All last week Vermont Public Radio (VPR) has been running a series of reported entitled “History Under the Waves” looking at five historic wrecks that lie at the bottom of Lake Champlain. Over 300 shipwrecks lie at the bottom of Champlain, and VPR looked at what sent five of them to their fates, including a Revolutionary War gunboat, a lake schooner, two steamboats, and a sailing canal boat. The reports also feature a photo gallery.
Much of what is known about the extend of underwater remains of Champlain shipwrecks comes from surveys conducted by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM). The LCMM has been instrumental in conducting archeological surveys and persuading New York and Vermont to establish the Lake Champlain Historic Preserve System in order to provide access for divers to some of the Lake’s historic shipwrecks. You can find a list of manning of the Champlain Shipwrecks at the LCMM Shipwrecks site.
Support The New York History Site, Buy A Book
In addition to our regular sponsor, there are now two new ways to support what you read here at New York History. Two new books, written by John Warren (that’s me!) have been published by The History Press. Historic Tales from the Adirondack Almanack
, the region’s first blog-to-book, is a collection of history essays that have appeared at the online journal Adirondack Almanack, which I began in the spring of 2005. The Almanack has grown to be the Adirondack region’s most popular online journal of news and opinion, covering local politics, culture, history, regional development, outdoor recreation, the environment and other issues. Adirondack Almanack has become a go-to regional news resource for Adirondackers and for those outside the park who want to stay current on Adirondack news and events. I hope you’ll take a look at the site.
The second book is the first detailed history of the Poesten Kill which flows from the Petersburg Mountains in Eastern Rensselaer County to the Hudson River at Troy. It is now available at Amazon.,com
. I hope you’ll enjoy the book and check in at the Poesten Kill blog to comment.
Upcoming Book Events
August 8, Hulett’s Landing, NY: An informal talk about Adirondack blogging, trends in local media history, the new book (Historic Tales from the Adirondack Almanack), and their connection to Hulett’s Landing at 7:30 pm, this Saturday, August 8th, at the Hulett’s Landing Casino.
August 9, Inlet, NY: Book signing (Historic Tales) at The Adirondack Reader in Inlet, NY on Sunday, August 9th from 1-3pm
September 12, Schenectady, NY: Book signing (Historic Tales) at The Open Door Bookstore in Schenectady on Saturday, September 12th from 1-2:30pm.
September 19, Lake Placid, NY: Book signing (Historic Tales) at Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid on Saturday, September 19th at 2:00pm.
Fort Ontario: Cannibalism, Battles & Sieges, and Rum
Cannibalism? Daring battles and sieges? Rum becoming river water? All a part of Fort Ontario history? Yes, says author Rev. George A. Reed, who will share his enthusiasm for the history of Fort Ontario at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center in Sackets Harbor, NY, this Thursday, August 6, at 6pm. Reed is the author of Fort Ontario: 250 Years of History. His program is part of the 2009 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Experience Series.
“My research includes an overview of all the eras at Fort Ontario from the French and Indian War through World War II. There are tales of cannibalism that always make 4th graders eyes get big. Descriptions of daring battles and sieges at the fort, and stories of how rum turned into river water,” Reed says. According to the author cannibalism is indeed part of the Fort’s history, but he has debunked a bit of other folklore associated with the historic, star-shaped fort that overlooks Oswego Harbor and Lake Ontario.
A lifelong historian, Reed worked with the National Park Service at the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials in Washington, DC. He managed the North Creek Depot historic site near Gore Mountain where Vice-President Teddy Roosevelt learned that U.S. President McKinley had been shot, and served as executive director of the Pratt House Museum in Fulton, NY.
While volunteering with the Fort Ontario Guard at the State Historic Site in Oswego, NY, Reed realized that no one had ever written a comprehensive text on the history of the fort. Reed will sign copies of his new book Fort Ontario: 250 Years of History as part of the August 6 program at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center. Program admission benefits the nonprofit Great Lakes Seaway Trail Foundation. Discount applies to active and retired members of the military.
Obama Nominates NYPL’s David Ferriero for U.S. Archivist
The New York Public Library is congratulating their colleague David S. Ferriero, Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries, for his selection by President Obama as the next Archivist of the United States, National Archives and Records Administration. Mr. Ferriero, 63, served previously as the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University.
“David Ferriero is an outstanding librarian and manager who has made huge and lasting contributions to The New York Public Library,” said Catherine C. Marron, Chairman of The New York Public Library’s Board of Trustees. “Just as he will leave a legacy of improved and enhanced services for New Yorkers, the entire country will benefit from his experience and wisdom. I congratulate David on this exciting and impressive achievement and wish him nothing but success in his new role.”
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. Its renowned research collections are located in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem; and the Science, Industry and Business Library at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. Eighty-seven branch libraries provide access to circulating collections and a wide range of other services in neighborhoods throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English for speakers of other languages. The New York Public Library serves more than 17 million patrons who come through its doors annually; the Library’s website, www.nypl.org, receives 25 million visits annually from users in more than 200 countries.
Saint Lawrence Seaway Celebrates 50 years
July 9-12, 2009 marked the 50th anniversary of the engineering feat that created the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The best way to see the seaway is to take the 518-mile Great Lakes Seaway Trail which parallels the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River and Lake Erie in New York and Pennsylvania. A journey along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail offers an authentic American experience of the fresh waters and shoreline landscapes that has shaped much of America’s history.
Fifty years ago Queen Elizabeth II and Dwight D. Eisenhower opened the manmade waterway route into the North American interior. Since then, rhe Saint Lawrence Seaway has been called “the Gateway to North America” and the 120-mile east-to-west start of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail is its road-based parallel. The byway then continues another 398 miles to the Pennsylvania-Ohio border along Lake Erie.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Locks Visitor Center, from which you can watch the world’s oceangoing vessels rise and lower the equivalent of a six-story building in the locks at Massena, NY, is one of many iconic destinations on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. Other popular destinations include the 1000 Islands, small harbors along the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie shorelines, Niagara Falls, and the Seaway Trail Pennsylvania Erie Bayfront. Learn more online at www.seawaytrail.com.
DEC to Investigate Historic Friedrichsohn Cooperage
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has begun a detailed investigation of the former Friedrichsohn Cooperage in Waterford, in Saratoga County. Conducted in conjunction with the state Department of Health, the investigation will delineate the extent of contamination in soil, soil vapor and groundwater by a variety of pesticides, metals and semi-volatile organic compounds from the historic half-acre parcel at 153-155 Saratoga Avenue in Waterford that operated from 1817 to 1991.
In its early years, the cooperage made and refurbished wooden kegs and barrels. At the time it closed, its primary business was cleaning and refurbishing metal drums. Inspections of the facility after it closed found the buildings in poor condition and thousands of abandoned drums, some of them leaking. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, between 1994 and 1996, removed 322 tons of contaminated sludge/soil, 9,000 gallons of liquid waste and 3,767 drums from the property. The buildings were demolished and the site was added to the Superfund program.
DEC’s investigation field work started this week with a land survey. Beginning next week and continuing through at least October, work will include the collection of surface soil samples and investigation data gathering. Future activities will include collection of subsurface soil and vapor samples, collection of sediment samples from the nearby Old Champlain Canal, sampling of groundwater and the installation of monitoring wells. Through the investigation, DEC will be able to define the nature and extent of the contamination, assess the impact on public health and the environment and develop a proposed cleanup remedy.
Weekly New York History Blogging Round-Up
- Drinks Blog: Cocktail History Happened in Upstate NY
- 1800blogger: Stamps Open Pages of History For NY Man
- City Room: Piecing Together a Revolver’s Fuzzy History
- The Coney Island Blog: Coney Island’s Future…Prognosis Negative
- Tenement Museum Blog: A Hydrant in the Rear Yard
- Upstate Earth: Basketmakers of The Taghkanic Hills
- Brooklynology: Serendipity in the Eagle Morgue
- The Bowery Boys: 1969-Astronauts Land in New York!
This Week’s Top New York History News
- SUNY Plattsburgh Breaks Ground
- Saratoga to Commemorate Historic Battles
- Zebulon Pike Remains Won’t Be Dug Up
- Regents Name New Ed. Commissioner
- NY Librarian Chosen US Archivist
- Location Of Historic Battle Still A Mystery
- Commission Will Plan War of 1812 Events
- Artifacts Pose Pre-Iroquoian Puzzle
- Fort Ti Observes 100th Anniversary
Governor Signs Rehabilitation Tax Credit Enhancements
Joined by state, municipal and local advocates for community revitalization and historic preservation, Governor David Paterson signed legislation that greatly improves the New York State Rehabilitation Tax Credit program. The measure (A.9023-Hoyt/S.6056-Valesky) provides incentives and program features for developers and municipalities seeking to rehabilitate historic buildings, and is hoped to advance redevelopment and economic stimulus goals throughout New York State.
“We have every reason to believe that the New York State Rehabilitation Tax Credit will prove one of the most effective economic and community development programs in the state,” said Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League of New York State, the not-for-profit organization that led the charge for enhanced tax credits.
Commissioner Deborah VanAmerongen of the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal said, “The Rehabilitation Tax Credits will foster new private and federal investment where it is most needed: our economically distressed downtowns and commercial districts, main streets, and older residential neighborhoods. Further, these incentives will encourage the use or reuse of existing affordable housing resources. I’m delighted that we now have a more powerful tool for revitalizing communities across New York State. “
New York’s first-ever rehabilitation tax credit was adopted as Chapter 547 of the Laws of 2006, but limitations of both the commercial and residential programs failed to provide sufficient incentives to deliver economic and community revitalization to municipalities in need. An economic impact study recently conducted by HR&A Advisors of New York, an industry leader in economic development, real estate and public policy consulting, predicts that the enhanced rehabilitation tax credit will spur over $500 million dollars of economic activity in New York State and create some 2,000 jobs over its initial five-year lifespan.
The act will take effect on January 1, 2010. For more information on New York’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit Programs, call the New York State Historic Preservation Office at (518) 237-8643 or visit http://nysparks.state.ny.us/shpo/investment/index.htm .
CFP: 2010 Agricultural History Conference
While I normally stick to New York history exclusively here, sometimes a national (or even international) conference comes up that promises to inspire New York historians toward greater understanding of the state’s history. The 2010 Agricultural History Conference – Local Stories, Global Connections: The Context of Agriculture and Rural Life – at the University of Central Florida and Rollins College on June 10-12, 2010 is one of those events thanks to New York’s important role in national and international agricultural history.
Here is the announcement:
Agriculture and rural life are tied to specific places, but those places are in turn bound to larger communities, often with global connections. The Agricultural History Society (AHS) invites proposals for papers that address the particular ways in which
people and places have shaped agriculture and rural living in their local communities as well as how rural ecosystems, production, processing, and consumption tie farmers and rural people to distant people, places, and institutions. Topics from any location or time period will be welcome. In the interest of promoting understanding of
the context of agriculture and rural life, the program committee wishes to encourage submissions of interdisciplinary and cross- national panels. We encourage proposals of all types and formats, including traditional papers/commentary sessions, thematic panel discussions, roundtables on recent books, and poster presentations, and we extend a special welcome to graduate students. We are able to provide up to $250
in travel reimbursement to each graduate student whose paper is accepted for the conference. We will consider submissions of full panels and individual papers, as well as paired or individual posters.
Submission Procedures
Complete session proposals should include a chair, participants, and, if applicable, a commentator. Please include the following information: An abstract of no more than 200 words for the session as a whole; a prospectus of no more than 250 words for each presentation; a mailing address, email, phone number, and affiliation for each participant; and a CV of no more than a page for each participant.
Individual submissions should include all the above except a session abstract.
Please send submissions, in Microsoft Word or RTF format, to Melissa.walker@converse.edu.
Alternatively, applicants may mail five hard copies of their proposals
to:
Melissa Walker, Chair
Converse College
580 East Main St.
Spartanburg, SC 29302
Please direct questions regarding the program to any member of the program committee:
Melissa Walker, Chair, Converse College, Melissa.walker@converse.edu
Joe Anderson, Mount Royal College, jlanderson@mtroyal.ca
Sterling Evans, University of Oklahoma, evans@ou.edu
Angie Gumm, Iowa State University, asgumm@iastate.edu
Cecilia Tsu, University of California at Davis, cmtsu@ucdavis.edu