The New-York Historical Society held their annual History Makers Gala on November 6 at 583 Park in New York. This year’s honorees included New-York Historical Trustee Dr. H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang, who received the New-York Historical Society Medal of Merit for Public Engagement; Harry Potter editor Arthur A. Levine, who received the New-York Historical Society Distinguished Service Award; and world-renowned entertainer and celebrated Harry Potter audiobook voice actor Jim Dale, who received the 2018 History Makers Award in recognition of the exhibition Harry Potter: A History of Magic, now on view at New-York Historical.
The funds raised at the History Makers Gala benefit education programs at New-York Historical that serve more than 200,000 New York City public school students. Past recipients of the History Makers Award include William J. Bratton and Rikki Klieman (2017), Ken Burns and Ric Burns (2016), Ron Chernow and Lin-Manuel Miranda (2015), Hillary Clinton (2014), David Petraeus (2013), Wynton Marsalis and Walter Isaacson (2012), and Henry Kissinger (2011), among others.
2018 Honorees
H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang chairs New-York Historical’s Exhibitions Committee and serves as a member of its Board of Trustees. She is an archaeologist and an acting faculty director at Columbia University and an international cultural heritage policy advisor, having conducted fieldwork in Central Asia, including three UNESCO missions to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Western China. Dr. Hsu-Tang has provided critical research and guidance on the oldest artifacts on view in the exhibition Harry Potter: A History of Magic—Chinese oracle bones that are more than 3,000 years old, on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Children’s book editor and founder of Arthur A. Levine Books, Arthur A. Levine’s determination to bring a diverse selection of “The Best of the World’s Literature for Young People” to American readers has been the guiding principle of his career. He famously took a chance on an author named Joanne Rowling in 1997. It was through Arthur A. Levine Books that Scholastic purchased the U.S. publication rights to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, released in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 20 years ago.
As an actor, singer, dancer, author, lyricist, comedian, narrator, and raconteur, Jim Dale is one of the world’s great stage entertainers. He has recorded all seven Harry Potter books for the U.S. and Canadian market, creating more than 200 different character voices and winning two Grammy Awards. For his stage work, he earned a Tony Award for Best Actor for his role in Barnum, and he was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the Member of the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to education.
Gala chairs include Anonymous, Helen and Robert Appel, Diana and Joe DiMenna, Pam and Scott Schafler, Bernard L. Schwartz, Oscar Tang, and Leah and Michael Weisberg. Co-chairs include Norman S. Benzaquen, Ravenel B. Curry III, Elizabeth B. Dater, Buzzy Geduld, Ahuva and Martin J. Gross, Susan and Roger Hertog, Helen and Edward R. Hintz, Patricia D. Klingenstein, Paula and Tom McInerney, Suzanne Peck and Brian Friedman, Jean Margo Reid, Richard Reiss, Michelle Smith, Laurie and Sy Sternberg, Ann and Andrew Tisch, Sue Ann Weinberg, and Barbara and David Zalaznick. Vice chairs include Judy and Howard Berkowitz, Franci Blassberg and Joseph Rice, Blavatnik Family Foundation, Lois Chiles and Richard Gilder, Betsy and Ed Cohen/Arete Foundation, Shelley and Steven Einhorn, Leslie Himmel and Alan Shuch, Ruth and Sid Lapidus, Leni and Peter W. May, Joseph C. McNay, Jennifer and John Monsky, Abby and Jonathan Moses, Joan and Joel I. Picket, Donna and Marvin Schwartz, Paul E. Singer, Daria and Eric Wallach, and Anita and Byron Wien.
About the New-York Historical Society
Founded in 1804, the New-York Historical Society has a mission to explore the richly layered history of New York City, state, and the country, as well as to serve as a national forum for the discussion of issues surrounding the making and meaning of history. New-York Historical is recognized for engaging the public with deeply researched and far-ranging exhibitions, such as Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America; Slavery in New York; Nueva York; The Armory Show at 100: Modern Art and Revolution; Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion; Superheroes in Gotham; The Vietnam War: 1945 – 1975; and Walk This Way: Footwear from the Stuart Weitzman Collection of Historic Shoes. Supporting these exhibitions and related education programs is one of the world’s greatest collections of historical artifacts, works of American art, and other materials documenting the history of the United States and New York. New-York Historical is also home to one of the oldest, most distinguished libraries in the nation—the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library, which contains more than three million books, pamphlets, maps, newspapers, music sheets, manuscripts, prints, photographs, and architectural drawings.
This fall, New-York Historical presents Harry Potter: A History of Magic (through January 27, 2019), a British Library exhibition that captures the traditions of folklore and magic at the heart of the Harry Potter stories with centuries-old treasures including rare books, manuscripts, and magical objects from the British Library and New-York Historical Society collections as well as original material from Harry Potter publisher Scholastic and J.K. Rowling’s own archive; and Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow (through March 3, 2019), exploring the struggle for citizenship and racial equality that unfolded in the years after the Civil War.
Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers, musicians and corporations. Lia is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.
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Backstage Pass with Lia Chang 