that opened at the New-York Historical Society .   

Robert A. Caro is a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best Nonfiction Book of the Year.  In addition, he has been awarded the National Book Award, the Gold Medal in Biography from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Francis Parkman Prize.  His seminal first book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the hundred greatest nonfiction books of the twentieth century.  Other works by Caro include his three-part series on Lyndon Johnson: The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power, Means of Ascent, and Master of the Senate.  To research this series, Caro and his wife, Ina, left New York to live in the locations where Lyndon Johnson had worked and lived, first in the Texas Hill Country, and then in Washington, D.C.  Caro graduated from Princeton University and later became a Neiman Fellow at Harvard University.   

Jack Rudin and the Rudin family have played a pivotal role in shaping the modern landscape of New York through their real estate development projects and their generous philanthropy.  Jack Rudin is chairman of Rudin Management, where he builds, develops, and manages New York City real estate.  The Rudin family plays an active role in philanthropy and public service in New York, a tradition started by Jack’s father, Samuel, more than 60 years ago.  Jack Rudin sits on the Boards of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the George C. Marshall Foundation.  He is an Honorary Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and Congregation Shearith Israel, as well as a Trustee Emeritus of Iona College.  Jack Rudin has been the recipient of numerous awards, including honorary degrees, which have been bestowed upon him by Iona College, The City College of New York, The City University of New York, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Yeshiva University. 

Co-Chairs were:  Judith Roth Berkowitz, Richard Gilder, Roger Hertog, Patricia Klingenstein, Sidney Lapidus, Bruce E. Mosler, Bernard Schwartz

Attendees:        Diana Denzaquen, Ina and Robert Caro, Adrian Benepe, Lynn Nesbit, Carole and Richard Rifkind, Gail Sheehy, Betsy and Ted Rogers, Joanna and Daniel Rose, Susan and Jack Rudin, William and Ophelia Rudin, Eric and Fiona Rudin, Henry Amoroso, Susan and Roger Hertog, General Josiah Bunting III, Marlene Hess and James Zirin, Elizabeth Brown Pryor (Lee historian), Ann Reynolds and Robert DeButts (Lee descendant), Clarice and Robert H. Smith (benefactors of new Smith Gallery of American History), Lesley Stahl and Aaron Lattham, Judy and Josh Weston  

The 2008 History Makers Gala will contribute to the support the N-YHS's exhibitions and education initiatives. 

ABOUT THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY    

Established in 1804, the New-York Historical Society (N-YHS) comprises New York’s oldest museum and a nationally renowned research library. N-YHS collects, preserves and interprets American history and art; its mission is to make these collections accessible to the broadest public and increase understanding of American history through exhibitions, public programs, and research that reveal the dynamism of history and its impact on the world today. N-YHS holdings cover four centuries of American history and comprise one of the world’s greatest collections of historical artifacts, American art, and other materials documenting the history of the United States as seen through the prism of New York City and State

N-YHS Museum The Society’s museum contains some 60,000 items that include: paintings, sculpture, furniture, clothing, toys, tools, textiles, ceramics, glass, and assorted artifacts ranging from George Washington’s camp bed to items from Ground Zero after the September 11 World Trade Center attacks. Other important Museum holdings include landscapes of the Hudson River School by Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand and others; genre paintings and portraiture by Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West and Charles Willson Peale; one of the world’s largest collections of Tiffany lamps; and John James Audubon’s preparatory watercolors for
 The Birds of America.

N-YHS Library

The Society’s library is a principal source of primary materials for the study of New York history, and one of the foremost American history research institutions in the world. The library collections total 4 million items, including manuscripts; books and pamphlets; prints and photographs; maps; atlases; newspaper titles; sheet music; and more. Among these are items from the Colonial, Revolutionary War, and Civil War periods, including letters, diaries, battle reports, and sketches documenting the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant’s handwritten terms of surrender for Robert E. Lee, and much more.