Past Exhibits
Lillian Goldman Reading Room
Mon-Thu: 9:30am-4:30pm
Fri: 10:00am-2:00pm by appointment only
Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute
Mon-Thu: 9:30am-4:30pm
Free Exhibit Spaces
Mon – Wed: 9:30am – 4:30pm
Thu: 9:30am – 8:00pm
Fri: 10:00am – 2:00pm
Sat: Closed
Sun: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Ruth's Bookstore
Mon – Wed: 9:30am – 4:30pm
Thu: 9:30am – 8:00pm
Fri: 10:00am – 2:00pm
Sat: Closed
Sun: 11am – 5pm
Make sure to check our holiday closures prior to visiting.
Last entry to the Center for Jewish History Exhibitions, Reading Room, and the Genealogy Institute is 1 hour before closing. The last call to page items in the Reading Room and Genealogy Institute is 3pm.
Born in New York to Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Bocian was a self-proclaimed “expert on Chinatown.” Over his long residency and photojournalistic career, Bocian and his camera became familiar fixtures on the streets of Manhattan's Chinatown, where he photographed protests, celebrations, and crime scenes, as well as storefronts and streetscapes that provide a glimpse into a vanishing New York.
During his time in Chinatown, Bocian befriended Chinese-American actress Mae Wong. She would rescue over 120,000 photographs, negatives, and contact sheets from his apartment after his death in 1990, donating them to the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in the mid-1990s.
The accompanying online exhibit can be seen at cjhexhibit.wixsite.com/bocian.
This exhibit closed on
Monday, March 21, 2022