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Big Onion Walking Tours is the largest walking tour company in New York City. It is operated by graduate students with advanced degrees in American history or related fields. The company has offered sidewalk tours of the city since 1991. According to a recent review, Big Onion is the "grandaddy" of New York's walking tour companies.〔, March 2006 (Travel + Leisure website )〕 == History == Big Onion was founded by Columbia University graduate students Seth Kamil and Ed O'Donnell in 1991.〔"Big Onion Walking Tours, founded by two Columbia University graduate students," in John Brannon Albright, "Travel: Q and A," ''New York Times'', May 16, 1993, found at (Travel section of the New York Times Archives article of 5-16-93 ). Accessed April 6, 2009.〕〔David K. Randall, "These Tour Guides Know the History Not Found on Plaques," ''New York Times'', June 23, 2007, corrected as of July 6, 2007, found at (Travel section of the New York Times Archives article of 6-23-07 as amended 7-6-07 ). Accessed April 6, 2009.〕 They were initially encouraged by Kenneth T. Jackson, a Columbia professor and prominent historian of New York City. For decades Jackson has required his students at Columbia to explore the city on foot and even to write walking tours as academic assignments. Kamil and O'Donnell initially gave walking tours on ad hoc basis for museums and school groups as a way to help to pay for graduate school. What started as an informal enterprise gradually developed into a small company as they began giving public "show-up" tours that were listed in the newspaper. Soon thereafter, they hired colleagues at Columbia, New York University, and CUNY to help lead tours. In 2001, Jackson wrote in the preface to the first published collection of Big Onion tours:
After 9-11, Big Onion had a marked decrease in patrons, while maintaining its public tour roster, no groups chose to take tours from September 12 through October 29, 2001: They have since recovered, as has other tourism in New York City. As of 2009, Seth Kamil continues to serve as president, and Big Onion employs more than two dozen veteran guides from universities all over the region (many "retired" guides have moved on to successful academic careers). Each year Big Onion offers hundreds of show-up tours to the public and hundreds more to schools, businesses, law firms, non-profits, and families. It is a programming partner of the New-York Historical Society. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Big Onion Walking Tours」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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