NEW YORK, NY.- An enchanting summer awaits visitors to the New-York Historical Society with Summer of Magic, an exciting, museum-wide line-up of mesmerizing displays, evening programs, family activities, and free films that offer a historical perspective on the spectacle of magic and the magicians who became famous performing death-defying feats. From June 15 – September 16, visitors will explore rarely exhibited artifacts from the Golden Age of Magic—including unique items from David Copperfield’s private collection that Harry Houdini used to make his thrilling escapes—plus meet historical reenactors portraying the great illusionists of the past, try your hand at magic tricks, and learn about mind reading, women in magic, tragic performances, unsolved mysteries, and more.

“Visitors will be captivated as they discover the tricks, illusions, and escapes that mystified audiences in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society. “Our Summer of Magic is sure to thrill and entertain as we explore the links between magicians and their craft.”

Summer of Magic: Treasures from the David Copperfield Collection features highlights from the International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts, the incomparable trove of magical historical artifacts from the Emmy Award-winning illusionist David Copperfield. Evoking the New York magic shops that sparked Copperfield’s imagination, displays explore the careers and achievements of legendary magicians from the Golden Age of Magic (1880s–1930s) and showcase iconic objects used by Harry Houdini in his famous escape stunts, culminating with the Death Saw—one of Copperfield’s groundbreaking illusions. Curated by Cristian Petru Panaite, assistant curator of exhibitions.

Iconic objects on view include the Metamorphosis Trunk, used by newlyweds Harry and Bess Houdini, that allowed the couple to magically trade places as well as a costume worn by Bess in such a performance in London in 1900; handcuffs from the 1904 London Daily Mirror challenge, from which Houdini struggled to escape for more than 70 minutes; Houdini’s Milk Can, an act that premiered in 1908 in which he attempted to escape from this colossal, locked can filled to the brim with water; and a regulation straitjacket used by Houdini in the 1920s to free himself within three minutes. Also on display are a dress believed to be worn by Adelaide Herrmann (1853–1932), the “Queen of Magic,” who started out as her husband’s assistant and carried on the show after his death, performing her dangerous death-defying bullet catch act; Harry Kellar’s Nested Boxes, an illusion that the Dean of American Magicians performed for President Roosevelt’s family; props belonging to the mystic mind reader Alexander the Man Who Knows; and an Inexhaustible Barrel from Dante the Magician’s Broadway show Sim Sala Bim.

A recreation of a magic shop evokes the legendary New York City stores like Macy’s Magic Counter and Tannen’s Magic Shop that inspired and nurtured many magicians. On display are A. C. Gilbert Mysto Magic sets, which included scores of vanishing coins, rope tricks, mind reading games, and many other illusions; and props from Tannen’s grand catalog—decks of cards, linking rings, disappearing bottles, cups and balls, a disappearing bird cage, and wands.