Finger Lakes Museum, State Announce Partnership

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The president of the Finger Lakes Museum and the Regional Director of Finger Lakes State Parks have announced the formation of a partnership that will work to move the proposed Finger Lakes Museum forward. In April, the museum’s board of trustees announced that Keuka Lake State Park had been selected as the preferred site for a world­class museum that is planned to showcase the cultural and natural history of the 9,000 square­mile Finger Lakes Region.

Museum president, John Adamski, said that board members and Office of Parks, Recreation, & Historic Preservation (OPRHP) officials from Albany and the region have already met and toured the park as the first step in developing a joint master plan for the museum and public use of state parkland. Regional parks director, Tim Joseph, arranged the meeting and led the tour.

A little­-used 60­-acre section at the north end of the park, bordering Route 54A, is
being considered as the location for the museum’s main campus. Opportunities for interpretive exhibits in other areas of the park are also being examined. Camping and public use of the existing beach, facilities, and boat launch will not be affected.

Andy Beers, OPRHP Executive Deputy Commissioner, stated that while the agency will not be involved in funding the $40 million project, it will make its expertise and services available to help museum organizers develop their plans.

The Finger Lakes Museum is a privately held not-­for­-profit educational institution that was chartered by the New York State Board of Regents in 2009. While some federal and state funding may be available through grant programs, the bulk of the funding is planned to come from private sources and corporations.

In other developments, museum trustee and former site selection committee chairman, Don Naetzker, resigned from the board in May to accept a paid position as the museum’s Project Manager. A licensed landscape architect and professional land planner, Naetzker will coordinate planning efforts with museum organizers, state parks, and architectural and exhibit designers. His recent master planning projects include Frontier Field, Corn Hill Landing, and Charlotte Harbor at the Port of Rochester.
Commercial real estate developer and president of the Finger Lakes Visitors Association, David Wegman, was elected to the museum’s board of trustees in May. He is also owner of Esperanza Mansion Inn and Restaurant in the hamlet of Keuka Park and the tour boat, Esperanza Rose, which offers dinner cruises on Keuka Lake. Wegman was instrumental in bringing the Finger Lakes Museum to Keuka Lake State Park.

Photo: Finger Lakes Museum board members and officials from the state Office of
Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation met last month in order to develop a joint
master plan for Keuka Lake State Park. From left to right: Don Naetzker, FLM project manager? Tim Joseph, Finger Lakes State Parks Regional Director? Mike Wasilco, DEC Region 8 wildlife biologist? Andy Beers, OPRHP Executive Deputy Commissioner? Chris Pushkarsh, OPRHP, Tom Alworth, OPRHP? Bill Banaszewski, FLM? John Adamski, FLM president? John Eberhard, OPRHP? Henry Maus, FLM? Jim Zimpfer, OPRHP? Dan Davis, OPRHP? and Tom Lyons, OPRHP.

Rocking Another Boat at the Adirondack Museum

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There is a new boat on the small pond at the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York. It is a Bisby Scow and will be used to provide a genuine &#8220on the water&#8221 experience for thousands of museum visitors this summer.

The new boat is a reproduction of one in the museum’s extensive collection. Although &#8220Adirondack&#8221 in design and history, this Bisby scow started life far from the North Country. The hand-made boat is the work of young boat builders from the Bronx, participants in Rocking the Boat, a non-profit youth development organization.

On Saturday, May 22, 2010, the boat building crew, accompanied by adult builders and faculty, delivered, christened, and launched the Bisby Scow on the museum pond. This is the second boat created by Rocking the Boat expressly for the Adirondack Museum. The first, a replica of an Adirondack logging bateau, was launched in 2007.

Rocking the Boat is a traditional wooden boat building and environmental education program based in the southwest Bronx, New York City. Through an alternative multi-faceted hands-on approach to education and youth development, Rocking the Boat addresses the need for inner city youth to achieve practical and tangible goals, relevant to both everyday life and future aspirations. The program was founded in 1995.

Young people enrolled in the program have built well more than twenty boats over the time, and Rocking the Boat is recognized as one of the most dynamic after school and summer programs in New York City. For more information, visit www.rockingtheboat.org.

Museum Curator Hallie Bond, who coordinated the project, says that a member of the Bisby Club designed the original Bisby Scow in 1888. The craft was intended for all-purpose every day use and few exist today. The Bisby Scow in the collection of the Adirondack Museum &#8211 a rare survivor &#8212- dates from the 1920s: the name of the builder is unknown.

The Adirondack Museum has the second largest collection of inland wooden watercraft in the United States. Many extraordinary examples are on display in the popular exhibit &#8220Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks, 1850 &#8211 1950.&#8221

Photo: Young boat builders from the Rocking the Boat project with their new boat, christened Naomi II.

Residents of The Grinnell Launch Centennial Celebration

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The residents of The Grinnell, a land-marked nine-story, triangular cooperative apartment house at 800 Riverside Drive in the Audubon Park Historic District, will begin a year-long celebration of their building’s centennial on June 10, 2010.

Heralding the festivities is the launch of www.TheGrinnellat100.com, a website combining oral history, media clips, historical essays, and images spanning the building’s 100-year history. The year’s events will also include centennial logo and photography competitions, exhibitions in the Grinnell’s community room, apartment tours, a gardening project, and a birthday party. A calendar of events is available on the website.

Constructed between June 10, 1910 and July 23, 1911, the Grinnell sits on a triangular plot of land in Washington Heights where the family of George Blake Grinnell once pastured a few cows when the surrounding area was known as Audubon Park. “The Park,” a bucolic suburb that grew out of John James Audubon’s farm Minnie’s Land, remained suburban into the 20th Century, but became prime property for real estate development when the subway opened at 157th Street in November 1904. Six years later, when the extended Riverside Drive opened, its path crossing Audubon Park, the Grinnell heirs, led by eldest son George Bird Grinnell, sold their property. Developers quickly snapped it up and between 1909 and 1911 erected a group of Beaux Arts apartment houses. Noting the effects of rapid transit, newspaper commentators dubbed the two-year period Audubon Park’s “rapid transformation.”

Like neighboring apartment buildings, the Grinnell lured the prosperous middle-class uptown with amenities such as uniformed staff, spacious apartments “adapted to those accustomed to private houses,” enameled woodwork and paneled dining rooms, and proximity to the subway (“only 200 feet”) – all at prices “30% less than the Middle West Side.” Built around an airy courtyard, The Grinnell remained a fashionable building through the Great Depression, usually fully occupied. In the late 1940s, the Evangelist Daddy Grace bought the Grinnell, considering it and the Eldorado on Central Park West the prime properties in his real estate portfolio. Both were part of his estate when he died in 1960. Although Daddy Grace reputedly refused to integrate his properties, the actress, playwright, and author Alice Childress lived at the Grinnell from the 1950s into the 1970s, though in the ‘50s, she was certainly an exception, rather than the rule.

During the 1970s, the Grinnell suffered landlord neglect as did many apartment buildings in Manhattan. Grinnell tenants organized and demanded better services, eventually resorting to a rent strike to force the owner into providing basic amenities such as heat and hot water. When the landlord abandoned the Grinnell, owing large tax and utility bills, the residents began the arduous process of assuming management of the building, eventually buying it from New York City in 1982. The resulting co-op became The Grinnell, HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation).

During the ensuing three decades, determined boards of directors and dedicated residents revived what was virtually a dead building, replacing and upgrading building systems and restoring common areas to their original beauty. Individual co-op shareholders have restored their apartments, improving their personal investments as well as the co-op’s financial health.

The centennial events will celebrate these achievements as well as the diversity of the Grinnell’s population. From a homogenous population at the beginning of the 20th Century, the Grinnell has progressed to a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic population mirroring the city around it.

A theme running through the centennial celebration is the Grinnell’s place in its community. Grinnell residents actively supported the Audubon Park Historic District effort and are the first private participants in the Heritage Rose District of New York City, a project sponsored by Borough President Scott Stringer’s office. During the centennial year, the Grinnell garden committee will increase its heritage rose collection to thirty bushes, all of them fully visible to the neighborhood, and will dedicate its Heritage Rose Garden in June 2011. An exhibition in September 2010, “The Ground beneath Our Feet,” will trace the close ties between the Grinnell and land surrounding it. A photo competition and exhibition in February 2011 will focus on the Grinnell’s neighbors- submissions must be views of the neighborhood as seen from the Grinnell’s windows. All events, including the Grinnell’s birthday party on October 17, 2010, will be open to the public.

Civilian Conservation Corps Program, Reunions

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On Friday, June 25th, 2010, the Schenectady County Historical Society will host a reunion of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) alumni, family, & friends, from 10:00 am to noon at 32 Washington Avenue, Schenectady, NY. Marty Podskoch, CCC researcher, will give a short presentation and will invite participants to share memories of the camps.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began on March 31, 1933 under President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” to relieve the poverty and unemployment of the Depression. Camps were set up in many New York towns, state parks, & forests. Workers built trails, roads, campsites, dams, fire tower observer’s cabins & telephone lines- fought fires- stocked fish- and planted millions of trees. The CCC disbanded in 1942 due to the need for men in WW II.

A part of the history of the CCC was saved recently by the daughter of a man who was in one of the camps. She donated a CCC Schenectady District yearbook for 1937 to the Historical Society. The yearbook has a history of the District, along with photos of officers and the men at the camps. Many men from Schenectady were in Company 219 (Cherry Plain, NY)- and Company 222 (Middleburg, NY).

Marty Podskoch is a retired teacher and the author of five books: Fire Towers of the Catskills: Their History and Lore, two Adirondack fire tower books: Adirondack Fire Towers: Their History and Lore, the Southern Districts, and Northern Districts and two other books, Adirondack Stories: Historical Sketches and Adirondack Stories II: Historical Sketches from his weekly illustrated newspaper column.

Presently, Marty Podskoch is conducting research on the Civilian Conservation Camps in the Adirondacks and Connecticut. He is interested in meeting individuals who may have CCC stories to contribute to his next book. Marty Podskoch will have all of his books available after the presentation for sale and signing. For those unable to attend this reunion, Marty Podskoch has planned five other reunions:

June 22 6:30 pm Oneida Historical Society, 1608 Genesee St., Utica (315) 735-3642
June 23 6:30 pm Franklin Co. Hist. Society, 51 Milwaukee St. Malone (518) 483-2750
June 26 1 pm Fulton Co. Hist. Society, 237 Kingsboro Ave., Gloversville (518) 725-8314
June 27 2 pm Bolton Landing Hist. Society, Bolton Free Library (518) 644-2233

For more information on the reunion in Schenectady, contact Katherine Chansky,Librarian/Archivist, Grems-Doolittle Library at: (518) 374-0263, [email protected]. The Schenectady County Historical Society is wheelchair accessible, with off-street parking.

If any one has information or pictures to share of relatives or friends who worked at one of the CCC camps, please contact, Katherine Chansky (518) 374-0263 at the Grems-Doolittle Library, or Marty Podskoch at: 36 Waterhole Rd., Colchester, CT 06415 or 860-267-2442, or [email protected]

Upcoming Events at Olana State Historic Site

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The Olana New York State Historic Site, a National Historic Landmark, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Hudson Valley and upstate New York has announced a series of upcoming events.

Named for a fortress treasure-house in ancient Persia, Olana was the home of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), one of America’s most important artists, a student of Thomas Cole, and a major figure in the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Olana stands high on a hill near Hudson, New York and offers sweeping vistas of the Catskill Mountains, the Hudson River and the Taconic Hills.

Family Tour at Olana
Saturday, June 12, 11:30AM

Explore the house, its paintings and treasures from a child’s perspective. Take the family tour then stop by the Wagon House Education Center for Art in the Barn, or borrow a backpack full of activities to do on the grounds – a family day at Olana couldn’t be more perfect! Tours are geared for families with 6-12 year olds, but all ages are welcome. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Reservations are required by 4PM the preceding Friday. Call (518) 828-0135 for information. $9/adult- $8/students and seniors, free for children under 12 and members of The Olana Partnership.

Garden Walk
Monday, June 14, 4-5pm

Join Mary K. Hughes on an informational walk through Church’s flower garden. Learn a little history as well as new plant care and maintenance of perennial gardens. Bring questions on Heirloom annuals and perennials- stay for the Olana sunsets. Mary holds a degree in Horticulture as well as Floriculture has a floral design certificate from SUNY Cobleskill Agriculture College and has owned and operated her own business for 8 years. In addition, Mary runs a greenhouse that specializes in Heirloom plants, was on the board of trustees for the Hudson Valley Flower show as well as a ribbon holder for design and currently is a member of the New York in Bloom Flower Expo that raises money for after school activities in Albany County. Adults. Free. Meet at Olana’s Flower Garden at the top of the hill. Rain or shine.

First Day of Summer Hike
Monday, June 21, 9AM

Explore carriage drives and sweeping views as you learn a little more about the Olana landscape. Families welcome! Pre-registration required by 4PM the Wednesday preceding. Dress for the weather and meet in front of the Visitor Center. Free. Call (518) 828-0135 for information.

Family Tour at Olana
Saturday, June 26, 11:30AM

Explore the house, its paintings and treasures from a child’s perspective. Take the family tour then stop by the Wagon House Education Center for Art in the Barn, or borrow a backpack full of activities to do on the grounds – a family day at Olana couldn’t be more perfect! Tours are geared for families with 6-12 year olds, but all ages are welcome. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Reservations are required by 4PM the preceding Friday. Call (518) 828-0135 for information. $9/adult- $8/students and seniors, free for children under 12 and members of The Olana Partnership.

Music at the Farm
Saturday, June 26, 4-6PM

Join us for a contemporary concert, interpreting the spirit of Olana with drums from around the world. Musician David Macejka, (http://www.davidmacejka.com/) will perform music influenced by Church’s admiration for Persian architecture and culture. An open drum circle (please bring your own drums if you’d like to participate) will follow. Rain or shine. Seats limited- register by the preceding Friday: 518.828.1872&#215-110. Wagon House Education Center/Farm Complex. All ages. Free.

Garden Walk
Monday, July 5, 4-5pm

Join Mary K. Hughes on an informational walk through Church’s flower garden. Learn a little history as well as new plant care and maintenance of perennial gardens. Bring questions on Heirloom annuals and perennials- stay for the Olana sunsets. Mary holds a degree in Horticulture as well as Floriculture has a floral design certificate from SUNY Cobleskill Agriculture College and has owned and operated her own business for 8 years. In addition, Mary runs a greenhouse that specializes in Heirloom plants, was on the board of trustees for the Hudson Valley Flower show as well as a ribbon holder for design and currently is a member of the New York in Bloom Flower Expo that raises money for after school activities in Albany County. Adults. Free. Meet at Olana’s Flower Garden at the top of the hill. Rain or shine.

Family Tour at Olana
Saturday, July 10, 11:30AM

Explore the house, its paintings and treasures from a child’s perspective. Take the family tour then stop by the Wagon House Education Center for Art in the Barn, or borrow a backpack full of activities to do on the grounds – a family day at Olana couldn’t be more perfect! Tours are geared for families with 6-12 year olds, but all ages are welcome. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Reservations are required by 4PM the preceding Friday. Call (518) 828-0135 for information. $9/adult- $8/students and seniors, free for children under 12 and members of The Olana Partnership.

The Journey Summer Arts Program: Session I
Monday, July 12 &#8211 Friday, July 16, 9AM-2PM

Children ages 6-12 work in small groups at the picturesque estate of Frederic Church, renowned Hudson River School artist, as they journey to one of the locales visited by Church in the 19th century. Through art, music, movement, history, nature walks, poetry and other hands-on activities in the Wagon House Education Center, children experience the life and travels of this landmark artist. Call (518) 828-1872&#215-110 for more info. Ages 6-12, $165/child- $125 members of The Olana Partnership. Click here for application.

ONGOING EVENTS

Fern Hunting among These Picturesque Mountains:
Frederic Edwin Church in Jamaica
Evelyn & Maurice Sharp Gallery
Thursday &#8211 Sunday, June 6 – October 31, 11AM-4PM

In 1865, Frederic Church, an avid traveler with a special passion for the tropics, journeyed to Jamaica. This was unlike his previous expeditions, as he and his wife, Isabel, were escaping from intense personal grief: the loss of their two young children. Throwing himself into the exploration and documentation of the island, the renowned artist produced a variety of works ranging from delicate pen sketches of palm trees to oil sketches of the atmospheric Blue Mountains and brilliant sunsets. The importance of the trip is reflected in the number of studies Church chose to mount, frame, and display at Olana, which became a major attraction for visitors to his home. The best of the related sketches and paintings from Jamaica comprise the exhibit. Call (518) 828-0135 for information.

In the Footsteps of Frederic Church: Photos by Larry Lederman
Tuesday &#8211 Sunday, June 6 –October 31, 10am-4pm

Larry Lederman is a photographer and writer who has traveled to many of the locations Frederic Church visited. This exhibition displays photographs of a number of sites that Frederic Church painted and seek to evoke his artistic vision and explore his art. The photographs affirm that many of the wilderness enclaves Church painted still exist, preserved as part of our heritage because of the beauty that he and other nineteenth century painters captured. Copies of the photos will be available for sale in the Olana museum shop. Olana Coachman’s House, All ages, included with grounds fee.

Art in the Barn
Saturdays, 12-4PM, April 3 -December 4

Young artists (ages 3-5) and their caregivers/friends are welcome to the Wagon House Education Center for their first exposures to art! Let Olana inspire your little one- meet new fri
ends, get messy, and discover art together. Come promptly at 12pm to participate in the 12-1pm music, story-telling, dance and movement portion- 1-4pm is drop-in open art studio time to unleash the creativity. Themes: Architecture- Farm History- The Hudson River. Free. Vehicle fee applies though October. Call (518) 828-1872 for information.

Olana on the Move Backpacks
Thursdays-Sundays, 12-4PM, April 4 through December 5

Families are welcome to borrow a backpack to explore the Olana landscape! Backpacks can be signed out at the Olana Visitor Center (and the Wagon House Education Center on Saturdays and Sundays) and contain trail maps and self-guided activities to enrich family visits. Two themed backpacks are available: ‘Exploration Today: Discover Olana’ and ‘View it Like an Artist’. Take your sketches home, or donate them to our ongoing public exhibit in the Wagon House Education Center! Please be prepared to leave a driver’s license or other photo ID until backpack is returned. Free. Vehicle fee applies Saturday/Sunday through October. Not available July 4. Call (518) 828-1872 for information.

ARTlandish!
Sundays, 1-4PM, April 4 &#8211 December 5

Create art in the landscape – not such an outlandish idea! Frederic Church sketched outside noting the details in nature and then went back to the studio to paint. Drop in at the Education Center for sketch paper, pencils and clipboards. Then head out into Olana’s picturesque landscape to sketch your very own view. Come back to the “studio” (Education Center) to use colored pencils, oil pastels and watercolors to finish your artwork. Please be prepared to leave a photo ID until all sketch materials are returned. Not available July 4. Wagon House Education Center/Farm Complex. All ages. Free.

Vermont Days Events at Western VT Historic Sites

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Vermont Days, June 12 and 13, a weekend of free admission at the Vermont State Historic Sites and State Parks, will be the occasion for a number of special events at the Mount Independence, Hubbardton Battlefield, and Chimney Point State Historic Sites. All events are free and open to the public.

At the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell—

&#8211Saturday, June 12, 1:00 PM Mad Matt the Democrat Historian Vincent Feeney talks about Matthew Lyon, indentured servant, Green Mountain Boy, son-in-law to Thomas Chittenden, land speculator, entrepreneur, and Vermont congressman. Lyon served at Mount Independence and in 1785 bought its abandoned cannons and other scrap iron. Sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council.

&#8211Sunday, June 13. 1:00 PM Wildflowers of the Mount Join wildflower expert Ann Honan on another walk to discover the wildflowers of Mount Independence. What blooms in June? Wear sturdy shoes and dress for the weather. Sponsored by the Mount Independence Coalition.

Mount Independence is six miles west of the intersections of VT Routes 22A and 73 near the end of Mount Independence Road. Call (802) 948-2000 for information.
At the Hubbardton Battlefield State Historic Site in Hubbardton&#8211

&#8211Saturday, June 12: Staying Connected: Wildlife Habitat, 1:00 PM Monica Erhart, Linkage Coordinator for Staying Connected, talks about Vermont’s critical wildlife corridors and their importance for wide-ranging mammals. Hubbardton is in the center of an important corridor between the Green Mountains and Adirondacks. A wildlife-focused walk follows, if weather allows.

&#8211Sunday, June 13: War Stories: New Tales from the Battle of Hubbardton, 1:00 PM Historian Kate Kenney from the University of Vermont Consulting Archeology Program shares fascinating “new” stories about the soldiers of Hubbardton from her recent research in Revolutionary war pension records and other period sources. “Who were those guys?”

The Hubbardton Battlefield is on Monument Hill Road, six miles east of Vermont Route 30 in Hubbardton or six miles north of exit 5 on US Route 4 in Castleton. Call (802) 273-2282 for information.

At the Chimney Point State Historic Site in Addison—

&#8211Saturday, June 12, Second Saturdays, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Explore the French colonial past at Chimney Point (Pointe a-la-Chevelure) with hands-on activities for all ages. Try the dress-up box, play games, and learn what archaeology and the study of period sources can reveal.

&#8211Sunday, June 14, Sunday Afternoon Special, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Hands-on activities and period games. Learn about ancient stone tools or how to throw an atlatl, play period games, and enjoy other fun for all ages.

Chimney Point is located in Addison at the intersections of Vermont Routes 125 and 17, just west of the temporary Lake Champlain ferry. Call (802) 759-2412 for information.

For information about Vermont’s state-owned historic sites, visit www.HistoricVermont.org/sites or contact John Dumville at (802) 828-3051.


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.

Albany Institute Honors Family, Artist at 2010 Gala

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This Friday, June 11, 2010, the Albany Institute of History & Art will honor two longtime supporters at the 2010 Museum Gala: The John D. Picotte Family/Equinox Foundation and renowned artist Stephen Hannock.

Stephen Hannock is renowned for his atmospheric landscapes: compositions of flooded rivers, nocturnes, and large vistas that often incorporate text inscriptions that relate to family, friends, or events of daily life. One of Hannock’s masterpieces employing this technique is “The River Keeper,” which is currently on view in the Albany Institute’s galleries. “Many critics have compared Hannock’s paintings to Thomas Cole, Frederic Edwin Church, and other 19th-century masters,” Miles said. “It is an honor to include Stephen Hannock’s work in exhibitions like Hudson River Panorama.”

Hannock’s paintings are represented in many private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art- the National Gallery of Art- the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston- the National Museum of American Art- Smith College Museum of Art- the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, and the Albany Institute of History & Art. In 1998, Hannock’s work won an Academy Award for “Special Visual Effects” in the motion picture, What Dreams May Come. Hannock divides his time between his studios in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and New York City.

Also being honored at the 2010 Museum Gala is the John D. Picotte Family/Equinox Foundation, who have been a generous supporter of the Albany Institute. The 2010 Museum Gala recognizes them for their courage and vision in supporting the three-year planning, research, and design phases of the Institute’s landmark exhibition, Hudson River Panorama: 400 Years of History, Art, and Culture, now on display through January 2011.

“Few foundations support the planning and research phase of projects because tangible evidence is not obvious in a short period of time,” said Christine Miles, Executive Director of the Albany Institute. “However, it is impossible to create a multidimensional product without this essential support. Thanks to the Equinox Foundation, the Albany Institute has been able to advance our community’s understanding of our regional culture and heritage while working to build the area’s self-esteem.” The multi-pronged project included the involvement of renowned history and science scholars, community groups, teachers, parents, students, and other audiences throughout the design phase, which ultimately resulted in the most successful exhibition and programming in the Albany Institute’s 219-year history.

Tickets for the 2010 Museum Gala are still on sale, and may be purchased online by visiting www.albanyinstitute.org/gala.htm. For more information about the gala, its honorees, or donors, please contact Michael Weidrich, Director of Corporate Development, (518) 463-4478, ext. 414, or [email protected].

Soap Box Derby Exhibit Opens at NYS Museum

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Seventy years after the debut of Albany’s first Soap Box Derby, the New York State Museum will mark the occasion with the opening of a small exhibition on the Derby June 8, followed by an awards ceremony at the Museum in conjunction with this year’s Albany competition. “Derby Doings: The All-American Soap Box Derby,” will be open in the Museum lobby until August 15.

The annual Capital District Soap Box Derby competition will be held in front of the State Museum on Madison Avenue on Saturday, June 12th and Sunday, June 13th. The awards ceremony in the Museum’s Huxley Theater will immediately follow Sunday’s races at approximately 5 p.m. The winners in three divisions will advance, all expenses paid, to the World Championships in Akron, Ohio later in July.

The exhibition traces the history of the Derby to the summer of 1933 when Dayton, Ohio Daily News photographer Myron Scott saw three boys racing down the hill and proposed what he expected would be a one-time competition. Nineteen children showed up and Scott was compelled to arrange for another competition on August 19, 1933. Intensely publicized, the event attracted 362 contestants and about 40,000 spectators.

The first national championship which Scott called the All-American Soap Box Derby was launched the following year with promotional and financial support from newspapers, magazines and Chevrolet. In 1935, the Derby relocated to Akron, Ohio.

Albany’s first competition dates to 1940 when 15,000 people watched 100 boys compete in the first races on Clermont Avenue. The Derby was locally sponsored and promoted chiefly by Chevrolet automobile dealers and the Albany Times Union. Ongoing support from both allowed such large events to continue through the 1940s. The Derby was televised by WRGB in 1949. Racing continued off and on at various locations, with different sponsors, until it ceased in the 1970s.

However, the Albany Derby was revived in 2006, managed by Ginger Miller. Boys and girls, ages 8-18, are now invited to participate.

The Derby was also held in Schenectady at one time. Richard Russell built two cars – one in 1948 and the other in 1949 &#8212- for the annual races on Fehr Avenue in Schenectady. He constructed both of his cars in a building at the Mattice service station and Mattice Fuel Oil service facility at 1025 Altamont Ave. in Schenectady, a business dating from the 1920s. It is still operated by the Russell family, including Richard Russell and his son, Richard Russell Jr., who donated the Russell car to the State Museum in 1995.

The 1949 Russell car will be on display in the exhibition, along with a contemporary Super Stock model built by Michael Morawski in 2007. He won with it on Madison Avenue in 2008 and went on to compete in Akron later that summer. Visitors can also see a helmet worn by Russell at the Schenectady races in 1948 and 1949, a trophy won by Donald Matthews in the Albany derby in July 1941, and several photographs that appeared in the Times Union and Daily Gazette in Schenectady.

Photo: Richard Russell in his car that is on display in the New York State Museum exhibition “Derby Doings: The All-American Soap Box Derby.” This photograph was used in a Mattice ad which appeared in the Schenectady Gazette on July 30, 1949. (Courtesy of NYS Museum)

Lecture to Focus on Southern Otsego County

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Join Mark Simonson as he discusses the development of southern Otsego County as well as the preservation work of Hanford Mills and Hyde Hall &#8211 both co-sponsors of the lecture. Mr. Simonson is the Otsego City Historian and an interpreter at The Farmers’ Museum. The lecture will be held in the auditorium of the Fenimore Art Museum on Tuesday, June 8, beginning at 7:00 p.m.

The Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake &#8212- James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass Lake” &#8212- in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art.

Fenimore Art Museum exhibits include: folk art- important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings- an extensive collection of domestic artifacts- more than 125,000 historical photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history- and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprising more than 800 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Founded in 1945, the Fenimore Art Museum is NYSHA’s showcase museum.