History, Natural History & the Arts
It has often been said that the first play Danny Kaye ever saw, he was in.
That would have been in June 1929, at the White Roe Lake House in Livingston Manor, Sullivan County, NY, where the soon-to-be legendary performer got his professional start, and refined his trademark comedy routine. [Read more…] about Danny Kaye In The Catskills
In 1693, Leicestershire-born immigrant William Bradford was appointed public printer for New York. Living in Pearl Street, Manhattan, he published from his offices in Hanover Square the first book with a New York imprint, entitled New-England’s Spirit of Persecution Transmitted to Pennsylvania by Quaker author George Keith.
Between 1725 and 1744, Bradford produced the New-York Gazette, the city’s first newspaper. Lower Manhattan continued to be the center of New York’s printing industry for many years, but by the 1860s the street took on a northern European accent and became known for a different type of leaf – tobacco. [Read more…] about Gompers and Hammerstein: The Cigar Makers Who Transformed Theatre
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor is calling for entries for its 15th annual Erie Canalway Photo Contest. Images should convey the unique character of New York’s canals and canal communities. [Read more…] about Erie Canalway Photo Contest Call for Entries
On May 19th 2020, the Waterfront, Parks and Cultural Committee of Manhattan Community Planning Board No. 1, at a virtual meeting, rejected a proposal by the New York City Department of Transportation to move Arturo DiModica’s Charging Bull statue from its current location at Bowling Green to Broad Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange.
Although the matter of moving a sculpture from one City street to another a block away might not seem to be a matter of particular importance or great controversy, this issue did generate significant concern among residents of Lower Manhattan because of the nature of the work, the importance of the location and the people involved. [Read more…] about Charging Bull, Fearless Girl & Cultural Tourism In Lower Manhattan
The Empire State Center for the Book has decided to postpone its annual event honoring inductees to the New York State Writers Hall of Fame due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The group said the decision was made in consultation with its co-sponsor and collaborator the New York State Writers Institute at the State University at Albany. Organizers say it will be the first time in 11 years the induction ceremony has not taken place. [Read more…] about NYS Writers Hall of Fame Induction Postponed
Radiation from the Big Bang
Dear Gramps,
we never knew who
pulled the trigger. [Read more…] about Poetry: Radiation from the Big Bang
Said to be born somewhere in “America” on September 11, 1905, Kathryn Hamill is an intriguing figure whose presence has been strangely ignored.
Typically mentioned in the context of her fling with novelist Patricia Highsmith, little else is known about her. Even photographic images appear to be missing. A one-time Ziegfeld dancer, she married a British publisher, studied medicine in Cambridge, lived in one of London’s iconic modernist houses, and committed suicide. A biographer’s challenge. Surely. [Read more…] about A Modernist Merry-Go-Round
The Albany Institute of History & Art has announced the launch of a new 3D digital tour of their Hudson River School exhibition.
The Albany Institute has one of the largest collections of Hudson River School style paintings and now, visitors can explore the landscapes and scenes of the Hudson River School painters from anywhere in the world. [Read more…] about Hudson River School Exhibit Digital Tour Launched
The Promise of the Earth
my brain is ready for the spring
medicine of the Adirondacks-that
fragrance of grace in her naked fingers,
holding a quiet sun, with a hush. My
heart is ready. My legs and tendons
are ready. On the snow dirtied with mud
like the tips of mink fur, my feet are
ready. The wisdom of these ancestral
trails call me to be alone in a temple of
deep space, and my soul is ready. Where
there is no religion but God and water and
land and shadows and the scent of charred
balsam and arrowroot. A warm breath on
my neck, and the entire history of the earth
promised in a poem, I am ready. I am ready.
Home isolation does not mean we can’t experience that thrill of curiosity and discovery that comes with a visit to an historic house.
Kendra Gaylord, creator and host of the Someone Lived Here podcast, does just that. From Steepletop in Austerlitz, New York, to Sailors’ Snug Harbor in Staten Island, each episode weaves an on-site visit with the story of who lived there. On our latest episode, you’ll hear why Kendra created the series, how she does it, and who had the best gift shop. [Read more…] about Capturing the Life in the Historic House (Podcast)