[View this email in your browser]() Dear ,

The season for reflection and new goals is upon us. And so, as we approach the end of 2023, I’m reaching out to say thank you. Because of your friendship, **the City Reliquary accomplished great things in its 21st year**. 

As we approach a quarter-century of documenting the overlooked parts of our city's history, your support of independent culture keeps us going. You have helped the City Reliquary keep the torch lit.

I invite you to look back with us on some of the important work your support made possible this year. Below are just a few highlights from a busy and successful 2023. Thank you for everything you've done to help us realize these achievements!

**If you are able, please consider making a tax-deductible year-end contribution or becoming a member to help us continue to achieve our goals in the coming year.**

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and civic holiday and new year,

Dave Herman
Founder and President

[Make a Gift or Become a Member](https://withfriends.co/cityreliquary/join)

**We Launched a Podcast--And Won an Award!**

In partnership with CitizenRacecar, we launched ***Undiscarded: Stories of New York*** in March 2023. Over four months and 12 episodes, host Tania Mohammad and a series of special guests highlighted key objects in the City Reliquary collection. Their conversations took us into the lived experiences of a diverse range of New Yorkers: immigrant laborers, City Parks employees, a Crown Heights roller disco community, a Chinatown newsstand vendor, and beyond. We saw our city from above, underground, and at street level.

We were honored to have our work recognized with a **Signal Award for Best Indie Podcast**--and we also won the Listener's Choice category! **The Return of Miss Subways**

In June 2023, we partnered with Coney Island USA to bring back **the first Miss Subways event since Covid**. As in years past, our beloved gender-inclusive pageant showcased some of our city's most talented performers. After a three-year hiatus, we were overjoyed to present to a packed theater on Surf Ave.

Harmony Hardcore, representing the 7 train, was awarded the transit tiara by our panel of celebrity judges--which included **Greg Young of the Bowery Boys,** **New York Nico**, and Miss Subways 2017, **Lisa Levy**.

[Make a Gift or Become a Member](https://withfriends.co/cityreliquary/join)

**Two Exhibitions About Powerful Women**

In March 2023 we bid farewell to ***Wonder Women: New York's Heroes of Heterodoxy*** and welcomed ***The Latin Quarter Revue: Behind the Curtain***.

These exhibitions introduced us to leaders of the early women's suffrage and birth control movements that originated in New York and to performers who graced the glittering stage of a midcentury Times Square cabaret. Together, these shows highlighted over a century of women's work as advocates, artists, authors, and entertainers. **Dear Spider-Man Made National News!**

In early 2023 we received a heartwarming collection of letters sent to Spider-Man at his very real address on Ingram Street in Forest Hills, Queens. This archive of missives from children, young adults--and even a credit card company!--appeared in ***Dear Spider-Man: Letters to Peter Parker***.

We never anticipated how meaningful this show would be to so many of you. From local outlets like *The New York Times *and the *New York Post, *to news broadcasts from Baltimore, Raleigh-Durham, Cleveland, and [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2023/02/12/1156391975/fan-letters-sent-to-spider-man-peter-parkers-address-are-now-on-display-at-a-mus), and a writeup in* Smithsonian Magazine*, it was clear that this small display in our tiny storefront had the power to reach people well beyond our city.

[Make a Gift or Become a Member](https://withfriends.co/cityreliquary/join)

Please make a **special tax-deductible year-end gift** or **join our ranks of sustaining members** to help us continue revealing the power of New York's everyday history. **We can’t do it without you!** **Questions?**
We're here to help. Email [info@cityreliquary.org](mailto:info@cityreliquary.org)