Adks: Howling Wilderness to Vacation Destination

February 10, 2012admin

The Adirondack Museum third 2012 Cabin Fever Sunday series, &#8220Nature: From Howling Wilderness to Vacation Destination&#8221 will be held on Sunday, February 12, 2012. The event will be offered free of charge.

Drawing on landscape painting, photography, traveler’s accounts, and other sources, this presentation by Dr. Charles Mitchell will explore the evolution of American attitudes towards nature. Beginning with perceptions of the American landscape as a howling wilderness, a wasteland to be tamed and transformed, the lecture will trace the social, cultural and economic forces that led to the perception of wild nature as something of value to be experienced and preserved. Key topics and figures along the way include the sublime, romanticism, Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School, John Muir, Ansel Adams, and the Lorax.

Dr. Charles Mitchell is Associate Professor of American Studies at Elmira College. Mitchell has been on the faculty of Elmira College since 1993. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Lynbrook (on Long Island) he still occasionally refers to everything north of Yonkers as &#8220upstate.&#8221 He teaches a side variety of courses in American cultural history, with specific
interests in environmental history, the history of ideas about nature, and the representation of the landscape in literature and art.

This program will be held at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts at Blue Mountain Lake, and will begin at 1:30 p.m. For additional information, please call (518) 352-7311, ext. 128 or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

This Weeks New York History Web Highlights

February 10, 2012admin

Each Friday afternoon New York History compiles for our readers the previous week’s top weblinks about New York’s state and local history. You can find all our weekly round-ups here.

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Black History Month at Saratoga Battlefield

February 9, 2012admin

In February 2012, Saratoga National Historical Park, located between Rt. 4 and Rt. 32 just north of the Village of Stillwater, will offer a free, month-long highlight exhibit on Agrippa Hull, a black soldier who fought in the Battle of Saratoga. And from 1:30 to 3:30 PM on Sunday, February 12, 2012, the Park presents a special free program, “Men of African Descent at the Battle of Saratoga.”

This special exhibit focuses on the Agrippa Hull, a black soldier who fought in the Battle of Saratoga. Hull, who was a slave in early life, fought in the American Revolution and eventually became a very successful businessman. Historical documentation on his life and family gives us a unique look into an ordinary soldier and extraordinary man.

The program on Sunday the 19th unveils new information about free and enslaved black soldiers fighting in the Battle of Saratoga. Among the fascinating findings is the racial integration in the ranks of the Continental Army, a situation that did not happen again until the Korean War.

For more information about this or other events, please call the Visitor Center at 518-664-9821 or check the park website at www.nps.gov/sara.

Illustration: Agrippa Hull.

Preserve New York Grants Available

February 9, 2012admin

Applications are now available to eligible municipalities and not-for-profit organizations to compete for funds through Preserve New York, a grant program of the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

A total of $83,674 is available for historic structure reports, historic landscape reports and cultural resource surveys. Grants are likely to range between $3,000 and $10,000 each. The application deadline is May 7, 2012.

Examples of eligible projects include: historic structure reports for cultural institutions and public buildings- historic landscape reports for municipal parks- and cultural resource surveys of downtowns and residential neighborhoods.

In 2012, the Preservation League especially encourages projects that advance the preservation of neighborhoods and downtowns that qualify for the NYS Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit- identify and protect buildings and cultural landscapes at risk due to technological, transportation and energy developments- and continue the use of historic public buildings for cultural, interpretive and artistic purpose.

For Preserve New York Grant Program guidelines, visit the League’s website at www.preservenys.org. Prospective applicants should contact the Preservation League to discuss their projects and to request an application form.

The Preservation League of New York State is a private, not-for-profit organization that works to protect and enhance the Empire State’s historic buildings, landscapes and neighborhoods. The Preserve New York Grant Program is made possible through funding from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Organizations and municipalities receiving grant awards in 2011 were: Albany County: Delaware Avenue Neighborhood Association- Cattaraugus County: Randolph Area Community Development Corporation- Chautauqua County: Fenton History Center- Chemung County: Near Westside Neighborhood Association, Inc.- Erie County (2): Preservation Buffalo Niagara- Hamlin Park Community and Taxpayers Association, Inc.- Essex County: Town of Crown Point- Kings County: Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus (FROGG)- Monroe County: The South Wedge Planning Committee, Inc.- Montgomery County (2): City of Amsterdam- Village of Fort Plain- Sullivan County: Roscoe-Rockland Chamber of Commerce- Tompkins County: City of Ithaca Planning & Development Department- Wayne County: Cracker Box Palace, Inc.- Wyoming County: Warsaw Historical Society.

Toulouse-Lautrec Exhibition at the Hyde Collection

February 8, 2012admin

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, Warren County, has announced it will present the exhibition Toulouse-Lautrec & Company: Prints from the Belle Epoque. On view in Hoopes Gallery from March 3, 2012 through May 27, 2012, the exhibition will feature ten lithographs by Toulouse-Lautrec and approximately twenty prints by his contemporaries including Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Jules Cheret (1836-1932), Maurice Denis (1870-1943), Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen (1859-1923), and Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940).

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) was one of the most innovative and popular artists of the late nineteenth century. In addition to his captivating images of cabaret performers, actresses, and dancers, he designed theater programs and song sheets that conjure the atmosphere of the Belle Epoque, or beautiful era.

The prints are on loan to The Hyde from two private collections. The exhibition is curated by Erin B. Coe, Chief Curator, The Hyde Collection.

Canal Society of New Yorks Winter Symposium

February 8, 2012admin

The Canal Society of New York State has announced it’s Winter Symposium will be held Saturday, March 3, 2012 at the Warshof Conference Center at Monroe Community College’s Brighton Campus, 1000 East Henrietta Road in Rochester (Monroe Room A & B- Park in Lot M, Center Road- enter through lobby at northeast corner of Building 3).

The Symposium includes papers on topics that are directly or indirectly related to historic or operating New York State Canals, canals and inland waterways worldwide, and the communities through which they run.

Further information, a including a summary of the agenda and pre-registration procedures may be found at the Society’s webpage– pre-registration forms are due by February 22nd.

Canal Society is an organization of canal enthusiasts who study New York canal history, including its effect on the life and economy of the State- exchange information- promote interest in the canals in the United States and abroad- educate the public and encourage preservation of canal records, relics, structures and sites- and help restore abandoned canals and historic vessels, including replicating their structures.

Founded in Buffalo on October13, 1956, the Canal Society is a not-for-profit educational organization that enables people to visit canal sites in New York State and beyond through regular, organized field trips, to share information and ideas about preserving canal history and traditions, and to advocate for canal renewal and development.

Illustration: The first issue of the Canal Society of New York State’s journal Bottoming Out.

Black Patriots: Continental African-American Vets

February 8, 2012admin

Several thousand African-Americans served in the Patriot ranks during the Revolution. Both freemen and slaves fought alongside white soldiers, in integrated regiments, a practice which would not occur again until the Korean War. In celebration of Black History Month, learn about the vital role that African-Americans played in securing our independence Sunday February 12 from 2:00 to 2:30 PM at the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site.

Though some enslaved soldiers were granted freedom for serving in the Patriot army, the successful struggle for independence doomed generations of African-Americans to continued bondage. Great Britain abolished slavery 31 years before the United States, so it was quite possible that the American Civil War might have been averted had the thirteen colonies not rebelled.

Why would black soldiers agree to fight for a country that held many of their people in chains and excluded the remainder from all but the most menial tasks? The answer was quite simple actually- the deep-seated desire to be accepted and respected. Gifted African-American leader and orator Frederick Douglass, proudly proclaimed during the Civil War: &#8220Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship.&#8221 African-Americans, of the Revolutionary War Patriot forces, were willing to fight and die to be accepted by white society as did their descendants “four score and seven years” later.

New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site is located on Route 300, 374 Temple Hill Road, in New Windsor, NY, just three miles south of the intersection of I-87 and I-84. For more information please call (845) 561-1765 ext. 22.

Illustration: An African American Private, 2nd New Jersey Regiment.

Downton Abbey and Hudson Valley Historic Houses

February 8, 2012admin

Many people are fascinated by the serial British drama &#8220Downton Abbey&#8221, currently airing on PBS. The Abbey is a fictional mansion in Yorkshire, the home of a fictional family, the Granthams, and their servant staff, during the early 20th century. It is an entertaining tale of love, intrigue, loyalty, betrayal, triumph, and tragedy! And it has generated, or at least been accompanied by, new books on the real history of the time, including Jessica Fellows, The World of Downton Abbey and the Countess of Carnarvon, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey. Read more →

Fort Ti Offers Garden & Landscape Symposium

February 7, 2012admin

The King’s Garden at Fort Ticonderoga is presenting its first Garden & Landscape Symposium, “Planting the Seeds of Knowledge for Home Gardeners,” on Saturday, April 14. This new annually planned day-long symposium, geared for both beginning and experienced gardeners, provides helpful insights from garden experts who live and garden in upstate New York and Vermont. This springtime event takes place in the Deborah Clarke Mars Education Center and is open by pre-registration only.

This one-day program focuses on practical, easy-to-implement strategies for expanding and improving your garden or landscape. The programs are offered in an informal setting that encourages interaction between speakers and attendees. Speakers include:

Emily DeBolt, owner of Fiddlehead Creek Native Plant Nursery in Hartford, New York, “Go Native! An Introduction to Gardening with Native Plants”

Amy Ivy, Cornell Cooperative Extension, “Home Composting Made Easy”

Heidi teRiele Karkoski, Curator of Landscape at Fort Ticonderoga, “The King’s Garden 2012: A Sneak Peek.”

Sarah Kingsley-Richards, Vermont Master Gardener, “What is Wrong with My Plant? Diagnosing Common Pests and Diseases in Garden Plants”

Leonard Perry, instructor and researcher at the University of Vermont, “Perennials: New Introductions & Underused Favorites”

Nancy Wotton Scarzello, herbalist and educator, “The Gourmet Garden: Culinary Herbs & Edible Flowers”

Registration for the Garden & Landscape Symposium is now open. The cost for the day-long symposium, which includes a box lunch, is $75 ($65 for members of the Friends of Fort Ticonderoga). A brochure with the complete schedule and a registration form is available on Fort Ticonderoga’s website by selecting “Explore and Learn” and choosing “Life Long Learning” on the drop-down menu. A printed copy is also available upon request by contacting Rich Strum, Director of Education, at 518-585-6370.