History, Natural History & the Arts
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In a town as old as Williamsburg, Virginia, which was established in 1638, it’s often the case that historic buildings with interesting pasts stand unnoticed and in plain sight.
Such was the case for the building that once housed Williamsburg’s Bray School. A school founded by a group of Anglican clergymen with the express purpose of educating Black children in the ways of the Anglican faith. It was an education that included reading, possibly writing, and the Book of Common Prayer. [Read more…] about Educating Black Children at the Williamsburg Bray School
The quick-witted Hugh Ryan has a nose for history, as demonstrated in his book When Brooklyn Was Queer. His latest The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison mines little-known historical sources to point out how a large and vocal population of queer-identified and trans people passed through the old cement monstrosity that used to stand next to today’s Jefferson Market Library in Manhattan‘s Greenwich Village.
Now a community garden, the site is a shout away from the Stonewall Inn, and Ryan writes the story of some of those imprisoned voices left out of the customary tales of the riot. In fact, prisoners set fire to their bedclothes and tossed them from the barred windows overlooking 6th Ave chanting “gay rights, gay rights gay rights.” Even before Stonewall’s impassioned response to police exploitation of gay bars, House of D. queer women, transmasculine people and other women were rioting for their rights in the jail. [Read more…] about Arrested Attention: The Women’s House of Detention
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.
What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Adirondack Hiker’s Body Recovered; Man Rescued After Days In Forest
The socio-political and economic turmoil of the early twentieth century transformed American society. Between the conclusion of the Civil War and the end of the First World War, the country went from being a predominantly rural farming society to an urban industrial one. [Read more…] about Socialism, Greenwich Village & ‘The Masses’
Women’s Rights National Historical Park (NHP) has announced that the 2022 Convention Days are set for July 15th through 17th. Convention Days focuses on the revolutionary 1848 Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention through art, drama, and scholarship. [Read more…] about Convention Days Return to Women’s Rights NHP July 15-17
A young Clarence Bolton arrived in Ulster County, NY in 1917 for a brief visit and stayed for the next 45 years. Once he arrived in Woodstock, he began to study painting with John Carlson. Later moved on to explore printmaking and became an accomplished lithographer, exhibiting his work all over the country.
Bolton’s love of Overlook Mountain and the surrounding fields and streams became the inspiration for his work. Along the way, Bolt became an integral part of the Woodstock community. Among his many interesting ventures he ran a commercial printing business, established The Nook (which later became the Café Espresso), and wrote and published The Clatter. He met and married Louise Cashdollar and was welcomed into her large, extended family. [Read more…] about The Art and Times of Woodstock’s Clarence W. Bolton
Researching Queer history in archives poses unique challenges. Where written records survive, a person’s sexual life or desires may not be included in the records or might be veiled.
In other scenarios, descendants of LGBTQ+ people have censored or destroyed records. [Read more…] about Documenting Queer Stories in Archives
New York State’s Empire State Development Corporation’s proposed Pennsylvania Station Civic and Land Use Project (the “Penn Area Plan”) would demolish multiple blocks of historic buildings in the vicinity of Penn Station in Manhattan.
All told, over 40 historic buildings and structures stand to be lost while displacing thousands of residents and businesses. [Read more…] about Under Threat: The Penn Station Neighborhood in Manhattan
In the year 1900, York Avenue on Saratoga’s East Side was a quiet working-class neighborhood with a mix of young families, as well as older citizens, all living side by side. Listed on the street in that year’s census were laborers, painters, liverymen, and surprisingly, actors.
The neighborhood folks representing the theatre were Edward “Eddie” Fritz Smith, his wife Kitty Sharpe, and their children, Catherine, Sidney, Eddie, Jeal, and William. This couple was no stranger to the life in the spotlight, for even as they settled into a quiet life in Saratoga Springs they were still known across the globe as international celebrities. [Read more…] about The Smith Family of Acrobats and Clowns & Saratoga Springs
A New York City store owner recently paid a fine for illegally selling elephant ivory. The City is the nation’s largest port of entry for illegal wildlife goods
On November 23rd, 2021, Department of Environmental Conservation Investigator Harvey and Environmental Conservation Officer Brussel performed a plainclothes inspection of the Manhattan Art and Antiques Center on Second Avenue in Manhattan. The Center boasts it’s the nation’s largest with over 100 galleries. [Read more…] about Antique Store Busted For Selling Elephant Ivory