Friday, October 31, 2008
Teaching The Truth About New York Slavery
By Editorial Staff
Professor Alan Singer of Hofstra University has a new book New York and Slavery: Time to Teach the Truth
Slavery began in the city soon after the Dutch landing in 1609, and enslaved Africans became vital to the colony's economy. Africans built the first homes, brought in the first crops, turned an Indian path into Broadway, and built the wall at Wall Street. When it became the British colony of New York its bankers and merchants so successfully invested in the international African trade they made it the slave-traders' leading port. After the Revolution, with the city leading the way, slavery and its profits grew in the land of the free. A greater percentage of white households in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island owned slaves than in South Carolina. The world's first stock exchange opened in New York in 1792 and half of its 177 stockholders owned slaves. Africans were auctioned to bidders at Wall Street and other city markets. Forced labor made the Empire State...
New York and Slavery indicts a host of prominent New York mercantile and banking families and corporations such as Citicorp which first made its name in the slave trade. Slaveholder names currently grace our buildings, bridges, parks, streets, and schools. This, Singer shows, teaches our children to celebrate men who benefited from the African trade, southern slavery and bondage in New York.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
New Portal to NYS Digital Collections Announced
By Editorial Staff
The New York 3Rs Association has launched a new digital heritage web site, www.newyorkheritage.org.
NewYorkHeritage.org is a research portal for students, educators, historians, genealogists, and others who are interested in learning more about the people, places and institutions of historical New York State. The site provides immediate free access to more than 160 distinct digital collections that reflect New York State's long history. These collections represent a broad range of historical, scholarly, and cultural materials held in libraries, museums, and archives throughout the state. Collection items include photographs, letters, diaries, directories, maps, newspapers, books, and more.
The site collections come from around the state, contributed by libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions, and builds on existing digital repository services administered by each of the nine reference and research library resources councils.
NewYorkHeritage.org uses OCLC's CONTENTdm Multisite Server to bring these collections together, allowing the public to search across all items simultaneously. This project provides free, online access to images of cultural and historical significance in New York State.
A variety of materials can be found among the New York Heritage Digital Collections, including photographs, postcards, correspondence, manuscripts, oral histories, yearbooks and newspapers. Many kinds of institutions from New York State have partnered to make this project possible, including public, academic and school libraries, museums, archives and historical societies. The power of collaboration is what makes this new service possible.
Participants to New York Heritage Digital Collections are committed to enhancing the site by adding both content and contributing institutions on a regular basis. The goal of the project is to eventually connect one thousand collections and one million items from throughout New York State. All institutions interested in participating in the project are encouraged to contact the 3Rs organization that serves their region.
The New York 3Rs Association is a partnership among New York's nine reference and research resource systems. The New York 3Rs was incorporated in 2003 to further the ability of those systems to provide statewide services. The members of the New York 3Rs Association are: the Capital District Library Council, Central New York Library Resources Council, Long Island Library Resources Council, Metropolitan New York Library Council, Northern New York Library Network, Rochester Regional Library Council, Southeastern New York Library Resources Council, South Central Regional Library Council, and Western New York Library Resources Council.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
NYPL Offers Program on Tobacco Advertising
By Editorial Staff
A new exhibition hosted by The New York Public Library examines the historic advertisements in which tobacco companies claimed that smoking provided a range of health benefits, including the ability to calm nerves, boost energy and aid in weight loss. That's one from my personal collection at left.
Not a Cough in a Car Load: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking, an historical, multi-faceted and thought-provoking exhibition examining the methods tobacco companies took to promote their products, will be on display at The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library's Healy Hall at 188 Madison Avenue, from October 7 to December 26, 2008. Admission is free. A related event featuring a lecture by the exhibition's curator, Dr. Robert Jackler, including the presentation of vintage video advertisements for tobacco products, will be held on Tuesday, December 9, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Jackler, an associate dean of Continuing Medical Education at Stanford University, created the revealing look at the tobacco industry after his mother, a longtime smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Aiming to raise awareness of advertising practices at the time, the exhibit contains boldly designed eye-catching images collected from such publications as Life and the Saturday Evening Post and ranging in date from 1927 to 1954. All images have been returned to their original, vibrant form through digital enhancement.
"Due to our current knowledge of the dangers involved with cigarettes, some of the images are actually humorous in nature and while we are having some fun with the exhibition, this is also a compelling story about the way the tobacco industry kept people smoking for generations," said Dr. Jackler."We are talking about an industry that put profits above all consideration for its customers' well-being.It is still relevant today, because while the ads are much more subtle and constrained, the message and goals are still the same."
The exhibit debuted at Stanford University in January 2007 and has been shown at the University of California and Harvard Medical prior to its run at the library.
"Not a Cough in a Carload takes a look at the power of image and serves as a follow-up to other advertising exhibitions we have hosted," said John Ganly, SIBL's assistant director for collections."It is also a perfect complement to the great collections at the library that deal with the issues of smoking."
In addition to images of such luminaries as Rock Hudson, John Wayne, Joe DiMaggio, a pre-presidential Ronald Reagan, and Santa Claus smoking tobacco products, advertisements also depict unidentified doctors with cigarettes in hand accompanied by the claim that "More Doctors Smoke Camels than Any Other Cigarette." Another features a statistic that "38,381 Dentists Say, ‘Smoke Viceroys,'" before the bold statement that the filtered brand "Can never stain your teeth."
"They used images of doctors to reassure the public, but these characters came right out of central casting and only looked like doctors," said Dr. Jackler."The medical profession didn't complain, because the ads made doctors appear noble. And the public were taken in by the ads, because if a doctor smokes, it must be ok."
The popular "Reach for a Lucky, Instead of a Sweet" campaign by Lucky Strike is also featured, as tobacco companies wooed weight-conscious consumers. Lucky Strike, among other cigarette companies, is also featured in ads tackling "smoker's cough," as a brand good for the throat. In addition to the medicinal effects of cigarettes, claims made about tobacco's effects on smokers' moods are also examined in vivid detail, along with images of advertisements Dr. Jackler believes were directed at kids in the Sunday "funnies".
In a separate area leading to the main exhibition, the library will include documents from the George Arents Collection on Tobacco on display along with three-dimensional materials, such as actual magazines featuring cigarette advertisements and boxes of candy cigarettes.In addition, a research guide culled from various documents at The New York Public Library, featuring government papers, Surgeon General reports and hearings dealing with tobacco advertising, will be made available. A guest book will also allow visitors to express their reactions to the exhibition.
Not a Cough in a Car Load: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking will be on view from October 7 to December 26, 2008 in Healy Hall at the The New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library, located at 188 Madison Avenue. Exhibition hours run Monday, Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Tuesday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.Admission is free. For more information, call (212) 592-7000 or visit www.nypl.org.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
A New Biography of Samuel de Champlain
By Editorial Staff
David Hackett Fischer's new biography of Samuel de Champlain is out. He will be at the New York State Writers Institute on Thursday to discuss the work, and there's a review in the Albany Times Union by Paul Grondahl:Published this month to capitalize on planned 2009 quadricentennial celebrations of Hudson and Champlain, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian has written a comprehensive, magisterial biography, Champlain's Dream
That dream of creating a French colony in North America began circa 1570 on the Atlantic coast of France, where Champlain grew up tolerant of religious differences in an era of brutal sectarian warfare. It is unclear whether Champlain was baptized Catholic or Protestant and much of his lineage remains murky. Fischer does not entirely discount historians who have suggested that he was an illegitimate son of the illustrious French king Henri IV — who gave financial support to Champlain's explorations, granted him special access and provided a pension for him.
"The hard evidence to support such an idea is zero," [Fischer] said.
Regardless of his paternity, Champlain went to sea as a youth and acquired exceptional sailing and navigation skills. In his jam-packed career, he was a soldier, spy, explorer, cartographer, author, artist and, above all, a conciliator among warring Indian tribes in the New World.
Unlike other agents of imperialism, Champlain did not go in search of gold or conquest, but rather to spread the culture of France, to discover new places and to bring together diverse people in a spirit of harmony.
His travels are prodigious. He made at least 27 Atlantic crossings between 1599 and 1635 without losing a ship; traversed six Canadian provinces and five American states by land and water; created maps more detailed and accurate than his contemporaries; wrote in-depth accounts of his trips that fill six large volumes. Oddly, he never learned to swim.
It is as the father of New France that Champlain deserves the most recognition, according to Fischer. As the founder and leader of the first permanent French settlements in North America, he went so far as to subsidize new families with his own money.
Although Champlain had some stains on his character, including shabby treatment of his French servants and an inability to absorb criticism, by the time of his death in 1635 he had succeeded in permanently planting French culture in the New World.
Monday, October 27, 2008
New York History's Blogroll Update
By Editorial Staff
It's been six months, but I've finally had a chance to review the large number of history related blogs in the blogroll at right and organize them into more specific groups.
Aside from New York History, you can also now find separate blogrolls for European History, Public History, Regional American History, World History, Military History, Civil War History, Science History and even Culinary History. I'll add new categories as they are warranted.
As I learn about more history blogs, I'll add them - if your blog has been missed, if you'd like to suggest a history blog, or you feel wrongly categorized, drop me a note.
Friday, October 24, 2008
This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
- » Elwood Museum Supporters Want Vote
- » Fort Stanwix Public Comment Sought
- » Woodstock Lecture at Court of Appeals
- » Michael Beschloss Visit Report
- » Lake Placid Skating Club Celebrates 75th
- » Blogs in Historical Perspective
- » Tin Pan Alley Threatened
- » Blog: Museum Planning Should Include Miners
- » Van Schaick House Added Rev War Trail
39 Nominated for NY State-National Historic Register
By Editorial Staff
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended the addition of 39 properties to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Property owners, municipalities and organizations from communities throughout the state sponsored the nominations.
Well-known landmarks and districts recommended for listing, including:
Garment Center Historic District – which includes 215 structures in a 25-block section of Midtown Manhattan, an area shaped by the city's economic history, immigrant history, zoning and planning developments, and reforms following the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
Woodlawn Cemetery – a vast 400-acre cemetery in the Bronx, where many of New York City's arts, business and civic leaders are buried, including jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, author Herman Melville, newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, women's rights movement leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and department store magnate Frank Woolworth. The cemetery is composed of an unprecedented collection of artistically important memorials set in the Landscape-Lawn style.
The Niagara Hotel – A product of Niagara Falls' history of tourism, industry and commerce, the 1925 structure is the last and only surviving major hotel of those that once dominated the city's downtown.
Washington Square Historic District – Oswego's historic civic and religious center that developed around a village green established in 1797.
Lustron Houses of Jermain Street Historic District – a remarkably intact Albany district of mid-20th century prefabricated steel homes manufactured by the Lustron Corporation to respond to the post-World War II housing demand.
New York Central Passenger and Freight Station – an outstanding example of an Art Deco train station built in 1936 – a style representative of the last gasp of major railroad station construction in the United States – in Syracuse, a major transportation hub in New York State.
Listing these properties on the state and national registers can assist their owners in revitalizing the structures. Listing will make them eligible for various public preservation programs and services, such as matching state grants and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits.
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation is an independent panel of experts appointed by the governor. The Board also consists of representatives from the following state organizations: Council of Parks; Council on the Arts; Department of Education; Department of State and Department of Environmental Conservation. The function of the Board is to advise and provide recommendations on state and federal preservation programs, including the State and National Registers of Historic Places, to the State Historic Preservation Officer, who in New York is the State Parks Commissioner.
The State and National Registers are the official lists of buildings, structures, districts, landscapes, objects and sites significant in the history, architecture, archeology and culture of New York State and the nation. There are nearly 90,000 historic buildings, structures and sites throughout the state listed on the National Register of Historic Places, individually or as components of historic districts.
During the nomination process, the State Board submits recommendations to the State Historic Preservation Officer. The properties may be listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and then nominated to the National Register of Historic Places where they are reviewed and, once approved, entered on the National Register by the Keeper of the National Register in Washington, D.C.
The recommended properties listed by county are as follows:
STATE REVIEW BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS
Albany County
1. Lustron Houses at Jermain Street Historic District – Albany
Allegany County
2. Centerville Town Hall – Centerville
Erie County
3. Lancaster District School No. 6 – Lancaster
4. Annunciation School – Buffalo
5. Buffalo Tennis and Squash Club – Buffalo
6. Harlow C. Curtis Building – Buffalo
7. Sardinia Old Town Hall – Sardinia
8. The Baptist Church of Springville – Springville
9. Richmond Avenue Methodist-Episcopal Church – Buffalo
Franklin County
10. James Wilder Farmstead – Burke
Greene County
11. Methodist-Episcopal Church of Windham Centre – Windham
12. Woodward Road Stone Arch Bridge – East Durham
13. Tannersville Main Street Historic District – Tannersville
Herkimer County
14. Emmanuel Episcopal Church – Little Falls
Jefferson County
15. Hiram Hubbard House – Champion
Lewis County
16. Lowville G.A.R. Soldier's Monument – Lowville
Livingston County
17. Engleside – Dansville
Montgomery County
18. Kilts Farmstead – Palatine Bridge
New York City
19. Garment Center Historic District – Manhattan
20. General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen – Manhattan
21. New York Congregational Home for the Aged – Brooklyn
22. The Woodlawn Cemetery – Bronx
23. Tremont Baptist Church – Bronx
Niagara County
24. The Niagara – Niagara Falls
Oneida County
25. Sylvan Beach Union Chapel – Sylvan Beach
Onondaga County
26. New York Central Passenger and Freight Station – Syracuse
Orange County
27. St. Andrew's Cemetery – Walden
28. Milliken-Smith Farm – Montgomery
Orleans County
29. Benjamin Franklin Gates House – Albion
30. John Shelp Cobblestone House – Middleport
Oswego County
31. Historic and architectural resources in Oswego, including the Washington Square Historic District – Oswego
32. Oswego Yacht Club – Oswego
Rockland County
33. Johannes Isaac Blauvelt House – Blauvelt
34. Contempora House – New City
Ulster County
35. Saugerties Public Library – Saugerties
Warren County
36. Forward wreck site – Lake George
Washington County
37. Stoops Hotel – Battenville
Westchester County
38. Presbyterian Rest for Convalescents – White Plains
39. Soundview Manor – White Plains
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Missle Silo Open House in Lewis, NY Sunday
By Editorial Staff
The Australian Architect and Designer Alexander Michael is conducting tours of his restored Atlas Missile Silo (video) in Lewis, Essex County, NY this Sunday October 26th from 11:00AM to 2:00 PM. This is the first (and perhaps the only) time the silo will be open to the public. The Lewis site is the only known restored missile silo in the United States (and perhaps the world). After over 11 years of restoration the restored command control center is an amazing sight.
The silo is Boquett 556-5, an Atlas-F ICBM silo designated by the US Air Force in 1960 (local report) and also known as Lewis Missile Base.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
NY Council for the Humanities 400th Programs
By Editorial Staff
The New York Council for the Humanities has announced a host of special programs and initiatives in conjunction with the upcoming Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial including:
Mini Grants of up to $2500 for the planning and execution of public programs related to the 400th.
Reading Between the Lines reading and discussion series focused on 400th-related themes.
Speakers in the Humanities 400th lectures available to New York State groups for a nominal fee.
Speakers in the Schools 400th lectures available free of charge to any New York State high school.
To learn more about the 400th and the Council’s key role in its celebration visit the 400th website.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
A New Book on Seneca Falls and Women's Rights
By Editorial Staff
Tim Stafford over at Books and Culture, has reviewed Sally McMillen's new book Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement
Chatting casually with historian James McPherson, Davidson professor Sally McMillen learned that he was co-editing a series called Pivotal Moments in American History. "Surprised by what I did not hear, I responded, 'But you have nothing on women!' He looked at me and asked, 'Do you have any ideas?' 'Well, as a start,' I answered, 'Seneca Falls.'"McMillen chairs the history department at Davidson College.
McMillen tells that anecdote explaining how she came to write the story of the American women's rights movement in the 19th century. For her "pivotal moment" she chose the 1848 two-day convention in Seneca Falls, New York, the first substantial meeting dedicated exclusively to women's rights. She weaves her account of the movement around four prominent leaders: Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone. (Unnervingly, McMillen refers to them throughout by their first names—"because I have come to know them well and because using their first names make [sic] them seem more human.") The result is a very readable, brief history—just what someone needs to begin to learn about the early trajectory of women's rights in America. McMillen is thorough and even-handed, with no ideological axe to grind. She writes well. Bravo.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Rochester, Buffalo Preservationists Join Forces
By Editorial Staff
The directors of two Buffalo area preservation groups voted to merge their organizations late last week. Both the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier and the Preservation Coalition of Erie County will now be merged into one organization - Preservation Buffalo Niagara.
According to Buffalo Business First, the decision comes after nine months of negotiations. Preservation Buffalo Niagara will be governed by a 21-member board; 10 of the seats will be filled from existing directors and the remaining spots will be filled anew.
Buffalo Rising has more of the story:According to Harvey [McCartney, retired Director of the Landmark Society] and Cynthia [Van Ness, President of the Preservation Coalition of Erie County], the new organization will have its work cut out. In addition to playing a key role in preparing for the 2011 conference, several longstanding preservation issues need to be addressed, including conducting more historic resource surveys (Rochester was fully surveyed in the 1980’s, Buffalo has not been), and bringing more preservation attention to Buffalo’s east side. A common thread through the discussions was the need for the new organization to get out in front of preservation issues and be proactive, rather than reactive—which all too often results in bruising preservation battles with preservationists being labeled “obstructionists.”
There will be a national search for an executive director in the months to come.
Friday, October 17, 2008
This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
8 Killer Digitial Libraries and Archives
By Editorial Staff
The Online Education Database has posted a nice list of 250+ Killer Digital Libraries and Archives - I've pulled out those from New York here:
Digital Metro New York: A collaborative effort to support digitization projects involving significant collections held by METRO member libraries in New York City and Westchester County. Scroll down the page to find the list of collections, which range from Brooklyn Democratic Party and WWII scrapbooks to fashion design history databases and more.
Hamilton College Digital Collections: This site provides access to thousands of pages of unique and rare materials held by the Hamilton College Library. Choose from the Civil War collection, the Shaker collection, or the illustrations gallery, which displays a selection of images and illustrations found on documents in the previous two collections.
Hudson River Valley Heritage: This site contains collections from New York's state libraries, colleges, historical societies and more. You'll discover images, texts, maps and other documents that chronicle New York's Hudson River Valley's history.
New York State Documents: For many recent State documents, the catalog record contains a link to an electronic version of the document. Many of these online publications are scanned documents, which were created by the library and made available online as PDF (portable document format) files.
Rediscovering New York History and Culture: RNYH&C is a program of the New York State Archives provides a single point of entry to a vast array of resources. You can discover digital collections such as the "Franklin Automobile Photograph Collection," and online exhibits such as the "Women& Social Movements in the United States, 1830 - 1930."
State University History Archives: The Department of History at the University at Albany is one of the pioneers in wedding historical scholarship and teaching with digital technologies. Current projects are listed in the left column, with information about the collections shown on this page as you scroll down.
Syracuse University Digital Library: The Syracuse University Library Digital Collections site provides digital collections from Syracuse University Library (SUL), including the Special Collections Research Center and others that have participated in collaborative projects with SUL.
USMA Digital Collections: At the United States Military Academy Library's Digital Collections you can gain access to Alexander Hamilton's papers, to Civil War maps, to class yearbooks, and more from this West Point academy.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Stolen 1612 Map of Canada to be Auctioned?
By Editorial Staff
Thanks to The Map Room we learn that a rare copy of Samuel de Champlain’s 1612 map of Canada set to be auctioned at Sotheby’s next month, may be the same map discovered missing from Harvard University in 2005.
The Calgary Herald has the whole story:The Harvard map was found missing in 2005 during an FBI investigation into a string of thefts from major libraries in the U.S. and Britain that saw about 100 cartographic treasures - worth an estimated $3 million US in total - sliced from centuries-old atlases and exploration journals.
The Champlain map is one of top-priced items at Sotheby's Nov. 13 Natural History, Travel, Atlases and Maps sale. According to the Calgary Herald the map was the first to be published to show Montreal, Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes as a chain of connected waterways.
Massachusetts antiquarian E. Forbes Smiley, a well-known collector and dealer of rare maps, eventually admitted to the thefts and is serving three years in a U.S. prison for the crime.
He helped authorities recover many of the stolen maps as part of a plea bargain, but the 1612 Champlain map removed from Harvard's Houghton Library was not among those he admitted taking.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Presidential Historian Wins Archives and History Award
By Editorial Staff
Best selling author and historian Michael Beschloss, a scholar named by Newsweek magazine as “the nation's leading Presidential historian,” will be in Albany, Wednesday, Oct. 22 to receive the New York State Archives Partnership Trust’s 2008 Empire State Archives and History Award. The hour-long conversation on the upcoming Presidential election and awards ceremony will be held at The Egg, Center for the Performing Arts at the Empire State Plaza at 7:30 p.m.
According to New York State Archivist and Trust CEO Christine W. Ward, Mr. Beschlosswas selected to receive the award based upon his rich and distinguished career as one of this nation's leading interpreters of the American Presidency. “We are honored to, once again, have Mr. Beschloss return to Albany as we honor him for his decades of extraordinary scholarship on many of the nation's most recent presidents, as well as the components of Presidential character,” she said.
A native of Chicago, Mr. Beschloss has an extraordinary academic pedigree, having attended Andover, Williams (where he studied under the legendary Williams' College professorJames McGregor Burns) and Harvard. In recognition of his accomplishments to the world of academe, he has received three honorary doctorates.
A prolific contributor to the national dialogue on the American Presidency, Mr. Beschloss has written nine books on American Presidents. His most recent two books, Presidential Courage
Mr. Beschloss's previous books include two volumes on Lyndon Johnson's secret tapes, which a New York Times editorial called “an important event,” and The Crisis Years, which the New Yorker called the “definitive” history of John Kennedy and the Cold War.
A regular commentator of national prestige, Mr. Beschloss serves as the NBC NewsPresidential Historian, the first time a major television network created such a position. He appears on all NBC News programs, hosting a regular segment on NBC's Today show called “American Minute with Michael Beschloss.” He is also a commentator on PBS’s “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” and writes a regular column for Newsweek called “Traveling through History with Michael Beschloss.”
The Empire State Archives and History Award was inaugurated in 2005 to honor national figures who, through their achievements, have advanced the understanding and uses of history within our society. Previous winners have included: C-SPAN founder and CEO Brian Lamb, actor Sam Waterston for his efforts to bring Abraham Lincoln and other characters from U.S. history to life on stage and screen, and Pulitzer Prize winning writer and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Title sponsors for the New York State Archives Partnership Trust's signature event are Time Warner Cable and History. Premier sponsors include: Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture and Engineering P.C., Greenberg Traurig, Key Private Bank, New York State United Teachers, Times Union, and New York Council for the Humanities. Supporting sponsors include: 2K Design; 74 State; Berkshire Bank; Chateau LaFayette Reneau; Edward Ryan; Janney Montgomery Scott LLC; McCadam Cheese; WAMC Northeast Public Radio; Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, Attorneys at Law; and Wojeski & Co., CPAs, P.C.
Tickets for the Empire State Archives and History Award are $10 and are available at The Egg Box Office. Invitations to a private fund-raising reception with Mr. Beschloss may be obtained by calling (518) 474-1228.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Essex Co. Historical Society Wins Archives Award
By Editorial Staff
The Board of Regents and the New York State Archives have selected the Essex County Historical Society | Adirondack History Center Museum in Elizabethtown to receive the 2008 Annual Archives Award for Program Excellence in a Historical Records Repository. The award will be presented to Essex County Historical Society Director Margaret Gibbs, Assistant Director Jenifer Kuba, and Museum Educator Lindsay Pontius at a luncheon ceremony at the State Education Building in Albany on October 20, 2008.
The award commends Essex County Historical Society for its outstanding archival program that contributes significantly to understanding the region’s history. The award recognizes the historical society for its well organized and managed archives and for its efforts to provide access to the county’s documentary heritage through interesting exhibitions and excellent educational programs for school children.
Previous award winners include Schenectady County Historical Society (2007), Huguenot Historical Society in New Paltz (2006), M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives at the University at Albany (2005), Onondaga Historical Association (2004), Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery (2003), and Hofstra University (2002)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Grants Announced
By Editorial Staff
More than 250 schools, grassroots organizations and local governments in the Hudson and Champlain valleys have been awarded "mini grants" to help bring supplemental funds to their preparation and planning for celebrating the 400th anniversary of the historic voyages of Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain, according to the the New York State Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Office (HFCQ).
The announcement coincides with last week's launch of the new Quadricentennial website. The new site focuses on a listing of the dozens of events being planned by all of the communities in the Hudson and Champlain Valleys and New York City. Also included is a wealth of statewide images, historical information, countless project plans, and opportunities for partnership with the state wide preparations for New York's 400th.
Over the last ten months, HFCQ has been rallying all communities in the two valleys to become "Quad communities" (including schools, libraries and colleges) and valley businesses and corporations to become "Quad ambassadors," cultivating organizations, clubs, and cultural institutions to become "Quad partners" and assisting them in initiating Quad events and programs for their memberships, and promoting New York State's legacy projects in the Champlain Valley, the Hudson Valley and the New York Harbor.
These efforts will help local governments in their preparations for the commemorative year; provide funding for 400th anniversary projects, exhibits and events, and help fund state "signature" events. These include the Walkway over the Hudson project in the Hudson Valley, events on Governor's Island in the New York Harbor, and the Crown Point lighthouse project on Lake Champlain (co-sponsored with the State Parks Department).
Stretching from Staten Island to the Town of Champlain on the Canadian border, the grant winners represent a wide variety of initiatives, from theatrical productions to research and writing projects to local festivals. Each award is approximately $1,000, funded through a combination of state funds and a generous donation from the Dyson Foundation.
Some examples of the more than 250 projects funded include:
Adirondack Rowers & Scullers (Albany County) for the Albany Rowing Center to build five park benches, outdoor display case and new boat rack at riverside for Quadricentennial events in Albany.
The Field Library (Westchester County) for author Tom Boyle of World's End to participate in the library's literacy project, a community wide 'read' of the book with Q&A and a film as well as part of the Quadricentennial.
Saugerties Pro Musica 975 (Ulster County) to contract with a musician to present a concert of HR/HV folksongs commemorating the New York 400th.
American Museum of Natural History (New York County) to present a public program series that will include the Quadricentennial theme, "Explore 400 Years of Progress in the Environment" which will focus on the impact of climate change on the HR Valley.
Cornell Cooperative Extension (of Warren County) to create a Quadricentennial display for the countywide events.
A full list of the more than 250 projects funded is available [PDF].
Friday, October 10, 2008
This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
- » Quebecois Accent has Royal Roots?
- » Museum Draws Line at Live Nudes
- » Interview With Saratoga Author
- » Coney Island Rezoning Forges Ahead
- » Blog: NYC's Hoovervilles
- » Library to Keep Historic Windows
- » East Village Cemeteries Open Gates
- » Along the Ausable: A & W Root Beer
- » Aaron Burr: Most Dangerous Vice President?
- » WWII Pilot Remembers B-17
Civil War Fort Montgomery Needs Preservation
By Editorial Staff
According to an editorial in the Plattsburgh Press Republican this week, Fort Montgomery - not the Hudson River American Revolution fort, but the Lake Champlain (mostly) American Civil War one in Rouses Point - is in ruins, the victim of nothing less then neglect.
According to the Press Republican:In April 1980, a huge portion of the northwest bastion collapsed into the moat, and cracks in the rest of the structure have raised concerns that a similar fate awaits the rest of the fort.
It took hundreds of stonemasons thirty years to build (1844 and 1871), according to the great Wiki:
And there are other obstacles. Liability is an acute concern, as the unstable structure has long been used as a party spot for teens. Also, the location is surrounded by environmentally sensitive wetlands.
But the potential as a historic landmark and tourist destination -- accessible by car, bus or boat -- is undeniable. In fact, it can be seen by the preservation of a similar landmark, Fort Lennox, just a 20-minute drive upriver in Isle aux Noir, Quebec.Named for Revolutionary War hero General Richard Montgomery who was killed at Quebec City during the 1775 invasion of Canada, construction began on Fort Montgomery two years later in 1844. Fort Montgomery was one of a very few "Permanent" or "Third System" forts built along the Northern Frontier, most being constructed along the Atlantic Coast. Work on the fort remained almost continuous through 1870, with the peak of construction taking a frenzied pace during the American Civil War, amidst rumors of possible British intervention against the Union from Canada. These fears were actually proven to be not that far fetched when the Confederate led St. Albans Raid, the northernmost action of the Civil War, took place in nearby Vermont in 1864 involving an incursion by the enemy from Canada.
Thanks in part to a National Register of Historic Places listing in 1977, the fort is often confused with "Fort Blunder," for which construction began in 1816. Thanks to a surveyor error, it was discovered that this first fort had been accidentally built on the Canadian side of the border and the site was abandoned. Materials from the fort were taken by locals for local building projects. It was never officially named.
In 1926 the United States Government sold Fort Montgomery along with its adjacent Military Reservation at public auction. During the period of disuse which followed, as had also happened with the abandoned 1816 fortification, many locals visited the fort, carting off untold amounts of lumber, bricks, windows, and doors for use in their homes and other buildings. Ultimately the majority of the fort, aside from the gutted westward facing officer's quarters, a small portion of the southern wall and 3 bastions, (2 of which remain today) was demolished in 1936-1937. Its massive stones were crushed and dumped into the lake for fill to construct a nearby bridge between Rouses Point, New York and Alburg, Vermont. After a number of private owners, the property was sold to Victor Podd, Sr. who constructed the headquarters of the Powertex Corporation on the adjacent "Commons" to the west of the fort. Island Point, the actual fort site, was left untouched. During the mid-1980s Podd worked with local historical societies to have the State of New York purchase the property with a view toward possible restoration of the site. Despite being offered the fort at no cost, negotiations were unsuccessful and the State declined to accept the property. Since May 2006 Podds' heirs have attempted to sell the fort on eBay. The first auction ended on June 5, 2006, with a winning bid of $5,000,310. However, the sale was not completed, and the fort and lands surrounding it remain for sale.
There are current concerns among local preservationists that what remains of the fort today is in danger of a catastrophic structural collapse. This is in part due to the removal of iron reinforcing rods, emplaced around 1886, which were likely cut out for their scrap value during the wartime scrap metal drives of World War 2. These rods were originally devised to brace up and support the massive weight of the fort's detached outer wall face, a defensive element of the fort's construction which later proved over time to be a structural flaw. Previously a third remaining bastion on the northern side of the fort suffered a similar collapse and was completely destroyed in 1980, mostly falling into the moat.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Upstate History Alliance Online Courses
By Editorial Staff
The Upstate History Alliance has announced a spring series of Collections Care & Preservation online courses:
Conservation and Preservation of Photographs and Albums (with Gary Albright)
October 27, 2008- November 21, 2008
This course will first provide an overview of factors effecting the preservation and care of photographs. The various photographic processes will be reviewed and techniques for identifying each photographic process will be supplied. Appropriate handling and storage materials, as well as sources for supplies will be covered. The course will also address the issue of when the original format or album format can be maintained or when re-housing should be considered.
Basic Preservation, Care & Handling of Paper Based Materials (with Michele Phillips)
November 24, 2008-December 19, 2008
This course will provide an introduction to the factors effecting the preservation and care of paper-based materials. Participants will then learn about appropriate techniques for handling and storing collection materials and recomment sources for supplies. Instruction in basic conservation techniques for surface cleaning and mending paper-based materials will be provided
Climate Control for Small Institutions (with Michele Phillips)
January 5, 2009-January 30, 2009
This course will allow participants to explore the issues that need to be considered when planning for climate controls including monitoring, testing, environmental analysis assessments, long-range planning, systems design, construction support, and operations training. Low cost-low tech solutions will be offered and discussed, providing participants with the background knowledge to assist them in making informed decisions that can be implemented at their own institutions
Introduction to Reformatting (with Toya Dubin)
February 2, 2009-February 27, 2009
This course will provide participants with current, essential information for those who are responsible for the management of paper-based, photographic, audio, and video collections that are seeking to create, manage, and preserve digital assets. Participants completing this course will be better equipped to make informed choices regarding management of their digital projects/programs.
The cost to participate in a 4-week online course is $45 for UHA members, $60 for non-members. Or you can sign up to participate in a series of all four, beginning with Conservation & Preservation of Photographs on October 27, 2008 and ending with Introduction to Reformatting which begins on Feburary 2, 2009. The cost to participate in the complete series is $150 for UHA members, $200 for non-members.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
NY Historian Discusses Climate Change
By Editorial Staff
Steven Leibo, Ph.D., Professor of International History and Politics at the Sage Colleges in Albany offered an interesting piece last week on his experience with Al Gore's climate change initiative at the History News Network. "Historians & the Climate Crisis" considers how and why historians should interact with the issue of climate change:
In my own case, once I had become comfortable with the science of contemporary climate change, I began to reflect not just on humanity’s future as climate change becomes more and more obvious but on how it has played out in the past. And even more importantly in what specific ways we professional historians can contribute to this newest and historically profound challenge that faces humanity.Check out the full piece here.
The core question of course is what our current climate challenge has to do with the profession of historian. Human-made climate change is after all a problem more of the present and future rather than the historical material we so often focus on. But from the perspective of at least this historian such an attitude could not be more incorrect. Historians have an enormous role to play in this great challenge.
I am of course, one of those historians who thinks that a good knowledge of the past does an excellent job in helping one understand the present and even to make reasonably educated guesses about the future. But that is not the core issue. Our relationship with the natural environment has been one of the most important factors in human history. True, for a time professional historians rejected the sort of environmental determinism which once so intrigued scholars. But to suggest climate is not profoundly important is to misrepresent much of the historical record.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
SAGE Publications Offers Free Access to Journals
By Editorial Staff
SAGE Publications is offering free trial access to their online journals through October 31 by going to this page and registering. The free trail include, among a lot of others, the following titles which historians in and of New York might find interesting:
Accounting History
Crime, Media, Culture
Critique of Anthropology
Cultural Geographies
Feminist Criminology
Feminist Theory
Games and Culture
History of Psychiatry
History of the Human Sciences
Journal of Consumer Culture
Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
Journal of Contemporary History
Journal of Family History
Journal of Material Culture
Journal of Peace Research
Journal of Planning History
Journal of Social Archaeology
Journal of Urban History
Labor Studies Journal
Law, Culture and the Humanities
Media, Culture & Society
Media, War & Conflict
New Media & Society
Race & Class
Studies in History
Television & New Media
Theory, Culture & Society
War in History
Monday, October 6, 2008
Aircraft Carrier Intrepid Returns to Pier 86
By Editorial Staff
The aircraft carrier USS Intrepid returned home to Manhattan last week. The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s grand re-opening celebration will be held on Veterans Day, November 11, 2008. Intrepid left her berth at Staten Island’s Homeport Pier on October 2, and was moved north to the brand new Pier 86 following a 22-month overhaul (NYT).
According to Newsday:Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, said the museum has paid $10 million to dredge more Hudson River mud - more than 90,000 cubic yards - than was done for the first unsuccessful attempt to move the 900-foot-long ship to a New Jersey dry dock. And for good measure, the ship's four 16-ton, bronze, 22-foot-diameter propellers have been permanently removed so they can no longer serve as unwanted anchors. "I am 100 percent confident she will come back in with no problems," White said.
The ship reopens to the general the public after a private event Nov. 8 at Pier 86, at 12th Avenue and West 46th Street. After an expenditure of almost $120 million since the carrier was finally relocated in December 2006, visitors will see new exhibits, areas of the 29,000-ton ship launched in 1943 that were formerly off limits during its first 23 years on display and additional historic aircraft and they have access from a newly built pier topped by a free park.
The 2008 Veterans Day Parade has been rerouted west across 42nd Street, and north up 12th Avenue, with the parade passing the Intrepid Museum. 5,000 of the parade’s veterans will take part in the Museum’s grand re-opening celebration.
While in Staten Island, Intrepid will undergo the next phase of her refurbishment, and receive an $8 million interior renovation. Of that, $4.5 million has been privately raised – $3.5 million is yet to be procured. Never-before-seen areas of the ship including to the focasle (commonly known as the anchor chain room), general berthing quarters and the ship’s machine shop will be opened to the public for the first time. The hangar deck will feature a new layout and design including new interactive exhibits.
Friday, October 3, 2008
This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
NYS Military Museum Abandons Oral History Project
By Editorial Staff
The Albany Times Union is reporting that the New York State Veterans Oral History Project is being abandoned by the leaders of the New York State Military History Museum and Veterans Research Center (which is run by the NYS Division of Military and Naval Affairs).
The man who had been running the oral history program from the basement of the Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, Michael Russert (cousin of the late broadcaster Tim Russert), retired at the end of June after having recorded nearly 1,500 interviews over the past eight years. His equipment was sold at a loss on eBay and the program's space has been cleared out:The state let it go for $1,200 without consulting staff after buying it for $14,000, Russert said.
The Military Museum is located on the web here, and the Veteran's Oral History Program is located here. Neither sites have been updated recently (some stuff there dates from 2006, and there are currently no events scheduled for the museum). The museum has been closed for the past month while the heavy wooden doors on the building's front entrance were replaced with new glass doors.
``I was really crushed when I found the studio was going on eBay,'' said Russert, a retired teacher who lives in Cambridge. ``They looked at it as a waste of space, and that always bothered me because it was a very valuable program for the museum.''
The collection now contains 1,595 interviews, including talks with three World War I vets and three Medal of Honor recipients. The project aims to capture firsthand stories of veterans and make them accessible to historians and to the public.
The state Office of General Services sold the studio for the museum because it occupied prime exhibit space, museum Director Michael Aikey said. He wouldn't say how much it was sold for, and an inquiry to OGS went unanswered...
The state is not rehiring for Russert's position, said Lt. Col. Richard Goldenberg, a spokesman for the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
Wayne Clark, the program's videographer, has taken on an expanded role that includes identifying vets, coordinating meetings, doing interviews and publicizing the program...
The lack of manpower is slowing the archiving of stories from the state's veterans at a time when many World War II vets die every day and New York service members are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Russert says.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Ellis Island to Include Native Americans, African Slaves
By Editorial Staff
The Associated Press is reporting that the Ellis Island Immigration Museum is creating The Peopling of America Center to tell the history of those who arrived in America outside the traditional peak immigration dates of 1892 to 1954:Exhibits will focus on the arrival of Native Americans, who are believed to have migrated to North America more than 10,000 years ago across the Bering Sea from Asia; Europeans who landed on the Eastern seaboard from the 1600s through 1892; Africans brought here forcibly by slave traders; and today's immigrants from all over the globe...
The $20 million, 20,000-square-foot space, designed by Edwin Schlossberg of ESI Design, will be located in an existing gallery that will be redesigned and in an adjoining building that now houses the curatorial staff...
Work on the new center began in September. Funding has been underwritten in part by Bank of America and the Annenberg Foundation. Briganti said the foundation has attained more than 75 percent of its fundraising goal.
Upon its completion in 2011, the museum will be renamed Ellis Island: The National Museum of Immigration.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
NYPL Acquires Papers of Theatrical Legends
By Editorial Staff
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center has acquired the papers of renowned performers and acting teachers Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof. The collection consists of thousands of pages of unpublished correspondence, diaries, scripts and manuscripts, photographs, clippings and other documentation relating to the dynamic theatrical careers of both Hagen and Berghof. This collection of professional and personal papers, spanning nearly 100 years of theater history, is being made public for the first time. To celebrate the bequest, the Library is planning a series of eight free public programs featuring many close friends and colleagues of Ms. Hagen and Mr. Berghof’s including such figures as Harold Prince, Edward Albee, David Hyde Pierce and Eli Wallach.
The collection consists of 99 boxes of papers totaling 49 linear feet and provides in-depth insight about Ms. Hagen and Mr. Berghof’s personal life, their working processes in various theater productions, and their renowned acting school HB Studio, and includes correspondence from esteemed personalities such as Katharine Hepburn, Tennessee Williams, José Ferrer, David O. Selznik and Thornton Wilder.
Ms. Hagen’s papers include correspondence to and from her family, as well as other Hagen family papers. Her letters to her father Oskar Hagen – whom she playfully refers to many times as “papalop” – reveals new details of her personal and professional life. Of particular interest are various letters mentioning segregation during the Othello tour (1943-1945) with Paul Robeson and her then-husband, José Ferrer, and her diaries and notebooks which detail character studies for many of her roles. A notebook Hagen kept during rehearsals of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is overrun with a range of notes and observations regarding character motivation and psychology. In one section, she writes: "Attacking George for being a failure all the time. Motive; ashamed of his dependence on my father....aware of his subservience."
Mr. Berghof’s papers document the many productions which he performed in, directed, adapted, translated, or developed. The productions and projects span his entire career from the late 1920s to his final project in 1990. Included are materials and correspondence with Samuel Beckett regarding Waiting for Godot.
The collection, entitled the “Uta Hagen/Herbert Berghof Papers” was bequeathed by Uta Hagen to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 2007. It will be housed in the Billy Rose Theatre Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
A tour de force in the theater world for over seven decades, Uta Hagen’s numerous leading roles included Martha in the original Broadway production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1962 (for which she won a Tony Award), Desdemona opposite Paul Robeson’s Othello, and Blanche DuBois opposite Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. She taught at the tremendously influential acting school HB Studio, where her students included Matthew Broderick, Robert DeNiro, Liza Minnelli, Al Pacino, Amanda Peet, and Jason Robards. Ms. Hagen married its founder, the actor, director and writer Herbert Berghof in 1957.
Mr. Berghof, who died in 1990, remains one of the most revered acting coaches in theater history. During the years he presided over HB Studio, the roster of alumni included – in addition to the ones mentioned above – actors such as Anne Bancroft, Geraldine Page, and Fritz Weaver. Mr. Berghof also had immense success outside of the school, and garnered much praise for directing the American premiere on Broadway of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in 1956 and the first all-Black cast version of the play in 1957.
Free Public Programs for Uta Hagen/Herbert Berghof Papers will take place in the Bruno Walter Auditorium in The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center located at 111 Amsterdam Avenue (between 64th and 65th streets). Admission to all programs is free and first come, first served. For information, please call (212) 642-0142 or visit www.nypl.org/lpaprograms. Programs are curated by Alan Pally, Manager of Public Programs at the Library for the Performing Arts.
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