March includes several walking tours and book discussions that honor the theme of Women's History Month.

As with all our excursions, tour sizes are limited to ensure a personalized experience and classes fill on a first-come/first-served basis. Sign up early to reserve your spot.

On Thursday, March 6, 2025, Ginny Poleman will lead students through Walking Tour: Real Clothes, Real Lives at the New York Historical (12985), an exhibition of everyday clothing from the past 200 years at the New York Historical (formerly the New-York Historical Society). House dresses, mini skirts, modern suits, uniforms, and sportswear are on display.

The next installment of Helen Lee's popular Metropolitan Museum tour series focuses on the contributions of key female collectors and patrons who shaped the art world, including Louisine Havemeyer, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, and Serena Pulitzer Lederer. Walking Tour: Mondays at the Met, Female Art Patrons (13124) meets on Monday, March 10, 2025.

Helen Lee returns on Thursday, March 20, 2025, for Walking Tour: The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt at the Jewish Museum (13062). Esther's story from the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament was a popular artistic theme and key source of inspiration for both Jewish and Christian communities in Holland. Immigrant Jewish communities in Amsterdam celebrated Purim, a holiday that commemorates how Esther foiled a plot to kill all the Jews in the First Persian Empire, with finely produced scrolls and theater productions. For the Dutch, Queen Esther’s heroism represented an emerging national identity.

In Walking Tour: Women of Woodlawn Cemetery (13123), Joanna Cohlan will narrate a trolley ride through this National Historic Landmark, stopping at the monuments and mausoleums of its many notable women. Woodlawn is the final resting place for several leaders in the women's suffrage movement, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Carrie Chapman Catt, as well as other famous females such as Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Celia Cruz (the "Queen of Salsa"), Madam C.J. Walker (America's first self-made female millionaire), and Elizabeth Jane Cochran, better known as Nellie Bly (America's first female investigative reporter). Celebrate the vital role of women in American history at this urban oasis. Class meets Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

Next month's literature classes continue the theme of recognizing women's contributions and roles.

The latest fiction by Pulitzer Prize winning author Louise Erdrich will be the subject of Anna Katsavos's next book discussion on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Book Chat with Anna Katsavos: The Mighty Red (2024) by Louise Erdrich (12930) centers around a love triangle between young Kismet Poe and her two high school suitors. As with Erdich's previous works, this novel is tender, disturbing, tragic, lonely, and hopeful as it depicts a prairie community through a narrative that transcends time.

Harriet Sobol's book selection for March is Danzy Senna's debut coming-of-age novel that has now become a modern classic. The story centers around Birdie and Cole, the daughters of a black father and a white mother, intellectuals and activists in the Civil Rights Movement in 1970s, and Birdie's efforts to find her sister after the family splits up. BookTalk with Harriet Sobol: Caucasia (1999) by Danzy Senna (12982) meets on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.

Themes within Book Discussion: D. H. Lawrence’s Women In Love (1920), Sisters and Husbands (12953) include the changing mores of the modern world and, in particular, how the relations between men and women change in the twentieth century. Nicholas Birns leads this two-part deep dive, starting Thursday, March 20, 2025.

Week of February 23, 2025

Art Appreciation

• Manet, Renoir, and the Art of the Impressionists (12947)
• Masterpieces of French Art from the Medieval Era to the Modern Age: Jacques-Louis David (13040)

Arts & Crafts

• Watercolor Intensive (13112)

Computers, Technology, and the Internet

• Spreadsheet Basics Using Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets (13091)
• Create Photo Books with Canva, Shutterfly, or Mixbook (Wednesday morning: 13095; Thursday evening: 13096)

History and Culture

• Food History of New York City (13046)

Languages

• Beginner Spanish (13067)

Literature and Film

• Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (13087)

Writing

• Finding Your Voice through Memoir Writing (12969)* NEW START DATE

Walking Tours

• Walking Tour: Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910–1930 at the Guggenheim (13063)
• Walking Tour: Modern Wing at the Met (13006)
• Walking Tour: Galleries of Chelsea (Thursday morning: 13104; Thursday afternoon: 13105)

Week of March 2, 2025

Special Events

• Author Visit: Julie Averbach, The Art of Trader Joe's (2024) (13071)

Art Appreciation

• Masterpieces of French Art from the Medieval Era to the Modern Age: Eugène Delacroix (13041)

Arts & Crafts

• Art of Mandalas for Self-Discovery and Growth (13108)
• Mixed Media Abstract Painting (13069)

Financial and Retirement Planning

• How Tax Planning Changes Through Four Stages of Retirement (12950)

Fitness and Dance

• Postural Therapy Movement (12961)

Hobbies and Edutainment

• New Features in Apple's Photos App with iPhone's iOS18 (Tuesday morning: 13109; Wednesday evening: 13110)
• Introduction to iPhone Photography (13077)

Literature and Film

• Fifty Years of Steven Spielberg's Magic: Bridge of Spies (2015) (13076)

Walking Tours

• Walking Tour: Tribeca, New York's Hottest Gallery District (13103)
• Walking Tour: Real Clothes, Real Lives at the New York Historical (12985)

All upcoming classes are listed in the Printer-Friendly, Interactive Version of our Fall/Winter 2024-25 Catalog. New classes are added in real time.

Class times are for the Eastern Time Zone. Please check regularly for additional options to keep you engaged and learning, whether from the comforts of home or through our expansive number of in-person options.