History, Natural History & the Arts
Registration is now open for Parks & Trails New York’s 22nd annual Cycle the Erie Canal tour, an opportunity to bike across New York State and learn the history of the Erie Canal.
The eight-day, 400-mile recreational bicycle tour from Buffalo to Albany is scheduled for July 12-19, 2020. [Read more…] about 22nd Annual Cycle the Erie Canal Tour Planned
Now in my 7th year of teaching a full-year 9th grade course on Western New York History in an all-girls independent high school in Buffalo (Buffalo Seminary), I’m convinced that local history offers untapped potential to inspire students – but I think I’ve just scratched the surface.
I also suspect that other teachers have made the same discovery, so I’m looking to identify and connect with local history teachers in order to support and learn from each other.
For me, three things have made teaching local history different from teaching other history courses. First, students usually arrive in class knowing much more about the subject than they anticipate, quickly discovering a source of empowerment. They see the connections among related historical narratives. [Read more…] about Local History Teachers Unite! Share Your Local Texts
Tom Fontana is a Buffalo-born writer and producer, who, among many other accomplishments, is known for the creation of HBO’s Oz and NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street. He has written articles for The New York Times, TV Guide, and Esquire, produced numerous plays from theatres in New York City to San Francisco, and has taught at universities and colleges, including the State University College at Buffalo, his alma mater, from which he received the Distinguished Alumni Award and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters. [Read more…] about SUNY Buffalo Alum Named ‘Giant of Buffalo’
Author Greg Tranter’s new book Makers, Moments & Memorabilia: A Chronicle of Buffalo Professional Sports (Buffalo History Museum and Western New York Heritage, 2019) explores the origins of Buffalo professional sports history from 1857 through today.
Stories are shared alongside photographs and unique artifacts provided by the Buffalo History Museum and Western New York Heritage. The individuals, figures, and moments were selected by the community through surveys, to reflect the memories that resonate with sports fans and historians alike. [Read more…] about Buffalo Sports History Chronicled in New Book
The Buffalo History Museum is set to welcome Tyler Bagwell, local folk singer and writer, on Wednesday, November 6th, at 6 pm, for “Low Bridge, Everybody Down: Buffalo’s Story in Song.”
The program is a history of Buffalo from 1812-1912 told through the battle dirges, lake shanties, murder ballads, canal hollers, underground railroad songs, and courting tunes of that period. [Read more…] about A Folk Singer & Writer Interprets Buffalo’s History
Longtime political reporter of the Buffalo News, Bob McCarthy is set to discuss a variety of political and related topics on Wednesday, October 23rd, from 6 to 7:30 pm, at the Buffalo History Museum.
McCarthy will be joined by Budd Bailey, a longtime colleague of his from their work together in The Buffalo News. [Read more…] about Politics, Journalism History Talk Planned in Buffalo
Six decades of Buffalo Bills football stories are set to be told through exhibitions, events, and programming at The Buffalo History Museum in October.
The month features new artifacts in the Icons exhibit, an exhibit of original artwork highlighting Bills artifacts, memories, unique stories, and more. [Read more…] about Buffalo Museum Celebrating 60 Years of Bills Football
The Western New York Genealogical Society has announced Researching Genealogy at the New York State Archives, an event set for Saturday, September 21, from 10:30 am to noon, at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Central Branch Central Meeting Room, 2nd Floor, 1 Lafayette Square, Buffalo. [Read more…] about Researching Genealogy at NYS Archives in Buffalo
A nineteenth century invading army’s journey into battle had two options, by land or by water. In the winter of 1838 the patriot army, which sought to invade Canada from New York State and overthrow the British Crown, saw a third alternative – by ice.
With Lake Erie covered with ice, “a band of the invaders determined to make it an avenue of passage across to Canada at a point where discovery would be improbable,” according to Our County and Its People, A History of Erie County published in 1898. [Read more…] about The Patriot War: Republic of Canada
When the fugitive William Lyon MacKenzie arrived in Buffalo Dec. 11, 1837, both the Lake Erie city and the United States were at the dawn of great expansion. The Erie Canal had been completed a decade earlier, and Buffalo was now the gateway for western migration.
There also was talk of expansion to the nation’s south. Just a year earlier, American frontiersmen had taken up arms and carved the Republic of Texas out of Mexico Could northern expansion also be part of America’s destiny? If not expansion, could Americans at least help their neighbors throw off the last English claim on North America? [Read more…] about The Patriot War: ‘Remember the Caroline’