Two New Collections Available at The Mets Archive

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives has announced that two recently processed collections from the first half of the 20th century, the records of a curator in the Decorative Arts department Durr Friedley and those of former president William Church Osborn, are now open for scholarly research. The newly available collections include online finding aids.

Durr Friedley Records, 1906-1918
Durr Friedley was a staff member of the Department of Decorative Arts of The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1911 until 1917, serving as an assistant, Assistant Curator and Acting Curator. Records consist primarily of correspondence regarding prospective Museum acquisitions. Items of special interest include letters concerning the Museum’s acquisition of early American colonial furnishings, later displayed in the American Wing. A pdf finding aid is located here.

William Church Osborn Records, 1904-1953
William Church Osborn was a longtime trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art who also served as the institution’s Vice President, President and Honorary President. Records consist primarily of correspondence regarding all aspects of Museum operations including acquisitions, exhibitions, fundraising, buildings and trustee affairs.
A pdf finding aid is located here.

The objective of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives is to collect, organize, and preserve in perpetuity the corporate records and official correspondence of the Museum, to make the collection accessible and provide research support, and to further an informed and enduring understanding of the Museum’s history. Archives holdings include Board of Trustees records, legal documents, Museum publications, office files of selected Museum staff, architectural drawings, press clippings, and ephemera. The Archives is accessible to Museum staff and to qualified scholarly researchers at the graduate level and above. Requests for access should be sent via email, and should include a brief summary of the research project, an outline of sources already consulted and a curriculum vitae or resume. Access is granted at the discretion of Archives staff, and certain materials may be restricted.

19th Cent. Sliding Toys Donated to Coolidge House

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The unique one-ski sit-down sled at left is an antique “jack jumper” from the 19th century. It looks like a stool bolted to a single ski – is one of two antique sliding toys recently donated to Vermont’s President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site by a local woman. The jack-jumper was a fairly radical ride for it’s time according to museum officials who said there was no way to steer, except to shift your body and hang on. The jack-jumper is one of two early sleds donated by Miriam Herwig of Randolph Center that will be used in the Coolidge site’s educational programs to show what Vermont children did for winter fun before the advent of skiing and snowboarding.

The other sled, called a traverse (below, right), was made for multiple passengers and originally belonged to Charles Adams, a descendent of Luther Adams who built the first floating bridge in Brookfield, Vermont. More than eight feet long with pivoting wooden runners steered by a rope, the red wooden traverse was used at the Normal School in Randolph in the 1880s.

The jack jumper has traces of old red paint on the seat and pedestal and the initials “GHW” appear on the side of the pedestal, carved there by its original owner, George Woodward of Williamstown, who was a friend of Herwig’s father.

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation maintains the village of Plymouth Notch much as it was when Calvin Coolidge was a boy and curates the largest collection of artifacts associated with President Coolidge and his family.

The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site is open May 29 through October 17, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. The site office, located in the Aldrich House, is open most weekdays year-round and has exhibits especially designed for winter visitors.

The snow-covered hillsides surrounding the village are perfect for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, or even jack jumping.

For further information, call (802) 672-3773 or visit the state-owned historic sites online at www.HistoricVermont.org/sites

Sugaring Off Sundays at The Farmers Museum

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Sugaring Off Sundays, The Farmers’ Museum’s annual event which honors the maple sugaring season, will be held each Sunday throughout the month of March and will also include Easter Sunday, April 4th. The event features historic and contemporary sugaring demonstrations, children’s activities and more. A full pancake breakfast will be served from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. with all other activities scheduled 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Visitors will be treated to demonstrations of traditional methods of maple-sugaring. Other hands-on demonstrations will allow visitors to experience the traditions of sugaring in the region.

Children’s activities will take place in the Filer’s Corners Schoolhouse throughout the day and maple cooking demonstrations will be held in the More House. Visitors are invited to have a taste of “jack wax” &#8211 hot maple syrup poured over snow! The blacksmith will also be working in his shop – stop in to watch a true craftsman.

The Empire State Carousel, a favorite attraction at The Farmers’ Museum, will also be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Facebook fans receive one free ride.

The Farmers’ Museum Store and Todd’s General Store will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Each offers unique gifts, books and crafts.

Admission to Sugaring Off Sundays is $8 for adults- $4 for children age 7 to 12- admission is free for children 6 and under. Admission includes full breakfast. No reservations are required.

Conference: Food and Dining in the Hudson Valley

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&#8220Bon Appetit: Food and Dining in the Hudson Valley,&#8221 a conference organized by the Great Estates Consortium, will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2010 beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the Roosevelt Library and Home.

Bon Appetit, which celebrates the rich history of food in the Hudson Valley, has been planned to coincide with Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2010. This fourth annual event will take place between March 15 &#8211 28, and will showcase this scenic New York State region as a premier culinary destination.

Heidi Hill, Historic Site Manager of Crailo and Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site, will open the conference by exploring 17th century food. Using Dutch genre paintings paired with archaeological evidence, Dutch documents and 17th century artifacts from New Netherland and Indian lands, the speaker will illuminate the colorful and sometimes surprising daily life of both the colonists and Native Americans through the foods they ate and their table and cook ware.

Valerie Balint, Associate Curator at Olana State Historic Site will explore evolving mid-century dining tastes and trends using Olana and the daily practices of the Church family as an example. Drawing upon primary source materials from the museum’s collections Ms. Balint will focus on issues relating to emerging ideals about etiquette, domesticity and cosmopolitanism. In particular, she will examine the increased emphasis, even in middle-class homes on formalized table settings, exotic foods and elaborate floral decor.

After a brief coffee break Frank Futral, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites, will explore the food customs of millionaires during the Gilded Age. Mr. Futral will be followed by Melodye Moore, Historic Site Manager at Staatsburgh State Historic Site. Ms. Moore will explore the behind-the-scenes work of the 24 domestic servants that needed to take place in order to present a &#8220Dinner of Ceremony&#8221 in a Gilded Age mansion. The as yet unrestored servants’ quarters of Staatsburgh will illustrate where much of this work took place.

Lunch will be provided by Gigi Hudson Valley and will feature local food. Laura Pensiero, RD chef/owner, Gigi Hudson Valley, will introduce the lunch and share with the participants how she uses local farm products for her business and the current state of farming in Dutchess County.

Following lunch conference attendees will have the opportunity to visit participating Great Estates where they will be given an opportunity to engage in special food related tours and activities. Each site will pair with a restaurant offering visitors a Hudson Valley treat. While there is no additional cost for visits to the historic sites, participants must pre-register for the sites they expect to visit.

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site &#8211 Servants To Stewards tour. Guests are assigned the character of a servant and learn about their role in the running of the household. This tour requires climbing 74 stairs and is not handicap accessible. Comfortable shoes are strongly recommended. Following the tour Twist Restaurant of Hyde Park will provide attendees with a Hudson Valley treat.

Staatsburgh State Historic Site &#8211 Visit the &#8220downstairs&#8221 rooms of the mansion that until recently had served as offices for the employees of the Taconic Region of the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. These rooms, including the kitchen, the sculleries, the pastry room, the Butler’s office and the male servant’s bedrooms, will soon be restored by the Friends of Mills Mansion. Leave with a special treat that might have been enjoyed by the servants from Terrapin Restaurant of Rhinebeck, New York.

Locust Grove Estate &#8211 You’ll have the chance to tour, in-depth, the kitchen, cook’s bedroom, dining room, and butler’s pantry at the historic Poughkeepsie estate. Learn more about service &#8220below stairs&#8221 in a wealthy Hudson Valley home, and how the family upstairs expected their staff to cope with day-to-day living. You’ll also step behind-the-scenes into the china room &#8211 not usually open during tours. After your tour, enjoy a special treat from Babycakes Cafe in Poughkeepsie with Locust Grove’s Director.

Clermont State Historic Site &#8211 At Home with the Livingstons: A mansion tour highlighting the historic 1930s kitchen and dining room. View the cook books and secret family recipes of Alice Clarkson Livingston. Learn what quirk of Livingston dining etiquette irked the butler. Enjoy an exclusive look at the 19th century kitchen that nourished the Chancellor’s daughter, Margaret Maria and her family. Take away a scrumptious treat from Tivoli Bread and Baking in Tivoli, New York.

Space is limited, and meals and refreshments are included in the conference fee, so pre-registration is strongly recommended. The $60 per person registration fee includes coffee/tea in the morning, luncheon catered by Gigi Hudson Valley and afternoon Great Estates site tours. For additional information please call (845) 889-8851.

Conference attendees are encouraged to dine at fixed prices in nearby restaurants and stay in local hotels offering special rates for Restaurant Week. More information is available at www.hudsonvalleyrestaurantweek.com. For information on nearby Dutchess County restaurants go here. For information regarding lodging specials there is a pdf here.

Buffalo Maritime Center Building War of 1812 Bateau

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The Buffalo Maritime Center’s new project to build a replica War of 1812 Bateau is now underway. Work sessions on the 25-foot boat will be held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:00 to 9:00 pm beginning February 23rd in the boat shop at 901 Fuhrmann Boulevard, Buffalo. According to organizers this will be the first bateau built in Buffalo in 200 years.

Anyone interested in participating can visit the shop any time during regular hours to check on the progress of construction. Check their website for shop hours, directions, and/or email for more information.

The boat building program officially began as a part of the Buffalo State College Design Department in 1988, recognizing the importance of boat design, naval architecture, and the craft of boat construction as important fields within the design disciplines.

Vermont Files Proposed Archeology Rule Change

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The State of Vermont has officially filed a proposed revised rule for protecting archeological and historical sites during development, beginning the formal process of review.

Under Vermont’s Act 250, the state’s environmental protection and development review law, the Division for Historic Preservation makes recommendations to the district environmental commissions on whether a proposed development would impact “historic sites,” including archeological sites.

The proposed rule revisions clarify that District Commissions, not the Division, have the final decision-making authority about such questions as whether to require additional field studies, and whether a site is historically significant enough to warrant protecting it.

“We don’t issue permits,” Peebles said. “The Division provides testimony to the District Commission about historic and archeological resources, on whether or not a project will adversely affect an ‘historic site,’ and on how much field study should be done to determine whether an area is historically significant and should be protected if a permit is issued. The District Commission makes those decisions.”

One concern raised by the archeology community was that undiscovered “potential” sites must continue to be considered and protected where possible. Peebles, who is also the State Archeologist, says that the revised rule clearly provides for this within the ability of existing state law.

Peebles said that the revised rules clarify that the definition of “historic site” includes archeological sites that have not yet been discovered, and encourages applicants to work with the Division as early as possible in the planning process to identify and protect sites, even well before an Act 250 application is submitted.

“Based on several steps during project review, Division staff can identify an area as historically significant and recommend to the District Commission that an archeological investigation be conducted by the applicant to ensure no undue adverse effect to significant archeological sites,” Peebles said. “The applicant still has the opportunity to present evidence to the commission disputing that.”

The proposed revised rule also sets additional time limits for reviews to make the process more predictable for permit applicants, with exceptions for winter months when the ground may be frozen and archeological field assessments impossible.

Officials with the Division for Historic Preservation said the changes reflected the feedback received during five public meetings this summer around the state.

“The public meetings to get informal feed-back on the proposed changes were very well attended. We heard from a broad spectrum of the archeology and applicant communities about the proposed rule changes,” said Giovanna Peebles, the State Historic Preservation Officer and head of the Division for Historic Preservation. “Based on that, we have further revised our original suggested changes to clarify all aspects of the original rule, including the roles of the participants in the Act 250 process.”

After review by the Interagency Committee on Administrative Rules, the proposed rule revisions will be submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office. The formal rules adoption process includes a public hearing.

After that the rule must be reviewed by the joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules before it can be put in place.

Additional details and the draft guidelines are available at www.HistoricVermont.org

Thomas Cole National Historic Site Seeks Volunteers

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Folks at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY are busy preparing for the 2010 season and are looking for volunteers. They’re currently seeking volunteer docents to conduct tours of the site from May through October. They are also recruiting guides for their hiking program on the Hudson River School Art Trail.

Everyone is invited to an Open House on March 14th, 12 noon, with behind-the-scenes tours and an opportunity to meet other volunteers and ask questions about becoming a docent. The Open House will be followed by a lecture about American landscape painting by Dr. Linda S. Ferber, offered as part of the Cole House’s ongoing Sunday Salon series. Participants in the 12pm Open House will also receive refreshments and complimentary admission to the 2pm lecture.

Reservations are required for participation in the Open House. Admission is free. For more information, please contact Joanna Frang, Education Coordinator, at 518-943-7465 ext. 2, or [email protected].

New Reference Book: Architects in Albany

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Every once in a while a book shows up that I know will have a permanent place on my desk-side bookshelf. Architects in Albany, a new book by the Historic Albany Foundation and Mount Ida Press, is a collection of profiles and images of the work of 36 designers and their firms that played a major part in forming Albany’s architectural heritage.

Edited by Diana S. Waite, the president of Mount Ida Press, this new volume was five years in the making and expands on a booklet the Historic Albany Foundation published in 1978, soon after Albany’s leading historic preservation organization was founded.

Architects in Albany if heavily indexed and includes the work of popularly known local architects like Philip Hooker, Marcus Reynolds, and also the work of builders with a national reputation that worked in Albany like Robert Gibson (Cathedral of All Saints) and Patirck C. Keely (Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception). Albany is unique in that the work of architects brought in by the state is also present in large numbers, and Architects in Albany includes profiles of them as well. Men like Thomas Fuller, H. H. Richardson, and Leopold Eidlitz (State Capitol), are featured along side more recent builders like Edward Durell Stone (SUNY Albany Campus), and Wallace K. Harrison (Empire State Plaza).

The real gems here are the original research, much of it contributed by Cornelia Brooke Gilder, on the lesser known Albany architects. Ernest Hoffman’s late 19th century contributions (15 of them) are documented here. Albert W. Fuller, one of Albany’s more prolific architects, who built Albany Hospital (the original buildings of the Albany Medical Center) and the Harmanus Bleecker Library, but also banks, clubs, apartment houses, a YMCA, several schools, the Dudley Observatory, the Fourth Precinct Police Station, and a number of residences. The book is heavily illustrated.

NYS Museum To Close March 6th and 13th

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The New York State Museum will be closed to the public on two consecutive Saturdays in March &#8212- March 6 and 13 &#8212- to allow for testing of the emergency power system in the Cultural Education Center building. The Museum will reopen with normal operating hours on the Sundays following the closings, March 7 and March 14 at 9:30 a.m.

The New York State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, it is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is free. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.