History

1832 Merchant’s House Virtual Architectural Tour

January 25, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Merchant’s House Museum will host “The Architecture of an 1832 Landmark: Up-Close and Personal,” a virtual tour of the Merchant’s House, on Wednesday, February 23rd.

Anthony Bellov will lead this virtual tour of the home of the Tredwell family and their Irish servants. The tour will look at all five stories, from the steep front stoop (made of glistening white marble, the dominant ornamental stone in the early/mid 19th century) to the crawl-space of the attic (featuring a remnant from the house next door, long since demolished). [Read more…] about 1832 Merchant’s House Virtual Architectural Tour

Wall St History: 19th Century Growth of Investment Banking

January 24, 2022 by James S. Kaplan 2 Comments

With the demise of the Philadelphia based Bank of the United States, the financial center of the country shifted to the privately owned state chartered financial firms on Wall Street.

As the nation recovered from the severe depression in the Panic of 1837, President James K. Polk’s policy of Manifest Destiny took root and significant westward settlement of Indigenous land expanded in the 1840s. Fortified by the Erie Canal and its Canal Fund, Wall Street financial institutions became strongly influenced by four factors: the invention of the telegraph; the development of railroads; the discovery of gold and other precious minerals in the West (particularly the California Gold Rush of 1849); and the arrival of significant numbers of Jewish and Irish immigrants in the city of New York. [Read more…] about Wall St History: 19th Century Growth of Investment Banking

Albany’s Role In Three Little-Remembered Colonial Wars in the Northeast

January 24, 2022 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

From the time Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609, the area that is now Albany, NY was considered the focal point of trade with Indigenous People. For over a hundred years, Albany was the trading post furthest west and most remote in the colonies. Most of the other colonies were English; New Netherland was Dutch and settled for the purpose of trade.

With a moderate climate, abundant rainfall, a lake and river system for good transportation and plentiful natural resources, New Netherland was well-positioned. The fur trade significantly raised the standard of living of many European settlers and Native People. Arriving at Albany with a catch of furs, an native person could trade would usually trade with a representative of the Van Rensselaers, or one of his agents.

Thousands of pelts began to flow into Albany in return for Dutch, and later English, trade goods. News of the Dutch market spread and before long Native People from as far away as today’s Minnesota and Illinois were traveling across the Great Lakes and Mohawk River to Albany to obtain manufactured goods with animal pelts. [Read more…] about Albany’s Role In Three Little-Remembered Colonial Wars in the Northeast

Bruce Dearstyne’s ‘Spirit of New York’ Reissued In Expanded Edition

January 24, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Bruce W. Dearstyne’s expanded new edition of The Spirit of New York (SUNY Press, 2022; first published 2016) explores nineteen dramatic events from New York State’s history that altered the course of U.S. history.

From the launch of the state government in April 1777 thru the tragedy of September 11th and through the debut of the musical play Hamilton in 2015, Dearstyne’s chapters describe great political changes, historical turning points, and struggles for social, racial, and environmental reform.
[Read more…] about Bruce Dearstyne’s ‘Spirit of New York’ Reissued In Expanded Edition

Museum Capacity Building Grants Available

January 24, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Museum Association of New York (MANY) has announced a new re-grant partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to distribute 100 grants of $5,000 to assist New York museums with capacity building. [Read more…] about Museum Capacity Building Grants Available

Columbia Co Historical Announces Winter Lecture Series

January 24, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Columbia County Historical Society (CCHS) will host historians and genealogists, art historians, photographers, and authors during its 2022 Winter Lecture Series held via Zoom over seven Saturdays beginning January 29th through May 21st. [Read more…] about Columbia Co Historical Announces Winter Lecture Series

Thomas Cole Historic Site Virtual Sunday Salons Return

January 24, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site‘s Virtual Sunday Salons, an annual series of timely conversations on American art and landscape with artists, writers, community members, scholars, and the next generation of leaders in the field is set to return on Sunday, January 30th with “A Memorial to Ice at the Dead Deer Disco.” [Read more…] about Thomas Cole Historic Site Virtual Sunday Salons Return

Historical Society of Woodstock Receives Conservation Grant

January 24, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Historical Society of Woodstock has received a 2021 NYSCA/Greater Hudson Heritage Foundation Conservation award of $5,500 for the conservation of the paintings “Hervey White in His Studio” (c. 1926) by Arnold Blanch (1896-1968), and “Landscape” (c. 1910) by Edmund R. Rolfe (1877-1917).

Conservation will be undertaken by Nadia Ghannam Fine Art Conservation. [Read more…] about Historical Society of Woodstock Receives Conservation Grant

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January 23, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

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Catskills Klan: The KKK in Sullivan County, New York

January 23, 2022 by John Conway 1 Comment

Many people – even those with more than a passing interest in Sullivan County history – are surprised to learn that the Ku Klux Klan was once fairly active in parts of the county. And yet, throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, there were several chapters in the Catskills, most set up by recruiters from the Binghamton area.

These Klan chapters, whether in Livingston Manor, Jeffersonville, Liberty, Woodbourne or some other hamlet, often started out as social organizations, and it was not unusual to see newspaper articles and even advertisements about their charitable activities or their clambakes, sometimes in conjunction with the Kamelias, the organization’s women’s auxiliary. [Read more…] about Catskills Klan: The KKK in Sullivan County, New York