The Rye Historical Society will present “This Man’s A Spy!,” a family friendly concert inspired by the fateful encounter between American General Benedict Arnold and British Major John André, set for Wednesday, August 17th at the Timothy Knapp House, the oldest house in Westchester County. [Read more…] about ‘This Man’s A Spy!’ Free Concert at Knapp House, in Rye, NY
Arts
Champlain Valley Cultural Heritage Grants Available
The Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) is seeking pre-proposals for projects and programs to protect, restore, interpret, and showcase the historical resources and cultural heritage of the Champlain Valley, the Lake Champlain Basin, and the Adirondack Park. [Read more…] about Champlain Valley Cultural Heritage Grants Available
Free Concerts Begin Tuesday At Saratoga Battlefield
Saratoga National Historical Park in Stillwater, NY, has announced the return of “Music at the Battlefield,” featuring two free concerts on the lawn next to the Visitor Center, on Tuesdays, August 9th, and 23rd. [Read more…] about Free Concerts Begin Tuesday At Saratoga Battlefield
Alfred Billings Street: Albany’s 19th Century State Poet
Alfred Billings Street was born in Poughkeepsie on December 18th, 1811. He was descended from an Englishman, the Reverend Nicholas Smith, who immigrated to Connecticut around 1659.
His father, Randall Sandal Street, was a general in the New York Militia and served in the War of 1812. A practicing lawyer, Randall Street was also active in politics; he was a two-term district attorney and a Democratic congressman from 1819 until 1821. His wife, Cornelia, was the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran, Andrew Billings. [Read more…] about Alfred Billings Street: Albany’s 19th Century State Poet
18th Century Military Topographical Drawing Workshops
Drawing “on the spot,” the first visions of the American landscape were by trained artists. In the 18th century, military officers – especially engineers and artillerists – were expected to have mastered several arts practiced by civilians; notably drawing and penmanship.
Following the Seven Years’ War (also known as the French and Indian War in America, where it lasted for eight years), draftsman and watercolorist Thomas Sandby was engaged to teach topographical drawing and painting to cadets at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. The high command believed that apart from drawing being a necessary skill, artistic training would make keener observers of military officers in many situations, including on the battlefield. [Read more…] about 18th Century Military Topographical Drawing Workshops
Poetry: Local But Epic
Local But Epic
A semi-straight crow
lands on the palm reader’s
arthritic index finger.
Our futures—we must
understand—will
now never again
be the same.
Erie Canalway Photo Contest Call for Entries
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has announced a call for entries for its 17th annual Erie Canalway Photo Contest. Images should convey people enjoying activities on the waterway and Canalway Trail or show the unique character of New York’s canals and canal communities. [Read more…] about Erie Canalway Photo Contest Call for Entries
Off-Season: A Photographer Documents North Country Motels
The Warren County Historical Society will host an opening reception for the new photography exhibit “Off-Season: Motel Signs along Routes 9 and 9N” by local photographer Jude Dolton on Saturday, August 6th from 11 am to 2 pm at the historical society at 50 Gurney Lane in Queensbury. [Read more…] about Off-Season: A Photographer Documents North Country Motels
A Photographer Visits Utica, Saratoga & Albany in 1878
This essay by John Nicol, PhD, first appeared on July 12, 1878 in The British Journal of Photography.
Utica, intersected by the Erie and Hudson Canal, is really a beautiful place. Free from the geometric regularity of most of the American cities, its tree-lined streets impart to it the truly American sylvan character, while the size and elegance of its suburban residences show that its people are prosperous to a degree unknown in similar cities in the old country.
But their commercial prosperity is not the only, or even principal, quality on which the Uticans pride themselves, as they rank only second to Boston in their opinion of their culture and appreciation of science and art; and, so far as I have been able to judge, with quite as much, if not more, reason. [Read more…] about A Photographer Visits Utica, Saratoga & Albany in 1878
New York: A Metropolis of Murals
Plastered on walls in public spaces and civic buildings, scattered in hotels and restaurants, hidden in private mansions, a plenitude of murals form part of New York City’s infrastructure.
Although American interest in the medium originated in the 1893 World Fair which presented visitors with numerous large-scale murals, the vogue for this form of artistic expression dates back to the Great Depression. With the introduction of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1933, federal funds were made available to support and promote public art. Muralism became fashionable. [Read more…] about New York: A Metropolis of Murals