October 2, 2021

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg at New-York Historical Society, October 1, 2021 – January 23, 2022

“The New-York Historical Society honors the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG)—the trailblazing Supreme Court justice and cultural icon—with a special exhibition this fall. Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is based on the popular Tumblr and bestselling book of the same name. A traveling exhibition organized by the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, the show takes an expansive and engaging look at the justice’s life and work, highlighting her ceaseless efforts to protect civil rights and foster equal opportunity for all Americans.

Notorious RBG features archival photographs and documents, historical artifacts, contemporary art, media stations, and gallery interactives spanning RBG’s varied roles as student, wife to Martin “Marty” Ginsburg, mother, lawyer, judge, women’s rights pioneer, and internet phenomenon. Highlights include a robe and jabot from RBG’s Supreme Court wardrobe; the official portraits of RBG and Sandra Day O’Connor—the first two women to serve on the Supreme Court—on loan from the National Portrait Gallery; and QR-code listening stations where visitors can hear RBG’s delivery of oral arguments, majority opinions, and forceful dissents in landmark Supreme Court cases on their own devices.” — New-York Historical Society

“It is a great honor that we celebrate Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a native New Yorker whose impact on the lives of contemporary Americans has been extraordinary,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of New-York Historical. “Justice Ginsburg fought hard to achieve justice and equality for all, inspiring us with her courage and tenacity in upholding our fundamental American ideals. A special friend to New-York Historical, in 2018 she presided over a naturalization ceremony in our auditorium. The exhibition is a memorial tribute to her achievements and legacy.”

Official portrait of United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg. Courtesy Steve Petteway, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Notorious RBG book cover illustration by Adam Johnson. Courtesy of HarperCollins. Photographs: Crown © by Hurst Photo/Shutterstock; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by Everett Raymond Kinstler, 1996. Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Everett Raymond Kinstler. © 1996 Everett Raymond Kinstler.
Ruth Bader as a child, 1935. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States
The Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority at Cornell University in 1953, featuring Ruth Bader, class of 1954, pictured third from right standing in front of the porch. Published in The Cornellian, 1953. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
RBG and Marty with their daughter, Jane, 1958. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg teaching at Columbia Law School, 1972. Courtesy of Columbia Law School.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, detail from 1972 Harvard Law School Yearbook. © Harvard Law School Yearbook Association, Courtesy of Harvard Law School Library, Historical and Special Collections.
RBG and Marty taking a break from work, 1972. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Justice Antonin Scalia and RBG riding an elephant, 1994. Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Courtroom sketch of Justice Ginsburg’s dissent in Shelby County v. Holder, June 25, 2013. Sketch by Art Lien.
Ari Richter, RBG Tattoo II, 2018. Pigmented human skin on glass. Courtesy of the artist.
Roxana Alfer Geffen, Dissent Collar #9, 2016. Courtesy of the artist.
RBG image projected onto New York State Civil Supreme Court building in Manhattan, September 19, 2020. Courtesy Reuters/Andrew Kelly/Alamy Photo.
50th Street subway stop altered in tribute to RBG, 2020. Courtesy Adrian Wilson and Matt Duncan.
Fearless Girl with jabot, 2020. Courtesy Jennifer M. Mason / Shutterstock.com

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been coordinated at New-York Historical by Valerie Paley, senior vice president and Sue Ann Weinberg Director, Patricia D. Klingenstein Library; Laura Mogulescu, curator of women’s history collections; and Anna Danziger Halperin, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Women’s History and Public History, Center for Women’s History.