Sponsor spotlight: The New-York Historical Society

Incredibly big news for incredibly big nerds like me (and, quite likely, you): We have an outstanding sponsor for the next NYC Big Quiz Thing event, the very special Hail to the Trivial Presidential Trivia Spectacular…The New-York Historical Society.

The N-YHS (yes, yes, the hyphen is correct—that's the way it was often styled, back in the long-ago era to which the Society traces its origin) just might be my favorite museum in the city, ever since I saw its vast collection of presidential campaign buttons and felt shame for my paltry bulletin board's worth amassed over a few money-wasting months on eBay. It's the single best spot in the city for presidential-history catnip. Last time I went, they had an extensive and fascinating exhibit Abraham Lincoln's relationship with our city, going so far as to map out his minute-to-minute route when he came here in 1860 to give his epochal campaign speech at Cooper Union ("The Speech That Made Him President," the reductionists like to say). Plus, I gazed directly at the original letter, written by an 11-year-old girl, that gave us this:
As you can imagine, I go nuts for this kind of thing. It helps to explain why I didn't have a date for senior prom.

When I concocted the plan for the big BQT presidential quiz, my dream sponsor was the N-YHS. And they're totally on board. For the prize haul, we got one-year memberships to the Society, a handsome coffee-table-worthy book published in conjunction with that Lincoln-in–New York exhibit, and the Society's latest factoid book, When Did the Statue of Liberty Turn Green?
I don't know the answer myself, and my initial guess—about the time the apes took over—is probably wrong.

The bad news is that the museum itself is currently undergoing a remodeling, which means much of it is closed till fall, when it will reopen twice as kick-ass as it was before. But no worries: History will always be with us.

So: Presidents' Day, Monday, February 21, Crash Mansion, 7:30pm. Vote for knowledge!