Category Archives: History

New York History

A Unique North Country Civil War Connection


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Plaque 77th Reg NYS Vol NYH1It’s guaranteed that you’re going to enjoy this, another unique North Country link to the Civil War. It sounds like something culled from the pages of Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, and begs the question: what the heck are the odds of that happening?

Though I can’t answer the question, I do recall that in my former employment, it was notable when three men all having the same first name worked in the same department. So what can you say about “The One-Legged Jims,” a group of three Civil War veterans? Continue reading →

NYS History Conference Features William Seward Talk


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seward bookWalter Stahr, the author of Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man, speaks tomorrow June 7 in Cooperstown. His talk, the keynote address at the 2013 Conference on New York State History, begins at 7:30 pm in the Fenimore Art Museum Auditorium and is open to the public. The cost is $5.00.

William Seward, widely known for arranging the purchase of the Alaskan territory from Russia, was one of the most important Americans of the nineteenth century. He was a progressive governor of New York and an outspoken federal senator.  As secretary of state, he became Lincoln’s closest friend and adviser during the Civil War. He was also a target of the assassins who killed Lincoln. Continue reading →

When The City Celebrated The Queensboro Bridge


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936full-manhattan-posterOn June 12, 1909, New York City began an eight-day celebration of the connection of the East Side of Manhattan with Long Island City in Queens with the Queensboro Bridge, designed by Henry Hornbostel.

Though it officially opened to traffic on March 30, 1909, the June festivities drew over 300,000 people (larger than the population of Queens at the time) to see the bridge lit up with electricity, and hear 1,500 children sing the “Star-Spangled Banner” in its honor. It meant that crossing the East River was no longer an obstacle to the development of the borough of Queens. Continue reading →

Musician Blind Tom: Black Pianist and Entertainer


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3b30858rIn June 1874, music lovers in Northern New York were excited. For the second time in three years, Blind Tom, the world-renowned black pianist and entertainer and arguably the first black superstar to perform in the U.S., was coming to Malone. For years after the Civil War, he had been wowing audiences throughout the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, continental Europe, and South America with his one-man show which was part vaudeville and part classical piano music.

Tom had many talents including the ability to: play the piano, coronet, French horn and flute; sing and recite speeches of well-known politicians in Greek, Latin, German and French; mimic any music a member of the audience might offer for him to hear; and use his voice to make the sounds of locomotives, bagpipes, banjos and music boxes. While singing one song, he could play a second with his right hand, and a third with the left. Continue reading →

New York History Community: A Time for Action?


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New York State CountiesThis seems like a very opportune time for an initiative to strengthen state and local history here in New York.

Carol Kammen’s response to Peter’s Feinman’s post on the “Path Through History” initiative suggests creation of an advisory board and the use of electronic communications to stay in touch and inform New Yorkers about history. That is an excellent proposal and the timing is right for a new push in the public history era for several reasons: Continue reading →

Researching New York Conference Call For Papers


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Researching NY ConferenceThe organizers of Researching New York 2013 invite proposals for presentations on any aspect of New York State history from any time period and from any perspective. The conference will take place on November 14 and 15 on the University at Albany campus, Albany, New York.

This annual conference brings together historians, archivists, public historians, graduate students, teachers, documentarians, and multimedia producers, to share their work on New York State history. Especially encouraged are submissions that reflect on the long and complicated history of religion in New York, including the intersections of religion and church history with the secular, civic, and public life of its citizens. Continue reading →