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This Week’s Top New York History News
- Hudson River Dinner Cruise with Len Tantillo
- Adk Nautical Icon Destroyed, Dumped
- Time Capsule To Honor Lake Champlain
- SUNY Cuts Despite Cash Hoard
- Exhumation of 1812 Hero Stirs Controversy
- Development Besieges Revolutionary Graves
- Early Baseball Letters Stolen From NYPL?
- Historic Schenectady Fire Station To Be Razed
- Crown on Statue of Liberty Reopens
- In Search of 400-Year-Old Grave
- Future of Historic Resort in Doubt
- Archives’ Treasures Turn Up Lost
Adk Museum Presents ‘The Adirondack Mining Village’
Mining was once a major industry in northern New York State. Small iron mines and forges appeared along Lake Champlain in the late 1700s. In the 1820s, the industry began to grow rapidly, reaching its peak in the mid-to-late 1800s. The story of mining is much more than minerals found and ores extracted. This Monday, July 13, 2009 Dr. Carol Burke will explore human aspects of Adirondack mining in an illustrated program entitled “The Adirondack Mining Village” at the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York.
Part of the museum’s popular Monday Evening Lecture series, the presentation will be held in the Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. There is no charge for museum members. Admission is $5.00 for non-members.
Burke’s presentation reflects an ongoing project that documents accounts of the daily lives or ordinary people who lived and worked in the now abandoned mining villages of Tahawus and nearby Adirondac (known in the 1950s as “The Upper Works”). Dr. Burke will share photographs and recollections of everyday life in these former company towns.
Carol Burke, a Professor at the University of California at Irvine, is a folklorist and journalist whose ethnographic work has produced books that document the lives of Midwestern farm families, female inmates in our nation’s prisons, and most recently, members of the armed services. Six months ago she was embedded with an army unit in northern Iraq.
Dr. Burke spends her summers in the Adirondacks and is currently documenting the everyday life of the once-flourishing mining village of Tahawus. Before joining the faculty at the University of California at Irvine, Professor Burke taught at Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins University, and the United States Naval Academy.
The broad story of mining in the Adirondacks is one of fortunes made and lost, of suicide, madness, and ambition, and the opening of one of America’s last frontiers. Mining shaped the physical and cultural landscape of the Adirondack Park for generations. The Adirondack Museum plans to open the completely revitalized exhibit “Mining in the Adirondacks” in 2012 to share this incredible history.
Photo: Adirondack Village, Near the Upper Works. From Benson J. Lossing’s The Hudson, from the Wilderness to the Sea, 1859.
International Dance Preformances and Workshops
The Iroquois Indian Museum is proud to present a weekend Dance Festival on July 11 and 12, 2009. This two-day event will feature international dancers as well as Iroquois Social Dance performers. On Saturday, July 11th the dance groups will include St.Adalbert’s Polish Dancers, St. Sophia’s Greek Dancers and the Irish dancers Iona Troupe. [Read more…] about International Dance Preformances and Workshops
Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Grants
The purpose of the Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural (URR) Program is to help preserve the Underground Railroad’s legacy and to help demonstrate how the Underground Railroad’s widespread operations network transformed our Nation. In addition, the URR also promotes the formation of public- private partnerships to help disseminate information regarding the Underground Railroad throughout the United States, including lessons to be drawn from the history of the Underground Railroad. Applications are due by July 30, 2009.
Eligible Applicants: Nonprofit educational organizations that are established to research, display, interpret, and collect artifacts relating to the history of the Underground Railroad. Other: Each nonprofit educational organization awarded a grant under this competition must create an endowment to fund any and all shortfalls in the costs of the on-going operations of the facility.
Grantees must establish a network of satellite centers throughout the United States to help disseminate information regarding the Underground Railroad. These satellite centers must raise 80 percent of the funds required to establish the satellite centers from non-Federal public and private sources. In addition, grantees must establish the capability to electronically link the facility with other local and regional facilities that have collections and programs that interpret the history of the Underground Railroad.
Applications for grants under the Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program–CFDA number 84.345A–must be submitted electronically using e-Application, accessible through the Department’s e-Grants Web site at: http://e-grants.ed.gov/. While completing your electronic application, you will be entering data online that will be saved into a database. You may not e-mail an electronic copy of a grant application to us.
As part of the application process, applicants will be required to document their ability to create an endowment, establish satellite centers, and establish the electronic capability described above. For specific requirements on reporting, please go to Reporting Forms
Document Type: Grants Notice
Funding Opportunity Number: ED-GRANTS-061509-001
Opportunity Category: Discretionary
Posted Date: Jun 15, 2009
Creation Date: Jun 15, 2009
Original Closing Date for Applications: Jul 30, 2009
Current Closing Date for Applications: Jul 30, 2009 Applications Available: June 15, 2009. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 30, 2009.
Archive Date: Aug 29, 2009
Funding Instrument Type: Grant
Category of Funding Activity: Education
Category Explanation:
Expected Number of Awards: 2
Estimated Total Program Funding: $1,945,000
Award Ceiling:
Award Floor:
CFDA Number(s): 84.345 — Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program
Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: Yes
Full Announcement [pdf]
History and Culture: Background For Abenaki Day
As part of the lead-up to Abenaki Day at the Adirondack Museum, Christopher Roy (a cultural anthropologist engaged in research related to historically known Abenaki people) penned a few short articles with Abenaki family historian David Benedict may be if interest to New York History readers.
Roy is a 1995 graduate of the University of Vermont. He is completing a PhD program in the Department of Anthropology at Princeton University. Of particular interest to his research are the histories of residence off reserve, questions of law and belonging, as well as the work of family historians in understanding Abenaki pasts, presents, and futures.
The first one, focusing on Dan Emmett and a canoe he built which is in the collections of the museum, has been posted by the Adirondack Museum http://www.adkmuseum.org/about_us/adirondack_journal/?id=156. Another of these short articles was published in the News Enterprise of North Creek [link]. This one focused on John Mitchell, an Abenaki man who lived most of his life at Indian Lake.
The Adirondack Museum has posted a few of them on their Adirondack Journal:
Mitchell Sabattis, Abenaki Farmer, 1855
Maude (Benedict) Nagazoa, Proud Adirondack Abenaki
On Monday, July 20, 2009 Roy will discuss aspects of his research in a program entitled “Searching for Sabattis, and Other Tales of Adirondack Abenaki Adventure ” at the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York. Part of the museum’s popular Monday Evening Lecture series, the presentation will be held in the Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. There is no charge for museum members. Admission is $5.00 for non-members.
Photo: Mitchell Sabattis (1823 – 1906). Collection of the Adirondack Museum.
Abenaki Day at The Adirondack Museum
Abenaki is a generic term for the Native American Indian peoples of northern New England, southeastern Canada, and the Maritimes. Members of the Abenaki Watso family will share the traditions, culture, and heritage of their ancestors at an upcoming event at the Adirondack Museum this Saturday, July 11, 2009. These Native Peoples are also known as Wabanaki (Eastern Abenaki – Maine and the Canadian Maritimes) or Wôbanakiak (Western Abenaki – New Hampshire, Vermont, and southeastern Canada). In the Native language Wôbanakiak translates roughly to mean “People of the Dawn.”
A majority of the Watso family who will demonstrate or present at the Adirondack Museum are from the Odanak reserve in the province of Quebec. The Abenaki Nation at Odanak, historically called the St. Francis, is now called the Odanak Band by the Canadian government.
“Abenaki Day” will feature demonstrations of traditional skills from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. The demonstrations will include: sweet grass and black ash basket making by Barbara Ann Watso; bead work with Priscilla Watso; pounded black ash splint making with John Watso and Martin Gill; and traditional wood carving by Denise Watso.
Rejean Obomsawin will share traditional Abenaki legends that have been passed down by the elders at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Rejean is a singer, drummer, and guide at the Musee des Abenaki at Odanak.
Jacques T. Watso will offer traditional Abenaki singing and drumming at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
Cultural anthropologist Christopher Roy will present a program entitled “Abenaki History in the Adirondacks and in the Adirondack Museum” at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Drawing on the museum’s Abenaki collections, Roy will share the findings of his research on the history and contemporary lives of Abenaki people in the Adirondacks and throughout the Northeast.
Christopher Roy is completing a PhD program at Princeton. Of particular interest to his research are the histories of residence off-reserve, questions of law and belonging, as well as the work of family historians in understanding Abenaki pasts, presents, and futures.
The Watso family has strong ties to the Adirondack region. Their ancestors include Sabael Benedict and his son Elijah, Abenaki men familiar to early settlers and explorers of the region, and Louis Watso an Abenaki man well known in the southern Adirondacks in the latter half of the 19th century.
Descendants Sabael Benedict and Louis Watso lived throughout the region, some as full-time residents and others moving back and forth between villages like Lake George and Saratoga Springs and Odanak, an Abenaki village on the lower St. Francis River in Quebec.
This branch of the Watso family also descends from John and Mary Ann Tahamont, basket makers who spent many summers at Saranac Lake around the turn of the last century.
Photo: Chief Richard O’Bomsawin and Councillor Jacques Watso
Researching NY Conference Deadline Extended
The deadline for submitting proposals for the Researching New York Conference has been extended to July 10th.
DEADLINE EXTENDED
Researching New York 2009
November 19 & 20, 2009
University at Albany, SUNY
The organizers of the annual Researching New York Conference invite proposals for panels, papers, workshops, roundtables, exhibits, documentary, and media or multimedia presentations on any facet of New York State history -in any time period and from any perspective. The conference will be held at the University at Albany, Albany, New York, on November 19th and 20th, 2009.
We especially invite proposals that explore and interpret not only the exploits of Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain, but the many kinds of exploration that have taken place in the ensuing 400 years of New York State’s rich and diverse history-including consideration of how we remember, celebrate, interpret, and commemorate historical events.
We are also soliciting commentators for panels. If you would like to participate as a commentator, please send a note to resrchny@albany.edu indicating your area of expertise, along with a one-page vita.
Researching New York brings together historians, researchers, archivists, museum curators, librarians, graduate students, teachers, Web and multimedia producers, and documentarians to share their work on New York State history.
Presentations that highlight the vast resources available to researchers of New York State history, as well as scholarship drawn from those resources, are encouraged.
Proposals are due by July 10, 2009. Full panel proposals, workshops, roundtables, exhibits, film screenings and media presentations are welcome. Partial panels and individual submissions will be considered. For panels and full proposals, please submit a one-page abstract of the complete session, a one page abstract for each paper or presentation, and a one-page curriculum vita for each participant. Individual submissions should include a one-page abstract and one-page curriculum vita.
Submissions must include name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Please submit your proposal electronically to resrchny@albany.edu. All proposals must note any anticipated technology or audio visual needs.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at resrchny@albany.edu. Further details and program updates will be available at http://nystatehistory.org/researchny.
Researching New York is sponsored by the Department of History and the History Graduate Student Organization, University at Albany, SUNY and the New York State Archives Partnership Trust with support from the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives, University at Albany Libraries.
Hudson River Dinner Cruise with Len Tantillo
The Rensselaer County Historical Society (RCHS) will host the Times Union’s 2009 Best Local Artist and Historian Len Tantillo for a dinner cruise on board the Captain JP II, leaving from Troy and sailing south to the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse. The event will take place on Sunday, July 19th, 2009 from 3 to 9PM; the cost is $85.00 per person for RCHS Members, $95.00 per person for non-menbers.
Tantillo, a noted Hudson River artist and historian, will narrate the often complex relationship that Henry Hudson had with his crew and the various Indian tribes that they encountered on their trips ashore. Scenic highlights and historic landmarks will be pointed out on the west and east side of the river including Papskanee Island in the Town of Schodack, the reputed place that Hudson dropped anchor and traded with the Mahican Indians. Guests will also be treated to a dinner buffet of salmon, roast turkey and prime rib along with a array of vegetables and desserts.
Guests will board at 3PM at the foot of State Street in Troy. Free parking is available dockside. The boat will leave promptly at 3:30 and return to the Troy dock at approximately 9PM.
To purchase tickets for the trip, please visit www.rchsonline.org/tickets.htmlor call (518) 272-7232, extension 12.
Photo: “A View of Troy, New York, 1847” by Len Tantillo – “This painting of Troy, New York, depicts the Hudson River city as it might have appeared in the mid 19th century. The image was based on a number of period drawings, photographs and maps from the collection of the Rensselaer County Historical Society”
NYS Museum Opens ‘1609’ Exhibit
As part of the celebration of the 2009 Hudson-Champlain Quadricentennial celebration, the New York State Office of Cultural Education (OCE) will present at the New York State Museum the exhibition “1609,” which will re-examine Henry Hudson’s voyage, the myths that surround it, and explore the legacies of Hudson’s unexpected discovery. The State Museum, State Archives, State Library and State Office of Educational Broadcasting, which make up OCE, are collaborating on the “1609” exhibition. It opened yesterday, July 3, 2009, and will run until March 7, 2010 in the Museum’s Exhibition Hall.
The “1609” exhibition is presented in four parts. The first section focuses on what life was like for both the Dutch and Native Peoples of New York before 1609 and the events of that year. The visitor will then look at the myths that Hudson planned to come here, and that Native Americans greeted him and his crew with joy and awe. The exhibition will attempt to dispel those myths and explore with the visitor what is known about Hudson and the 1609 voyage and the Native American response. The third section confronts the myths relating to the short-term impact of the voyage – the consequences for the Dutch and the Native Americans. Finally, the visitor will be able to examine the long-term legacy of the Native Americans and Dutch, and how they affected subsequent historical events and American culture today.
Highlighting the important role that the Hudson River played in Hudson’s discovery and in the everyday lives of the Native Americans he encountered, visitors entering the gallery will see the illusion of running water. An outline of the Halve Maen (Half Moon) that carried Hudson to the new world, and fast facts about the ship, will be stenciled onto the gallery floor. The exhibition will also feature many historic drawings, maps and paintings, including some by Capital District expert historical artist L.F. Tantillo.
There will be many touchable objects and a reading area to engage the youngest visitors. Artifacts on display will include an elaborately decorated c. 1700 “Armada Chest” or strongbox, a classic type of chest or portable safe similar to what Henry Hudson most likely had in his quarters on the Half Moon; a dugout canoe recovered from Glass Lake in Rensselaer County similar to those used by Native Americans in the 17th century; a bronze cannon cast for the Dutch West India Company (1604-1661) used at or near Fort Orange and a stained glass window bearing the Coat of Arms of “Jan Baptist van Renssilaer,” patron of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck in the 1650s. A large 1611 etching of the Port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, courtesy of the Amsterdam Municipal Archives, also will hang in the gallery.
Many of the maps and other 17th-century Dutch colonial documents in the exhibition are from the collections of the New York State Library and the State Archives and will be located in a separate room where lighting is carefully controlled. The New Netherland Project, a program of the State Library, has been working since 1974 to translate and publish these archival records.
Archaeologist James Bradley, an expert on Native Americans, and Russell Shorto, an authority on colonial Dutch history, have written text for the exhibition. Bradley is the author of “Before Albany: An Archaeology of Native-Dutch Relations in the Capital Region 1600-1664,” and a guest curator for portions of the exhibition. Shorto, who resides in the Netherlands, authored “The Island at the Center of
the World,” the epic story of Dutch Manhattan and the forgotten colony that shaped America. Steven Comer, a Mohican Native American living within the original territory of the Mohican people, has provided cultural information and consulting for the project.
The Museum also is celebrating the Dutch influence on Albany and New York State with a trip to Holland and Belgium. This adventure will allow participants to experience these countries and appreciate their effect on Albany’s heritage and architecture. The trip is September 24 through October 1, 2009 and priced at $2,127 per person, double occupancy. Museum members receive a discount of $50. This trip includes a week-long stay in a four-star hotel located in the Hague, Holland’s government capitol. The price includes airfare, transfers, six nights accommodation, breakfast everyday except arrival, three dinners, private luxury coach, and local guides in Amsterdam, Bruges, and Delft. Also included are the entrance fees for windmills, a Delftware factory, New Church Delft, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, canal boat rides, and Aalsmeer Flower Auction. There is one free day with an optional trip to Paris, France. For more information or to register call Susan at (518) 862-1810 Monday through Friday.
The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Founded in 1836, the museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the U.S. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Further information can be obtained visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.