New Board Members for Finger Lakes Museum

admin

Two new members were elected to seats on the Finger Lakes Museum’s board of trustees at its July 21 st meeting. According to board president, John Adamski, New York City attorney William Gaske, who serves as the museum’s legal counsel, and Village of Aurora vice mayor George Farenthold, were both added to the board in unanimous votes.
The board of trustees now has 10 members seated. Former trustee, Don Naetzker, resigned in May to take a paid position as the museum’s Project Director and is now in charge of managing its design and construction.

In other motions, the board elected six members to sit on a newly­created advisory board including Keuka College president Joseph Burke, former Kodak chairman and CEO Daniel Carp, Yates County Historian Frances Dumas, Fox Run Vineyard owner Scott Osborn, and former Rochester Institute of Technology president Dr. Albert Simone. Albany health­care consultant Mary Anne Kowalski was elected to chair the advisory board.

Adamski also announced that the board approved a motion to retain Brakeley Briscoe, a Connecticut consulting firm, to develop strategies for a capital fundraising campaign in an effort to raise up to $40 million. In April, Keuka Lake State Park had been selected as the preferred site to build the museum.

In a parallel move, the board of trustees launched its own fundraising drive, which it calls its 2010 Founders’ Campaign and is intended to raise $1 million in startup funds to hire staff, purchase computers, office equipment, and set up shop at the museum’s operations center in the Branchport Elementary School.

Anyone can become a museum founder for as little as $100 by logging on to the museum’s website at www.fingerlakesmuseum.org. Founders will receive a Founder’s Certificate, vehicle decal, and their names will be permanently inscribed on a Founders’ Wall in the lobby of the museum. The school building was vacant because of district consolidation but has been recently purchased by the Finger Lakes Visitors Association for use by the museum.

The Finger Lakes Museum Project is an initiative to create a world­class educational institution that will showcase the cultural heritage and ecological evolution of the 9,000­square­mile Finger Lakes Region. Plans will call for a freshwater tunnel aquarium, a glacial­geological exhibit of the Finger Lakes, outdoor wildlife habitats, and an auditorium­theater to be built at the Keuka Lake State Park site. Opening is scheduled for spring in 2014.

For more information see www.fingerlakesmuseum.org

Frederick Douglasss 1843 Lecture to Highlight Tour

admin

One hundred and sixty-six summers ago&#8211 one year after fugitive slave Frederick Douglass lectured in Keeseville&#8211Albany Underground Railroad agent Abel Brown “took” the Burlington steamboat on Lake Champlain and reported, “Many a slave has enjoyed the indescribable pleasure of leaping from the liberty-loving Burlington.&#8221

Hundreds of fugitives from slavery escaped every year to New York City. They were forwarded to Albany and onto Champlain Canal packet boats. At Whitehall they boarded the Burlington. From Port Kent, they could make their way to Keeseville and Stephen Keese Smith’s farm in Peru. Smith hid fugitives from slavery in his barns and drove them in his uncle’s wagon to Champlain. Then Noadiah Moore took them across the border to Lacolle, Canada, and helped them find work. They were free, at last.

People opposed the abolitionists. Friends and neighbors turned against them. Brethren left their churches.

On August 14th, North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association’s President, Don Papson, will lead a guided tour, “Villages and Churches Divided.” The tour will begin with a 10 am orientation in Keeseville’s Ausable Valley Grange at 1749 Main Street. Stops will be made at abolition and UGRR sites where participants will read passages from historic documents. The trial of Rev. Andrew Witherspoon and the stirring words of Frederick Douglass will be relived. The last stop at 3 pm will be at a hidden room. Participants must apply early as the tour is limited to 20 people. The cost is $30 for members of NCUGRHA- $40 for non members. Each participant is asked to pack a lunch, wear walking shoes and bring an umbrella. To register, please contact Helen Nerska at 518-643-0938 or email [email protected]

“Villages and Churches Divided” is a 5th Annual Canal Splash! event. Canal Splash! celebates the history and culture of New York’s Canals.

This Weeks Top New York History News

admin

VT Seeks Candidates For Native American Commission

admin

A new law that sets up a process for state recognition of Native American tribes in Vermont has revised the makeup of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and has that panel seeking nine new members.

The law, also known as S222, increased the number of members on the VCNAA from seven to nine, and also imposes a Vermont residency requirement for the first time.

“This law establishes a completely new Native American Commission with new responsibilities,” said Giovanna Peebles, State Historic Preservation Officer and director of the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

Governor Jim Douglas will be appointing 9 new members to the VCNAA by September 1, provided that a sufficient number of qualified candidates have submitted applications to the Governor.

The new law requires that eligible applicants must have lived in Vermont for a minimum of three years and that appointments should “reflect a diversity of affiliations and geographic locations in Vermont.”

The division will compile a list of candidates from recommendations from Native American communities residing in Vermont. Individuals may also apply to the Division.

All applications will be due at the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation by August 15, 2010.

The VCNAA will implement the new process, as set forth by the Vermont legislature, for recognizing Native American tribes in Vermont that includes review by the commission, an independent review committee of experts, and approval by the legislature.

Applications for appointment to the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs will be available on-line July 22, 2010, at the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation website: www.historicvermont.org or the VCNAA website: http://vcnaa.vermont.gov/.

A full-text review of S222 can be found online [pdf].

This Weeks New York History Web Highlights

admin

Stony Point Battlefield Evening Lantern Tour

admin

The Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site will be hosting an Evening Battlefield Lantern Tour on Saturday, August 7, 2010 at 7:30 PM. Participants will learn the Learn story of the Storming of Stony Point as they follow in the footsteps of the American Light Infantry soldiers who captured the British fort.

Presented by the Friends of the Stony Point Battlefield & Lighthouse. Please bring a flashlight and bug spray. Admission $4.00 adults, $3.00 seniors and children 10 and older. Program not appropriate for children younger than age 10. Reservations are required.

The historic site is located at 44 Battlefield Road, accessed from Park Road. off Route 9W in Stony Point. For more information and directions and to reserve your spot, call the site office at 845-786-2521.

Haudenosaunee Dancers at Iroquois Museum

admin

The Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, NY has announced the second in a series of three “Summer Dance Saturdays” featuring Iroquois social dance groups. This Saturday, July 31, will feature the Haudenosaunee Dancers from Onondaga. The group will perform three sets at approximately 11, 1, and 3. Visitors are encouraged and welcomed to join in with the dancers.

Led by Sherri Waterman Hopper, the Haudenosaunee Dancers will perform Iroquois social dances as practiced in their small traditional community near Syracuse. Waterman-Hopper has traveled internationally as an artist and cultural speaker.

The Dancers feature a core group of seasoned singer/musicians and young adults. Pride in the culture and adherence to the traditions are the hallmarks of this troupe. Hopper is also a respected designer and seamstress who incorporates her knowledge of the construction and significance of traditional outfits into her presentations.

For more information contact the Museum at: Iroquois Indian Museum, P.O. Box 7, 324 Caverns Road, Howes Cave, NY 12092, 518-296-8949, [email protected] or visit their web site at www.iroquoismuseum.org.

CFP: Abolishing Slavery in the Atlantic World

admin

The Call for Proposals submission deadline has been extended to July 31, 2010 for Abolishing Slavery in the Atlantic World: The &#8216-Underground Railroad’ in the Americas, Africa, and Europe, The Tenth Anniversary Underground Railroad Public History Conference to be held April 8 &#8211 10, 2011. The event is being organized by Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, and hosted by Russell Sage College, in Troy, New York.

Where there was slavery, there was resistance, escape, and rebellion. The Transatlantic Slave Trade (1400s to 1800s) was a global enterprise that transformed the four continents bordering the Atlantic, and that engendered the formation of a multifaceted and international Underground Railroad resistance movement. The broad geographic nature of this freedom struggle is the theme of the 2011 UGR Public History Conference. The organizers invite proposals that address capture, enslavement, and resistance within and across borders in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, historically and contemporarily, as well as proposals that address the preservation of the voices of the past and their relationship with us today.

Proposals should be submitted by July 30, 2010 Via postal mail to URHPCR, PO Box 10851, Albany NY 12201 or via email to [email protected] For more information, visit www.ugrworkshop.com or call 518-432-4432

Hike Into History at Mount Independence

admin

Visitors are invited to “hike into history” at a Vermont historic site that Yankee magazine has named the best in New England for doing just that.

On Sunday, August 1st, at 2:00 p.m., Steve Zeoli will lead another of his popular hikes into history at the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell.

“Steve is the president of the Mount Independence Coalition and a former caretaker at the site, so he really knows both the trails and the history behind them,” said Elsa Gilbertson, Regional Site Administrator with the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.

Visitors will get an in depth look at what can be found along the Orange and Baldwin Trails and learn what was happening during the American Revolution at this important military site.

The site is a National Historic Landmark and has been named a 2010 Editors’ Choice in Yankee Magazine’s Travel Guide to New England, winning the “Best Hike Through History.”

In 1776, the sprawling military complex at Mount Independence was one of the largest communities in North America after some 12,000 soldiers built a massive fort to defend against an anticipated British attack from the north.

On the night of July 5, 1777, General Arthur St. Clair withdrew the American army from Mount Independence and nearby Fort Ticonderoga without firing a shot after a British force more than twice his size occupied high ground from which they could bombard him with impunity.

The British and Germans occupied Mount Independence until November of that year.

While the Baldwin Trail meets outdoor standards for handicapped accessibility, participants are urged to wear sturdy shoes and dress for the weather.

Admission is $5.00 for adults and free for children under 15, and includes the guided walk, access to all the trails, and a visit to the air-conditioned visitor center with its exciting exhibits.

Call (802) 948-2000 for more information or visit www.historicvermont.org/sites.

Illustration: Mural of Mount Independence 1776-1777, by Ernest Haas
Commissioned by the Mount Independence Coalition. On display at Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell, Vermont.

Patroons and Plowmen, Pietism and Politics:Dutch Settlers in the Hudson Valley

admin

Firth Fabend will give a series of lectures presenting a brief overview of the Dutch people who settled in the Hudson Valley in the 17th and 18th centuries. She illustrates her talk with eighty slides, screened in forty pairs for purposes of comparison. Fabend asks, who were these Dutch people who replanted themselves in the Hudson Valley when it was a wolf-infested wilderness? Why did they come to America? What did they do when they got here? And why is their cultural influence still felt in the area today? She examines the importance of the fur trade, the importation of slavery, the patroon system of land tenure vs. the English manorial system, farming practices, family structure, domestic architecture and house furnishings, the religious culture, the winsome beauty of the land, and the schism in the Dutch Reformed Church that paralleled the divisions between Patriots and Tories in the War of Revolution.

The lecture will be given at the following locations:

Fort Montgomery on Thursday, August 5, at 7:30 p.m. [LINK]

Fishkill Historical Society on Saturday,Sept. 11 at 2 p.m. [LINK]

Emanuel United Church of Christ in Woodhaven, NY on September 29th at 1:00 p.m. [LINK]

Firth Haring Fabend is the author of the prize-winning works A Dutch Family in the Middle Colonies, 1660-1800, and Zion on the Hudson: Dutch New York and New Jersey in the Age of Revivals, both published by Rutgers University Press, and many scholarly articles. Land So Fair, a historical novel set in the Hudson Valley, with flashbacks to New Netherland, is her sixth novel. She is a Fellow of The Holland Society of New York, The New Netherland Institute in Albany, and the New York Academy of History.