Public History

Increased Visitation Trend Continues at NYS Parks

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The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has announced that Fourth of July holiday weekend attendance numbers were consistent with the strong showing in the early part of the summer season. Attendance over the three-day holiday weekend increased by six percent over last year.

All totaled, nearly 1.9 million people spent a portion of their holiday weekend at a state park or historic site.

Last year, the state park system recorded nearly 56 million visits. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees 178 state parks and 35 historic sites. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456, visit www.nysparks.com.

Collection Storage Tours at Adirondack Museum

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Visitors can now get a glimpse of more than 7,000 historic artifacts not currently on exhibit at the Adirondack Museum in a state-of-the-art facility in the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake by touring the Collections Storage and Study Center each Monday in July and August from 2:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.

The tours are free for museum members- $10 for non-members. Visitors can sign up for a tour on Mondays at the Membership Desk in the Visitor Center. Each tour is limited to thirty people.

The Collections Storage and Study Center holds an amazing array of objects from the Adirondack past. Collections consist of: boats, including power boats, canoes, kayaks, guideboats, and unusual boats- traditional and rustic furniture- hand tools and machinery- large vehicles, including horse-drawn carriages and sleighs, snowmobiles, fire trucks, and a Jitterbug- maple sugaring equipment- ice harvesting tools- as well as agricultural artifacts.

Adirondack Museum Conservator and Collections Manager Doreen Alessi will lead the tours. Alessi cares for more than 100,000 two and three-dimensional artifacts in the collection of the Adirondack Museum. She is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).

Photo: Collections Storage and Study Center, Adirondack Museum.

Archives Partnership Trust to Honor Richard Dreyfuss

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The New York State Archives Partnership Trust and the History channel will host a conversation with Academy Award-winning actor and passionate advocate for strengthening history education in our schools Richard Dreyfuss and nationally prominent Lincoln Scholar Harold Holzer to be held on Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 7:30-8:30pm at The Egg, Center for the Performing Arts, Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York. Mr. Dreyfuss will then be presented with the Empire State Archives and History Award.

The cost for the program is $10 per person (plus handling fees). Tickets are available August 1st. Reservations are required. Tickets can be purchased by calling The Egg Box Office at (518) 473-1845 or online at www.theegg.org.

In advance of the program, a reception to meet Mr. Dreyfuss will be held at The Egg, Center for the Performing Arts, from 5:30-7:00 pm. Reservations will be accepted starting August 2, 2010 by calling the Trust office at (518) 473-7091. Please see the Trust website for reception ticket prices.

Arto Monaco Historical Society Seeks Volunteers

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The board of the Arto Monaco Historical Society is seeking a small number of qualified volunteers to help coordinate two special projects. The first, will be organizing and documenting collections that will be transferred to the Adirondack Museum and other institutions. The society is seeking well-organized and responsible individuals with museum, library, or related experience who can help coordinate the work of additional volunteers.

The second is restoring and maintaining historic structures and grounds. Members of the society are looking for well-organized and responsible individuals with construction, maintenance, or related experience who can help coordinate the work of additional volunteers.

The work of Arto Monaco in designing the areas theme parks has become a central part of the history of tourism in the Adirondacks. Monaco was a local artist who designed sets for MGM and Warner Brothers, a fake German village in the Arizona desert to train World War II soldiers, and later his own Land of Makebelieve. Monaco died in 2005, but not before the Arto Monaco Historical Society (AMHS) was organized (in 2004) in order to preserve and perpetuate Monaco’s legacy, assemble a collection of his work, and stabilize and restore the Land of Makebelieve which was closed in 1979.

Since they first went into the woods with tools in 2006, volunteers of the AMHS have hacked the now overgrown Land of Makebelieve out of the encroaching forests in hopes of saving what’s left of Monaco’s legacy there from the ravages of nature.

If interested, please contact Anne Mackinnon at [email protected].

Historic Huguenot Street Elects New Board Members

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Historic Huguenot Street of New Paltz has elected three new members, including a key official from the Belgian Consulate, to the organization’s board of trustees. The elections occurred at the group’s annual meeting.

Christina Bark, Susan Ingalls Lewis and Edith Mayeux were welcomed to the board. Christina Bark is experienced as a corporate leader, attorney and entrepreneur. Most recently, Bark served as a Global Leader of Business Affairs and Chief Counsel for Oliver Wyman, a leading international consulting firm . She holds degrees from Vassar College and Stanford Law School.

Susan Ingalls Lewis is an Associate Professor of History at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where she teaches courses in American history and women’s studies. Lewis is an accomplished author and has held several leadership positions in the Mid Hudson Valley, including terms on the Rosendale Library and the Century House Historical Society in Rosendale. She holds degrees from Wellesley College and the State University of New York at Binghamton.

The third new member of the board of trustees is Edith Mayeux. Mayeux is the Trade Commissioner for the Wallonia Region of Belgium at the Consulate of Belgium in New York. Mayeux was born in French-speaking Wallonia, which is the ancestral home of the founders of New Paltz. In her current role, Mayeux helps companies from Wallonia access the U.S. market. Mayeux holds a degree in Modern Languages from the Ecole d’Interpretes Internationaux and in Applied Economics from the University of Mons, Belgium. She lives in Manhattan.

Mary Etta Schneider, president of Historic Huguenot Street, says of these new members, “We are so fortunate to have these three incredible women join our board of trustees. Each brings very special skills and perspectives. We are especially thrilled to have Edith Mayeux join our board. Historic Huguenot Street’s connection to Wallonia is a distinctive part of our history and we hope this can be the beginning of a growing relationship with our ‘homeland.’”

Also, Stephen Pratt Lumb of Dutchess County, himself a descendant of eleven of the twelve founders of New Paltz, returned to the board after a short break. Thomas E. Nyquist and Stewart P. Glenn of New Paltz were re-elected, as were Mark A. Rosen of Stone Ridge and Eileen Crispell Ford of Norwalk, Connecticut, who is also a descendant of the community’s founders.

Historic Huguenot Street, located on the banks of the Wallkill River, is where small group of French-speaking Huguenots settled in 1678. Today, just steps from downtown New Paltz, the site features seven stone houses dating to 1705, a burying ground and a reconstructed 1717 stone church – all in their original village setting. HHS offers six acres of landscaped green space and public programming to the local community and visitors from around the world. For more information about Historic Huguenot Street, visit www.huguenotstreet.org or call (845) 255-1660.

NY Parks, Historic Site Attendance Soars

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The State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Carol Ash has announced an increase in park attendance. According to Ash, state parks attendance has increased by 1.3 million visitors, up 11 percent from last year, while July 4th holiday weekend camping reservations reflect 90 percent occupancy. Additionally, sales of the park system’s $65 annual pass, the Empire Passport, increased statewide 1.5 percent over 2009 numbers, with more than 40,000 passes sold this year.

Ash also introduced a new summer campaign to encourage New Yorkers to visit and support state parks and historic sites. The statewide Find Your Fun social network and web-based initiative will run through September and utilize the agency’s website (www.nysparks.com) as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Regular updates and highlights will be provided about summer-related Find Your Fun suggestions and activities going on at state parks and sites to engage visitors. Park staff will offer an insider’s look at popular spots, hidden gems and interesting facts, and visitors will be encouraged to share photos, recipes, and favorites, while programs, activities and trip suggestions will also be promoted.

Ash is also encouraging New Yorkers support parks and historic sites by joining Friends Groups, volunteering at parks or making financial donations to the park through the agency website.

Last year, the state park system recorded nearly 56 million visits. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees 178 state parks and 35 historic sites. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com.

Intern Wins McHenry Preservation Award

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The Open Space Institute has announced that this year’s Barnabas McHenry Award for Historic Preservation has been given to Matthew Colon of Newburgh for a project that will digitize and catalogue the entire slide collection of the nation’s first publicly-owned and operated historic site, Washington’s Headquarters.

The Friends of the State Historic Site of the Hudson Highlands, an ancillary group to Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site, nominated volunteer intern Matthew Colon in recognition of his outstanding performance this past year ensuring that the Washington’s Headquarters library and archives will be useful to the staff and the public. Matt honed his archivist skills while a student at SUNY Oswego, as well as from related professional development classes. The McHenry Award will support Matt’s next project: to properly accession important images previously available only through outdated equipment and make them accessible for a myriad of uses now and in the future.

In 2007, the Open Space Institute created the The Barnabas McHenry Hudson River Valley Awards to honor Barney McHenry’s extensive leadership, contributions, and accomplishments in the Hudson River Valley. For the past forty years, McHenry has worked to protect the Hudson River Valley’s landscapes, heritage, and culture. He demonstrates his commitment to the region as a Member and Secretary of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, Chair of the Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council, Co-Chair of the Hudson River Valley Natural Heritage Area, President of Boscobel, and Trustee of both Friends of the Hudson Valley and the Open Space Institute.

The McHenry Awards provide financial support to the &#8220pairing&#8221 of young leaders and exemplary projects that make significant contributions in environmental conservation, historic preservation and the arts in the Hudson River Valley.

Albany Institutes Free, Discount Admission Days

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The Albany Institute of History & Art has announced that it will offer a special discount admission program on Fridays and Saturdays in July and August 2010, as part of an ongoing effort to reach out to members of the Capital District community.

On each Friday in July and August, the Albany Institute will offer free admission to all visitors during regular museum hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There will be no charge for any visitors to enter the museum and see the galleries on these dates: July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, and August 6, 13, 20, and 27. Additionally, the Institute will offer buy-one-get-one-free admission on Saturdays during July and August during regular museum hours from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Any adult or child visitor purchasing one admission will be entitled to one free admission of equal or lesser value. Buy-one-get-one-free Saturday dates are: July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 and August 7, 14, 21, and 28.

“We understand, especially in difficult economic times like these, that not everyone is able to include a visit to the Albany Institute in their entertainment and education budgets,” said Chris Miles, Executive Director of the Albany Institute. “However, economic ability should never be a barrier to learning. That’s why we’re thrilled to offer this opportunity for people who might not otherwise be able to see all that the Institute has to offer.”

This program is not available in combination with any other discount or coupon offers and does not apply to group tours, facilities rentals, or special events. For more information about the summer discount admission program, call (518) 463-4478. To learn more about current exhibitions and events, visit www.albanyinstitute.org.

Buffalo & Erie Co. Historical Names New Director

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The board of managers of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society today named Melissa N. Brown, an expert in Western New York history and the Historical Society’s director of research and interpretation, its new director.

Brown, 36, becomes the museum’s 11th director and succeeds Cynthia A. Conides PhD., who will return to her full-time job with Buffalo State College, which &#8220loaned&#8221 Dr. Conides and her expertise to the Society for the past four years. Dr. Conides will stay on part time as curator of special projects at the Historical Society’s museum.

Brown, who helped drive the popular &#8220Buffalo Bills 50th Anniversary Season&#8221 exhibit last fall, worked closely with Dr. Conides, the head of the college’s Museum Studies Program, on a series of recent initiatives at the Historical Society. Brown is an expert in managing collections and has consulted on more than a dozen major exhibits at the Society and at other Western New York museums.

She will transition into her new position as Dr. Conides reverts to the college by Dec. 31. This will also give Brown time to complete work on a major museum initiative &#8220John Mix Stanley’s Trial of Red Jacket,&#8221 opening in October at the Nottingham Court museum.

&#8220This is a logical transition of expert leadership and the board of managers is delighted that Melissa can move seamlessly to carry on the work Cynthia initiated to grow and modernize the museum,&#8221 said Joan M. Bukowski, president of the Society’s board. &#8220We are extremely gratified that Melissa has worked her way through the museum’s hierarchy to this position of ultimate responsibility. We are impressed by her innovation and imagination and look forward to where she will take us.&#8221

&#8220We are also cognizant that among Buffalo’s leading cultural institutions, including the Albright-Knox, Science Museum and Zoo, the Historical Society also now has a vibrant young leader from a new generation of museum innovators,&#8221 Bukowski said.

Brown returned to her native region from Boston to join the Society’s staff in 1998 as a collections assistant. She received her M.A. in Historical Administration from Eastern Illinois University in 2000, adding to her 1995 B.A. in history with a museum studies minor from the State University of New York at Oswego.

&#8220This of course represents a fantastic opportunity for me to build on the superior example and leadership of Cynthia Conides and continue our effort to modernize the museum and bring its exhibits up to and beyond current expectations,&#8221 Brown said. &#8220I’m grateful to the board of managers, and the excellent staff here at the museum for this opportunity and I pledge to use all my energy and expertise to make sure we reach our shared goals.&#8221

Dec. 31 also represents the end of the present four-year agreement between the museum and Buffalo State College. The &#8220memorandum of understanding&#8221 allows the college, across Elmwood Avenue from the museum, to aid the museum, as it did with Dr. Conides’ involvement. The board and the college are currently negotiating an extension, which will start Jan. 1, 2011.

A resident of Gasport, Brown has been involved in nearly all the major archiving and collections work at the Society in the last 10 years. Her responsibilities included providing commentary, developing interpretive materials, facilitating exhibit design, performing historic research and scripts, and furthering and maintaining the museum’s collection.

More About The Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society

The Society’s mission is to maximize the educational potential for our community’s vast resources and abundant narratives through innovative programming, partnerships and collaborations- to share, preserve and add to our outstanding collections to tell the stories of Western New York, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. The Society’s building, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, is the only permanent building erected for the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo’s international fair attended by 8 million people from May to November 1901. The Exposition is best known for being the largest showcase to that time of the uses of electrical illumination. It celebrated the technological innovations that had recently harnessed the generating power of nearby Niagara Falls. During the Exposition, the building served as the New York State Pavilion and was the scene of an intensive schedule of receptions welcoming distinguished guests from around the world.

Awarded the design commission by a state-sponsored competition, young Buffalo architect George Cary (1859-1945), who had been classically trained in Paris, designed the building, faced and corniced with Vermont marble, in Doric style. The beautiful south portico, overlooking Hoyt Lake in Delaware Park, is a scaled-down version of the east front of the Parthenon, in Athens. Cary was able to complete his original design in 1927 when the building was enlarged to accommodate the present-day Library and Auditorium. Eleven relief sculptures, designed by Edmund Amateis, surround the building, each depicting a significant event in local history. The bronze entry doors, designed by J. Woodley Gosling and sculpted by R. Hinton Perry, show allegorical figures depicting &#8220History&#8221 and &#8220Ethnology.&#8221

After the Exposition closed, the building became the headquarters of the Buffalo Historical Society in 1902. The Society, founded in 1862, had previously displayed its growing collections in a series of rented spaces in downtown Buffalo. Today the building hosts the Historical Society’s Research Library (collections include 20,000 books, 200,000 photographs and 2,000 manuscript collections), its Auditorium, long term exhibits BFLO Made! and Neighbors, galleries for temporary exhibits, and the Museum Shop. BECHS is a private not-for-profit organization tax exempt under Sec. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It receives operating support from the County of Erie, the City of Buffalo, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA, a state agency), and from members and friends. BECHS is accredited by the American Association of Museums.