Join art dealer Avi Gitler, of Gitler & ____ and the Audubon Mural Project, and me at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, for this virtual Morris-Jumel Mansion “Parlor Chat.” We’ll be talking about our individual work evangelizing John James Audubon’s legacy in northern Manhattan—as well as how our efforts overlap. During the conversation, I’ll talk about my recently published book, The Neighborhood Manhattan Forgot: Audubon Park and the Families Who Shaped It (Empire Editions/Fordham University Press) and share some of the illustrations and maps from it.

Register for the Parlor Chat Now!

The Audubon Mural Project, which now includes 84 murals with 118 birds, is a collaboration between the National Audubon Society and Gitler &_____ Gallery. The murals, which appear in various formats and locations throughout northern Harlem and lower Washington Heights in New York City, focus on the plight of climate-threatened birds.

The Morris-Jumel Mansion, the oldest residence in Manhattan, dates to 1765. A Federal-style mansion built as a summer home for Roger and Mary Philipse Morris, it served as George Washington’s headquarters in the American Revolution, and after the Continental Army abandoned Manhattan, as headquarters for British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, and the Hessian commander, Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen. French merchant Stephen Jumel bought the house in 1810 and after his death in 1832, his widow, Eliza Bowen Jumel (who later married and divorced Aaron Burr) lived there until her death in 1865. New York City purchased the house in 1903 and converted it to a museum, which operates today with a number of community outreach programs.

Image of Audubon: Tom Sanford’s “Cerulean Warbler,” Fernandez/Audubon