Staff Writer Abby Rubel left campus (gasp!) and went to the Museum of the City of New York to explore an exhibit about New York’s Croton Aqueduct, but was rather disappointed by what she found. Here is an overview and a review of the exhibit so you don’t have to make the 30-minute trip yourself, and you can save yourself the trouble.

The Museum of the City of New York’s exhibit, “To Quench the Thirst of New Yorkers: The Croton Aqueduct at 175,” celebrates the construction of the Croton Aqueduct in 1842. The enormous construction project brought clean water to millions in a city that desperately needed it.

The small exhibit, which consists primarily of artwork depicting the aqueduct itself, the reservoir where the water was stored in New York City, and the various public works that the aqueduct made possible, like the city’s first municipal fountains, was not particularly impressive. It took about 15 minutes to peruse the whole thing–about half the time it took me to actually get to the museum. While it was cool to see how New York has changed since the aqueduct was built, it wasn’t worth the half an hour it took to get there on the M4.

Wanting to get my money’s worth (from the transportation–the museum itself is free for Columbia students), I took the time to look at the museum’s other exhibits, which were much more worthwhile. Just down the hall from the aqueduct exhibit is one called “AIDS at Home: Art and Everyday Activism,” a particularly touching exhibit showcasing art from the AIDS crisis in New York. There’s also “Activist New York,” an informative exhibit about New York’s role as a hub of activism, and “Posters and Patriotism: Selling World War I in New York,” which has some pretty cool old propaganda posters.

Overall, go to the Museum of the City of New York, just maybe skip the Croton Aqueduct exhibit unless you’re particularly thirsty.

Museum and Culture and Entertainment and Off-Campus via Abby Rubel