In partnership with The Kew Gardens Improvement Association and the Kew Gardens Preservation Alliance, the Historic Districts Council of New York City (HDC) will host a walking tour of Kew Gardens in Queens, one of HDC’s 2023 Six to Celebrate neighborhoods. [Read more…] about A Walking Tour of NYC’s Kew Gardens
New York City
Josephine Baker and Illustrator Paul Colin
A century ago this year, Josephine Baker traveled on a one way ticket from Philadelphia to New York City, having left her recently-wed husband behind.
Born an illegitimate child in a St Louis ghetto on June 3, 1906, Freda Josephine McDonald had a dismal childhood of poverty living in an area of rooming houses, run-down apartments and brothels near Union Station. The city was beset by racial tension and violence. [Read more…] about Josephine Baker and Illustrator Paul Colin
Labor History: Saratoga, Belmont, Aqueduct & the 1961 Track Workers Strike
There were only 14 horses at Saratoga Race Course in late July of 1961. By that time, it was expected that at least 200 would have arrived for the racing season. Strikes led by Jimmy Hoffa and a branch of the Teamsters Union, Local 917, halted the transportation of horses from New York City to Saratoga Springs. [Read more…] about Labor History: Saratoga, Belmont, Aqueduct & the 1961 Track Workers Strike
The Revolution’s First Bloodshed, New York’s Liberty Poles & The Battle of Golden Hill
After the end of the French and Indian War, there was tension over King George III and Parliament’s plan to tax the Colonies to pay off the war debt. John Wilkes, editor of The North Briton newspaper and a member of Parliament, opposed the King in his publications.
Wilkes’ most critical editorial was printed in 1763 in Issue # 45, a number highlighted to evoke memories of the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, commonly referred to as “The 45 Rebellion” or simply “45” in political culture. The King was personally offended and issued a warrant for Wilkes’ arrest. [Read more…] about The Revolution’s First Bloodshed, New York’s Liberty Poles & The Battle of Golden Hill
Before Hollywood: Early Filmmaking in New York State
This week on the Historians Podcast, film historian Audrey Kupferberg discusses filmmaking in New York State before the Hollywood era.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film commentator for WAMC public radio in Albany. She is an emeritus lecturer in film history at the University at Albany and previously was director of the film study center at Yale. [Read more…] about Before Hollywood: Early Filmmaking in New York State
Please Support New York Almanack’s Annual Fundraising Today
New York Almanack delivers to you each day. We receive no public funds – we’re supported only by readers like you.
We need your help! Please DONATE to our annual fundraising campaign to keep New York Almanack publishing. [Read more…] about Please Support New York Almanack’s Annual Fundraising Today
An Indigenous Perspectives Paddle Tour of Conscience Point, Long Island
Conscience Point is known to be the original meeting place of the Shinnecock and English settlers of Southampton on Long Island in June of 1640. [Read more…] about An Indigenous Perspectives Paddle Tour of Conscience Point, Long Island
1850-1880s New York City: ‘Thirty Years in Gotham’ Columns Going Online
New York Almanack friend Jerry Kuntz has been collecting and transcribing columns that appeared between 1880 and 1886 in the New York Sunday Mercury entitled “Thirty Years in Gotham.” The articles were published with the byline “by Harry Hill,” but were drafted by ghost writer Isaac George Reed.
Harry Hill, the proprietor of the most infamous dance hall in Manhattan from the 1850s through the 1880s, likely offered comments, notes, and suggestions on some of the articles. The columns covered topics dealing with the history of the city of New York: its institutions, characters, neighborhoods, social life, politics, disasters, sports, criminals, and more. [Read more…] about 1850-1880s New York City: ‘Thirty Years in Gotham’ Columns Going Online
Greenwich Village’s Free and Independent Republic & John Sloan at Jefferson Market’s Night Court
Painters such as James McNeill Whistler and Childe Hassam exported the streetscape from Paris to America by creating various impressionistic vistas or bird’s-eye city views. As society became increasingly urbanized, art took a less genteel direction. Members of New York Ashcan movement urged painters to drop orthodoxy and depict the bustling streets of the city.
Although not an “organized” school of painting, the unity of the group consisted in a desire to grasp urban realities. The name ashcan (dustbin) was initially hurled against these artists as a term of derision – it became a banner of distinction.
As committed urbanists, these painters were both observers and participants. John French Sloan, Robert Henri and friends created a dynamic record of metropolitan street culture. Although attacked by their opponents as being “devotees of the ugly,” these artists looked for aesthetic vitality in ordinary life. [Read more…] about Greenwich Village’s Free and Independent Republic & John Sloan at Jefferson Market’s Night Court
A Guide to Researching New York Communities During the American Revolution
The 250th celebration of the nation comes with new challenges to expand and deepen the narrative, and a recent guide can help researchers discover those previously hidden stories in their communities. “USA @250 and New York: Uncovering Local Stories” is an online guide with suggested research strategies and resources for finding primary sources connected to local communities during the American Revolution. [Read more…] about A Guide to Researching New York Communities During the American Revolution