Month: March 2010
Hudson Valley Cultural History Discussions At Senate House
In a unique collaboration, the New York Council for the Humanities has joined forces with the Senate House State Historic Site, in uptown Kingston, to offer “Reading Between the Lines: Cultural Crossroads at the Hudson River Valley,” a free reading and discussion series that runs from March through July 2010, meeting on Saturday afternoons once a month.
Reading Between the Lines is designed to promote lively, informed conversation about humanities themes and strengthen the relationship between humanities institutions and the public. Reading Between the Lines series are currently being held in communities across New York State.
At Senate House, the discussion leader will be A.J. Williams-Myers, Professor of Black Studies at the State University of New York, New Paltz. He will lead discussions of each series book: Les Sauvages Americains: Representations of Native Americans in French and English Literature, by Gordon M. Sayre- Possessions: The History and Uses of Haunting in the Hudson River Valley, by Judith Richardson- The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in 17th Century North America, edited by David Alan Greer- and Long Hammering: Essays on the Forging of an African American Presence in the Hudson River Valley to the Early Twentieth Century, by A.J. Williams-Myers. All books are loaned to participants.
In addition to the book discussions, Senate House staff will offer a brief presentation of a related artifact or document from the site’s collections at the end of each session, so that participants can get a taste of the site’s historical treasures.
For more information about Reading Between the Lines: Cultural Crossroads at the Hudson River Valley visit www.nyhumanities.org/discussion_groups.
Massachusetts Historical Society Featured on NBC
Over one year ago, on January 27, 2009, there was a rare celebrity sighting at the nation’s oldest historical society, the Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS). Actress Sarah Jessica Parker, best known for HBO’s Sex and the City, visited the reading room to work with material from the Society’s manuscript collections as part of filming for the inaugural episode of NBC’s new series Who Do You Think You Are? The program, an American adaptation of the hit British documentary series by the same title, follows well-known celebrities as they discover their proverbial roots, researching their ancestors in an attempt to learn more about their families and themselves.
During her visit, Ms. Parker registered as a researcher and followed the standard MHS rules that apply to researchers working in the reading room. The one, highly unusual exception was that the Society allowed the film crew to follow her and record her as she researched her ancestors. Reference librarian Elaine Grublin spent some time with Ms. Parker in the catalog room, helping her identify and call for the material she wanted to see, and then brought the manuscripts to her in the reading room. Ms. Parker’s examination of the materials led to some surprising discoveries.
After filming wrapped, Ms. Parker stopped in the lobby to chat with a couple of Emerson College students that had also been conducting research. She stayed on into the evening for a tour and the chance to see some of the Society’s treasures, asking detailed questions about the collections. While looking at selected materials from the Adams Family Papers, Ms. Parker noted that her birthday, March 25, was the same date that Thomas Jefferson wrote his last letter to John Adams.
When an MHS staff member pointed out that a portrait of Lieutenant Frederick Hedge Webster, who was killed in action in 1864 while serving in the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, bore an uncanny resemblance to Ms. Parker’s husband, Matthew Broderick, who played Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, also of the 54th, in the film Glory, she enthusiastically agreed.
Unfortunately, the MHS cannot disclose which documents Ms. Parker requested to see or what she learned from her research. Instead, those interested will have to tune in to the series debut on NBC on Friday, March 5, 2010, at 8:00 PM to learn more about the Society’s role in Sarah Jessica Parker’s journey of genealogical discovery and enjoy the MHS and its reading room staff’s 15 minutes of fame.
For more about the Massachusetts Historical Society, visit their website at www.masshist.org.
A New History of the Munsee Indians
More enigmatic than they should be in this late age, even among historians of New York, the Munsee are less known than the story for which they are best known – the purchase of Manhattan Island for veritable pittance in 1626. One reason the Munsee (a northern sub-set of sorts of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware, as they were called by Europeans) have been ignored by historians is their rather early refugee status by the 1740s.
Anthropologist Robert S. Grumet’s The Munsee Indians: A History attempts to paint a portrait of the Munsee, whose territory stretched form the lower Hudson River Valley to the headwaters of the Delaware, as an Indian Nation in their own right. Previous histories, particularly those of the Lenape, have generally ignored the important role of the Munsee.
Grumet marshals archeological, anthropological and archival evidence to bring to life the memorial lives of Mattano, Tackapousha, Mamanuchqua, and other Munsee leaders who helped shape the course of American history in the mid-Atlantic before the American Revolution. The Musee emigrated to reservations in Wisconsin, Ontario, and Oklahoma where their descendants live to this day.
Grumet is the senior research associate at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Historic Contact: Indian People and Colonists in Today’s Northeastern United States in the Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries.
The Munsee Indians: A History is part of the Civilization of the American Indian Series by the University of Oklahoma Press.
Two New Collections Available at The Mets Archive
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives has announced that two recently processed collections from the first half of the 20th century, the records of a curator in the Decorative Arts department Durr Friedley and those of former president William Church Osborn, are now open for scholarly research. The newly available collections include online finding aids.
Durr Friedley Records, 1906-1918
Durr Friedley was a staff member of the Department of Decorative Arts of The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1911 until 1917, serving as an assistant, Assistant Curator and Acting Curator. Records consist primarily of correspondence regarding prospective Museum acquisitions. Items of special interest include letters concerning the Museum’s acquisition of early American colonial furnishings, later displayed in the American Wing. A pdf finding aid is located here.
William Church Osborn Records, 1904-1953
William Church Osborn was a longtime trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art who also served as the institution’s Vice President, President and Honorary President. Records consist primarily of correspondence regarding all aspects of Museum operations including acquisitions, exhibitions, fundraising, buildings and trustee affairs.
A pdf finding aid is located here.
The objective of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives is to collect, organize, and preserve in perpetuity the corporate records and official correspondence of the Museum, to make the collection accessible and provide research support, and to further an informed and enduring understanding of the Museum’s history. Archives holdings include Board of Trustees records, legal documents, Museum publications, office files of selected Museum staff, architectural drawings, press clippings, and ephemera. The Archives is accessible to Museum staff and to qualified scholarly researchers at the graduate level and above. Requests for access should be sent via email, and should include a brief summary of the research project, an outline of sources already consulted and a curriculum vitae or resume. Access is granted at the discretion of Archives staff, and certain materials may be restricted.
19th Cent. Sliding Toys Donated to Coolidge House
The unique one-ski sit-down sled at left is an antique “jack jumper” from the 19th century. It looks like a stool bolted to a single ski – is one of two antique sliding toys recently donated to Vermont’s President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site by a local woman. The jack-jumper was a fairly radical ride for it’s time according to museum officials who said there was no way to steer, except to shift your body and hang on. The jack-jumper is one of two early sleds donated by Miriam Herwig of Randolph Center that will be used in the Coolidge site’s educational programs to show what Vermont children did for winter fun before the advent of skiing and snowboarding.
The other sled, called a traverse (below, right), was made for multiple passengers and originally belonged to Charles Adams, a descendent of Luther Adams who built the first floating bridge in Brookfield, Vermont. More than eight feet long with pivoting wooden runners steered by a rope, the red wooden traverse was used at the Normal School in Randolph in the 1880s.
The jack jumper has traces of old red paint on the seat and pedestal and the initials “GHW” appear on the side of the pedestal, carved there by its original owner, George Woodward of Williamstown, who was a friend of Herwig’s father.
The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation maintains the village of Plymouth Notch much as it was when Calvin Coolidge was a boy and curates the largest collection of artifacts associated with President Coolidge and his family.
The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site is open May 29 through October 17, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. The site office, located in the Aldrich House, is open most weekdays year-round and has exhibits especially designed for winter visitors.
The snow-covered hillsides surrounding the village are perfect for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, or even jack jumping.
For further information, call (802) 672-3773 or visit the state-owned historic sites online at www.HistoricVermont.org/sites
Sugaring Off Sundays at The Farmers Museum
Sugaring Off Sundays, The Farmers’ Museum’s annual event which honors the maple sugaring season, will be held each Sunday throughout the month of March and will also include Easter Sunday, April 4th. The event features historic and contemporary sugaring demonstrations, children’s activities and more. A full pancake breakfast will be served from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. with all other activities scheduled 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Visitors will be treated to demonstrations of traditional methods of maple-sugaring. Other hands-on demonstrations will allow visitors to experience the traditions of sugaring in the region.
Children’s activities will take place in the Filer’s Corners Schoolhouse throughout the day and maple cooking demonstrations will be held in the More House. Visitors are invited to have a taste of “jack wax” – hot maple syrup poured over snow! The blacksmith will also be working in his shop – stop in to watch a true craftsman.
The Empire State Carousel, a favorite attraction at The Farmers’ Museum, will also be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Facebook fans receive one free ride.
The Farmers’ Museum Store and Todd’s General Store will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Each offers unique gifts, books and crafts.
Admission to Sugaring Off Sundays is $8 for adults- $4 for children age 7 to 12- admission is free for children 6 and under. Admission includes full breakfast. No reservations are required.
Conference: Food and Dining in the Hudson Valley
“Bon Appetit: Food and Dining in the Hudson Valley,” a conference organized by the Great Estates Consortium, will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2010 beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the Roosevelt Library and Home.
Bon Appetit, which celebrates the rich history of food in the Hudson Valley, has been planned to coincide with Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2010. This fourth annual event will take place between March 15 – 28, and will showcase this scenic New York State region as a premier culinary destination.
Heidi Hill, Historic Site Manager of Crailo and Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site, will open the conference by exploring 17th century food. Using Dutch genre paintings paired with archaeological evidence, Dutch documents and 17th century artifacts from New Netherland and Indian lands, the speaker will illuminate the colorful and sometimes surprising daily life of both the colonists and Native Americans through the foods they ate and their table and cook ware.
Valerie Balint, Associate Curator at Olana State Historic Site will explore evolving mid-century dining tastes and trends using Olana and the daily practices of the Church family as an example. Drawing upon primary source materials from the museum’s collections Ms. Balint will focus on issues relating to emerging ideals about etiquette, domesticity and cosmopolitanism. In particular, she will examine the increased emphasis, even in middle-class homes on formalized table settings, exotic foods and elaborate floral decor.
After a brief coffee break Frank Futral, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites, will explore the food customs of millionaires during the Gilded Age. Mr. Futral will be followed by Melodye Moore, Historic Site Manager at Staatsburgh State Historic Site. Ms. Moore will explore the behind-the-scenes work of the 24 domestic servants that needed to take place in order to present a “Dinner of Ceremony” in a Gilded Age mansion. The as yet unrestored servants’ quarters of Staatsburgh will illustrate where much of this work took place.
Lunch will be provided by Gigi Hudson Valley and will feature local food. Laura Pensiero, RD chef/owner, Gigi Hudson Valley, will introduce the lunch and share with the participants how she uses local farm products for her business and the current state of farming in Dutchess County.
Following lunch conference attendees will have the opportunity to visit participating Great Estates where they will be given an opportunity to engage in special food related tours and activities. Each site will pair with a restaurant offering visitors a Hudson Valley treat. While there is no additional cost for visits to the historic sites, participants must pre-register for the sites they expect to visit.
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site – Servants To Stewards tour. Guests are assigned the character of a servant and learn about their role in the running of the household. This tour requires climbing 74 stairs and is not handicap accessible. Comfortable shoes are strongly recommended. Following the tour Twist Restaurant of Hyde Park will provide attendees with a Hudson Valley treat.
Staatsburgh State Historic Site – Visit the “downstairs” rooms of the mansion that until recently had served as offices for the employees of the Taconic Region of the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. These rooms, including the kitchen, the sculleries, the pastry room, the Butler’s office and the male servant’s bedrooms, will soon be restored by the Friends of Mills Mansion. Leave with a special treat that might have been enjoyed by the servants from Terrapin Restaurant of Rhinebeck, New York.
Locust Grove Estate – You’ll have the chance to tour, in-depth, the kitchen, cook’s bedroom, dining room, and butler’s pantry at the historic Poughkeepsie estate. Learn more about service “below stairs” in a wealthy Hudson Valley home, and how the family upstairs expected their staff to cope with day-to-day living. You’ll also step behind-the-scenes into the china room – not usually open during tours. After your tour, enjoy a special treat from Babycakes Cafe in Poughkeepsie with Locust Grove’s Director.
Clermont State Historic Site – At Home with the Livingstons: A mansion tour highlighting the historic 1930s kitchen and dining room. View the cook books and secret family recipes of Alice Clarkson Livingston. Learn what quirk of Livingston dining etiquette irked the butler. Enjoy an exclusive look at the 19th century kitchen that nourished the Chancellor’s daughter, Margaret Maria and her family. Take away a scrumptious treat from Tivoli Bread and Baking in Tivoli, New York.
Space is limited, and meals and refreshments are included in the conference fee, so pre-registration is strongly recommended. The $60 per person registration fee includes coffee/tea in the morning, luncheon catered by Gigi Hudson Valley and afternoon Great Estates site tours. For additional information please call (845) 889-8851.
Conference attendees are encouraged to dine at fixed prices in nearby restaurants and stay in local hotels offering special rates for Restaurant Week. More information is available at www.hudsonvalleyrestaurantweek.com. For information on nearby Dutchess County restaurants go here. For information regarding lodging specials there is a pdf here.
Buffalo Maritime Center Building War of 1812 Bateau
The Buffalo Maritime Center’s new project to build a replica War of 1812 Bateau is now underway. Work sessions on the 25-foot boat will be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:00 to 9:00 pm beginning February 23rd in the boat shop at 901 Fuhrmann Boulevard, Buffalo. According to organizers this will be the first bateau built in Buffalo in 200 years.
Anyone interested in participating can visit the shop any time during regular hours to check on the progress of construction. Check their website for shop hours, directions, and/or email for more information.
The boat building program officially began as a part of the Buffalo State College Design Department in 1988, recognizing the importance of boat design, naval architecture, and the craft of boat construction as important fields within the design disciplines.