The Museum tells the story of immigrant families and visitors view restored apartments of past residents from different time periods.

Hard Times

Discover how immigrants survived economic depressions at 97 Orchard Street between 1863 and 1935. Visit the restored homes of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family, whose patriarch disappeared during the Panic of 1873, and the Italian-Catholic Baldizzi family, who lived through the Great Depression.

Shop Life

Explore the changing neighborhood through the eyes of German saloon keepers, a kosher butcher, a Depression-era auctioneer, and an underwear discounter from the 1970s - tour a German saloon and see how generations of immigrant entrepreneurs brought their dreams for economic success to 97 Orchard Street's basement storefronts.

The Museum's walking tours explore the Lower East Side and the American immigrant experience

Outside The Home

See the Lower East Side through the eyes of the immigrants who have lived here for 150 years. Discover the towering Jarmulowsky Bank building, where immigrants deposited (and eventually lost) their life savings; the Daily Forward building, where socialists fought for worker rights; and PS 42, where generations of immigrants learned how to be "American." [Note: This tour does not enter any buildings.]

Visit with a costumed interpreter playing one of the residents of 97 Orchard Street.

Victoria Confino

made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation

Visit the apartment of a Greek Sephardic family and meet a costumed interpreter playing 14-year-old Victoria Confino, who lived in the tenement in 1916. Visitors take on the role of newly arrived immigrants, and ask Victoria questions about adjusting to life on the Lower East Side . Designed for families, this tour allows visitors to handle household objects.