Dutch Legend: St. Nicholas and American Santa Claus

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Elisabeth Paling Funk will give a free lecture, entitled &#8220From the Old World to the New: St. Nicholas in Dutch Legend and Celebration and the Birth of the American Santa Claus,&#8221 at the Historic Elmendorph Inn, North Broadway in Red Hook on Wednesday, December 16, at 7:30 pm- refreshments will be served after the lecture. The event is sponsored by the Egbert Benson Historical Society of Red Hook.

Elisabeth Paling Funk PhD attended the University of Amsterdam, received her BA in English, cum laude, from Manhattanville College and an MA and PhD from Fordham University. She is an independent scholar, editor, and translator.Her articles on Dutch-American and early American Literature have been published in the U.S. and the Netherlands. She is preparing her dissertation, “Washington Irving and His Dutch-American Heritage . . . ” for publication as a book. Dr. Funk is a former trustee of the New Netherland Institute.

Photo: Sinterklaas in the Netherlands in 2007.

Massachusetts Historical Society Research Fellowships

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The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) will offer about 30 research fellowships for the academic year 2010-2011, including at least two long-term research fellowships made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition to approximately 20 short-term fellowships, the Society will help to provide at least 11 New England Regional Fellowship Consortium grants for projects that draw on the resources of several participating institutions, and at least two long-term MHS-NEH fellowships for study at the MHS. Each summer the Society offers 2-3 fellowships for K-12 teachers. During 4 weeks of on-site research at the MHS, teachers prepare a curriculum or comparable project based on primary documents to enhance instruction in American history, language arts, or science.

An independent research library and manuscript repository, the MHS’s holdings encompass millions of rare and unique documents and artifacts vital to the study of American history, many of them irreplaceable national treasures. A few examples include correspondence between John and Abigail Adams, such as her famous &#8220Remember the ladies&#8221- several imprints of the Declaration of Independence- and Thomas Jefferson’s architectural drawings. The MHS was founded in 1791, and in the absence of other local and state historical society’s played a national role into the latter part of the 19th century.

For more information about the Society’s research fellowships visit their web site at
www.masshist.org/fellowships or contact Conrad E. Wright at [email protected] or 617-646-0512.

Application deadlines:

MHS-NEH fellowships, January 15, 2010-

New England Regional Fellowships, February 1, 2010-

MHS Short-Term fellowships, March 1, 2010.

This Weeks New York History Web Highlights

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Each Friday New York History compiles for our readers the week’s best stories and links from the web about the history of New York. You can find all our weekly web highlights here.

SUNY Fredonia May Launch Public History Program

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The History Department at SUNY Fredonia is considering creating a graduate certificate program in Public History that will provide training in historical methods, archival methods, exhibition planning and preparation, and historic resource management.

They envision a program that would require 15-18 graduate credit hours (5-6 courses), including course work in Public History and applied skills, historical research methodology, directed readings, and an internship and/or practicum. The courses would be available to both full- and part-time students and all courses included in the program would be applicable to an Interdisciplinary M.A./M.S. at SUNY Fredonia.

So that they can best tailor the program to meet the needs of the Western New York community and their own students, they have created a brief survey about interest and possible enrollment in the program or related courses.

The survey, which should only require a few minutes to complete, will provide valuable feedback as they move forward with planning the program. All responses will remain anonymous and will be used for no other purpose than preparing our program proposal.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=kW5y9yOM8_2feUapbRP49TIA_3d_3d

Study: Americans Ignorant About American Revolution

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The American Revolution Center (ARC), an organization hoping to build the first national museum of the revolution in Philadelphia, released today what it’s calling &#8220the first comprehensive national survey of adult knowledge of the American Revolution.&#8221 The findings, which are based on a random sample of 1,000 telephone interviews, indicate that 83 percent of Americans failed a basic test on knowledge of the American Revolution and the principles on which the country was founded.

Perhaps more interesting is the finding that 90 percent of respondents think that knowledge of the American Revolution and its principles are very important, and that 89 percent expected to pass a test on basic knowledge of the American Revolution, but scored an average of 44 percent.

The survey questions considered issues related to Revolutionary documents, people, and events, and also asked attitudinal questions about the respondents’ perception of the importance of understanding the Revolutionary history and the institutions that were established to preserve our freedoms and liberties. The entire study can be downloaded via pdf here.

Here is are some of the more remarkable findings:

American adults mistakenly believe the Constitution established a government of direct democracy, rather than a democratic republic. While this basic fact is included on the naturalization exam for immigrants to qualify for U.S. citizenship, more than half of the Americans polled do not know it.

More than 50 percent of Americans wrongly attributed the quote, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” to George Washington, Thomas Paine, or President Barack Obama, when it is in fact a quote from Karl Marx.

Many more Americans remember that Michael Jackson sang “Beat It” than know that the Bill of Rights is part of the Constitution.

60 percent of Americans can correctly identify the number of children in reality-TV show couple Jon and Kate Gosselin’s household (eight), but more than one-third do not know the century in which the American Revolution took place. Half of those surveyed believe the Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation, or War of 1812 occurred before the American Revolution.

At a time when thousands of political protesters hold “tea parties” around the nation, more than half of Americans do not know that the outcome of the Boston Tea Party was not a repeal of taxes, but rather that it prompted British to pass the Coercive Acts which ignited American patriotism and sparked the Revolution.

One-third of Americans do not know that the right to a jury trial is covered in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights, while 4-in-10 mistakenly think that the right to vote is.

Rarely Seen Tissot Watercolors On View

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Many of the iconic watercolors illustrating the New Testament by 19th-century French painter James Tissot, including many images related to the Nativity are on view at the Brooklyn Museum only through January 17, 2010. James Tissot: The Life of Christ includes 124 watercolors, selected from a complete set of 350 in the Museum’s collection. It marks the first time in over twenty years that any of these images have been on public view, in large part because of the extreme fragility of watercolors.

Among the scenes related to the birth of Christ that are included in the exhibition are The Annunciation, Saint Joseph Seeks a Lodging in Bethlehem, The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Magi Journeying, and The Adoration of the Shepherds.

Born in France, James Tissot (1836-1902) enjoyed a successful career as a society painter in London and in Paris before experiencing a religious vision, after which he began the ambitious project of illustrating the life of Christ, an undertaking that took a decade. It resulted in carefully researched, detailed images that were widely exhibited before rapt audiences in Europe and the United States.

In 1900, at the urging of John Singer Sargent, the entire series was acquired by the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the precursor of the Brooklyn Museum, for the then huge sum of $60,000. The significant acquisition increased by several times, the then small art collection of the fledging museum.

A selection of images from the exhibition, including several of the Nativity-related watercolors, is available for press use.

Photo: James Tissot (French, 1836-1902) The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1886-94, Brooklyn Museum

Saratoga: World War Two Vets Recount Their Stories

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The public is invited to a panel discussion this Sunday, December 6th, at 2:00 pm at the Saratoga Library (13650 Saratoga Avenue in Saratoga Springs). Saratoga Historical Foundation Historian Ray Cosyn will moderate as veterans from World War II recount their memories.

Participating in the panel will be George Cooper who flew P47’s in the European Theater with 77 missions- Herbert Kwart who flew a Flying Fortress as part of the 8th Air Force with 35 missions- Ed Pack, with the 59th Signal Battalion and later the 8th Corp part of those liberating the concentration camps- Bud Rideout, on of the Flying Tigers- and Mac McCaughey part of the 94th Division who landed on Omaha Beach.

Light refreshments will be served. The event is free to the public. The Saratoga History Museum is sponsoring the event.

Photo: USS Saratoga During World War Two. From the collections of the Library of Congress.

Call for Nominations:2009 Upstate History Alliance Awards of Merit

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Have you seen an exceptional exhibit at a New York institution this past year? Has your organization created an innovative educational program or publication? Would you like to recognize a volunteer or employee who have done exceptional work? If so, Upstate History Alliance encourages you to submit a nomination for their 2009 Awards of Merit. Each year the organizations gives annual Awards of Merit to recognize outstanding work in the regional history and museum community, reward staff and volunteers, and provide encouragement for development of new and innovative projects.

These awards will presented to recipients on Sunday April 11 at the opening reception of the 2010 Museums in Conversation Conference in Albany, sponsored by the Upstate History Alliance and the Museum Association of New York.

Any organization or individual is invited to nominate an organization, person(s) or project that was completed in 2009 in New York State for an Award of Merit. Nomination of oneself or one’s organization is permissible and encouraged.

The postmark deadline for submitting a nomination is December 11, 2009. Visit www.upstatehistory.org for nomination procedures and to download the nomination form.

If you have further questions contact UHA Program Coordinator, Stephanie Lehner, at 800.895.1648 or [email protected]

World War II in New York City Materials Wanted

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The New-York Historical Society is soliciting donations of materials relating to the impact of World War II on New York City. They are interested in snapshots of armed forces personnel (particularly leaving and returning to the city), photographs of victory gardens, women in the work force, minority communities, and locations in the city that relate in some way to the war effort. They would also like to receive soldier’s diaries that include descriptive passages about the city or the war experience, vivid and distinctive letters to or from New Yorkers and ephemeral material such as posters, broadsides, propaganda pamphlets, menus, programs, etc. All items should be identified clearly with names, dates, and locations, when known.

Please DO NOT send materials directly to them. They can only handle a limited number of items and cannot return unwanted material to donors. Instead, submit descriptions of what might be of interest with scans or photographs, if possible to [email protected].

The New-York Historical Society will not be able to accept magazines, newspapers, newspaper clippings or material that is in poor condition (i.e., dirty, moldy, unreadable) or outside the scope of our collection. Materials selected by the staff may be used in the Society’s upcoming (2012) exhibition on World War II in New York- some may be added to our permanent collections- some may appear on web presentations.

For more information contact: [email protected]

Photo: A crowd watching the news line on the Times building at Times Square, NYC, on D-day, June 6, 1944. Large-format nitrate negative by Howard Hollem or Edward Meyer, Office of War Information.