The Franklin County Historical and Museum Society invites the community to its annual Christmas Tea and Open House on Saturday, December 4, 2010 from 12:00-4:00pm at the House of History Museum, 51 Milwaukee St., Malone. The museum will be decorated for the holiday and visitors will be treated to formal tea service, including delicacies, hot tea, cofee, and cider.
Tours of the museum will be available, as well as a gift raffle of items from local businesses. The gift shop will be open, with its wide selection of local history books that makes Christmas shopping easy for the history buff on your list. There is no cost to attend the tea and open house. For your convenience, membership dues for 2011 are welcome and will be accepted.
The Franklin County Historical and Museum Society, founded in 1903, is a membership organization dedicated to collecting, exhibiting and preserving the history of Franklin County, NY. The House of History museum is housed in an 1864 Italianate style building, most recently the home of the F. Roy and Elizabeth Crooks Kirk family. A museum since 1973, the House of History is home to the headquarters of the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society and its historic collections pertaining to the history of Franklin County. The recently renovated carriage house behind the museum is the beautiful Schryer Center for Historical & Genealogical Research, which opened in 2006. The Schryer Center contains archival materials and a library of family history information and is open to the public. FCHMS is supported by its members and donors and the generous support of Franklin County.
The House of History is open for tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-4pm through December 31, 2010; admission is $5/adults, $3/seniors, $2/children, and free for members. The Schryer Center for Historical & Genealogical Research is open for research Wednesday-Friday from 1-4pm October 13-May 1, weather permitting. The fee to use the research library is $10/day and free to members.
Information about Franklin County History, the collections of the museum and links to interesting historical information can be found at the Historical Society's website.
Contact the Historical Society with questions at 518-483-2750 or fchms@franklinhistory.org.
Photo: Volunteer Pennie Sansone pours tea at the formal tea table at the Franklin County Historical & Museum Society's annual Christmas Tea and Open House
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Franklin County Historical Hosts Christmas Tea
By Editorial Staff
Buffalo And Erie Offers B-Movie Series
By Editorial Staff
The Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society, in collaboration with the Buffalo B-Movie Series, announces "Movie Tuesdays," a five-month schedule of Tuesday night screenings -- a movie a month now through March of 2011.
B-Movie co-founder Scott Washburn brings his cinematic curatorial sensibilities and mind for mischief to the History Museum, which will host the film's screenings in their 150-seat auditorium. Doors open at 7, films start at 7:30. Admission is $5 for BECHS members, $8 general.
Schedule
Tuesday, November 30, 2010: "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1933)
Directed by Juan Epstein. A brilliant silent interpretation of the Poe classic.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010: "Scrooge" (1933)
The first known film version of Charles Dickens' beloved classic, starring Seymour Hicks.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011: "M, Eine stadt sucht einen moerder" (1934)
A Fritz Lang film. A child-killer is captured and tried by the city street people when the police fail to catch him. Starring Peter Lorre, in his first major film role.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011: "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) & "The House of Usher" (1928)
The only double-bill of the series. "A Trip to the Moon" (French: Le Voyage dans la lune) is a short, silent, science-fiction film by Georges Melies. "The House of Usher" is a Dadaist short version of Poe's classic tale; a gorgeous, surrealist visual interpretation.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011: "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920)
Director Robert Wiene brings us the first modern horror film. It's gone on to influence a number of contemporary productions. A real classic!
About The Buffalo B-Movie Series
Since 2008, the Buffalo B-Movie Series has been screening the best of the worst (and sometimes the worst of the worst) films it can find, in a variety of locations. Its fans and audiences appreciate scripts that even infamously bad directors like John Waters and Ed Wood passed up. Some of the movies screened are so bad that they appear to possibly have had no script at all. (N.B. "The Creeping Terror" and "Manos -- Hands of Fate.") Or, in the case of "The Creeping Terror," which lost its original dialogue --are entertaining by virtue of some of the most hilarious dubbing on the planet.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Historic Canal Tug Urger Concludes 2010 Season
By Editorial Staff
More than 5,000 schoolchildren visited the historic tugboat Urger during the recently concluded 19th season as an educational resource for the New York State Canal System.
During the summer months, the Urger hosts thousands of visitors at numerous Canal festivals and events throughout the Canal Corridor. The Urger also provided one of the many highlights at the 2010 World Canals Conference held in Rochester in September.
Canal Corporation Director Carmella R. Mantello said, "The tug Urger educational program has once again been a great success. Thousands of schoolchildren from across New York State participate every year in hands on activities to learn about the significant and unparalleled role New York's Canals have played in shaping our state and nation. The Canal Corporation is pleased to partner with communities and schools throughout the Canal corridor to allow the public to learn firsthand about this historic vessel and to learn about the past, present and future of the New York State Canal System."
The tug Urger logged more than 3,000 miles traveling across the Canal System during 2010. During the spring and fall educational programs, the Urger visited more than 30 communities. Students in fourth-grade classes at local schools take field trips to the tug and participate in shoreside, "hands-on" educational sessions. There they learn about the history of the Canals and the role construction of the Erie Canal played in making New York the "Empire State."
Throughout the summer months, the Urger represented the Canal Corporation at many Canal-related events and festivals throughout the system, as well as being a featured vessel at this year's World Canals Conference.
During the winter months, the Urger is in dry dock in Lyons, New York, where canal staff will be preparing it for the 2011 navigation season.
Celebrating more than 100 years of service, the tug Urger is the Canal Corporation's flagship vessel. It was christened the Henry J. Dornbos in Michigan on June 13, 1901, and saw service as a fishing boat in the Great Lakes for two decades.
In the early 1920s, the tug was sold, renamed the Urger, and entered the New York State Canal fleet. Stationed in Waterford, the Urger served more than 60 years hauling machinery, dredges, and scows on the Erie and Champlain Canals until she was retired from service in the late 1980s.
In 1991 Capt. Schuyler M. Meyer, Jr., founder for the private non-profit State Council on Waterways, was given a permit to operate the tug as a floating classroom along the canal system, teaching elementary school students about the original Erie Canal and today's expanded, modern-day inland waterway. Upon Capt. Meyer's passing in the mid 1990s, the Canal Corporation continued the program and used the Urger as the official ambassador for the New York State Canal System, serving as the focal point of its educational program since 1994.
The Urger has been on the State and National Registers of Historic Places since September, 2001.
The Tug Urger Educational Program is available to all New York State schools at no cost. Class size and presentations are limited and are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.
For more information on how to take advantage of this educational program or to schedule a visit to your community, call 518-471-5349 or visit the Canal Corporation's Website and click on "Tugboat Urger."
The New York State Canal System is comprised of four historic waterways, the Erie, the Champlain, the Oswego and the Cayuga-Seneca Canals. Spanning 524 miles across New York State, the waterway links the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes and the Niagara River with communities rich in history and culture.
Photo: State canals Director Carmella R. Mantello is shown speaking with local school children who are touring the 109 year-old Tug Urger in Waterford Harbor. The historic state vessel cruises the 524-mile state canal system each season teaching young students about the early canal era and today's modern-day inland waterway.
The Jersey Greys in New York Event
By Editorial Staff
Fort Montgomery State Historic Site (690 Route 9W, Fort Montgomery, NY) will be offering an evening lecture, "The 3rd New Jersey in New York: Stories from “The Jersey Greys” of 1776" on Thursday, December 2nd at 7 PM.
Speaker Philip D. Weaver will utilize correspondence, company account books, and period diaries to acquaint you with one of the best equipped, most interesting, and dysfunctional regiments in the early Continental Army, the 3rd New Jersey of 1776. Attendees will be given a quick introduction to the organization and the personalities, followed by a discussion of their New York campaign. Weaver will focus on a number of stories and anecdotes. The program will also include information on their garrisoning of Fort Stanwix and their subsequent relocation to “the old French Barracks” at Fort Ticonderoga.
This lecture is FREE and open to all. For more information or directions, call (845) 446-2134.
Image: Charles Wilson Peale portrait of then Captain Joseph Bloomfield of the 3rd New Jersey.
Friday, November 26, 2010
This Week's New York History Web Highlights
By Editorial Staff
- Associated Press: Preservationists Split on Fire Towers
- David Stradling: State of Environmental History
- The Albany Project:: Thinking About Parks
- Don Rittner: New York’s Assault On Our Culture
- Placid News: Plans For Monaco Theme-park
- Chico Garcia: NYC’s Houston & B Murals,1996-2010
- Paddle Making: 1890 Adirondack Guide Paddle
- Bovina History: Help the Bovina Historical Society
- The Colbert Report: Doris Kearnes Goodwin
- Old Salt Blog: New York’s Graveyard of Ships
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This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
- Paterson Open to Museum Change
- WGY Radio Legend Leaving Radio
- Model Train Museum Headed to Pottersville
- 'Nightmare on Elm St House' Coming Down
- Remembering 'Want Ad Digest' Founder
- 150 Years: A Civil War Battle Defeat
- In Capital Region, Artifacts of War
- Paterson Announces Land Claims Settlement
- New York Budget Troubles Worsen
- Montgomery Co. Awarded Underground RR Funds
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Thursday, November 25, 2010
Historic Huguenot Street Holiday Events
By Editorial Staff
Santa may not have been a Huguenot, but he will be residence on the well-known street for the holiday season. Activities begin on Friday, November 26th and will center on three of the historic museum houses: the iconic Jean Hasbrouck House, the grand Deyo House and the DuBois Fort Visitor Center.
Holiday programs include:
* Giving Thanks Day. Spent the Thanksgiving Day inside with the family? Well then come on out and enjoy a very different Black Friday. For this one special day, we’ll offer tours of the homes on Historic Huguenot Street for just $5 per person and get the first jump on the special gifts and vintage-style ornaments in the Museum Shop at the DuBois Fort Visitor Center. Make it a day with a visit to the unique shops of downtown New Paltz, which are just steps away. Friday, November 26th, 11am to 3pm.
* Photos with Vintage Santa. A real holiday favorite. For the third year in a row, Santa in all his vintage jolliness, will be visiting the Street. This year, he’ll be found at the hearth of the Jean Hasbrouck House. Photos by professional photographer France Menk. Saturday, November 27th and Saturday, December 4th, 11am to 2pm. $15 per sitting.
* Christmas Quest. The Deyo House manse, in all its Victorian splendor, will be turned over to the kids for two special days! Hidden among the holiday decorations will be items taken from the popular holiday favorites Twas the Night Before Christmas and These Are A Few Of My Favorites Things. All are invited to hunt for these hidden treasures and a holiday prize awaits all who do! Ages 4 and up. Saturday, November 27th and Saturday, December 4th, 11am to 2pm. $7 per child. Accompanying adults free.
* Candlelight Christmas: Holiday Tours of the Deyo House. At night, the Deyo House is the setting for very special holiday themed tours. Enjoy the house by the soft light of candles and Christmas light and see the Broadheads preparing for a turn-of-the-century holiday celebration. Saturday, November 27th and Saturday, December 4th. Tours at 7, 7:30 and 8. $12 per person in advance. $14 at the door.
* Storytime in the Deyo House. New this year is a unique opportunity for kids to enjoy holiday stories at the foot of the decked-out holiday tree in the Deyo House. Local actor and storyteller will delight kids with a wide variety of multi-cultural holiday favorites, including many loved standards and others such as El Regalo de Navidad (The Christmas Gift) and the story of the Maccabees triumph and the Hanukkah miracle. Saturday, December 4th, 11th, and 18th, 11am to 12pm. Limited to 25. FREE.
The Museum Shop at the DuBois Fort Visitor Center will be open every Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 3pm. The shop features a variety of exclusive items inspired by the collections at Historic Huguenot Street, unique and related books as well as a generous offering of vintage-inspired ornaments. Gift wrapping is always complimentary.
For more information about any of these holiday programs, visit www.huguenotstreet.org or call (845) 255-1660 or 1889.
Thanksgiving Time at Mrs. Kearney's Tavern
By Editorial Staff
There will be 19th-century-style after-the-holiday open house programs at the historic Kearney House at Alpine Boat Basin & Picnic Area (Palisades Interstate Park Exit 2, then follow Alpine Approach Road to river) on Saturday & Sunday afternoons, November 27 & 28, from 1 to 3 PM. The programs will feature hot mulled cider and light food, period music with Mr. Thaddeus MacGregor, and fun and games for children. The programs, to be held rain or shine, are open to all with no reservations required; visitors are welcome to stay for as long as they like during the open hours. A donation box will be by the door. Suggestion: $3 adults, $1 children.
Listed on the National and New Jersey State Historic Registers as the “Blackledge-Kearney House”—but familiarly known as the “Kearney House” or the “Cornwallis Headquarters” (it was once thought that the British general had stayed here in 1776)—this house has been a Hudson River homestead, a riverfront tavern, a Park police station, and a “historic shrine.” Today it helps bring to life two centuries in the story of the Hudson River and the families who depended upon it for their lives and livelihoods.
For more information: 201 768-1360 ext. 108.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
B & E Society Offers Annual Train Day
By Editorial Staff
The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society will hold its annual 'Train Day' on Friday, November 26 from 1-4pm. This day-after-Thanksgiving Buffalo tradition will feature the Museum's Model Train diorama in action and running all day long.
There will also be family, children and all-age activities such as designing train-art paintings, story-time, artifact scavenger hunts, museum tours, and live folk music. All activities are included with regular museum admission.
Since 1990, the Historical Society's Model Train Display has been cared for by a dedicated group of volunteers known as the Rail Barons. The diorama represents early 20th century Buffalo. Many important landmarks are included in miniature -- such as the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural site (still in existence) and the Academy of Music (sadly, no longer around).
The display contains more than 100 handcrafted buildings, 450 people and animals, 400 trees, and over 300 feet of model railroad tracks. The diorama is composed of approximately 150 pounds of plaster and 100 different colors of paint.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Knox’s Headquarters Celebrates Christmas
By Editorial Staff
For two Christmases, John and Catherine Ellison shared their home with the officers and soldiers of the Continental Army. Over the winter of 1780-81, General Henry Knox, his wife Lucy and the young Henry and Lucy were there, while two years later it was General Horatio Gates and his military family of aides de camp who shared in the season’s festivities. From 6:00 to 8:00 PM on December 18th tour the elegantly appointed 1754 Ellison house decorated for Christmas and staffed by Revolutionary War era costumed interpreters. For your further enjoyment the King’s Delight will play period music throughout the evening.
In December 1774, Colonel Thomas Ellison of New Windsor, John’s father, received a letter from a grandson in New York City wishing him greetings of the season: “May you and yours see the return of many happy Christmasses & New Years & may each bring you an occasion of joy and peace – especially of that peace which passeth understanding & which this world can neither give or take away.”
On Monday December 27, Tuesday December 28 & Wednesday December 29 Open House at Knox’s Headquarters. The Ellison mansion is open for tours at 10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM & 2:00 PM each day. Tour the elegant 1754 historic house decorated for the season in 18th century fashion.
Knox’s Headquarters is located at 289 Forge Hill Road in Vails Gate, at the corner of Route 94 and Forge Hill Road, just three miles south of the intersection of I-87 and I-84. For more information please call (845) 561-1765 ext. 22.
Adk Museum Universal Access Project Funded
By Editorial Staff
The Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York has received a restricted grant in the amount of $20,000 from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. The funds will be used to bring museum programs to a wider audience, including those with disabilities, by making the museum's Auditorium universally accessible. The Auditorium is the venue for lectures, films, and community programs such as the museum's popular Cabin Fever Sunday series.
The funds will also be used to meet a challenge grant from the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust for the same initiative. The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, based in New York City, promotes the advancement and perpetuation of humanistic inquiry and artistic creativity by encouraging excellence in scholarship and in the performing arts, and by supporting research libraries and other institutions that transmit cultural heritage.
The Adirondack Museum has been the grateful recipient of support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation since 1995. Committed to an ongoing program to provide full access to its resources, the Adirondack Museum is a museum of history, art, and material culture. It is nationally recognized for extensive collections, exhibits, and a research library that together reflect stories of life, work, and play in the
Adirondack Park and northern New York State.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Utica Exhibition Highlights Holiday Season
By Editorial Staff
A mixture of greenery and finery marks the Victorian Yuletide celebration that opens in the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Museum of Art period rooms in Fountain Elms Friday, November 26 and remains on view through January 2, 2011. This annual exhibition brings to life an historical 19th-century Christmas and illustrates the origins of many of today’s Holiday customs.
This year, the dining room and parlor will be arranged to depict an evening party called a kettledrum. At this type of affair, somewhat of a predecessor to the 20th-century cocktail party, the dining table was set with a buffet of cold entrees, salads, fruit, cakes, and other sweets. Guests were served eggnog, tea, coffee, wine, and claret or champagne.
One author of etiquette books noted that at a kettledrum, an assortment of unmatching china should be used, which added to the festive appearance of the table. In keeping with all these traditions, the dining room will feature a bountiful table setting using all of the best crystal, silver, and china, and highlighted by an elaborate Yuletide centerpiece.
The Successful Housekeeper (1882) provides a detailed description of a kettledrum: “At a kettledrum, the time is passed in greeting friends, disconnected fragments of conversation, listening to music or recitations, and, best of all, in partaking of good cheer from the groaning refreshment table.”
After “partaking of good cheer,” a guest could retire to the parlor to enjoy music and the profuse Christmas decorations of greenery and a table-top tree. Despite the convivial gathering and abundant food and spirits, guests were expected to follow certain proprieties. The Successful Housekeeper also noted that: “[Women’s] bonnets are not discarded and only one hand is ungloved. The experienced guest hardly ever remains more than an hour.”
The Museum’s other period rooms will be adorned with various types of Christmas trees. The library will feature a German putz—a traditional miniature farm scene featuring buildings, animals, and figures. The Museum’s putz belonged to the Williams family, whose daughters, Rachel and Maria, grew up in Fountain Elms. The girls’ diaries from the 1860s record the simple gifts they received: books, cornucopias filled with candy, pens and journals, and paper dolls.
In the manner of our forebearers, the period rooms will be dressed with a variety of greenery, ribbon, wreaths, and flowers and with the beauty of autumn, which was harvested and laid aside for the bleak winter holidays. Nineteenth-century toys and games will be on display. All of the decorations that grace the period rooms are based on 19th-century accounts of how a home as grand as Fountain Elms would have been decorated for the Holiday season.
Finger Lakes Museum Narrows Design Teams
By Editorial Staff
Project director Don Naetzker announced that the number of design teams interested in planning the Finger Lakes Museum has been narrowed from 35 to 4. The four teams are led by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Cambridge 7, HBT Architects, and The Smith Group. Each team has museum design experience.
In September, representatives from 60 architectural, engineering, exhibit design and landscape architecture firms from across the country and Canada met at Keuka Lake State Park to hear Naetzker and board president John Adamski describe the concept, mission, and vision for the project. Attendees were invited to submit qualifications to compete for the design commission. Thirty-five qualification packages were received by museum officials.
Naetzker said that the museum’s facilities committee, which he chairs, worked long and hard to evaluate the submissions, some as thick as phone books. He saluted the efforts and stated, “The choices were not easy to make. Each of the firms is nationally-known and very-well qualified.”
The four design teams on the short list will be asked to submit proposals outlining design concepts and fee structures by the end of December. A final selection is scheduled for January 2011.
The Finger Lakes Museum is an initiative to create a world-class educational institution that will showcase the cultural heritage and ecological evolution of the 9,000 square-mile Finger Lakes Region. Last April, Keuka Lake State Park was selected as the preferred location to build the project.
For more information or to make contact, see www.fingerlakesmuseum.org.
Friday, November 19, 2010
This Week's New York History Web Highlights
By Editorial Staff
- The Albany Project:: Thinking About Parks
- Don Rittner: New York’s Assault On Our Culture
- Placid News: Plans For Monaco Theme-park
- Chico Garcia: NYC’s Houston & B Murals,1996-2010
- Paddle Making: 1890 Adirondack Guide Paddle
- Bovina History: Help the Bovina Historical Society
- The Colbert Report: Doris Kearnes Goodwin
- Old Salt Blog: New York’s Graveyard of Ships
- Bruce Chadwick: Riots Within The 1863 NYC Draft Riots
- Morning News: What Lies (Horribly) Beneath
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This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
- Montgomery Co. Awarded Underground RR Funds
- Munson-Williams-Proctor Makes Registers
- State Museum Facing Cuts, Layoffs
- VIDEO: Demolition of 70-Yr Old Cohoes Theatre
- Troy Prepares to Tear Down Old City Hall
- Catskills Resort Up For Auction Online
- Sculptures Unveiled at Vermont Archives
- Historic Eagle Island Camp For Sale
- Governors Island Boondoggle Ferry Scrapped
- Waterford Museum Research Irish Heritage
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Thursday, November 18, 2010
Buffalo, Erie Co Historical to Host Book Signing, Sale
By Editorial Staff
The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society presents its annual Local Author/Buffalo Book-Signing on Saturday, Nov. 27 from noon to 2 p.m. at the History Museum, located at 25 Nottingham Court at Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo.
The event, designed for shoppers looking for personalized gifts in a relaxed atmosphere, features over 20 local authors selling and signing their books. The wide range of publications-including cookbooks, neighborhood, regional and military history, novels and coffee-table books-makes this a perfect opportunity to shop for a variety of tastes.
This year's event includes the following authors:
* Jim Arnone, Central Park, Buffalo, New York: A Neighborhood of History and Tradition (exclusively at BECHS!)
* Dr. Joseph Bieron, Postcard Views, Orchard Park
* Evelyn Brady, Peaceprints
* Steve Cichon, The Complete History of Parkside
* Gary Costello & Douglas Kohler, Hull Family Home & Homestead: A Bicentennial Celebration
* Lorna Czarnota, Legends, Lore and Secrets of Western New York
* Mark Donnelly, The Fine Art of Capturing Buffalo, Frozen Assets: The Beautiful Truth About Western New York's Fourth Season
* John Edson, Hamburg: 1910-1970, Hamburg Revisited
* Julianna Fiddler-Woite, Snyder: A Brief History, WNY and the Gilded Age
* Catherine Gildiner, After the Falls: Coming of Age in the Sixties, Too Close to the Falls (New York Times bestseller)
* John Koerner, Mysteries of Father Baker, Father Baker Code
* George Kunz, Buffalo Memories
* Elizabeth Leader, Buffalo Snow
* Raya Lee, BPO Celebrates the First 75 Years
* Donald Mang, One Nation Under God (a novel)
* Nancy Mingus, Buffalo: Good Neighbors, Great Architecture
* Martin Nowak, The White House in Mourning: Deaths and Funerals of Presidents in Office
* Janice Okun, Buffalo Cooks with Janice Okun
* Laura Pedersen, Buffalo Gal, Buffalo Unbound-a Celebration
* John Percy, Buffalo-Niagara Connections, Town of Tonawanda
* Joseph Ritz,Blood Along The Niagara - A Guidebook to Battles of the War of 1812 an Hour's Drive from Niagara Falls
* Erno Rossi, White Death: The Blizzard of '77
* Maria Scrivani, Brighter Buffalo
* Christine Smyczynski, An Explorer's Guide to Western New York
* Wanda Slawinska & Edward Szemraj, The Polonian Legacy of Western New York
* Joel Thomas, Creature Comforts
* Mason Winfield, A Ghosthunter's Journal, Haunted Places of Western New York, Shadows of the Western Door, Village Ghosts of Western New York, Spirits of the Great Hill, Ghosts of 1812
Aside from this collection of books, some of which can be purchased only at the Historical Society, the museum shop offers unique Buffalo-themed gifts, including jewelry, fine art prints, maps, educational toys. It is also an opportunity to peruse and purchase from their exclusive 1901 Pan-American Exposition-themed items.
The Local Author Book Signing is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society at (716) 873-9644 or visit www.buffalohistory.org.
New Online Collection Focuses on 9/11
By Editorial Staff
Beginning on September 11, 2001, Michael Ragsdale started collecting items focusing on the aftermath of 9/11, including materials relating to the security, recovery, war, health, peace, civil liberties, Iraq, war costs, war dead, remembrance, prisoner abuse and more. His project ended in September 2008, but this documentary paper history of what happened in New York City after the attacks of 9/11 now includes over 400 images.
Ragsdale says he has been receiving high praise from historians, authors, professors, filmmakers, activists, librarians, museum curators, and others. You can find the collection online here.
Ragsdale hopes to raise money to take the collection on the road, especially next year during the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and the opening of the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York City.
Photo: Flyer announcing a peace rally after 9/11 from Ragsdale's collection.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Saratoga Battlefield Holiday Open House
By Editorial Staff
Visitors to the Saratoga Battlefield will ring in the holiday season with live guitar music, book-signings, free refreshments and unique holiday gift ideas in the bookstore at Saratoga National Historical Park’s Holiday Open House on Sunday, December 5th from 1pm – 4pm.
Local authors Dr. Warren Roberts, who recently released, A Place in History, Albany in the Age of Revolution 1775 – 1825 and co-authors Tom Barker, PhD and Paul Huey, who just wrote The 1776-1777 Northern Campaigns of the American War for Independence will be available to sign copies of their books and talk to visitors about their findings. Musician Linda Russell will also perform and copies of her CD will be available.
Except for inclement weather, Sunday December 5 will also be the last day that the scenic 10-mile tour road will remain open for vehicle traffic. During the winter, the tour road and park trails remain open daily dawn to dusk for pedestrian use, such as walking, bicycling, and winter activities, but it will close to vehicular traffic on Monday, December 6.
The park Visitor Center - open daily throughout the year from 9am to 5pm, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and News Year’s holidays - offers a 20-minute orientation film, photography exhibit, fiber optic map, bookstore and National Park Service rangers to tell stories about the events here, that changed world history.
Saratoga Battlefield is located on Route 32 and 4 in Stillwater, NY. For more information about program and events at Saratoga National Historical Park, please call (518) 664-9821 ext. 224 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/sara.
Museum Professional Joins Historic Huguenot St
By Editorial Staff
John H. Page has joined the board of trustees of Historic Huguenot Street after being elected at the September meeting of the organization’s board. Page, a member of the organization’s collection’s committee prior to his election, brings a wealth of experience to his new role, according to Historic Huguenot's Richard Heyl de Ortiz.
Page manages and operates the reconstructed 18th century gristmill at Philipsburg Manor, a historic site in Sleepy Hollow which is owned and operated by Historic Hudson Valley. In this role, Page manages the daily operations of the mill and cooperage, contributing to its interpretive and educational programs and managing on-site staff and both its public and school group visits.
Prior to this, Page has served as the executive director of The Hermitage, a National Historic Landmark in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey. The site features a mid 19th century Gothic home that incorporates a colonial-era stone house. He has also worked as an independent contractor, and brings over a decade of building restoration experience to his new role at Historic Huguenot Street.
Mary Etta Schneider, president of Historic Huguenot Street, says of Page’s election, “We are thrilled to welcome John and very pleased to have a museum professional of his caliber on our board of trustees. John has been a valuable member of our collections committee. We look forward to his input and hope to leverage his experience in museum operations, restoration and program development.”
After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Swain School of Design in 1985, Page completed a Master of Arts History from Hunter College in 2007. He also has a Certificate in Museum Studies from Harvard University. Page is a practicing artist, a painter in landscapes with over twenty-five years of professional experience. Examples of his work may be seen online. He lives in Nyack, New York.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
State Museum Adds to 'Citizen Soldier' Exhibit
By Editorial Staff
In honor of Veteran’s Day, the New York State Museum has installed two new cases in its Citizen Soldier exhibition, including personal items of the late Sgt. David Fisher, formerly of Watervliet, who was killed in Iraq in December 2004.
Vicki DiMura, the mother of Sgt. Fisher, has loaned the items to the Museum for display in the section of the exhibition documenting the role of Task Force Wolfhound in Iraq. The 21-year-old graduate of Watervliet High School was one of the Task Force Wolfhound soldiers and served with the 1st Battalion 101st Cavalry based at the Glenmore Road Armory in Troy. He was working as a humvee gunner during a patrol in Baghdad when his vehicle rolled over during a high-speed maneuver intended to avoid improvised explosive devices.
The items installed in the exhibition include a print of a portrait of Sgt. Fisher painted by artist Phil Taylor of the American Fallen Soldiers Project that provides, at no cost to family members, an original portrait of their loved one. Also on display are a memorial bracelet, a copy of Sgt. Fisher’s dog tags, a photo of him taken on the day he was killed, an unfinished lego tank, a stuffed Elmo doll given to Fisher by his unit on his 21st birthday, a frog ornament honoring Fisher’s nickname of “Squeak Frog” and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toy.
The other new addition to the exhibition is in the Spanish-American War section. It includes a cartridge belt with .45-70 cartridges worn by Sgt. James S. Martin of Brooklyn. This was loaned to the Museum by Martin’s grandson, Marty Pickands of Delmar. Martin enlisted in Company L, the 71st regiment. He and his regiment marched to San Juan Hill with the Rough Riders. Following the battle, Sgt. Martin was stricken with yellow fever and was so ill that he was mistaken for dead and placed alongside other American dead. A passing soldier noticed Martin “twitch” and promptly sought medical help for him. He later attended Yale Medical School and became a doctor.
The “Citizen Soldier: New York’s National Guard in the American Century” exhibition recounts the history of the New York National Guard and those who carried out its mission through wars and battles, natural disasters and national emergencies. The exhibition features personal stories of soldiers from across New York State, as well as mementos, uniforms, and artillery pieces from the State Museum, New York State Military Museum, members of New York’s National Guard, and local collectors.
Open in Exhibition Hall through March 2011, the exhibition can also be found on the Museum’s website. The exhibition focuses on the 20th century, which witnessed the transformation of the United States from an isolationist nation into a dominant power with the ability to shape world events. It was dubbed the American Century in 1941 by Time Magazine Publisher Henry Luce. During that time the National Guard evolved from an ill-equipped and poorly trained militia into a modern-day force capable of protecting American interests around the world.
Encompassing nearly 7,000 square feet of gallery space, the exhibition covers the service of New Yorkers in the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Also included are the missions closer to home – the Capitol Fire (1911), blizzards in Buffalo (1944, 1977) and New York City (1996), the Woodstock concert (1969), the Attica riots (1971), the ice storm in northern New York (1998), the Mechanicville tornado (1998), the 2001 terrorist attacks and other smaller calamities around the state.
Visitors entering the exhibition will see the M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car that was first introduced into combat in 1943. The 16,000-pound vehicle was used in all theaters of World War II, including Europe, where it was issued to the men of the 101st Cavalry Group of the New York National Guard. The car is now owned by Gregory Wolanin of Loudonville. Also on display are a flamethrower and bazooka, a 37 mm gun, as well as various other military equipment. Visitors will also have the opportunity to see the History Channel film, “Defending America,” which will be shown in the gallery.
There are many personal stories of courage and heroism throughout the exhibition. Medals of Honor were awarded to Col. William J. O’Brien and Sgt. Thomas A. Baker of Troy, both of the 105th Infantry Regiment, for their courage in the face of a horrifying enemy attack by the Japanese on Saipan in 1944. First Sgt. James Meltz of Cropseyville, a member of the 108th Infantry Regiment, received the Bronze Star for valor after rescuing fellow soldiers from a burning humvee in Afghanistan in 2008.
The exhibition also features profiles of other members of the 108th Infantry who served in Iraq, including Sgt. 1st Class John Ross of Latham, Sgt. 1st Class Luis Barsallo of Halfmoon and Private 1st Class Nathan Brown of Glens Falls. Brown was killed in Iraq in 2004 when an insurgent fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the back of the 5-ton truck he was riding in.
Travel Channel to Feature Ellis Island Museum
By Editorial Staff
Travel Channel's new series, Mysteries at the Museum, will be featuring New York tonight at 9 EST. The show will be highlighting the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
The episode will feature literacy tests given to all new arrivals at Ellis Island. In theory the test should have prevented thousands of poor, illiterate immigrants from gaining entry into the U.S., but what many immigrants lacked in literacy, they made up for in cunning and guile. How could they possibly have beat the test that was designed to keep them out of America?
Monday, November 15, 2010
2010 Researching NY 12th Annual Conference
By Editorial Staff
Researching New York: Perspectives on Empire State History, an annual conference that provides a forum for the exploration of all aspects of New York State history, in all time periods and from diverse perspectives, will be held this Thursday and Friday, November 18th and 19th.
The conference brings together historians, researchers, archivists, public historians, librarians, teachers, museum curators, filmmakers, and documentary producers — all to share their interest and their work in New York State History.
From its inception, Researching New York has highlighted the integral relationships between researchers and archival sources, encouraging presentations that highlight
the vast resources available to researchers as well as the scholarship drawn from those sources.
The Conference will be held on the University at Albany Uptown Campus. Registration will take place in the Science Library, Barnes & Noble Reading Room. This year we also have off-site sessions at the New York State Museum. As noted on the Conference schedule, transportation will be provided to conference attendees. While there is no
additional cost, you must reserve a space when you register. For conference updates, directions, maps, and information about local hotel accommodations, visit the Researching New York website.
Conference registration is $50.00 including all featured events, lunch and receptions. Advance registration is requested. Please be sure to include your name, institutional affiliation, and e-mail address with your check and also note if you would like to reserve a seat on the bus to the Museum. Send any questions or comments to resrchny@albany.edu.
Plowline: Images of Rural NY Project Launched
By Editorial Staff
In 1960, New York State was home to 88,000 active farms; today that number has decreased to roughly 36,000 farms – a decline of nearly 60% in 40 years. In response, The Farmers’ Museum in historic Cooperstown, NY is assembling an exciting collection of original photography to chronicle and preserve the changes in agricultural practice, rural life, and farming families of New York State from the 19th century through the present.
With the generous support of the Gipson Family, Plowline: Images of Rural New York is a resource not only for the scholarly community but also for the public to learn more about the rural heritage of New York State. Cooperstown photographer and museum visitor Andy Baugnet comments, “We cannot turn back the hands of time. However, the Plowline collection will allow us to view the past and experience how agriculture left its mark on New York State’s economic and cultural landscapes.”
Plowline presents beautiful black and white 1950s photographs of New York farm scenes such as harvesting the fall bounty, maple sugaring and horse-pulling. The collection also includes important aerial photographs of regional communities, including the construction of the New York State Thruway. Over 100 lantern slides from Cornell University’s Dairy Department, which instructed dairy farmers in the 1920s about how to operate an efficient farm, are featured in the collection. In addition, Plowline highlights snapshots chronicling an Orange County farm family’s life over a 30 year period. Finally, contemporary works by New York photographer Daniel Handel document the current farming revival in Upstate New York.
In 1942, The Farmers’ Museum’s founders set out to collect objects of American farm and rural communities and to display those in a method accessible to all interested. To enhance their accessibility, the photographs collected through Plowline will all be posted online. In addition, powered by Omeka, a free and open source platform developed by The Center for the Future of History Museums, the Plowline website has integrated Web 2.0 technology. “Thus,” says curator Erin Crissman Richardson, “the website encourages user participation and allows visitors to comment on records if they know something about the history of an object or what is happening in a particular photograph. Visitors can also share items with friends via Facebook, Twitter and other social media.”
Plowline, as a collecting initiative, will be continually adding photographs and will become a significant portion of the annual additions to The Farmers’ Museum collection. “We anticipate that Plowline will be the foremost resource of images of the 19th, 20th and 21st century rural imagery,” explains Vice President for Education Garet Livermore
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Finger Lakes Museum Adds Three Trustees
By Editorial Staff
Finger Lakes Museum board president John Adamski announced that three new members have been elected to the organization’s board of trustees. The addition of Nancy Rees and Susan van der Stricht, and Texas businessman George Slocum brings the current number of board members to 12.
Rees, a retired Xerox senior vice president, currently coaches and speaks on practical approaches to leading organizations through change, and business process improvement. She also serves on the advisory board of Forte Capital Wealth Management and chairs the Garth Fagan Dance Company, an internationally renowned modern dance group.
She is a founding board member of Moonshadow’s Spirit, a nonprofit organization benefiting people who are seeking treatment for eating disorders. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in computer science from Ball State University, and a management certificate from Smith College. Rees and her husband, Michael, live in Farmington and on Keuka Lake.
Susan van der Stricht is a Pittsford and Canandaigua Lake resident and former paralegal who worked for three major law firms during her 28year career. She is a graduate of Union College with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies and she also attended the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. Van der Stricht is an outdoor enthusiast who serves on the boards of The Nature Conservancy and the Genesee Country Museum and is active in conservation and preservation initiatives. She was recently involved in the transfer of title of the 7,000 acre Hemlock and Canadice Lake watersheds from the City of Rochester to the State of New York. The new Hemlock Canadice State Forest will now be preserved in a forever wild state, immune from development.
Houston, TX entrepreneur George Slocum was elected to the board of trustees in October. Slocum grew up in the Finger Lakes Region but moved to Houston early in his career. He and his wife, Priscilla, live on Cayuga Lake for six months each year, where Slocum owns and operates the 1,200 acre Cayuga Lake Farm. Slocum is a private investor and entrepreneur engaged in proactive investments in agriculture, energy, and venture capital. In his former corporate executive career, he served as CFO and CEO of Transco Energy Company, now part of the Williams Companies. Before that he was a vice
president in charge of energy project financing at Citibank.
Slocum is presently a trustee of Wells College in Aurora and a former trustee of University Council at Cornell University, where he is an active member. He has also chaired the Houston Council of Boy Scouts of America and served as a vicechair of United Way of Houston. The Slocums have three grown children and eight grandchildren.
Adamski said, “George brings the business acumen and fundraising expertise that we need to keep the museum project on course. And he knows a little something about staying on course. His grandfather was the first person to sail around the world solo.”
Saturday, November 13, 2010
New NY Military History: Empires in the Mountains
By Editorial Staff
Meeting Russell Bellico, as I did briefly several years ago, you'd think you were in the presence of an old sea captain spending his retirement in the softer wind and spray of Lake George. You'd be surprised to know that he spent 35 years in the economics department at Westfield State College in Massachusetts.
You'd be glad to hear that Bellico spent his time away from Westfield at Lake George, where as a summer resident he invested himself in local history. He has spent over three decades photographing shipwrecks and historic sites on Lake George and Lake Champlain. He served as a consultant on the National Park Service's Champlain Valley Heritage Corridor, a trustee of the Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance, and a board member of Bateaux Below, the organization founded by the archaeological team (which included Bellico) that documented the 1758 radeau Land Tortoise which lies underwater at the southern end of Lake George.
Bellico is the author of a score or more articles and five books on the maritime and military history of Lake George and Lake Champlain published by Purple Mountain Press. His first two projects were Chronicles of Lake George (1995) and Chronicles of Lake Champlain (1999). Both were aptly subtitled Journeys in War and Peace, as they were mostly drawn from primary sources by diaries, journals, and other early first hand accounts. His third major effort, Sails and Steam in the Mountains: A Maritime and Military History of Lake George and Lake Champlain, earned a place as the go-to resource on the region's maritime history.
His interest in boots on the ground history has no doubt contributed to some of Bellico's most unique contributions to the region's history - his careful looks at what remains. For example, Bellico weaves together histories of not just the events (through archaeology, primary sources, and first hand accounts) but of what remains of those events on the landscape.
Bellico's latest effort, Empires in the Mountains: French and Indian War Campaigns and Forts in the Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Hudson River Corridor, is the fruit of three decades of the author's work to understand the military and maritime importance of the region. His first volume to focus entirely on the campaigns and forts of the Great Warpath during the French & Indian War (1754-1763), Empires in the Mountains covers the epic battles of the war in the lake valleys, as well as the building of the fortresses and battleships in Northern New York's wilderness.
And true to his authoritative and thorough style, Bellico explores this history with one eye toward what happened after those great events of 350 years ago. He reviews the history of the abandonment, the excavations, and the exploitation of French and Indian War sites from Bloody Pond (which Bellico seems to suggest may in fact be correctly marked on Route 9 south of Lake George) and Fort Gage (bulldozed by a local developer avoiding APA oversight) to the more popular spots like Fort Ticonderoga, Fort Edward, Fort William Henry, and Fort George.
It's that concluding epilogue, "Forts Revisited" that is perhaps the most valuable chapter of the book for local historians, and those interested in how we remember, and exploit, local history. For that chapter alone, this book belongs on the shelf of those interested in local history, regardless of your particular interest in the French and Indian War.
Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.
Friday, November 12, 2010
This Week's New York History Web Highlights
By Editorial Staff
- Paddle Making: 1890 Adirondack Guide Paddle
- Bovina History: Help the Bovina Historical Society
- The Colbert Report: Doris Kearnes Goodwin
- Old Salt Blog: New York’s Graveyard of Ships
- Bruce Chadwick: Riots Within The 1863 NYC Draft Riots
- Morning News: What Lies (Horribly) Beneath
- Adirondack Attic: Vintage Wildlife Photos
- Bowery Boys: New York City's Hidden Burial Plots
- Farmers' Museum: Giant Hoax, The Musical
- Clyde Fitch Report: On The Waterfront: All Shiny and New?
Each Friday afternoon New York History compiles for our readers a collection of the week's top weblinks about New York's state and local history. You can find all our weekly round-ups here.
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Digital History Archive Adds Important Volumes
By Editorial Staff
Bob Sullivan, of the Schenectady Digital History Archive, has announced that the first two (historical) volumes of Nelson Greene's four-volume history of Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Schenectady and Schoharie Counties, History of the Mohawk Valley: Gateway to the West 1614-1925 is now online.
Included are more than 300 photos and maps, and a biographical section - more than 2000 pages so far, are online. Greene's History joins the Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs, a four-volume set with more than 1300 family entries from Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren and Washington Counties.
This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
- WWII Vet Finally Gets High School Diploma
- Civil War Soldier Remembered
- Buddhists Promise a Amsterdam Renaissance
- Advocate Removed From Landmarks Commission
- Old Cohoes Theater to be Razed
- Troy School Gets Vietnam Warplane
- PA Missing More Than 1,800 Artifacts
- New Franklin County Genealogy Org
- Broome County Gets Vital Records Index
- Commission Approves Historic District in Queens
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Thursday, November 11, 2010
Lecture: Red Jacket, Role of Six Nations in War of 1812
By Editorial Staff
Dr. Alan S. Taylor, a renowned and award-winning author and historian, will be at the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society's history museum this Saturday, November 13, 2010, at 1:30 p.m., for a talk entitled "Red Jacket and the Role of the Six Nations in the War of 1812." Local interest is mounting for the 2012 bicentennial of the War of 1812. In addition, the museum currently has an exhibit exploring Red Jacket in the context of John Mix Stanley's monumental painting "The Trial of Red Jacket."
Taylor is the author of six American history books, and has won the Pulitzer, Beveridge, and Bancroft prizes for his scholarly writing. His newest release is titled The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies (Random House). The book is available at the museum gift shop, and the author will be available to sign copies of it after the lecture.
Taylor is currently serving as a visiting professor, holding the prestigious Douglas Southall Freeman Chair in History at the University of Richmond, Virginia; he has been a professor of American History at University of California at Davis since 1994.
The lecture program is in support of the History Museum's current exhibit, "Fact, Fiction and Spectacle: The Trial of Red Jacket," which uses as its starting point the huge canvas by John Mix Stanley. Attendees to the lecture are encourage to view the exhibit, which is in the Museum's lower floor gallery, when they are here for the lecture.
Civil War Nurse Dedication Ceremony
By Editorial Staff
In 1911, Civil War nurse Lucy Blanchard died in Fenton, Michigan. Her remains were brought back to Syracuse and she was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. For ninety-nine years, her grave was unmarked and the memory of her service faded. Thanks to the efforts of Michigan historian Len Thomas, Lucy's life story has been researched in depth. With the help of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, a government headstone has been placed on Lucy's grave.
On Saturday morning, November 13 at 11 o'clock, all are invited to pay tribute to this courageous lady, so long forgotten. For more information and a map to the gravesite, go to:
Landscape of Memory: Prints by Frank Eckmair
By Editorial Staff
The first exhibition of its kind -- “The Landscape of Memory: Prints by Frank C. Eckmair” -- opens at the New York State Museum November 19 showcasing the works of one of the nation’s most accomplished printmakers.
Open until September 18, 2011 in Crossroads Gallery, the exhibition comes from the Museum’s own 386-piece collection, which is the largest museum collection of Eckmair’s works that exists. The Museum’s curatorial and exhibition team worked with Eckmair during the last few years to archive his lifework, document the way he makes the prints and develop the exhibition.
The exhibition features more than 80 works, mostly landscapes, which include framed woodcut prints, as well as wood engravings, sculptures and the original woodblocks that track Eckmair’s career as an artist and lifelong resident of Gilbertsville in central New York. Also included are wood engraving tools and an early 20th-century Poco Proof printing press, on loan from Eckmair.
While growing up in central New York, Eckmair developed an affinity for the quiet landscape of the rural areas of that part of the state. His subjects are its farm fields, stone walls, abandoned homes, and old barns.
Although he did all kinds of printmaking Eckmair preferred woodcuts, noting that “wood is a poor man’s material.”
During the 1950s, printmaking grew in stature in New York with the rise of the New York School, a group of artists, poets, and musicians centered in the city. On Long Island, the influential Universal Limited Art Editions studio encouraged collaborations between artists and writers, provided
printmaking space, and brought prints to collectors, galleries, and museums. Finally, the explosive growth of State University of New York campuses during the postwar period led to the establishment of major printmaking programs that are still operating today.
Born in 1930, Eckmair spent his early years drawing and working at his father’s hotel in Gilbertsville, a small village in Otsego County, west of Cooperstown. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of Iowa, where he studied with Mauricio Lasansky, who is considered to be the “father of 20th-century American printmaking.” After teaching public school, Eckmair served in the U.S. Air Force in Korea, Japan, and the northwestern United States. He then received a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from Ohio University. From 1963 to 1995 he was a key figure in the print studio of Buffalo State College, where he was a revered professor and influenced a generation of artists. While working in Buffalo, he maintained his family residence in Gilbertsville.
Eckmair’s work received its earliest recognition through American Associated Artists (AAA), a program founded to market affordable fine art prints to the American public. Like earlier artists such as Grant Wood, John Steuart Curry, and Thomas Hart Benton, Eckmair created prints of regional landscapes for AAA that had great populist appeal. Considered a master of the woodcut and represented in major collections around the world, Eckmair continues to create haunting works evoking rural life in upstate New York. He is the artistic director of Birch Book Press, a publisher of hand-crafted letterpress books and art.
Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Lenape: Lower New York’s First Inhabitants
By Editorial Staff
This Saturday, November 13th, at 7:00 pm, Historic Huguenot Street will host another in its Second Saturday Lecture Series. David M. Oestreicher will combine archaeological and historical evidence with decades of firsthand ethnographic and linguistic research among present-day Lenape traditionalists, to arrive at a full picture of the Lenape from prehistory to the present. The presentation includes a slide program featuring native artifacts, maps, illustrations, and photographs, as well as images of contemporary Lenape who are among the last repositories of their culture. This lecture offers a unique opportunity to learn about lower New York's original inhabitants, the Lenape -- not the romanticized figures of popular mythology or new-age literature, but a living people as they really are.
Dr. David M. Oestreicher is recognized as a leading authority on the Lenape (Delaware), our region's first inhabitants, having conducted linguistic and ethnographic research among the last tribal traditionalists for over 30 years. Oestreicher is curator of the award-winning traveling exhibition, In Search of the Lenape: The Delaware Indians, Past and Present, which critic William Zimmer in the New York Times described as "an extended reverie," capturing "the vitality and poignancy of the Lenape saga." Oestreicher's writings have appeared in leading scholarly journals and books, and he completed the final portion of the late Herbert C. Kraft's The Lenape-Delaware Indian Heritage: 10,000 B.C. - 2000 A.D. -- a tome subsequently hailed by scholars as the seminal work on the Lenape. Oestreicher's monograph, "The Munsee and Northern Unami Today" in The Archeology and Ethnohistory of the Lower Hudson Valley and Neighboring Regions (1991), marked the first ethnographic account of the Hudson River Lenape (now the Canadian Delaware) since the work of anthropologists M. R. Harrington (1908, 1913, 1921) and Frank G. Speck (1945).
Cost: $8 per person/$6 for Friends of Huguenot
JAY-Z to Appear at Brooklyn Museum
By Editorial Staff
In a rare interview, multi-platinum, 10-time Grammy Award-winning artist and icon JAY-Z will speak with Charlie Rose, executive editor and anchor of the Charlie Rose Show, before a live audience in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium at the Brooklyn Museum on Thursday, November 18, at 7 p.m. The conversation, which will be taped to air nationwide at a later date on the Charlie Rose program, will focus on JAY-Z's book DECODED, to be published on November 16 by Spiegel & Grau, a Random House imprint. DECODED recounts JAY-Z's life from his childhood in Brooklyn's Marcy housing projects to becoming a world-famous performer and songwriter, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
Tickets to the event will go on sale TODAY, Wednesday, November 10, at noon. They may be purchased online at www.museumtix.com (two-ticket purchase limit for this program) or at the Brooklyn Museum Visitor Center in person. Ticket prices are $50 for the general public, older adults, and students and $45 for Brooklyn Museum Members. Become a member at www.brookklynmuseum.org/support/membership_plans.php. Ticket price includes a copy of DECODED by JAY-Z that will be provided to the patron upon admission to the program the night of the event.
Printouts of tickets will not be accepted. Patrons must check in at the will-call desk (the night of the event) at the Brooklyn Museum to receive hard copies of their tickets and must provide ID matching the name on the ticket. There will be no standby line for this event.
Decoded Book Cover In his conversation with Charlie Rose, JAY-Z will speak candidly about his journey from drug dealing to becoming one of the best known hip-hop artists of his time. He will explore issues that informed him and his songwriting, including how visual art and poetry influenced his craft, how he became involved in politics and business, and how he managed to stay true to himself in the midst of extraordinary fame.
"When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted to do three important things. The first was to make the case that hip-hop lyrics-not just my lyrics, but those of every great MC-are poetry, if you look at them closely enough. The second was that I wanted the book to tell a little bit of the story of my generation, to show the context for the choices we made at a violent and chaotic crossroads in recent history. And the third piece was that I wanted the book to show how hip-hop created a way to take a very specific and powerful experience and turn it into a story that everyone in the world could feel and relate to."--JAY-Z from DECODED
VT: Native American Panel To Hold Meetings
By Editorial Staff
The group that will establish a process for state recognition of Native American tribes in Vermont is holding a series of public forums around the state.
The Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs will hold the first meeting at the Goodrich Memorial Library on Main Street in Newport on Tuesday, November 16 according to Giovanna Peebles, State Historic Preservation Officer and director of the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.
Although the commission’s monthly meeting starts at 1:00 p.m., they have chosen to devote the noon hour to a less formal potluck to hear the needs and concerns of local Native people and answer questions, according to Chairman Luke Willard of Brownington. "Different communities have different needs and interests,” Willard said. “We want to know what they are.”
The new commission, appointed by Governor Jim Douglas in September, is charged with executing a process for recognizing Native American Indian tribes in Vermont as called for in a Senate bill passed earlier this year. That legislation was introduced by the Senate Committee on General, Housing, and Military Affairs chaired by Senator Vince Illuzzi, who began working in the 1980s to obtain recognition for Native Americans in Vermont.
Willard said that he hopes educators will attend this meeting to learn about Title VII Indian Education, a federal program that could bring thousands of dollars into the school systems of Orleans County, and that this commission intends to focus on education and cultural awareness.
“I think they go hand in hand,” he said. “There are many Abenaki students in the schools of Orleans County but I think most are afraid to embrace and, in many cases, admit their own heritage because it could bring teasing from other students who are only taught a small piece of Abenaki history, and literally nothing about the contemporary Abenakis who sit at the desk right beside them.”
“This was a problem when I was a student and now I hear about it from my own children,” said Willard, a member of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe in Orleans County.
November is National American Indian Heritage Month and Governor Douglas recently proclaimed the month of November as Native American Heritage Month in Vermont. The signing of this proclamation is the kickoff of events held around the state to honor the contributions and heritage of Native Americans.
To learn more, visit the VCNAA website.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Adirondack Anti-Slavery Convention Planned
By Editorial Staff
During "Slavery in New York? Slavery Today?", a two-day Convention being held Friday, December 3rd and Saturday, December 4th, experts on contemporary slavery and human trafficking will be joined by scholars, historians, victims advocates, lawyers, investigative reporters, musicians, and the general public to examine slavery and trafficking in New York State and ways to end it. Events will take place around the Lake Placid area.
New Yorkers have long regarded slavery as a southern institution. However, the 1991 discovery of the African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan offered irrefutable evidence that New York was a veritable slave society for hundreds of years. Recent research and fresh scholarship have begun to mine a long-buried history. As New Yorkers begin to remember and commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, examining the State’s dual legacy of slavery and freedom will shed new light on the complex narrative of our past.
Although largely erased from official history and collective memory, New York “promoted, prolonged and profited from” slavery from the 1620s through the 1850s. Slave labor was here at the start of New Netherland and it continued throughout the British colonial period with such intensity that at times during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, New York City had a larger slave population than any other city in North America.
Around the world today, slavery is still alive and well, generating billions of dollars along the supply chain of labor and products that make much of our daily lives possible. Though a crime in nearly every country, roughly 27 million people are enslaved worldwide today, including nearly 55,000 people in the United States. In the State Department’s 2010 report on human trafficking across the globe, the U.S. was identified as a “source, transit and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor, debt bondage, and forced prostitution.”
According to the Washington, D.C.-based Free the Slaves, slaves are found in nearly all 50 states, from farm fields and orchards to hotels, restaurants, private homes, factories, sweatshops, brothels, and construction sites. Immigrant populations, both documented and undocumented, are especially vulnerable, but native-born Americans are not immune to being enslaved and trafficked. New York, along with California, Florida and Texas, ranks among the states with the greatest incidence of documented slavery in the country.
PARTICIPANTS
* Chandra Bhatnagar, ACLU Human Rights Project Staff Attorney and counsel for 500 Indian men trafficked into the U.S. as “guestworkers”;
* John Bowe, award-winning investigative journalist and author of Nobodies: Modern American Slavery and the New Global Economy;
* Florrie Burke, Co-Chair of Freedom Network (USA), expert on the treatment of trafficking victims and one of the first social services respondents to Deaf Mexicans forced to sell trinkets on the New York City subway in the mid-1990s;
* Mia Nagawiecki and Betsy Gibbons, New York Historical Society;
* Renan Salgado, Farmworker Legal Services of New York;
* Ron Soodalter, author of Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave Trader and co-author with Kevin Bales of The Slave Next Door;
* Tina M. Stanford, Executive Director, New York State Office of Victims Services;
* Dr. Margaret Washington, Professor of History at Cornell University and Sojourner Truth biographer;
* Dr. Sherrill Wilson, urban anthropologist at forefront of effort to research, interpret and protect the African Burial Ground discovered in Lower Manhattan;
* Duane Vaughn, Executive Director of Wait House, an emergency shelter in Glens Falls for youth ages 16-21; and
* Dr. J.W. Wiley, Director of the Center for Diversity, Pluralism & Inclusion, SUNY Plattsburgh.
SCHEDULE
December 3:
8 am-3 pm Educators Workshop at Heaven Hill Farm
7 pm-9 pm Slavery, Film & the Shaping of an American Conscience at Lake Placid Center for the Arts
December 4:
8 am-5 pm Anti-Slavery Convention at High Peaks Resort
5 pm-6 pm Wreath-laying Ceremony at John Brown Farm State Historic Site
9 pm-? Closing Reception at Northwoods Inn
"Slavery in New York? Slavery Today?" is co-sponsored by the freedom education project John Brown Lives!, John Brown Coming Home, the New York State Archives Partnership Trust, the National Abolition Hall of Fame, and the Center for Diversity, Pluralism & Inclusion at SUNY Plattsburgh. Participants include:
