Bedecked in a multicolored collar that reflected the diversity of the 201 new citizens before her, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over a naturalization ceremony on Tuesday at the New-York Historical Society, treating her rapt audience to a history lesson, one crackling with life and liberty.

Justice Ginsburg told them that her own father arrived in this country at 13 with no fortune and no ability to speak English, and yet, she would soon be administering the oath of citizenship to them as a member of the highest court in the land.

Across the packed rows of seats at the historical society’s Upper West Side theater sat people from 59 countries, with first names like Islam, Hussein, Kazi, Angie and Sunday, and with professions as diverse as pastors and pediatric cancer doctors. Two men from Guinea sat in the third row and learned they were both named Mamadou Alpha Diallo, both taxi drivers.

“We are a nation made strong by people like you,” Justice Ginsburg said.

It seemed only appropriate that the Brooklyn-born jurist known by her fans as the Notorious R.B.G. (a play on the rapper Notorious B.I.G.) delivered her remarks at the oldest museum in the city. Justice Ginsburg, 85, is believed to be the first Supreme Court justice to take part in a naturalization ceremony in New York in recent years, even though the court does not keep detailed records of officiating appearances.