Pets and the City–A Museum Exhibit

Several centuries’ worth of artworks depicting New York City’s dogs, cats, parrots, raccoons, squirrels, goats, et al., are on beguiling display at the New York Historical (formerly known as the New-York Historical Society)

By Suzanne Charlé

Sizable driver, diminutive passenger: Pony Cart (1904), a gelatin silver print from a vintage negative by Burr McIntosh (1862-1942). Patricia D. Klingenstein Library, New York Historical.
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December 30, 2024

Most days on my morning walk in Central Park, I see the usual characters: a little white dog with a pink bow between its ears and matching booties on all four paws, proudly escorted by my neighbor Micah; a silver wirehaired terrier in a baby carriage, navigated by an elderly woman with a similar hairdo; and a black cat perched atop the shoulder of a young man in dark, rather ominous garb. And sometimes I’ll see a talkative parrot, usually perched on the right shoulder of a young woman in similarly bright attire.

So you could say that I was amply prepared for Pets and the City, currently on display at the New York Historical (which recently dropped the word Society, as well as the hyphen, from its name) on the Upper East Side. The exhibit celebrates the city’s animals—as diverse as New York’s human residents (in fact, more so). Assembled over three years by Roberta J. M. Olson, the institution’s curator of drawings emerita, the exhibit leads us on a lively and joyous (and sometimes startling) journey, with over 300 paintings and illustrations, objects, memorabilia, photographs, and films dating as far back as two and a half centuries—all from the museum’s holdings.

Animal fantasia: The contemporary illustrator Julia Rothman’s Pets and the City print, showing a total animal takeover of a New York City street–with a fish swimming in a water tower, a poodle exiting a subway station, a hound running a hot dog stand (Ouch! How could he?), etc.
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Greeted with a newsstand displaying pets on various covers of the The New Yorker, visitors are soon drawn back in time. Animals, as Olson explains, have been at the heart of this city for more than three centuries, and the installation tracks the ever-evolving relationship between the humans and the non-humans inhabiting our terrain. Earlier on in New York City history, the Lenape and other Native American tribes considered certain animals spiritual beings. Treaties and land documents were signed using animal pictographs.

Table for two: A print from a digitized negative (c. 1912), by William Davis Hassler (1877-1921), showing his son, William Gray Hassler, seated at a small table consuming Quaker Puffed Rice cereal, with Reddy the Cat in active attendance. Patricia D. Klingenstein Library, New York Historical.
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Of course, both the Lenape and the early European settlers depended on wildlife as a food source. But as time moved on, animals became intimate companions, as shown in the “Pets in the Family” section. In the 19th century, the city elite arranged for little carriages, pulled by goats, to ferry their children through Central Park and along Fifth Avenue. Some pets were so beloved that they were included in oil portraits of the entire family. Girls were frequently attended by lambs (symbols of innocence and purity), while deer (future stewardship of animals and property) showed up in boys’ portraits, and squirrels (resourcefulness) appeared in portraits of both. Indeed, pets were so popular that The Book of Household Pets, published in 1866, was a bestseller. They were even depicted in the parlor and at the dining table. In a c. 1912 photo by William David Hassler, his son, William Gray Hassler, is shown eating his Quaker Puffed Rice cereal, accompanied by Reddy the Cat (who’s also consuming it).

In the years before photography arrived, birds were treasured for their song; many of them brought in from distant parts of the world found themselves caged in parlors—leading to the extinction of some. A certain opera singer traveled so frequently with her mynah bird that it could imitate her mezzo-soprano voice!

Presidents were great fans of their pets. In fact, Calvin Coolidge had more than 100, including Rebecca the raccoon, who was often invited to White House dinners. (Only three presidents—Polk, Jackson, and Trump—had no pets.)

Artists loved their pets, too. For decades the painter-photographer William Wegman has taken portraits of his Weimaraners. Back in the 1990s, one that went by the name of Batty was the star (Wegman called her “the most droll” of his dogs), and he took countless photos of her, dressed as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella—one even showed her delivering (or reading?) The New York Times.

And the show goes on, with “Pets at Work,” including Sergeant Stubby, a stray dog found on the Yale campus and then smuggled to France during World War I, where he participated in 17 battles, saving his regiment from mustard-gas attacks and even catching a German soldier by the seat of his pants. Sergeant Stubby was consequently awarded the Purple Heart. Years later, the search-and-rescue dog Riley was honored for his work after the September 11 attack.

The exhibit also documents organizations that protect and assist in the care of animals. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for one, was founded in 1866 by Henry Bergh, scion of a family shipbuilding business, in response to the mistreatment of New York’s cart and carriage horses—and went on to stop the mass drowning of stray dogs. Bide-A-Wee was later begun to help with the adoption of rescue dogs.

And—this being New York—of course there is a “Pets in the Street” section, which includes a 1940 drawing of a dog at a fire hydrant, along with one, at the same corner, from 1999, along with signs warning of fines for dog litter. (You won’t be surprised that the price has gone up.)

Pets and the City is a journey so absorbing that you’ll have to make a second or third visit. Back home, you can tell your pets about it!
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Welcoming Immigrant Pets to NYC

Since Jennifer Gordon started Leader of the Rescue Pack, she and her team have been helping rescue dogs, transporting them from overpacked shelters in the South and finding them new homes in the Northeast—mainly in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, but as far south as Virginia and as far north as Maine.

“It’s been nonstop for 15 years, and even crazier since COVID,” says Gordon, who, with her colleagues, has rehoused thousands of dogs.

Interested? Go to the website, where you can see photos and descriptions of the dogs (and some cats). Appropriately enough, Gordon formerly had a career at the online dating service match.com. So she comes with deep experience in making connections.

Unlike most other adoption nonprofits, Leader of the Rescue Pack doesn’t require filling out long forms, nor does it deny adoption to those over age 65. “I love seniors–they give so much attention to their dogs,” says Gordon. In return, the dogs give their older owners a sense of purpose—and help them keep moving! But if the adoption doesn’t work out, Gordon will take the dogs back (though that seldom happens).

Not certain about taking a pet in full-time? You can try it out, via fostering. Gordon adds that foster-care folks very often end up adopting. –Suzanne Charlé
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Suzanne Charlé has written for numerous publications, including The Nation, House Beautiful, and The New York Times, where she was a freelance assigning editor for the Magazine. She has co-authored many books, including Indonesia in the Soeharto Years: Issues, Incidents and Illustrations.

For other NYCitywoman articles by Suzanne Charlé, see: