George Washington’s brown Inauguration suit may have been plain for the times, but it was tailored from American-made broad cloth. The majority of cloth used in the United States in 1789 was imported from Britain, said Eliza West, an expert on 18th century textiles.
Wearing a suit of British-made fabric would have been a faux pas in the young nation that won its independence from Britain, so Washington asked cabinet member Henry Knox, of Fort Ticonderoga fame, to locate a suit of American-made cloth. The irony, West said, is that the cloth was of such quality that many people would not believe it was American made, and accused Washington of political incorrectness any way. [Read more…] about Artifacts: History’s Primary Sources
Fort Ticonderoga has been named a recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for Humanities Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections program in the amount of $40,000.
Fort Ticonderoga recently acquired a unique ceramic pitcher, which is decorated with printed designs and text. The text includes a quote from Thomas Jefferson, from his first inaugural address. The pitcher was made in the 1810s in the 
Genealogist Pamela Vittorio is set to lead a workshop focused on the many ways to find your roots using traditional and hidden resources, on Saturday, April 13th from 11 am to 1:30 pm, at the Oneida County History Center. 
The Columbia County Historical Society (CCHS) has announced an illustrated lecture, “Early American Portraits,” led by Gayle Skluzacek, set for Saturday, January 19th, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, at Van Buren Hall in Kinderhook.
The Albany Institute of History & Artis is set to open a special exhibition of cast iron stoves on Saturday, December 15, 2018. Researchers, collectors, and those new to cast iron will have the opportunity to see these stoves together and their details up close for the first time in ten years. Heavy Metal: Cast Iron Stoves of the Capital Region will run through August 18, 2019. 
Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) has announced the online exhibit Kasten from Mid-Hudson Valley Collections at 
The Schoharie County Historical Society is set to host a conservation lecture and workshop led by furniture conservator David Bayne on Saturday, October 20th. The program will take place at 1 pm in the Badgley Museum Annex at the Old Stone Fort Museum Complex. 
The Winter Show, previously known as The Winter Antiques Show, has announced the participating exhibitors of its 2019 edition, to be held at the historic Park Avenue Armory in New York City from January 18-27, 2019.
As part of a $59,966 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources planning grant for the preservation and digitization of collections awarded to Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) in April, historians and authors Firth Haring Fabend and David William Voorhees have begun a scholarly evaluation of historical New Paltz documents at HHS and partner institutions: the Town of New Paltz, the Reformed Church of New Paltz, and the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at the Elting Memorial Library.