The New York Sign Museum was established in 2019 with the intention to preserve the unique history of signage and businesses in New York City. The New York Sign Museum is a 501(c)(3) public charity.
Visitors to the collection will experience the rich history of individual expression and personal character that handmade signage embodies, as seen through the lens of the American experience including small business ownership and neighborhood-based urban living.The NYSM team includes artists, archivists, and signage professionals. Experienced industry professionals provide sign de-installations at no cost to building or business owners, and are able to keep pieces of history from ending up in the dumpster. The foundation also offers repairs and refurbishment, tax incentives for donations, as well as a rebate program for businesses that would like to replace their old signs.
The NYSM collection is currently housed in a space adjacent to Noble Signs. To view the NYSM collection in person, click here to plan your visit.
Noble Signs Inc., a fully insured local sign company, partners with NYSM in the deinstallation of accessioned signage.
Mission
Our mission is to preserve and activate New York City’s signage as a shared public resource. We seek to advance public understanding of New York City’s complex vernacular history by preserving and studying decommissioned signage. Paying homage to the many hand-built methods found in signs across the city, the collections of NYSM serve as both an archive for students, educators, historians, and designers to draw from, as well as a way to understand the ever-changing built environment of New York City.
Vision
We envision a city where the signage of our neighborhoods is recognized as a shared cultural inheritance and protected as part of New York City’s living history.
In this future, signage becomes common ground—streets function as living archives, craft is sustained across generations, and New Yorkers share responsibility for shaping the streets they inhabit. The New York Sign Museum works toward this future by preserving and teaching the craft of vernacular signage in collaboration with the communities that produce it—transforming everyday signage into a public resource that remains legible, accessible, and alive over time.
With hopes of securing a collection space that can be open to the public, the NYSM is currently looking for supporters who align with our mission. We hope that you will consider contributing to support our operations and to preserve our local history.
SupportersThe Pohanka Family Foundation Michael Perlman
Board of DirectorsDavid Barnett Janine Biunno John M. Pohanka
Credits
PhotographyDavid Barnett Phil Gordon Frank Mastropolo Tom Rinaldi
Molly Woodward
Grace Gottesman
Ged Palmer
Logan Fischer
Branding & DesignNoble Signs
Website DesignBlakey Bessire
Francine Zhou
David Barnett