New York's Scoundrels, Scalawags, and Scrappers

Although the last decade of the Gilded Age is called "The Gay Nineties," the joy and festivities of this time were generally reserved for the wealthy. If you were a common working stiff—or worse, a common working "stiffette"—life was not so happy. Most New Yorkers played by the rules of the game, but others invented their own, successfully gaming the system to their advantage. Join social and architectural historian John Tauranac in this lecture as he profiles those scoundrels, scalawags, and scrappers.

John Tauranac is the author of New York Scoundrels, Scalawags, and Scrappers: The City in the Last Decade of the Gilded Age (Lyons Press, 2025), as well as several other volumes on New York City's social and architectural history. Tauranac has been teaching New York's architectural history for over 30 years at NYU's School of Professional Studies.