New York City Museum

Housed inside this graceful Georgian building is a collection as diverse as the city it seeks to represent. Memorabilia is divided into six areas: prints, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, paintings/sculptures and toys. It's hard to imagine another place where a visitor can examine a horse-drawn fire engine, a House of Worth ball gown, Jacob Riis photographs and Yiddish sheet music in one visit. The impressive collection of dollhouses and model ships is a perennial favorite with children, as are the period rooms and outstanding silver collection with grown-ups. Frequent exhibitions make good use of the collections, often presenting what would otherwise be inert memorabilia in unexpected ways. Permanent exhibitions include "Broadway," which celebrates the Great White Way through costumes, set designs, posters, paintings, programs, etc., and "New York Toy Stories," which features more than 300 toys, dolls and teddy bears, dating from 1785 to the present.