Public History

Greater Hudson Heritage Network Award Nominations

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The Greater Hudson Heritage Network’s Awards Towards Excellence program seeks to recognize and commend exceptional efforts among GHHN members. Awards are made to projects that exemplify creativity and professional vision resulting in a contribution to the preservation and interpretation of the historic scene, material culture and diversity of the region. Awards will be presented at Greater Hudson’s Annual Meeting, October 2, 2009. Nominations must be made by July 28, 2009.

Any GHHN member organization or individual can be nominated for projects completed by September 30th of the current year. Projects not yet completed must have reached a point sufficient to permit judgment of merit. Self-nominations are encourged.

Awards may be made to organizations or individuals in any or all of the following areas of achievement:

* public programs (including education, exhibition, interpretation),
* publications
* historic preservation
* community documentation and collaboration
* new technology (e.g. website development, blogs, audio tours)
* Board Vision
* advancement of regional history

Nominations reflecting work in 20th century documentation, or re-interpretation of collections are strongly encouraged- nominations of collaborative or regionally-focused projects are especially welcome.

Nominations will be judged on the evidence of quality, creative use of resources, and long-term significance, by a peer jury of professionals, representing the history, museum, archives and/or academic fields.

Late entries will not be eligible for consideration. Details can be found at www.greaterhudson.org/awards. Contact 914.592-6726 or e-mail either [email protected] or [email protected] with questions.

Another Setback for Rensselaer Co. Historical Society

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The Albany Times Union is reporting today that the beleaguered Rensselaer County Historical Society (RCHS) is losing the interim executive director, Rachel Tooker, less then six months after she took the post. Members of the organization, including Renssealer County Historian Kathy Sheehan, (who also serves as the society’s Registrar) touted her as the leadership necessary to steer the non-profit back to solvency. She will be moving to California where her partner has taken a museum job.

In March, RCHS sent an e-mail warning of dire consequences for the society: &#8220What may have seemed &#8211 even ten years ago &#8211 a reasonable endowment with sustainable cash reserves has now dwindled to the point where we are no longer able to pay our bills. Without an immediate and substantial infusion of funds (upwards of $150,000), it appears that we will be required to close our doors while we work to implement a prudent fiscal strategy.&#8221 No communication with members, supporters, or the press suggested Tooker would be leaving before the Times Union’s report today.

According to the Times Union, &#8220Tooker said the historical society has charted a new course that will help it correct its financial difficulties. The New York Council of Nonprofits will provide managerial leadership for the historical society.&#8221

This is the rest of the post

Vermont Historical Society Seeks Your Input

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The Vermont Historical Society is asking for participation in a survey to help them determine which aspects of the organization are most important. The survey allows plenty of opportunity to comment and they would appreciate hearing from you folks interested in Vermont history by June 23rd if possible. You can find the survey here.

Thomas Cole National Historic Site Seeks Volunteers

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Cedar Grove, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site is seeking volunteers to conduct on-site school programs during the 2009-2010 school year. The schedule and time commitment are very flexible although a brief training will be held June 5 and 6, 2009. School Programs Docents impart meaningful information about the life, relationships and works of the 19th-century artist Thomas Cole through hands-on activities catered to each grade level and subject area. To get involved contact Education Coordinator Gregory Rosenthal at 518-943-7465 ext. 2, or at [email protected] . Individual informational meetings will be held May 28-31.

@thomascole.org>

Rensselaer County Historical Society May Close

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The Rensselaer County Historical Society has announced that they may be forced to close due to economic hardship. I will reprint here the message they sent:

We Need Your Help!
Keep the lights on and history alive!

To our members and friends,

As you may have read in [yesterday’s] Times Union, RCHS is currently experiencing severe financial difficulty. The organization been running annual deficits for several years, and despite special efforts, the situation has now become critical. In a matter of weeks RCHS will no longer have funds available to meet its basic operating needs. What may have seemed &#8211 even ten years ago &#8211 a reasonable endowment with sustainable cash reserves has now dwindled to the point where we are no longer able to pay our bills. Without an immediate and substantial infusion of funds (upwards of $150,000), it appears that we will be required to close our doors while we work to implement a prudent fiscal strategy.

If we must close,

· our loyal and hardworking staff will be furloughed. Together these professionals have over 74 years of service to our community.

· exciting new educational initiatives, popular public programs, and long-planned exhibits would cease or be cancelled. The loss to our community &#8211 both economically and psychologically &#8211 would be incalculable. RCHS collections hold over 60,000 items of decorative arts, furniture, paintings, and sculpture. None of these items would remain available to the public. More importantly, an even greater number of documents relating to our past would be completely inaccessible. The utility bills alone for maintaining these collections are almost $6,000 a month.

· RCHS efforts as a major catalyst in highly visible efforts to use the historic fabric of our county to stimulate economic development will be curtailed. We hope to be able to continue serving &#8211 in fact inspiring &#8211 our community through these efforts.

We are beginning a public campaign to &#8220keep the lights on and history alive!&#8221 As in the past, we are grateful for your active interest and suggestions regarding strategies to ensure RCHS’s survival. We also urgently need your personal assistance in providing immediate financial support during this financial crisis.

Our plan is to take the next three to four months to develop &#8211 in partnership with our supporters &#8211 a new business plan for RCHS, designed to ensure its long-term sustainability. We are fortunate to have Rachel Tooker, a very experienced and energizing Transitional Executive leading this effort. The dedicated members of the RCHS board are prepared to join Rachel to discuss our finances and future plans in detail. Please give us a call if you have questions or suggestions for us.

In the meantime, here are some things you can do to help RCHS:

Help us to spread the word about RCHS and its positive impact on the community.

Distribute RCHS membership and program brochures to your clubs and community organizations.

Hold a brunch or get-together and make a group donation to RCHS.

Give an RCHS membership as a birthday present or gift to a new neighbor.

Volunteer to help with an RCHS program or project.

Send us your ideas for making RCHS sustainable and an even more valuable part of the community.

A New Decorative Objects Online Resource

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The Smithsonian has announced online access to the E. F. Caldwell & Co. Collection which &#8220contains more than 50,000 images consisting of approximately 37,000 black & white photographs and 13,000 original design drawings of lighting fixtures and other fine metal objects that they produced from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries.&#8221

According to the site: Edward F. Caldwell & Co., of New York City, was the premier designer and manufacturer of electric light fixtures and decorative metalwork from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. Founded in 1895 by Edward F. Caldwell (1851-1914) and Victor F. von Lossberg (1853-1942), the firm’s legacy of highly crafted creations includes custom made metal gates, lanterns, chandeliers, ceiling and wall fixtures, floor and table lamps, and other decorative objects that can be found today in many metropolitan area churches, public buildings, offices, clubs, and residences. A majority of these buildings were built in the early 20thcentury, a time of tremendous growth in construction and when many cities were being electrified for the first time.

The New York Public Library has additional materials [pdf].

SUNY Albany Offers New History and Media MA Degree

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The University at Albany’s Department of History has introduced a new 36-credit History and Media concentration to its Masters program, allowing students to learn and apply specialized media skills — digital history and hypermedia authoring, photography and photoanalysis, documentary filmmaking, oral/video history, and aural history and audio documentary production — to the study of the past. The History and Media concentration builds on the Department’s strengths in academic and public history and its reputation as an innovator in the realm of digital and multimedia history.

Among the History and Media courses to be offered beginning in the fall of 2009 are: Introduction to Historical Documentary Media- Narrative in Historical Media- Readings and Practicum in Aural History and Audio Documentary Production- Readings and Practicum in Digital History and Hypermedia- Readings in the History and Theory of Documentary Filmmaking- Readings in Visual Media and Culture- Introduction to Oral and Video History- Research Seminar and Practicum in History and Media.

Instructors in the History and Media concentration will vary but will include a core faculty including: Gerald Zahavi, Professor- Amy Murrell Taylor, Associate Professor- Ray Sapirstein, Assistant Professor- Sheila Curran Bernard, Assistant Professor.

For more information, contact Gerald Zahavi, [email protected] 518-442-5427.

Preservation League Seeks Award Nominations

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The Preservation League of New York State is seeking nominations for its 2009 Excellence in Historic Preservation Awards, which recognize notable achievements in historic preservation throughout New York State. The postmark deadline for nominations is February 12, 2009. The awards will be presented during the Preservation League’s Annual Meeting in May in New York City. The Excellence in Historic Preservation Awards program continues a tradition that began in 1979 to acknowledge excellence in the protection and revitalization of the Empire State’s historic architectural and cultural resources.

By honoring meaningful accomplishments in the field of historic preservation, the League hopes to further encourage standards of excellence and to increase public awareness of and support for historic preservation throughout the state. Nomination forms are available to download on the League’s website at www.preservenys.org.

The 2008 Excellence Award recipients were: Webb Lofts in Buffalo, Erie County- MacNaughton House Stabilization in Newcomb, Essex County- U.S. Post Office & Courthouse, Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn, Kings County- Downtown Revitalization Program in Canajoharie, Montgomery County- Eldridge Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side, New York County- Proctors in Schenectady, Schenectady County- Hotel Kirkland in Kingston, Ulster County- and the BID Model Development Block in New Rochelle, Westchester County. Preserving New York: Winning the Right to Protect a City’s Landmarks by Anthony C. Wood (Routledge, 2007) received a special citation. The Hudson Valley Chapter of the American Society of Home Inspectors was honored for organizational excellence- and Trude Brown Fitelson of Rochester was honored for individual excellence.

For nomination forms and other information please contact the Preservation League office at 518-462-5658 x17- or by email at [email protected].

The Preservation League of New York State, founded in 1974, is the not-for-profit organization dedicated to the protection of New York’s diverse and rich heritage of historic buildings, districts and landscapes. From its headquarters in Albany, the League provides a unified voice for historic preservation. By leading a statewide movement and sharing information and expertise, the Preservation League of New York State promotes historic preservation as a tool to revitalize our neighborhoods and communities, honor our heritage and enrich our lives.

History News Service Seeks Contributors

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The History News Service, founded in 1996 by Joyce Appleby and James M. Banner, Jr., continues to distribute op-ed pieces that contextualize current events and issues in historical terms to over 300 newspapers and wire services in North America. HNS op-eds have appeared in such newspapers as the Los Angeles Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Miami Herald, the San Francisco Examiner, the Chicago Tribune, Newsday, the Boston Globe, and similar newspapers around the country. The McClatchy Wire Service, successor to the Knight-Ridder-Tribune Wire Service, also received HNS articles for distribution to its large net of subscribers.

Holding itself out as a syndicate of professional historians, HNS defines that term broadly and accepts submissions (while making no promises) from graduate students and proven independent writers of history as well as from experienced academic scholars. It places no restrictions on the subjects covered nor on the eras or regions from which historical understanding of current matters may be gained. Thus, historians from all fields and of all subjects are invited to submit proposed articles to co-directors Joyce Appleby (appleby-AT-history.ucla.edu) and James M. Bannner, Jr. (jbanner-AT-aya.yale.edu), both of whom should receive texts simultaneously. Full guidelines, examples of how to write op eds, an archive of past HNS op eds, and other information may be found at www.h-net.org/~hns.

NY Heritage Announces 14 New Additions

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New York Heritage Digital Collections has added fourteen new digital collections to its cooperative site at newyorkheritage.org , including three from Queens College- two each from the Brooklyn Public Library, CUNY Graduate Center, Yeshiva University, and Brooklyn College- and one each from SUNY Maritime College, Lehman College, and Metropolitan New York Library Council. These collections total 3016 items, and represent a broad range of research interests, including Brooklyn Democratic Party Scrapbooks, Fulton Street Trade Cards, Murray Hill Collection, Sailors’ Snug Harbor Archives, Waterways of New York, Breslau Memorial and Prayer Book, and Bronx Business for Everybody collections.

NewYorkHeritage.org is a project of the NY3Rs Association, which uses OCLC’s CONTENTdm Multisite Server to bring previously digitized collections together, allowing researchers to search across all items simultaneously. This project provides free, online access to images of cultural and historical significance in New York State.

Participants in New York Heritage Digital Collections are committed to enhancing the site by adding both content and contributing institutions on a regular basis. The goal of the project is to eventually connect one thousand collections and one million items from throughout New York State. All institutions interested in participating in the project are encouraged to contact the 3Rs organization that serves their region.

The New York 3Rs Association is a partnership among New York’s nine reference and research resource systems. The New York 3Rs was incorporated in 2003 to further the ability of those systems to provide statewide services. The members of the New York 3Rs Association are: the Capital District Library Council, Central New York Library Resources Council, Long Island Library Resources Council, Metropolitan New York Library Council, Northern New York Library Network, Rochester Regional Library Council, Southeastern New York Library Resources Council, South Central Regional Library Council, and Western New York Library Resources Council.