Month: June 2011

Ethan Allen Life and Times Talk

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Author Willard Sterne Randall will give a talk on Ethan Allen, one of Vermont’s best known historic figures, on June 18 at 1 p.m., at the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell, VT. Randall’s new book, Ethan Allen: His Life and Times, which W.W. Norton will be coming out with later this summer, is the first comprehensive biography of Allen in a half century.

In this talk and the book, Randall uses new source material to strip away the myths about Ethan Allen, heroic rebel, and reveals a complex character, defender of settlers to the Green Mountains, public spirited, but also self-serving and self-interested.

Randall, whose previous book was Benedict Arnold, is a noted Vermont author and historian and teaches history at Champlain College.

The program is sponsored by the Mount Independence Coalition, the official friends group for the Mount Independence State Historic Site. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children under 15- it includes the program, visiting the museum, and access to the grounds and trails.

Mount Independence, one of Vermont’s State-owned Historic Sites, is a National Historic Landmark and one of the best-preserved Revolutionary War sites in America. It is located along the shore of Lake Champlain and near the end of Mount Independence Road, six miles west of the intersections of VT Routes 22A and 73 in Orwell. The site is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. through October 10. Call 802-948-2000 for more information.

Hudson River School Hikes Offered

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Thomas Cole National Historic Site is offering a third season of guided hikes to places that inspired Thomas Cole and fellow artists of the Hudson River School. Hikers will see the views that appear in some of the most beloved landscape paintings of the 19th-century, and hear stories that bring their history to life. The hikes range from easy walks to moderately vigorous climbs. Each hike is limited to twelve people, so sign up soon to be sure to reserve your place. The next hike is Saturday June 18- all hikes depart from the Thomas Cole Historic Site at 9am.

Hikes designated as &#8220Easy&#8221 are approximately two hours in length. Those designated as &#8220Moderate&#8221 are closer to four hours. Each of the guided hikes includes a copy of the Hudson River School Art Trail Guidebook and a guided tour of the Thomas Cole Historic Site at the end of the hike. The total price per person: $16, or $12 for members.

2011 Hike Schedule

JUNE 18 Sunset Rock and the Catskill Mt House (moderate)

JULY 16 Kaaterskill Falls and Catskill Mt House (moderate)

AUGUST 13 Catskill Mt. House and North-South Lake (easy)

SEPTEMBER 10 Kaaterskill Falls and Catskill Mt House (moderate)

OCTOBER 15 Sunset Rock and Catskill Mt House (moderate)

More about the hikes is available online [pdf].

Illustrations: Thomas Cole, The Clove, Catskills, 1827 (New Britain Museum of American Art), and the same view today. Photo by Francis Driscoll.

Maritime Museum Has New Longboat, New Exhibit

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The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s (LCMM) 2011 season has already kicked off and features the newest Champlain Longboat, Maple. Student boat builders, faculty members from the Hannaford Career Center’s Diversified Occupations program, and LCMM boatbuilding staff recently launched the boat at Basin Harbor.

Also new this year is the exhibit &#8220From the Page’s Edge: Water in Literature and Art&#8221 which reveals a wide array of personal connections between art, literature, and the natural world.

In this interdisciplinary exhibit, nineteen contemporary artists from New York City, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Jersey, Maryland, and upstate New York share some of the literary sources and life experiences that inspired them. Their artworks – in diverse media – range from representational to abstract. Their literary selections are as well-known as an African-American spiritual or an essay by Thoreau, and as private as personal poetry. Lake Champlain’s shipwrecks inspired the poetry of UVM Professor Daniel Lusk and a painting by Vergennes artist Eloise Beil.

Exhibit curator Virginia Creighton, a New York City artist with family connections in Ripton, Vermont, recalls childhood adventures in a flooded yard: “My sister and I were tomboys. We went out the side door . . . straight to the flooded low ground next to the garage. . . to wade in amongst the growing stalks of rhubarb.” Creighton’s painting “Kid’s House” was her response to that memory and the poem “in Just” by e. e. cummings, which evokes a youthful spring “when the world was mud-luscious” and “puddle-wonderful.”

From the Page’s Edge will be on view at LCMM through June 26. A color catalog of the exhibition will be available at LCMM and online.

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, located at 4472 Basin Harbor Road, seven miles west of Vergennes, is open daily. A world-class nautical archaeological research center with a lakeside campus of eighteen buildings, LCMM operates a fleet of full-sized and operational replica vessels, with a staff including educators, boat builders and curators. The museum’s team of nautical archaeologists has explored the lake’s 300+ historic shipwrecks, transforming their discoveries into hands-on exhibits, films, and programs.

LCMM brings the past of Lake Champlain to the public through special events, exhibits, courses and workshops, summer camps, and traveling replica vessels that encourage historical perspective and cultural connections between communities. More information about new exhibits, special events, and on-water programs, and the itinerary for schooner Lois McClure can be found on the Maritime Museum website.

Photo: Champlain Longboat Maple ready for launch day.

Antique Car Rally Headed to Saratoga Springs

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The Great Race, America’s premiere old car rally, is coming to Saratoga Springs this Thursday, June 16, and is expected to bring up to 100 antique automobiles to the city. The overnight stop will be marked by a public event at the Saratoga Automobile Museum to mark their arrival in the Spa city, one of America’s premier vacation destinations.

The 2011 event, sponsored by Hemmings Motor News and Coker Tire, starts in Chattanooga, TN and finishes in Bennington, VT. Run from coast to coast from 1983-2007, it is not a speed race, but a time/speed/distance rally. The driver and navigator are given precise instructions each day that detail every move down to the second, then scored at secret check points along the way and penalized one second for each second either early or late. As in golf, the lowest score wins.

Cars start, and hopefully finish, one minute apart if all goes according to plan. The biggest part of the challenge, other than staying on time and following the instructions, is getting an old car to the finish line each day.

The first car is expected to arrive at the Saratoga Automobile Museum, located in the scenic Saratoga Spa State Park, around 5 p.m., with cars continuing to arrive each minute for an hour and a half. The cars will remain parked for two hours to allow spectators to visit with the participants and to look at the cars.

“When the Great Race pulls into a city it becomes an instant festival,” offered Jeff Stumb, from Huntsville, Ala. He and his wife Karen have competed in the Great Race several times in his 1916 Hudson. “We have seen as many as 40,000 people at stops like Huntington Beach, Calif., and Sioux Falls, S.D.

Participating cars range in age from 1911 to 1969, with most having been manufactured before World War II. For the first time, a 100-year-old car, a 1911 Velie owned by Howard and Doug Sharp of Fairport, N.Y, will participate in the race.

The Great Race was started in 1983 by Tom McRae and was sponsored by Interstate Batteries. It takes its name from the 1965 movie, The Great Race, a comedy based on the real life 1908 automobile race from New York to Paris starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Natalie Wood and Peter Falk.

The auto museum will not be open to the public during the event, with participants expected to move to their downtown hotel at approximately 8:30 pm.

Kingston 18th Cent Market Days, Militia Muster

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The Brigade of the American Revolution will hold their 18th Century Market Days and Militia Muster on the grounds of Senate House State Historic Site in Kingston, NY. This free event will be held on Saturday, June 25, from 10am – 4:30pm, and Sunday June 26, from 11:00am – 3:00pm.

Throughout the weekend a variety of 18th century vendors will be on hand demonstrating their crafts and selling their goods. Participants can also enjoy militia drills and firing demonstrations, children’s games and drill, presentations on 18th century foodways and fashion and style, and 18th century dance instruction.

At 4pm on Saturday and 12pm on Sunday, a Meet the Authors will take place in the site’s museum. Norman Desmarais, Paul Huey and Tom Baker will all be on hand for the book signing. As usual Senate House State Historic Site will be open for tours. Admission to tour Senate House is $4.00 for Adults, $3.00 for seniors and students and free for children 12 and under. So take a step back in time and experience what life was like for soldiers of the American Revolution at the 18th Century Market Days and Militia Muster on the grounds of Senate House State Historic Site.

The Brigade of the American Revolution is a non-profit living history association dedicated to recreating the life of the common soldier during the American Revolution, 1775-1783. Members represent elements of all armies involved: Continental, Militia, British, Loyalist, German, French, Spanish, and Native American forces along with civilian men, women and children.

Photo courtesy The Brigade of the American Revolution.

Olana Hosts Artists Handmade Houses Book Event

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The Olana Partnership and Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios will offer a book talk and signing with author Michael Gotkin and photographer Don Freeman to celebrate the publication of Artists’ Handmade Houses on Saturday, June 18 at 4:00 p.m. on the East Lawn at Olana State Historic Site, 5720 State Route 9G, Hudson, New York. This event is free and open to the public (a vehicle use fee applies). Light refreshments will be served. Please call (518) 828-1872 ext. 103 or e-mail [email protected] to reserve.

Artists’ Handmade Houses is a collection of private domains handcrafted by the finest artists and craftsmen in America. This diverse selection of artists includes familiar names such as George Nakashima, Sam Maloof, Frederic Church, and Russel Wright, as well as those deserving wider recognition. Constructed between the late-nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century, these homes were designed and built by artists as expressions of their art and craft. A few of the featured homes have been awarded National Historic Landmark status and several are open to the public, while others have sadly fallen into disrepair or are in the hands of new owners. In some cases, the photographs in this book represent the last record of the house as created by the artist.

Michael Gotkin’s text places each house in the context of its owner’s life and career, providing anecdotes and insights about its development over time and its place in the oeuvre of the artist. With brief histories about each artist and house, and spectacular new photography by Don Freeman, Artists’ Handmade Houses offers a rare glimpse into the personal living and work spaces of some of the greatest American artists and craftsmen.

Don Freeman’s photographs appear regularly in the pages of World of Interiors, Vogue, House Beautiful, and Vanity Fair, among other magazines. Michael Gotkin works as a landscape architect and city planner in New York City, where he is also an advocate for the preservation of postwar design. He has organized design exhibitions with the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Municipal Art Society of New York.

The hardcover book published by Abrams retails for $60.00 and has 240 pages, with 230 color photographs. Copies of Artists’ Handmade Houses will be available for sale at the event and online.

Historic Tour of Saranac Lake Cure Sites

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Adirondack Architectural Heritage (AARCH) and Historic Saranac Lake (HSL) are offering a &#8220Pioneer Health Resort Tour&#8221 in Saranac Lake, NY on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. The tour will be led by Mary Hotaling, former executive director of HSL, and current director, Amy Catania. It will include many of the buildings and sites that made Saranac Lake America’s &#8220Pioneer Health Resort.&#8221

The village’s late 19th- and early 20th-century history is closely tied to the treatment for tuberculosis developed by Dr. Edward L. Trudeau. The tour will include the Trudeau Institute, where we will see the first cure cottage, Little Red, and the bronze sculpture of Trudeau by Gutzon Borglum. We’ll visit the former Trudeau Sanatorium, Saranac Laboratory, the Cure Cottage Museum, and the Bela Bartok Cottage.

The tour begins at 10 a.m. and ends around 3 p.m. Be prepared for uphill walking. The fee is $35 for AARCH and HSL members and $45 for nonmembers. Tour attendees will also receive a copy of Cure Cottages, by Phillip L. Gallos. Reservations are required for all tours by calling AARCH at 834-9328.

Photo: Little Red cure cottage, Saranac Lake.

This Weeks Top New York History News

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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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Library and Archives Canada Voter Finding Aid

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Library and Archives Canada has announced the launch of an updated version of its finding aid to locate electoral districts in its federal voters’ lists collection from 1935 to 1980. This updated version now provides for each of the 892 microfilm reels of the collection, the electoral year, the province, the exact name of the electoral district and the page numbers for each microfilm. This tool will facilitate the frequent consultation and use of the federal voters’ lists collection by genealogists and family historians.

The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the nation’s documentary heritage for present and future generations, and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, contributing to the cultural, social and economic development of Canada. Library and Archives Canada also facilitates co-operation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge, and represents the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions. Genealogy Services includes all on-site and online genealogical services of Library and Archives Canada. It offers information, services, advice, research tools and the opportunity to work on joint projects, in both official languages.

Nouvel instrument de recherche pour les listes electorales federales, 1935-1980

Bibliotheque et Archives Canada d’annoncer le lancement d’une version amelioree de son instrument de recherche pour localiser les districts electoraux dans sa collection de listes electorales federales de 1935 a 1980. Cette nouvelle version fournit maintenant pour chacune des 892 bobines de microfilm de la collection, l’annee d’election, la province, le nom exact du district electoral et les numeros de pages pour chaque microfilm. Cet instrument facilitera la consultation et l’usage de cette collection, tres souvent consultee par les genealogistes.

Le mandat de Bibliotheque et Archives Canada est de preserver le patrimoine documentaire du pays pour les generations presentes et futures, et d’etre une source de savoir permanent accessible a tous et qui contribue a l’epanouissement culturel, social et economique du Canada. En outre, Bibliotheque et Archives Canada facilite au Canada la concertation des divers milieux interesses a l’acquisition, a la preservation et a la diffusion du savoir, et represente la memoire permanente de l’administration federale et de ses institutions. Les Services de genealogie englobent tous les services genealogiques physiques et en ligne de Bibliotheque et Archives Canada. Ils offrent de l’information, des services, des conseils, des outils de recherche et la possibilite de travailler a des projets communs, et ce, dans les deux langues officielles.

Nous sommes tres reconnaissants envers les nombreux membres du personnel de Bibliotheque et Archives Canada qui, grace a leurs efforts soutenus, ont rendu possible la realisation de ce projet. Pour de plus amples renseignements, ecrivez-nous a [email protected].

This Weeks New York History Web Highlights

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Each Friday afternoon New York History compiles for our readers a collection of the week’s top weblinks about New York’s state and local history. You can find all our weekly round-ups here.

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