On Thursday, November 17, from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., the Schenectady County Historical Society will host an evening of talks and a book signing highlighting the history of medicine in Schenectady County. This event is free and open to the public.
Dr. James Strosberg, MD will discuss the history of the Schenectady County Medical Society and the role of physicians in caring for Schenectady’s population. Dr. Strosberg is the Historian and a past President of the Schenectady County Medical Society. He is the principal author of Two Centuries: Caring for a Community: The Medical Society of the County of Schenectady Bicentennial, 1810-2010, a bicentennial history of the Schenectady County Medical Society. Copies of Dr. Strosberg’s book will be available for sale and signing.
Frank Taormina will speak about the life of Dr. Daniel Toll, an original member and second President of the Schenectady County Medical Society. Frank Taormina is a retired teacher and school administrator and a frequent speaker at Schenectady County Historical Society events.
For more information, contact Melissa Tacke, Librarian/Archivist at the Schenectady County Historical Society, by phone at 518-374-0263 or by email at librarian@schist.org. The Schenectady County Historical Society is wheelchair accessible, with off-street parking behind the building and overflow parking next door at the YWCA.
Monday, October 31, 2011
The History of Medicine in Schenectady County
By Editorial Staff
A Flood of History: New York's History in Peril
By Gerald R. Smith
In recent months New York State has been the victim of horrendous flooding and devastation as the result of both Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. The path of devastation is both wide and long – reaching from Maryland and New Jersey up to Vermont.
Centuries of disaster records have fallen. We have seen the evacuation of major areas of New York City and entire towns cut off from contact with neighboring communities and the outside world. As news crews rush to film the spectacular scenes of water rushing through main streets as buildings rush toward certain destruction, there are other stories that are lost in the immediacy of the event.
Two intertwining threads related to New York’s history are also part of the story. The disasters struck with such ferocity that many historic structures were either threatened or damaged. We have seen the loss of covered and other types of bridges that are rare and difficult to repair or replace. Historic structures of all types ranging from residential to business have been ruined by flood waters and related destructive forces. Some are well documented, but others were the everyday buildings that were often ignored by local photographers. All of these are part of the townscape that have now been affected and may not be able to be replaced.
Into this situation come the local appointed historians. This is a network of over 1600 individuals representing every town, village, city, county and borough in New York State. Since 1919, the state requires that there is an historian whose responsibilities include documenting their respective communities and ensuring that the history of those areas are collected and preserved in proper repositories. It will be those historians who will assist the agencies and decision makers in finding the photographs, blueprints, maps, drawings and other items that will help reconstruct the buildings and structures. It will also be those historians who can help frame the scope of the disaster, to put it into perspective, to document its arrival and its departure, and to preserve the history of the moment for future generations.
The second story is the losses of our history stored in what we thought were proper repositories. In many towns, villages and cities, historical materials are stored in the local historian’s possession. They may also be found in the local museum or historical society. All of these groups struggle for funds, membership and support. They do yeoman service with often little or no support from their local governments. Government is supposed to provide proper space for the storage of the materials deemed historic. But often the local appointed historian works from their home or inadequate space. Local museums often have buildings, but items are kept in spaces away from the public. This usually means lower levels or rears of structures.
In both of these situations, disaster is waiting to happen. This time the wait came to an end, and disaster struck. Historians in places like the Town of Rotterdam watched helplessly while decades of hard work floated away. The town’s written history was lost in a blink of an eye.
In the village of Owego, the Tioga County Historical Society’s officers and board members were unable to get into its facilities for three days as the flood waters rose five feet through the museum’s storage facility and research area which were located in the lower rear of the building. Work now continues on trying to salvage and restore what can be fixed, while many one-of-a-kind items cannot be saved.
These scenes are being repeated throughout many parts of New York. No one is at fault, and yet everyone is at fault. Legislation determines that government should provide the space for the care of these collections, but there are no teeth in the law to punish those areas that do not. We ask historians not to work from their homes, but we need to strengthen our education of the reasons why this not a good idea, or how to run a proper office and to get your government to cover its cost. We look with dismay at museums and historical societies that store valuable collections in areas that are prone to flooding or destruction. Yet, we do not adequately support these facilities by either local funds or adequate visits from local residents, visitors or schools to provide the funds to create better facilities. We encourage facilities to scan or digitize their materials, yet in many cases those computer files are not stored off-site and are ruined along with the other historical materials.
Perhaps these recent disasters can provide us with new opportunities to work together as an historical community. We are all in the business of saving and researching New York State history. Local appointed historians do not need to keep every piece of history, but should work with their local historical groups to ensure it is in a safe repository – be it museum, historical society, library or government office. Museums and historical societies need to recognize that collection care and disaster planning go hand in hand. Education about facility planning and working cooperatively with their local historian could go a long way in finding the answers (and there may be many correct answers) and implementing them. Governments need to see that sometimes the answers to the future are found in the past and in those who preserve that past.
But most of all let us hope that our state is spared future disasters of the same scale so that we have the time to find those answers and make them work.
Photo courtesy Old Fort Johnson.
Gerald R. Smith is President of Association of Public Historians of New York State and Broome County Historian.
New Contributor: APHNYS President Gerald Smith
By Editorial Staff
Please welcome our newest contributor here at the online journal New York History, President of the Association of Public Historians of New York State Gerry Smith.
Smith has been Broome County Historian since 1988 and City of Binghamton Historian since 1984. A native of Broome County, he graduated from Broome Community College and Binghamton University where he received his Masters in History.
Gerry recently retired from his full-time job at the Broome County Public Library after 32 years and began HistorySmiths, a consulting and research company. He is the author of several books, including Partners All: A History of Broome Count, New York and The Valley of Opportunity: A Pictorial History of Greater Binghamton, New York. He is currently the curator of “The Civil War” at Roberson Museum. He serves on several boards, including WSKG, and the Broome County Historical Society.
The Association of Public Historians began in 1999 with the merger of the former Association of Municipal Historians of New York State and the County Historians Association of New York State. The organization is the officially recognized agency to serve the needs of the over 1600 local government historians in every town, village, city, county and borough in the state. Today, hundreds of historians attend the organization’s annual conference or network and learn at one of the meetings of the twelve statewide regions. The APHNYS website connects historians through online resources, newsletters and specialized training on historic issues. APHNYS is currently involved in a statewide initiative on historical markers, and operates its Registered Historians program to promote professionalism and education for all appointed historians.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Call for Papers: Conference on NYS History
By Editorial Staff
The Program Committee for the Conference on New York State History invites proposals for individual presentations, full sessions, panel discussions, workshops, and other program suggestions for the 2012 conference to be held at Niagara University on June 14-16, 2012. Diverse historical perspectives are welcomed. Presentations may consider any aspect of the history of New York State over the past 400 years. We encourage presenters to take a dynamic approach to their presentations, including the use of visual and audio aids, audience participation, and panel discussions.
Proposal Deadline: December 31, 2011. The Program Committee will meet to consider proposals in mid-January. Applicants will be notified immediately thereafter.
More information and proposal forms can be found at http://www.nysha.org/cnysh.
The Conference on New York State History is an annual meeting of historians, librarians, archivists, educators, and community members who are interested in the history, people, and culture of New York State and who want to share information and ideas about historical research and programming. Each year the Conference brings together several hundred interested scholars and students at locations across the state of New York.
The conference is sponsored by the New York State Historical Association in collaboration with the New York State Archives Partnership Trust and is co-sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities and Niagara University.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Lake George Shipwrecks and Sunken History
By Editorial Staff
A new book, Lake George Shipwrecks and Sunken History, was published this spring by The History Press. Written by Joseph W. Zarzynski and Bob Benway, the book is a collection their columns previously published in the Lake George Mirror along with additional material. Zarzynski and Benway helped establish Bateaux Below, which works to preserve shipwreck sites in Lake George.
The depths of Lake George hold an incredible world of shipwrecks and lost history. Zarzynski and archeological diver Bob Benway present the most intriguing discoveries among more than two hundred known shipwreck sites. Entombed are remnants of Lake George’s important naval heritage, such as the 1758 Land Tortoise radeau, considered America's oldest intact warship. Other wrecks include the steam yacht Ellide, and excursion boat Scioto, and the first Minne-Ha-Ha (including some new findings). Additional stories include an explanation behind the 1926 disappearance of two hunters, John J. Eden and L. D. Greene, of Middletown, and pieces on the lake's logging history and marine railways.
Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.
Friday, October 28, 2011
This Week's New York History Web Highlights
By Editorial Staff
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Alcatraz Island Exhibit at Ellis Island Museum
By Editorial Staff
Every year only 1.5 million people can visit Alcatraz Island, but the demand to see the historical landmark is twice that. New Yorkers now have the chance to see what “The Rock” was like with the opening of Alcatraz: Life on The Rock, a traveling exhibit that tells the legendary story of Alcatraz Island, at the Liberty National Monument's Ellis Island Museum of Immigration. The 2,800 square-foot modular exhibit of artifacts and interactive displays runs until Jan. 12, 2012 on the third floor of the Grand Hall.
Created by Alcatraz Cruises in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS), the 2,800 square-foot modular exhibit features authentic artifacts and recreated areas of the prison. Visitors enter the exhibit through a Civil War Sally Port to a touchable model of the island and can then explore four eras of the island’s history: “Preserving the Rock,” “Strength: The Native American Occupation,” “Life on the Inside,” and “Military History.” Murals, video clips and memorabilia help bring to life other historical elements of the island such as its role as a military prison, the Native American occupation of 1969–71, Alcatraz’s depiction in pop culture and the island’s lush flora and fauna. Visitors can also get an inside look at the infamous federal prison, operated from 1934–1963.
Guests can visually experience life inside the prison by looking through a mock tunnel, similar to the one dug by prisoners attempting escape, and by searching for Civil War era etchings in a recreated prison wall. The exhibit features several rare, authentic artifacts, including an original letter written by Robert “Birdman” Stroud, a blood-smeared baseball from the Alcatraz exercise yard, a butter knife turned weapon and a cookbook that the Alcatraz Women’s Club sold to families on the island.
Admission is included with all Statue Cruises tickets to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and is only accessible by ferry during operating hours.
To purchase tickets, visit www.statuecruises.com. Museums interested in booking the Alcatraz: Life on the Rock exhibit can learn more by calling Denise Rasmussen at (415) 438-8320.
This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
Each Friday morning New York History compiles for our readers the previous week's top stories about New York's state and local history. You can find all our weekly news round-ups here.
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
General Horatio Gates Event in New Windsor
By Editorial Staff
Saturday, November 5, from 2:00 – 3:00 PM visit this Revolutionary War headquarters and meet General Horatio Gates, who was none too happy to be billeted in this house. This is a cooperative program of the National Temple Hill Association and the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site. Free admission. Edmonston House is located at 1042 Route 94 in New Windsor, New York, just ½ mile west of the 5 corner intersection. For more information please call (845) 561-1765 ext. 22.
The home of James Edmonston has stood for over 250 years. Rescued in the 1960’s, by the National Temple Hill Association, the house by that point had become a junkyard showroom, filled with old car parts. Nicely restored, the house serves as the headquarters for this local historic organization.
When General Horatio Gates was assigned the Edmonston home as winter quarters for 1782-83, only the small western section of the house existed. Disgusted with the pitifully small house, he wrote General George Washington: “Your Excellency’s Dog kennel at Mount Vernon, is as good a Quarter as that I am now in”. Eyeing the much larger and far more refined Ellison House, he expected to be billeted at that nearby property. To please Gates, the senior ranking Major General, in the Continental Army, Quartermaster General Colonel Timothy Pickering had to evict Surgeon General John Cochran from the Ellison house. Angered by his removal, Cochran challenged the beleaguered Pickering to a duel.
Despite his utter defeat and shameful flight from the battlefield of Camden, South Carolina, in 1780, he still remained as arrogant as ever. An intriguer and schemer, he used friends in Congress to wrest the command of the Army that would eventually defeat and capture a British Army at Saratoga, in 1777. Many of his contemporaries and later historians, believed that the victory was the result of the efforts of the man he replaced; Philip Schuyler. He was implicated in a plot, with the same Congressional partisans who helped him supersede Schuyler, to supplant Washington as commander-in-chief. While at the Ellison house, he was involved in a conspiracy, in March 1783, which threatened the very freedoms the country had fought to achieve.
Organized in 1933, The National Temple Hill Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic sites related to the last encampment of Washington’s Continental Army. New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site is part of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. The Palisades Interstate Park Commission administers 27 parks, parkways and historic sites for the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in New York as well as the Palisades Interstate Park and parkway in New Jersey.
Teaching the Hudson Valley Student Writing Contest
By Editorial Staff
Teaching the Hudson Valley (THV) is looking for student writing about places in the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. Short essays and stories written by K-12 students will be accepted by e-mail until 9 a.m., Monday, November 7.
Beginning in December THV's blog will publish up to one piece of student writing per week for the next 12 months. They will also share the students' work with sites written about; they may choose to publish as well. In addition, three students – one each in elementary, middle, and high school – will receive an Explore Award covering trip costs so they can share the place they wrote about with their classmates.
All writing about places in the 11 counties that make up the federally-designated Hudson River Valley Heritage Area will be considered for publication. To be eligible for an Explore Award places must have cultural, historic, or natural significance, be owned or managed by a not-for-profit or government body, and be open to the public regularly.
When reviewing student work, THV will look for evocation of place, the vivacity of the writer's voice, and use of conventions appropriate to each student's age and development. Readers will include teachers and staff from Heritage sites throughout the region.
Teachers, youth group leaders, and others can find details, writing prompts, resources, and more at THV's website.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Frick Art Reference Library Photo Archive Goes Online
By Editorial Staff
Scholars in multiple disciplines around the world have long heralded the Photoarchive of the Frick Art Reference Library as uniquely valuable to research that relates to object-oriented study of works of art. Without this repository of an estimated 1.2 million images of works created by more than 40,000 artists, curators, art dealers, and authors of monographic catalogs would be hard pressed to find visual documentation of unpublished art and the preparatory studies, versions, copies, or forgeries that relate to those and even to more famous works.
In recent years, the Frick’s Photoarchive has also played a key role in helping researchers compile provenance information about art looted during World War II. Lynn Nicholas, the highly respected author of The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War (New York, 1994), recently noted that “to do provenance research, of course, one of the very first places to go is the Frick...”
Until now, online access to these valuable resources has been limited to searches for the artists’ files, the results of which indicate the amount of material the Photoarchive has for a given artist, but no specific information about individual works of art. For that, researchers had to visit the Library premises, and manually browse the photographs stored on file.
The Frick Art Reference Library and its partners in the New York Art Resources Consortium (NYARC)—the libraries of The Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum have announced that through a complex process of data migration, all of the Photoarchive’s research database records created since 1996 (and all future records created both for the existing collection and for new acquisitions) may now be accessed via NYARC’s online catalog Arcade.
These online records in Arcade offer detailed historical documentation for the works of art, including basic information about the artist, title, medium, dimensions, date, and owner of the work, as well as former attributions, provenance, variant titles, records of exhibition and condition history, and biographical information about portrait subjects.
Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian Stephen Bury comments, “For us the incorporation of the Photoarchive records in Arcade means that the richness of all of the Frick’s research collections will be available to scholars everywhere and the image collection will be discoverable as easily as our other special collections of auction catalogues and exhibition ephemera through a single search in Arcade. We know that the road that will take us to full digitization of the archive is long (currently online access is possible to only 125,000 items in the archive, but the Frick is committed to the digital future of this exceptional resource).”
To cite a typical example of the advantages users will gain from the seamless searchabilty across text and image collections that the Frick now makes possible: locating the catalog of the Stroganoff sale at Lepke in 1931 now yields not only the publication, itself, but also the works of art listed documented as sold there by the Photoarchive, one of which was part of the Goudstikker collection that was recently restituted to the heirs.
In addition to global access to the historical documentation for works of art recorded in the Photoarchive, a new interface, the Frick Digital Image Archive has been created to link the images of 15,000 works of art captured during the Frick’s photography expeditions throughout the United States from 1922 to 1967 to the documentation in Arcade.
Researchers can retrieve images by keyword or field searching, display large preview images, download small jpeg image files, and link to the matching Arcade records. This image archive, which may be accessed via the website of The Frick Collection, was made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Henry Luce Foundation.
The NEH also designated the project as part of its “We the People” initiative to encourage and strengthen the teaching study and understanding of American history and culture. Through this two-year project, the Frick digitized 15,000 endangered negatives within the larger collection of 60,000 Library negatives and developed the interface to make the images freely available online. The negatives were the products of photography expeditions during the first half of the twentieth century to Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
In many case Frick Art Reference Library the images record early states of the works of art, prior to restoration or deterioration, and in some instances, they remain the only record of a work that has been subsequently lost or destroyed. Much of the documentation for these works is also uniquely recorded at the Frick because it was obtained from the owners (particularly true of the provenance and portrait subject information) or from scholars who consulted the images years after they were captured by the Library’s photography team.
During the course of the NEH project, Library staff updated the ownership and attribution information for nearly 1,500 works, relying on notations by researchers of the past and on the Inventories of American Paintings and Sculpture online database. Access to these images will complement the collection of 25,000 Frick Library negatives earlier digitized with the support of ARTstor and the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation and available through subscription to ARTstor.
With this new online access to the Frick Photoarchive research database records and the digital image archive, the Frick is now poised to incorporate a growing number of documented images from its visual resource holdings. These images complement other visual resources contributed by the NYARC partners, thereby ensuring that a broader community of researchers will have access to these unique collections.
Rensselaer County Historical Appoints Board Members
By Editorial Staff
The Rensselaer County Historical Society (RCHS) has announced the appointment of Pegeen Jensen and Frank Sarratori to the Board of Trustees. “The addition of these two new board members strengthens the board in two ways. First, as an elementary school teacher, Mrs. Jensen improves our connection to the classroom. Second, Mr. Sarratori with his legal and financial knowledge brings fiscal expertise to the board. RCHS will benefit from their experiences and opinions” Ilene Frank, Executive Director, said in a prepared statement.
Pegeen Jensen is a first grade teacher at Saddlewood Elementary in the South Colonie District, where she is also involved in organizing the school’s Math Olympiad. Mrs. Jensen is a lifelong resident of Melrose, NY and currently lives there with her husband and two daughters. Mrs. Jensen is a graduate of Hoosic Valley High School and SUNY Potsdam.
Frank Sarratori is the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Pioneer Bank, where he has worked since 2004. Mr. Sarratori is from Tonawanda, NY and currently lives in Troy. He holds degrees from State University of New York at Albany and the Albany Law School of Union University.
The Rensselaer County Historical Society and Museum is a not-for-profit educational organization established in 1927 to connect local history and heritage with contemporary life. RCHS owns two 19th century townhouse buildings, the National Register listed Hart-Cluett House and its Carriage House, servicing as a historic house museum and the adjacent Carr Building housing a research library, galleries, and meeting spaces. RCHS is located at 57 Second Street, Troy NY 12180.
Historic Saranac Lake to Hold Annual Meeting
By Editorial Staff
Historic Saranac Lake will hold its Annual Meeting on November 1 at 7:00 PM, in the John Black Room of the Saranac Laboratory Museum in Saranac Lake. The meeting will feature a presentation of historic films by Jim Griebsch, featuring newly digitized footage of the Trudeau Sanitorium in 1929. The Kollecker film footage is shown courtesy of the Adirondack Room of the Saranac Lake Free Library.
An independent film and video director, Jim has spent time digitizing, restoring and editing 16mm spools of film from the 1920’s through the early 60‘s which have been archived in the Saranac Lake Free Library’s Adirondack Room.
Born in Saranac Lake, Jim is an award winning producer, director and director of photography with numerous film, television and interactive credits to his name during his 40+ year career. He co-founded and owned Heliotrope Studios Ltd., in Cambridge, Mass. He worked on the feature film Cold River in Saranac Lake. His work has taken him around the world. Jim and his wife Carol have returned to Saranac Lake to live and as he continues to travel to Boston to work with MediaElectric Inc., on a variety of projects.
Jim Griebsch recently joined the Board of Directors of Historic Saranac Lake. In its 31st year, Historic Saranac Lake is an architectural preservation organization that captures and presents local history from its center at the Saranac Laboratory Museum.
The meeting is open to all members of Historic Saranac Lake and the public at large. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, please contact Historic Saranac Lake at (518) 891-4606.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
NYC Landmarks of Labor Films, Lectures, Discussions
By Editorial Staff
The Historic Districts Council has announced a series of Films, lectures and discussions on NYC’s sites Associated with the Labor Movement. The series of programs will explore New York City’s 19th and 20th century buildings where laborers and organizers lived, worked, and staged notable events related to the labor movement. Participants will learn about the history and future of New York’s labor buildings – including homes, factories, and public squares – and discover the preservation efforts currently underway to save some of these spaces.
Tickets for the entire series are available for $55/$35 for Friends, seniors & students. Advance reservations are required. Tickets can be ordered by visiting or contacting www.hdc.org, 212-614-9107 or hdc@hdc.org.
Remembering the Spatial History of Labor: Where Are Our Landmarks?
Wednesday, November 2, 6:30pm, Seafarers and International House, 123 East 15th Street, 2nd Floor, Manhattan
Fee: $15 for general public/$10 for Friends, seniors & students
This panel will examine the built environment of the labor movement, discussing how and why to preserve significant buildings and sites associated with labor history. Panelists will delve into both cultural and social history such as waterfront laborers and the labor movement among different immigrant groups. Speakers include historians Joyce Mendelsohn and Richard A. Greenwald; and novelist and essayist Peter Quinn, chronicler of Irish-America.
Resistance in Film: Screening of On the Waterfront with discussion
Tuesday, November 8, 6:30pm, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, Manhattan
Fee: $15 for general public/$10 for Friends, seniors & students
The industrial history of New York City dominated the city’s commerce for more than three centuries. Elia Kazan’s acclaimed film, On the Waterfront, depicts midcentury working conditions along the mob-controlled piers of the Hudson River. The film is based on a 24-part Pulitzer prize-winning series in the New York Sun exposing corruption and racketeering characterizing operations on the water. Noted architectural historian Francis Morrone will speak after the film about its significance in New York City history and culture.
Greenwich Village: Labor History in Bohemia Walking Tour
Sunday, November 13, 10:30am, the exact location for the tour will be announced upon registration.Tour lasts approximately two hours.
Fee: $35 for general public/$25 for Friends, seniors & students
Greenwich Village has a long and distinguished involvement in American Labor History. This walking tour will address the 10,000 marchers in the first Labor Day Parade (1882), the Socialist-led Rand School of Social Science, the founding site of the ILGWU, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the Uprising of 20,000, the Catholic Worker, Cooper Union, and sites associated with Emma Goldman, John Reed, Margaret Sanger, Clara Lemlich, and Samuel Gompers. Come learn from Justin Ferate, one of New York City’s foremost tour guides, about these significant sites.
Landmarks of Labor is sponsored in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council and by the New York State Council on the Arts. HDC also wishes to thank New York City Council Members Inez Dickens, Daniel Garodnick, Stephen Levin and Rosie Mendez for their support of this series.
Presidents and American Finance Exhibit to Open
By Editorial Staff
On Tuesday, November 8, the Museum of American Finance will open “Checks & Balances: Presidents and American Finance,” an exhibit on the financial challenges faced by American Presidents both in the Oval Office and in their personal lives.
From its inception as an experiment in a new kind of democratic government, the US has faced a panoply of economic and financial challenges. More often than not, it was the President to whom the nation turned to tackle these problems.
Designed as an ongoing series of rotating exhibitions, the inaugural installment of “Checks & Balances” will focus on the national and personal fiscal policies of five of the most well-known Presidents: George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. The exhibit will introduce important Treasury secretaries and track significant financial markers, such as GDP, presidential salary and the consumer price index. It will then delve into the personal finances of the Presidents, including their economic backgrounds and their own banking practices.
Financial historian Robert E. Wright, Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana College SD, guest curated the exhibit, which was developed and designed by Becky Laughner, Director of Exhibits and Archives, and Maura Ferguson, Director of Exhibits and Educational Programs.
“The exhibition will seek to create a dialogue between the nation’s financial past and the present, presenting the legacy and long-term impact of the Presidents’ financial policies on today,” said Wright.
Exhibit Opening Event: All are welcome to attend a reception to open “Checks & Balances” on Tuesday, November 8, from 5 – 7 pm. The event is open to the public; tickets cost $10 per person and are free for Museum members. For information and reservations, please contact Tempris Small at 212-908-4110 or tsmall@moaf.org. Working members of the press should contact Kristin Aguilera at 212-908-4695 or kaguilera@moaf.org for media access.
“Checks & Balances: Presidents and American Finance” is sponsored by Con Edison. It will be on display through November 2012.
Tunnel Engineer Charles Watson Murdock
By Lawrence P. Gooley
By most accounts, the Lincoln Tunnel is the world’s busiest vehicular tunnel (the type used by cars and trucks). It actually consists of three tunnels, or tubes, and accommodates about 43 million vehicles per year, or about 120,000 per day. It was opened in 1937, ten years after the Holland Tunnel (about three miles south) began handling traffic. And a North Country man was instrumental to the success of both tunnel systems.
Charles Watson Murdock, a native of Crown Point, New York, worked closely with some of the best engineers in American history, playing a key role in solving a problem unique to tunnels for vehicles with gasoline-powered engines.
Charles was born on February 11, 1889, to Andrew and Mary Murdock. After entering the Sherman Collegiate Institute (a prep school in Moriah), he attended Middlebury College in Vermont, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, and then RPI in Troy, graduating in 1912 as a civil engineer. Following a stint with the New York Telephone Company, he accepted a position with the Public Service Commission, 1st District, New York City in 1913.
During the next several years, a pressing problem developed in Murdock’s field of work. The automobile had taken hold in America, and with the proliferation of cars in New York City, gridlock became routine. There were far too many vehicles on the road, clogging thoroughfares with major traffic jams, particularly at bridges.
Ferries helped, but the wait was long. The solution of adding more bridges and more ferries carried several additional problems. After studying the issues, experts decided that tunnels were the best option.
Plenty of tunnels had been dug in the past to accommodate trains, water pipelines, and subway systems. The advent of the automobile introduced new problems in anything but the shortest of tunnels. The gasoline engine emitted poisonous gases, primarily carbon monoxide. The problem vexing engineers was how to discharge those deadly gases from tunnels to make the air safe.
No method had yet been devised to fill long tunnels (like the planned 1.6-mile Holland) with safe and breathable air. Slow traffic, stalled cars, and accidents could keep citizens within a tunnel for lengthy periods. All the while, every vehicle would be pumping poisonous gas into an enclosed space, with deadly results.
From among several options, the method proposed by Clifford Holland was chosen. On his team of engineers was Charles Murdock, who was then employed by the New York State Bridge and Tunnel Commission and the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission. (Clifford Holland died just two days before the two tunnels from east and west were joined. The project was renamed in his honor.)
Several dozen structures requiring innovative and exceptional engineering skills have been called “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” Among them is the Holland Tunnel, “the world’s first mechanically ventilated underwater vehicular tunnel.” That long-winded description is very important—the Holland’s machine-powered air-handling system became the standard blueprint for automobile tunnels the world over for the next seven decades.
Charles Murdock was deeply involved in its design, development, and implementation. In 1921, he conducted subway ventilation tests at the University of Illinois. Further work—highly detailed, exhaustive experimentation—was done in a test tunnel created in an old mine near Bruceton, Pennsylvania, duplicating the Holland site. The data from those testing facilities formed a basis for the creation of the Holland Tunnel’s ventilation system.
In the process, the engineering team also developed and used the first reliable automated carbon monoxide detector (with kudos from miners and canaries alike, no doubt).
The giant tubes that formed the highway tunnels were separated into three horizontal layers. The middle layer handled traffic; the bottom layer conducted fresh air throughout the tunnel; and the top layer pulled the poisonous gases upward for removal.
The system was driven by four 10-story ventilation towers, two on each side of the river. Together they housed 84 fans of 8 feet in diameter—half provided fresh air, which flowed through slits in the tunnel floor, and the other half expelled “dirty” air and gases skyward. The system provided a complete change in the tunnel’s air every 90 seconds.
Should it ever fail, thousands of lives were at risk. For that reason, extreme safety measures were built into the system. Power to the fans was supplied from six independent sources, three on each side of the river, and each capable of powering the entire tunnel on its own.
Due to Murdock’s great expertise, he was later chosen to oversee the installation of the ventilation system on the Lincoln Tunnel. Fifty-six fans performed the air-handling duties, and twenty men covered three shifts around the clock, monitoring the carbon monoxide instruments. Motorists commented that the air they breathed in the Lincoln Tunnel was far cleaner than what they breathed daily in the city.
In 1938, the year after the Lincoln Tunnel opened, Murdock’s presentation, “Ventilating the Lincoln Vehicular Tunnel” was made before the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, setting the standard for similar tunnels around the world.
By 1947, ten years after the Lincoln Tunnel opened, Murdock’s work was praised as a modern wonder. It had operated perfectly for a full decade—none of the backup systems were called into use during that time.
Though he was known principally for his work on the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels from the 1920s through the 1960s, Murdock’s skills were called upon for many other large projects. He was a consulting mechanical engineer on the addition of second tunnels to four sites on the Pennsylvania Turnpike—the Allegheny, Blue Mountain, Kittatinny, and Tascarora tunnels.
Among jobs in other states, Murdock consulted on the East River Mountain Tunnel in West Virginia; Big Walker Mountain Tunnel in Virginia; and the Baltimore Tunnel (Outer Tunnel) in Maryland. He also worked on the Riverfront & Elysian Fields Expressway in Louisiana, and Route I-695’s Connector D in Boston.
Charles Murdock remained with the Port Authority of New York for more than 25 years. The Crown Point native is linked to some of the most important engineering work of the twentieth century. He died in Volusia, Florida in 1970 at the age of 81.
Photo Top: Charles Watson Murdock.
Photo Middle: The three layers in the Lincoln Tunnel tubes.
Photo Bottom: A Lincoln Tunnel ventilation tower in Manhattan.
Lawrence Gooley has authored ten books and dozens of articles on the North Country’s past. He and his partner, Jill McKee, founded Bloated Toe Enterprises in 2004. Expanding their services in 2008, they have produced 19 titles to date, and are now offering web design. For information on book publishing, visit Bloated Toe Publishing.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Squandering the Opportunity of Crisis:
Long Island Sound History
By Peter Feinman
When I was growing up in New Rochelle, more years ago than I care to remember, one required trip in the new suburban world which was being created was to Rye Playland. It was a standard family and summer camp trip from a more innocent time. I wasn't even able to enjoy all the rides since I wasn't tall enough to reach the red line that marked the difference between childhood and adulthood. Of course, soon after crossing that threshold, the summer camp trip ended and there were other places to go.
One of those places was Davids Island in New Rochelle better known as Fort Slocum. I only went there once and with my father to a site that had already seen better days. My father, Boris "Bob" Feinman, who was active in the civic affairs of New Rochelle, had an idea for the site long before Con Ed, Trump, and Xanadu were proposed and shot down. He envisioned a Huguenot Village. After all, if Rockefeller could create a colonial village in Virginia and Ford could create an industrial one in Michigan, why couldn’t New Rochelle, Queen City of the Sound and home to Dick Van Dyke, create a village in the image of its ancestral mother, La Rochelle, France?
In the years that have passed since then, not much has happened. Davids Island deteriorated more and more each year until the years became decades and emergency cleanup was required. Now there is nothing historical left to preserve. Still it remains an island of dreams where it is possible to imagine something creative, something bold, something visionary one day emerging from its dilapidated and abandoned present.
There is a third site to consider in this survey of historical sites along the Sound: the proposed Westchester Children’s Museum (WCM) on the Playland boardwalk right where Tom Hanks became Big. The renovated New-York Historical Society building will be opening November 11 and it includes a children's history museum. Since I have not yet had the opportunity to see it, I can't comment on its particulars. I can say as an education trustee of the WCM, I have long advocated that it not simply be a children's museum that happens to be in Westchester but that it be a Westchester children's museum that draws on the history and ecology of the region and works with the local historical societies.
So what would I like to see happen:
1. Huguenot Village as a cultural and heritage center designed in the style of a French village, affiliated with a college promoting French and international studies, and as a destination point that brings revenue and tax dollars into the community.
2. Playland Theater on the Sound, like the Shakespeare summer stock at Boscobel overlooking the Hudson River.
3. Playland Long Island Sound Institute in affiliation with college, like the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries in Beacon.
4. Playland Film Center, like the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville.
5. Playland Chautauqua, like the original Chautauqua — still going strong and where people used to arrive by boat.
6. A trolley from the Rye train station — as Cold Spring and Garrison have — to the Rye Cultural and Recreation Center with stops at the Rye Historical Society (Square House), Rye Nature Center, Jay Heritage Center and Marshlands Conservancy.
7. Westchester Children's Museum based on the history and ecology of the region perhaps drawing on the model of the New-York Historical Society.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to benchmark what has worked elsewhere in New York and to create the Long Island Sound Environmental and Cultural Center (LISECC) as a year-round destination point. Let's see what happens.
Photo: Rye Playland circa 1930.
Peter Feinman writes about New York State history and leads Historyhostels and Teacherhostels to the historic sites in the state (www.ihare.org).
State Museum Exhibits Burns Archives Photos
By Editorial Staff
A new exhibition - Shadow and Substance: African American Images from The Burns Archive - has opened at the New York State Museum, showcasing rarely-seen photographs from one of the largest private photography collections in the world.
Open through March 31, 2012 in the Photography Gallery, the exhibition allows the viewer to perceive how African-Americans were seen by others and how they wished to be seen. These images do not tell a complete story of the past, but their eloquent shadows provide unique glimpses into the lives of African-Americans over the past 160 years.
The 113 images in Shadow and Substance include portraits, snapshots and photographs of celebration, tragedy and quiet joy, work and family, strength and perseverance. From early images of slaves and Civil War soldiers to new voters and political activists, the exhibition is filled with illustrations of achievement and shocking evidence of intolerance. Some images may not be suitable for young children.
The images were culled from the comprehensive Burns Archive of Historic Vintage Photographs that include specializations in medical and health care, death and dying, sports and recreation, in addition to images of African-Americans. The collection was amassed by Dr. Stanley B. Burns, an ophthalmologist, collector and curator in New York City who was the founding donor for several photography collections, including those of the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Burns has authored several books including “A Morning’s Work: Medical Photographs from the Burns Archive & Collection, 1843-1939”; “Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America” and “Forgotten Marriage: The Painted Tintype and Decorative Frame, 1860-1910.”
The traveling exhibition is organized by the Indiana State Museum and curated by Dr. Modupe Labode, assistant professor of history and public scholar of African-American History and Museum Studies at Indiana University.
The State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information about programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.
Many NY History Halloween Events Planned
By Editorial Staff
Halloween is a unique time for New York History sites around the state as many of them transform themselves into spooky places to learn a little history. Costumed historic interpreters, cemetery tours, haunted historic homes, and the haunted history of restless spirits and unexplained events are all on tap for this Halloween.
What follows is a listing of some of the most interesting, scariest, and fun-filled that are occurring around Halloween night.
Ticonderoga: Discover the unexplained past at Fort Ticonderoga’s Flashlight Nights, Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29 from 7 pm until 9 pm. This family-fun fall program will uncover Fort Ticonderoga’s layers of history and haunted stories at night in the Fort, on the landscape and in the 6-acre corn maze. The nighttime tours of the Fort will be led by costumed historic interpreters and will allow guests to enter areas of the fort where unexplained events have occurred. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 years and under. To guarantee a ticket, reserve a space for this special program by calling (518) 585-2821. Gates open at 6:30 pm and tours begin at 7:00 pm. Tickets are also available at the door the evening of the event between 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm. Bring your own flashlights. Flashlights required.
Elizabethtown: Adirondack History Center Museum is offering a program about Paranormal Discoveries on Saturday, October 29 at 4:00pm. The program begins with a report from Champlain & Adirondack Paranormal Investigations on their findings of paranormal activities at the museum. Jim Thatcher, Lead Investigator from Champlain & Adirondack Paranormal Investigations (CHAPI), will talk about their night at the museum on July 1, 2011. He will discuss the CHAPI team, their set-up, equipment and findings. Following the paranormal report, there will be a tour of the upper floor of the museum where unexplained activities occurred. Cider and donuts will be served. Come in costume - you may win a prize. Admission for the program is $5 for adults and $2 for students. The museum is located at 7590 Court Street, Elizabethtown, NY. Please call the museum for reservations at (518) 873-6466.
Saranac Lake: Saturday, October 29 at 1:00pm, local storyteller Bob Seidenstein will lead a tour of Pine Ridge Cemetery in Saranac Lake. Pine Ridge Cemetery is a microcosm of the history of Saranac Lake from its earliest settlement, through the village's busy years as a health resort, to the present day. The cemetery began as a burial place for the Moody family, Saranac Lake's first settlers. It grew to encompass the old St. Bernard's Cemetery and the Hebrew Memorial Cemetery, as well as the lots surrounding them. Many of Saranac Lake's prominent doctors are buried here, along with Norwegian Seamen, guideboat builders, and architects. Admission for the tour is $10 per person to benefit Historic Saranac Lake and the Pine Ridge Cemetery Association, a volunteer organization which maintains the historic cemetery. The tour will meet at 1:00 at the vault on the cemetery grounds.
Saratoga: Halloween Party and Car Show at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, October 29, 10 am to 2 pm. Dress up the car, yourself, and the kids, or don't dress up at all. Candy bags, goody bags and fun for the whole family. Awards for the Best Dressed Cars and children's costumes. Vehicle registration of $15.00 includes admission passes for the driver plus one, including the Museum's new Porsche Exhibit. The Saratoga Automobile Museum is located at 110 Avenue of the Pines, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. For more information contact Peter Perry at (518)-587-1935 ext. 17 or peterperry@saratogaautomuseum.org.
New Paltz: For three nights Haunted Huguenot Street removes the veil of secrecy that stands between the living and the dead. If you are prepared for an experience that may be chilling, certainly repugnant, probably morbid, horrid or simply scary, this may be the perfect way to spend an evening. Tours run every 15 minutes on Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29 from 7-11 pm and October 30, 6:30-9 pm. Not recommended for children under 12. A special craft activity prepared and presented by a team of art teacher and curator will be available for younger children for $5. Reservations are strongly recommended. $10/BOOK ONLINE , $15/DAY OF, $10/STUDENTS www.huguenotstreet.org | DuBois Fort Visitor Center, 81 Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY 12561 | 845.255.1660 or 1889
New Windsor: “It was dark back then” at Knox’s Headquarters, Saturday, October 29: Do you remember walking past a creepy looking house at night when you were a kid? Come and see ours from 8:00 - 8:30 or 8:30 - 9:00 PM and tour the grounds, if you dare. Reservations required. Knox’s Headquarters is located at 289 Forge Hill Road, in Vails Gate, New York, three miles southeast of the intersection of I-87 and I-84. The bridge over Moodna Creek, just east of Knox’s Headquarters, was damaged by Hurricane Irene, so access to the site is from State Route 94 only. For reservations and more information please call (845) 561-1765 ext. 22.
Cooperstown: The Farmers' Museum invites visitors to experience “Things That Go Bump In The Night.” Join museum interpreters as they lead you about the shadowy grounds and recount the many mysteries and ghostly happenings that have occurred within the buildings making up the Museum’s historic village. These tours will be held on two more nights only: Friday, October 28; and Saturday, October 29, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Museum guides will walk visitors through the darkened 19th-century village by lantern, stopping at various buildings throughout, including the Blacksmith’s Shop and Bump Tavern, weaving ghostly tales adapted from the Louis C. Jones’ classic, Things That Go Bump In the Night, a timeless record of haunted history and restless spirits in New York State. Participants will hear stories associated with the museum’s buildings as in the tale of a young ghost sighted by staff and guests in Bump Tavern and the mysterious early morning strikes on the blacksmith’s anvil. These hour-long tours will be held every half-hour between 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Reservations are required. Admission is $10 per person (ages 3 and up), please call (607) 547-1452.
Garrison: Author and renowned paranormal investigator, Linda Zimmerman and her partners will lead tour groups through the dimly-lit halls of Boscobel mansion. Accompanying Linda will be psychic and self-proclaimed psychometrist, Barbara Bleitzhofer. Barbara will be using her sixth sense to determine what spirits are present and why they are there. Each group will be armed with specialized equipment to detect the possible presence of supernatural entities, and group leaders will talk about their previous and mysterious findings inside Boscobel, as well as explain their techniques for spying supposed specters. Each tour is limited to 15 people so advance ticket purchase is required. Dates are Thursday October 27 and Friday October 28 at 6pm sharp. Adults $35, Children (12-14) $20, Friends of Boscobel members $30. Cider & cookies will be served. To purchase tickets, call 845-265-3638 x115 or stop by any day (but Tuesday.)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Website Challenges Your American Revolution Knowledge
By Editorial Staff
American history enthusiasts will find lots to enjoy on The American Revolution Center’s new website (www.AmericanRevolutionCenter.org). It features an interactive timeline that allows you to virtually “handle” objects from the Center’s collection, a reading list, a searchable database of lesson plans, video podcasts, and the opportunity to test your knowledge about the American Revolution. By answering demographic questions, you can compare your answers with others who have taken the quiz.
Visit the site to take the quiz and find out more about why we now enjoy the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The American Revolution Center is a non-partisan, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to engaging the public in the history and enduring legacy of the American Revolution. The Center is establishing The Museum of the American Revolution in historic Philadelphia.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Old Forge and The Fulton Chain of Lakes
By Editorial Staff
Linda Cohen and Peg Masters, both descendants of 19th-century pioneer settlers of the Old Forge region, have written Old Forge and The Fulton Chain of Lakes (Arcadia Publishing, $21.99) the latest Adirondack edition in the Images of America series. Together they compiled over 200 images from around the area, many seldom seen.
Old Forge is nestled at the foot of the Middle Branch of the Moose River, more commonly known as the Fulton Chain of Lakes. Year-round accommodations at the Forge House in 1871 and dependable rail service in 1892 led to permanent settlement of the hamlet. Within a decade, Old Forge emerged as the residential and commercial hub of the Central Adirondacks and a popular destination and gathering place for guides, sportsmen, and wilderness tourists.
For the sightseer who strolls around Old Forge today or enjoys a cruise up the eight lakes in the Fulton Chain, the landscape is dotted with scores of century-old dwellings, Victorian cottages, rustic camps, and even a few grand old hotels.
Linda Cohen has been an active member of the local historical association and a board member since 2004. Peg Masters has served as the town historian for the past 10 years and conducts historic walking tours every summer.
Friday, October 21, 2011
This Week's New York History Web Highlights
By Editorial Staff
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.
Subscribe! Nearly 2,000 people get New York History each day. You can follow the site via E-Mail, RSS, or Twitter or Facebook updates.
AIHA's Annual Antiquarian Book, Ephemra Sale
By Editorial Staff
The 37th annual Antiquarian Book and Ephemera Fair will be held this Sunday, October 23, 2011 from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Washington Avenue Armory Sports and Convention Arena, 195 Washington Avenue, Albany. The fair is presented by the Albany Institute of History & Art and managed by Austin’s Antiquarian Books.
Individuals can bring their books, posters, ephemera, and collectibles and have them appraised at the fair. In addition to professional appraisals, the book fair will feature 60 dealers of rare, antiquarian, and out-of–print books, manuscripts, autographs, postcards, maps, posters, photographs, ephemera, and more. There will also be a silent auction of donated collectible items, many of local interest. All proceeds of the auction will benefit the research library of the Albany Institute of History & Art.
For vendor/appraisal information, contact Gary Austin of Austin’s Antiquarian Books by phone at (800) 556-3727. For more information, please visit www.albanybookfair.com. Admission to the book fair is $6.
Neil Godwin Speaks at Mount Independence
By Editorial Staff
On Saturday, October 22, at 1:00 p.m., author Neil Godwin comes to the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell to talk about the subject of his acclaimed book, We Go as Captives: The Royalton Raid and the Shadow War on the Revolutionary Frontier, published last year by the Vermont Historical Society. Godwin will discuss the background of the Royalton Raid and some of the intrigues of the Revolutionary War in Vermont and the region. The event, the annual Robert J. Maguire lecture, is offered by the Mount Independence Coalition.
Godwin’s book is one of the most successful recent publications of the Vermont Historical Society and offers new insight on the Royalton Raid of 1780 and the Revolution on the northern frontier. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.
Doors open to the public at 12:30 p.m. The event is free. Donations are appreciated. Come enjoy a riveting afternoon. This is the last chance of the year to visit the Mount Independence museum, which closed for the season after Columbus Day.
The Mount Independence Coalition is the official friends group for the historic site and every year offers the Maguire lecture to present the latest and best research on the American Revolution or Mount Independence.
Mount Independence, one of Vermont’s state-owned historic sites, is a National Historic Landmark and is considered one of the least disturbed Revolutionary War sites in America. The site is located six miles west of the intersections of VT Routes 73 and 22A in Orwell, near the end of Mount Independence Road. Call 802-759-2412 for more information.
For more information about the Vermont State-Owned Historic Sites, visit www.HistoricVermont.org/sites. Be part of the conversation and join the Vermont State Historic Sites on Facebook.
This Week's Top New York History News
By Editorial Staff
Each Friday morning New York History compiles for our readers the previous week's top stories about New York's state and local history. You can find all our weekly news round-ups here.
Subscribe! Nearly 2,000 people get New York History each day via E-Mail, RSS, or Twitter or Facebook updates.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Sernett and Humphreys Team for Abolition Lyceum
By Editorial Staff
Milton C. Sernett PhD has asked Hugh C. Humphreys to join the presentation of the Abolition Lyceum IV: Slavery, Law, and Politics for the annual National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) event Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. in Golden Auditorium at Colgate University, Hamilton NY. This lecture is fourth in a series of five lectures chronicling the history of American abolition from the Colonial Period to the Civil War which Dr. Sernett has delivered each year.
Humphreys and Sernett team up to examine the intersection of politics in the debates over American slavery and abolition. They will explore the legal and political aspects of the debate over slavery by highlighting watershed events such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Amistad Incident, the Great Fugitive Slave Convention held in Cazenovia in 1850, the political debate over the Compromise of 1850 and the struggles that took place in the Kansas Territory over the issue of "popular sovereignty" and slavery. Other topics of interest will be efforts of abolitionists to organize political parties and the rise of Lincoln and the Republican Party. Humphreys and Sernett will also be talking about the debates over the Constitution, the emergence of political abolitionism, and the role played by significant figures such as Gerrit Smith, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Abraham Lincoln. Humphreys will discuss the Dred Scott Case where the fate of Scott and his family went all the way to the Supreme Court. Several video clips will be shown.
Milton C. Sernett is Professor Emeritus of African American Studies and History, having taught at Syracuse University for thirty years. He has spoken widely on abolitionism, the Underground Railroad, and Harriet Tubman. His books include North Star Country: Upstate New York and the Crusade for African American Freedom; Abolition’s Axe: Beriah Green, Oneida Institute and the Black Freedom Struggle; and Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory, & History. Sernett is a founder and a member of the Cabinet of Freedom of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
Hugh C. Humphreys is a retired Madison County judge and currently teaches a course on abolition law at Syracuse University. Humphreys researched and published Heritage #19 on the Great Cazenovia Convention for the Madison County Historical Society. Humphreys is a founder and a member of the Cabinet of Freedom for the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. He has generously shared his oratory, painting, and theatre talents with Peterboro heritage projects for two decades.
The Abolition Lyceum IV Slavery, Law, and Politics is twelve dollars at the door, or free with the Total Day Package for the annual NAHOF event. For more information and registration: www.AbolitionHoF.org, info@abolitionhof.org, 315-366-8101
This illustrated lyceum presentation will draw on images and text from the traveling exhibit panel "The Politics of Slavery and Abolition" that is part of the traveling exhibit of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. All eight panels of the exhibit will be shown for the first time following the Lyceum.
The Traveling Abolition Museum will officially open to the public at 11:30 a.m. in the Clark Room in the James C. Colgate Building at Colgate University. Dr. Sernett created the text and assembled the visuals for the traveling “walls” to chronicle American abolition in a similar way that Sernett’s lyceum series has done. Scott Hughes managed the fabrication and the installations. The mobile museum has been made possible by generous donations from the American International College, Norman K. Dann and Dorothy Willsey-Dann, The Gorman Foundation, Ellen Percy Kraly, the New York Business Development Corporation, Dr. Milton C. Sernett and Janet M. Sernett, Maryann M. Winters, and the Upstate Institute at Colgate University. The public is encouraged to attend the free exhibit.
Woman of History Award Nominations Sought
By Editorial Staff
Each year, to honor Martha Washington herself, Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site presents the “Martha Washington Woman Of History Award.” The recipient of the award must be a woman who has demonstrated similar characteristics while contributing towards the education and preservation of history in the Hudson Valley. The recipient will receive a place of honor on the plaque showing past recipients of this award, and an invitation to be part of the selection committee for future awardees. Along with this, she will be expected to attend “The General’s Lady,” a Woman’s History Month program, held each year in March, during which she will be acknowledged.
Any woman who has made a contribution to the history of the Hudson Valley through education, promotion, or preservation is eligible to be nominated for this award. The nominee’s service to the historic community shall be taken into consideration. The nominee can be someone who was involved in a project dealing with history and/or historic preservation. This individual must have been influential in some way, encouraging interest, enthusiasm and awareness of Hudson River Valley history even at its most basic, or grassroots level.
Nomination forms are available online. Completed forms will be reviewed by a selection committee including Washington’s Headquarters Staff, volunteers, and previous Woman of History Award recipients. Nominees will be notified within one month after the submission deadline.
The 2012 award will be presented at “The General’s Lady” on Saturday, March 31, 2012. Deadline for receipt of applications is January 6, 2012.
Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site, opened in 1850, is the first publicly owned historic site in the nation. The Commander-in-Chief, General George Washington, established Headquarters at Jonathan and Tryntje Hasbrouck’s fieldstone farmhouse from April 1, 1782 until August 19, 1783. This became the longest stay at any of his over 165 Headquarters during the 8½ years of the Revolution.
While here, the General, his wife, officers, and his house servants lived and worked in close quarters, as a steady stream of guests came to meet with the Washingtons. During the critical months spent in Newburgh, Washington maintained a strong Army with eventual plans to disband it. He negotiated with contentious individuals in the Congress. Elsewhere, he dealt with problems of supply, training, pay and morale – all the things that affected his troops. He rejected a suggestion of an American monarchy, defused a potential mutiny among his officers, and proffered advice on the future of the new republic. In order to recognize the heroism of enlisted men, the Commander-in-Chief, at his Newburgh headquarters, created and awarded the Badge of Military Merit, the forerunner of the Purple Heart medal. On April 19, 1783, General Washington’s order for a “cessation of hostilities” was announced and he then dealt with the problems attendant to disbandment of the Army.
Martha Washington’s myriad traits, from big sister to business woman, were necessary attributes during her tenure at Headquarters Newburgh. For example, she travelled long distances every winter of the War to be with her husband and kept up communications with Mt. Vernon while supervising their immediate wartime household. Martha helped the Aides-de-camp with office work by copying letters and expense accounts. She was renowned for her pleasant demeanor even under the pressures of war and the need to hostess a constant crush of military and civilian personnel.
Photo: Washington's Headquarters circa 1852. Courtesy of Palisades Interstate Park Commission Archives.
Saratoga National Historical Park Photo Contest
By Editorial Staff
Saratoga National Historical Park is having a photo contest to select the photo to appear on its 2012 Annual Park Pass. From September 25 until November 4, 2011, visitors may submit up to 3 photos to be considered for next year’s Annual Pass. The winning photo will also be included in a special 2012 park calendar, and the photographer will receive a complimentary annual pass to the park.
Each photo submitted must be: taken within park boundaries, JPG format with minimum 300 DPI resolution, no larger than 3 MB file size, and between 4”x6” and 8”x10” in size. All submitted photos will become the property of Saratoga National Historical Park, though photographers will be credited if their photo(s) is used in future park publications.
A complete list of rules may be obtained by contacting Park Ranger Megan Stevens at 518-664-9821 ext. 219, or by e-mail at megan_stevens@nps.gov
Submitted photos may also be sent to that e-mail address.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Historic Albany Floods Talk by Jack Mc Eneny
By Editorial Staff
To commemorate Archives Month and in recognition of the disastrous effect of Hurricane Irene on their neighbors, County Clerk Thomas G. Clingan has invited Assemblyman John J. McEneny to speak on the topic of historic floods in Albany and the surrounding region. His presentation will be held on Wednesday, October 26th from 10 am – 12 noon at the Albany County Hall of Records. An exhibit of flood-related historical records will be on display, as well as practical information for protecting and salvaging records in water-related emergencies. Tours of the Hall of Records will also be offered.
A lifelong Albanian, McEneny graduated from Christian Brothers Academy, Siena College, New Mexico State University and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He served in the Peace Corps in Columbia, South America, and directed youth programs in Albany before heading the Albany City Human Resources Department from 1971-1984. McEneny served as Albany County Historian and remains involved in documenting and preserving Albany history. He is the author of the book Albany, Capital City on the Hudson, first published in 1981.
Seating for the presentation is limited. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP: 436-3663, ext. 202 or jbrothers@lbanycounty.com
Photo: Broadway in Albany on March 29, 1913 (Postcard Courtesy Albany Institute of History and Art)
Genealogy Day at Schenectady Co Historical
By Editorial Staff
The Schenectady County Historical Society (SCHS) will be hosting a Genealogy Day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 29, 2011 at SCHS, 32 Washington Avenue, Schenectady. Participants in Genealogy Day at the Schenectady County Historical Society will explore many possible ways to uncover your family history.
Genealogy Day will feature four speakers. The morning speakers, Phyllis Budka and Alan Horbal, will focus on their experiences in researching Polish and Polish-American genealogy. Genealogist Nancy Curran will discuss using New York State vital records in tracing your genealogy. Chris Hunter, Curator at the Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium, will speak about the resources available for researching your GE ancestor.
The afternoon portion of Genealogy Day offers participants the opportunity to explore the resources available at the Grems-Doolittle Library. The Librarian and library volunteers will be on hand to field questions, assist researchers, help participants get started in their genealogy research, or brainstorm strategies to overcome “brick wall” genealogical research problems that appear too difficult to solve.
Pre-registration for Genealogy Day is suggested, due to limited seating. The cost of admission for the day is $5.00; admission is free for members of the Schenectady County Historical Society. Attendees are asked to bring their own bag lunch. Beverages and desserts will be provided by Grems-Doolittle Library volunteers.
Genealogy Day Schedule for Saturday, October 29
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Pieces of Me
Speaker: Phyllis Budka
“To me it is a mystery why I must study history” – Those cheeky words form the opening line of Phyllis’ poem that appeared in “The Watchtower,” the Mont Pleasant High School student newspaper, over 50 years ago. Her recent research in family genealogy has awakened her interest in European history and she suddenly feels like a human archeological dig. Phyllis Rita Zych Budka was born in Schenectady and attended St. Adalbert’s School, McKinley Junior High and Mont Pleasant High School. She received a degree in Russian Language from the University of Rochester. In 1964, she married Alfred Budka, also a native Schenectadian. Phyllis earned a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Union College in 1982. Phyllis and Al owned a welding supplies firm at that time. In 1991, Phyllis became a GE employee and retired in 2008. She has three children and seven grandchildren.
10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Research in Southern Poland and Hints for You in Doing Research in Poland
Speaker: Alan Horbal
Alan Horbal will share his experience in doing genealogical research in Poland and present strategies and tips for learning about your ancestors from Poland. He has worked as a volunteer at the National Archives and Record Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts since 2001, where he instructs users on how to use government records in their research. He has also taught courses on genealogy research at Williams College.
11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Vital Records in New York State
Speaker: Nancy Johnsen Curran
This talk will concentrate on the valuable Department of Health vital records indexes at the NYS Archives in Albany. Nancy Johnsen Curran is an experienced genealogist who focuses on the capital region of New York State. Her research takes her to the NYS Library and Archives in Albany as well as to repositories such as courthouses, historical societies and cemeteries in the area. In the fall 2011 semester Curran will teach a course on genealogy research at Schenectady County Community College. Curran is a member of the board of trustees of the New Netherland Institute and has served on the board of the Schenectady County Historical Society.
12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Lunch Break – Please bring your own bag lunch; drinks and desserts will be provided.
12:45 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Using the GE Archives for Genealogy Research
Speaker: Chris Hunter
Learn about the variety of resources that are available for researching your GE ancestor, and about digital initiatives that will improve accessibility to valuable sources like the GE Schenectady Works News employee newsletters. Chris Hunter is Curator at the Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium, and has overseen the Museum’s industrial history archive since 2000.
1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Q&A in the Library and Open Research Time with Library Volunteers
Explore the resources available in Schenectady County Historical Society’s Grems-Doolittle Library, including family files, photographs, family genealogies and lineages, church records, cemetery records, vital records indexes, wills, deeds, local and New York State histories, maps, collections of personal papers and organizational records, genealogy publications, and more. The librarian and library volunteers will be on hand to assist researchers and answer questions.
For more information about Genealogy Day, or to pre-register, contact Melissa Tacke, Librarian/Archivist at the Schenectady County Historical Society, by phone at 518-374-0263, option “3”, or by email at librarian@schist.org. The Schenectady County Historical Society is wheelchair accessible, with off-street parking behind the building and overflow parking next door at the YWCA.
