Andrew Delbanco, cultural historian and biographer of Herman Melville, will talk with Peter N. Miller about New York during the first half of the nineteenth century and the ways in which Melville’s experience of the great maritime city informed the writing of Moby-Dick, his oceanic masterpiece. The gallery talk will be followed by an exhibition viewing and reception. Andrew Delbanco is Levi Professor in the Humanities and director of American Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of Melville: His World and Work. Peter N. Miller is dean and chair of academic programs at the Bard Graduate Center.