Philip Terrie On Adirondack History


By on

0 Comments

The Historians LogoThis week “The Historians” podcast features an interview with Philip G. Terrie, author of the book Contested Terrain: A New History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks (Syracuse Univ. Press, 2008). Terrie has been researching and writing Adirondack history since 1971. He is an emeritus professor at Bowling Green State University and has been a visiting professor at SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Potsdam. He was a consultant to the PBS documentary on the Adirondacks. Listen at “The Historians” online archive at http://www.bobcudmore.com/thehistorians/
Continue reading →

This Week’s Top New York History News


By on

0 Comments

Latest New York History News

Subscribe! More than 8,200 people follow The New York History Blog via E-mail, RSS, or Twitter or Facebook updates.

Make a Contribution! The New York History Blog is supported by you. If you think this site provides a valuable service, please make a small donation. Questions about contributions should be directed to editor John Warren.

A Short History of ‘Evacuation Day Day’ in NYC


By on

2 Comments

BOWLING GREEN Evacuation Day 2014At noon on November 25th about 25 people gathered at the flag poles at the north end of Manhattan’s Bowling Green to raise a specially designed flag with 13 stars and stripes.

It was a replica of the flag which was raised at the same spot on November 25, 1783 (Evacuation Day) when George Washington’s Continental army had marched into New York City officially ending the American Revolutionary War. Continue reading →

Twelfth Night Celebration at Crailo Historic Site


By on

0 Comments

0104141631aTwelfth Night was one of the traditional holidays celebrated by the Dutch and English colonists of early New York.  Twelfth Night was the final holiday of the season and was marked with unsurpassed feasting and revelry.

On Saturday January 10, 2015 Crailo State Historic Site in Rensselaer, NY, will welcome visitors for its annual Twelfth Night Celebration from 4 until 7 pm. Continue reading →

The Fuehrer In Sullivan County


By on

1 Comment

NarrowsburgNazis[1]During the summer of 1939, a small group of men from out of the area rented a camp just outside Narrowsburg, a small community on the Delaware River in Sullivan County, where they spent most of their time shooting rifles. Their need for such extensive practice was understandable; locals who observed the target practice described the men’s aim as “plumb awful.” Continue reading →

Museum Launches LGBT Stories Collecting Project


By on

0 Comments

Gay rights leader and journalist Clark Polak distributing leaflets during a sit-in in 1965The National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) in Philadelphia is launching “LGBT Stories: A Collecting Project,” a new website that focuses on Jewish Americans in the barrier-breaking movement for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights during the twentieth century and beyond.

“The courageous story of the LGBT civil rights movement is a vital part of America’s ongoing search for freedom and NMAJH is proud to celebrate and share this history – with the public’s active participation,” says Ivy Barsky, the Museum’s Chief Executive Officer and Gwen Goodman Director. Continue reading →

Remembering Goldwater Hospital in NYC


By on

1 Comment

Goldwater Hospital from the Queensboro Bridge in 1938The digging, crashing, smashing and clanging will echo over the East River for a couple more years, as Cornell Tech builds a new campus on Roosevelt Island where the Goldwater Hospital stood since 1939.

The patients, many confined to wheel-chairs, have been moved to Coler Hospital at the North End of Roosevelt Island, or to the renovated old North General Hospital in Harlem (now the Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility). Continue reading →

Nominations Sought for 2015 Preservation Awards


By on

0 Comments

An apartment at Academy Lofts in AlbanyThe Preservation League of New York State is seeking nominations for its 2015 Excellence in Historic Preservation Awards, which recognize significant achievements in historic preservation throughout New York State.

The League especially encourages nominations that may provide case studies or models incorporating energy efficiency, adaptive reuse, or New York’s Rehabilitation Tax Credit program. Continue reading →

The Lake Placid Legacy of Willis Wells


By on

1 Comment

WillisWellsNYHAmong the folks who played an important role in Northern New York regional history and personified the traditional Christmas spirit was Willis Wells of Lake Placid.

Long before Willis gained attention, his father, Duran, a native of Peru, New York, had become a North Country fixture, operating a peddler’s cart in the post-Civil War years. From the shores of Lake Champlain to the Paul Smith’s area, he supplied homes and farms with the daily needs of life, an important function in those early days when stores visited many of their customers. Continue reading →

Fifty Years in Sing Sing: A Personal Account


By on

0 Comments

50 Years in Sing Sing PrisonWritten more than eighty years ago, Fifty Years in Sing Sing: A Personal Account, 1879-1929 (SUNY Press, February, 2015) is the personal account of Alfred Conyes (1852–1931), who worked as a prison guard and then keeper at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, from 1879 to 1929.

This unpublished memoir, dated 1930, was found among his granddaughter’s estate by his great-granddaughter Penelope Kay Jarrett. Continue reading →

Adirondack Wilds: Haunts of Noah John Rondeau


By on

0 Comments

ADK Wilds for JohnAuthor William J. “Jay” O’Hern has once again shown himself to be a tireless researcher. While letters, journals and old newspapers and magazines are valuable to his work, Jay favors a more hands-on approach. A seasoned Adirondack adventurer himself, he has always preferred interviewing people with knowledge of his subjects. He likes to visit the places he writes about.

So it was that he and his wife Bette backpacked to the Cold River Valley for a trip that provides the framework for Adirondack Wilds: Exploring the Haunts of Noah John Rondeau (2014). Jay serves as a guide to who followed the same trails decades before. Continue reading →

This Week’s New York History Web Highlights


By on

0 Comments

Continue reading →

History Podcast: Christmas in Upstate NY


By on

0 Comments

The Historians LogoThis week’s episode on “The Historians” podcast includes a story about Christmas in the declining mill town of Nero, NY from my book You Can’t Go Wrong. I’ll also read a recent Daily Gazette column on Christmas through the years in Amsterdam, NY. Listen at “The Historians” online archive at http://www.bobcudmore.com/thehistorians/

Coming up next week, will be Adirondack historian Phil Terrie. Also coming in January an interview with the author of the book Orphan Train (Harper Collins, 2013) and a conversation with Maria Riccio Bryce about the re-issue of the CD of her musical production Hearts of Fire, the story of the 1690 Schenectady massacre.
Continue reading →

This Week’s Top New York History News


By on

0 Comments

Latest New York History News

Subscribe! More than 8,200 people follow The New York History Blog via E-mail, RSS, or Twitter or Facebook updates.

Make a Contribution! The New York History Blog is supported by you. If you think this site provides a valuable service, please make a small donation. Questions about contributions should be directed to editor John Warren.

Dutch History of Christmas Treats With Peter Rose


By on

2 Comments

ben_franklins_worldUndoubtedly, you have heard or read Clement Moore’s famous poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1822), but have you ever wondered where the traditions of stockings, presents, and cookies come from? And what about jolly old Saint Nick? Who was he and why do we call him Santa Claus?

In this episode of the “Ben Franklin’s World” podcast, Peter G. Rose, culinary historian of Dutch foodways in North America and author of Delicious December: How the Dutch Brought Us Santa, Presents, and Treats (SUNY Press, 2014), joins me to discuss the origins of Santa Claus, cookies, and more in the United States.  You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/009 Continue reading →

‘Cabin Fever Sundays’ At Adirondack Museum


By on

0 Comments

AdirondackMuseum-CabinFeverSundays_Lighthouse-LakeChamplainFrom North Creek to Blue Mountain Lake to Glens Falls, this winter the Adirondack Museum’s “Cabin Fever Sundays” series is presenting a wide-ranging look at life in the Adirondacks – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

In the first installment of the series, author and photographer David E. Cook will take the audience on an exploration of approximately 80 – 85 light towers that have marked the waters inside the current boundaries of the Adirondack Park, dating back to around 1815. Continue reading →

NJ Historical Commission Seeks Prize Nominations


By on

0 Comments

NJ Historical CommissionThe New Jersey Historical Commission is now accepting nominations for the Mildred Barry Garvin Prize, an annual award given to a New Jersey teacher, guidance counselor, or school librarian for outstanding teaching of African American history at an grade level between kindergarten and high school.

The prize ($1,500) is also awarded to individuals demonstrating outstanding performance in a related activity such as developing curriculum materials. Continue reading →