The entry deadline for the 2010 Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region Juried Exhibition, which will be held at The Hyde Collection this fall, is Friday, March 26, 2010. [Read more…] about Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region Deadline Near
Cultural History
Hudson Valley Cultural History Discussions At Senate House
In a unique collaboration, the New York Council for the Humanities has joined forces with the Senate House State Historic Site, in uptown Kingston, to offer “Reading Between the Lines: Cultural Crossroads at the Hudson River Valley,” a free reading and discussion series that runs from March through July 2010, meeting on Saturday afternoons once a month.
Reading Between the Lines is designed to promote lively, informed conversation about humanities themes and strengthen the relationship between humanities institutions and the public. Reading Between the Lines series are currently being held in communities across New York State.
At Senate House, the discussion leader will be A.J. Williams-Myers, Professor of Black Studies at the State University of New York, New Paltz. He will lead discussions of each series book: Les Sauvages Américains: Representations of Native Americans in French and English Literature, by Gordon M. Sayre; Possessions: The History and Uses of Haunting in the Hudson River Valley, by Judith Richardson; The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in 17th Century North America, edited by David Alan Greer; and Long Hammering: Essays on the Forging of an African American Presence in the Hudson River Valley to the Early Twentieth Century, by A.J. Williams-Myers. All books are loaned to participants.
In addition to the book discussions, Senate House staff will offer a brief presentation of a related artifact or document from the site’s collections at the end of each session, so that participants can get a taste of the site’s historical treasures.
For more information about Reading Between the Lines: Cultural Crossroads at the Hudson River Valley visit www.nyhumanities.org/discussion_groups.
A New History of the Munsee Indians
More enigmatic than they should be in this late age, even among historians of New York, the Munsee are less known than the story for which they are best known – the purchase of Manhattan Island for veritable pittance in 1626. One reason the Munsee (a northern sub-set of sorts of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware, as they were called by Europeans) have been ignored by historians is their rather early refugee status by the 1740s.
Anthropologist Robert S. Grumet’s The Munsee Indians: A History attempts to paint a portrait of the Munsee, whose territory stretched form the lower Hudson River Valley to the headwaters of the Delaware, as an Indian Nation in their own right. Previous histories, particularly those of the Lenape, have generally ignored the important role of the Munsee.
Grumet marshals archeological, anthropological and archival evidence to bring to life the memorial lives of Mattano, Tackapousha, Mamanuchqua, and other Munsee leaders who helped shape the course of American history in the mid-Atlantic before the American Revolution. The Musee emigrated to reservations in Wisconsin, Ontario, and Oklahoma where their descendants live to this day.
Grumet is the senior research associate at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Historic Contact: Indian People and Colonists in Today’s Northeastern United States in the Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries.
The Munsee Indians: A History is part of the Civilization of the American Indian Series by the University of Oklahoma Press.
Conference: Food and Dining in the Hudson Valley
“Bon Appétit: Food and Dining in the Hudson Valley,” a conference organized by the Great Estates Consortium, will be held on Saturday, March 20, 2010 beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Henry A. Wallace Center at the Roosevelt Library and Home.
Bon Appétit, which celebrates the rich history of food in the Hudson Valley, has been planned to coincide with Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2010. This fourth annual event will take place between March 15 – 28, and will showcase this scenic New York State region as a premier culinary destination.
Heidi Hill, Historic Site Manager of Crailo and Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site, will open the conference by exploring 17th century food. Using Dutch genre paintings paired with archaeological evidence, Dutch documents and 17th century artifacts from New Netherland and Indian lands, the speaker will illuminate the colorful and sometimes surprising daily life of both the colonists and Native Americans through the foods they ate and their table and cook ware.
Valerie Balint, Associate Curator at Olana State Historic Site will explore evolving mid-century dining tastes and trends using Olana and the daily practices of the Church family as an example. Drawing upon primary source materials from the museum’s collections Ms. Balint will focus on issues relating to emerging ideals about etiquette, domesticity and cosmopolitanism. In particular, she will examine the increased emphasis, even in middle-class homes on formalized table settings, exotic foods and elaborate floral decor.
After a brief coffee break Frank Futral, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites, will explore the food customs of millionaires during the Gilded Age. Mr. Futral will be followed by Melodye Moore, Historic Site Manager at Staatsburgh State Historic Site. Ms. Moore will explore the behind-the-scenes work of the 24 domestic servants that needed to take place in order to present a “Dinner of Ceremony” in a Gilded Age mansion. The as yet unrestored servants’ quarters of Staatsburgh will illustrate where much of this work took place.
Lunch will be provided by Gigi Hudson Valley and will feature local food. Laura Pensiero, RD chef/owner, Gigi Hudson Valley, will introduce the lunch and share with the participants how she uses local farm products for her business and the current state of farming in Dutchess County.
Following lunch conference attendees will have the opportunity to visit participating Great Estates where they will be given an opportunity to engage in special food related tours and activities. Each site will pair with a restaurant offering visitors a Hudson Valley treat. While there is no additional cost for visits to the historic sites, participants must pre-register for the sites they expect to visit.
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site – Servants To Stewards tour. Guests are assigned the character of a servant and learn about their role in the running of the household. This tour requires climbing 74 stairs and is not handicap accessible. Comfortable shoes are strongly recommended. Following the tour Twist Restaurant of Hyde Park will provide attendees with a Hudson Valley treat.
Staatsburgh State Historic Site – Visit the “downstairs” rooms of the mansion that until recently had served as offices for the employees of the Taconic Region of the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. These rooms, including the kitchen, the sculleries, the pastry room, the Butler’s office and the male servant’s bedrooms, will soon be restored by the Friends of Mills Mansion. Leave with a special treat that might have been enjoyed by the servants from Terrapin Restaurant of Rhinebeck, New York.
Locust Grove Estate – You’ll have the chance to tour, in-depth, the kitchen, cook’s bedroom, dining room, and butler’s pantry at the historic Poughkeepsie estate. Learn more about service “below stairs” in a wealthy Hudson Valley home, and how the family upstairs expected their staff to cope with day-to-day living. You’ll also step behind-the-scenes into the china room – not usually open during tours. After your tour, enjoy a special treat from Babycakes Café in Poughkeepsie with Locust Grove’s Director.
Clermont State Historic Site – At Home with the Livingstons: A mansion tour highlighting the historic 1930s kitchen and dining room. View the cook books and secret family recipes of Alice Clarkson Livingston. Learn what quirk of Livingston dining etiquette irked the butler. Enjoy an exclusive look at the 19th century kitchen that nourished the Chancellor’s daughter, Margaret Maria and her family. Take away a scrumptious treat from Tivoli Bread and Baking in Tivoli, New York.
Space is limited, and meals and refreshments are included in the conference fee, so pre-registration is strongly recommended. The $60 per person registration fee includes coffee/tea in the morning, luncheon catered by Gigi Hudson Valley and afternoon Great Estates site tours. For additional information please call (845) 889-8851.
Conference attendees are encouraged to dine at fixed prices in nearby restaurants and stay in local hotels offering special rates for Restaurant Week. More information is available at www.hudsonvalleyrestaurantweek.com. For information on nearby Dutchess County restaurants go here. For information regarding lodging specials there is a pdf here.
The 1920s: America’s Golden Age of Sports
A new book by Michael K. Bohn, Heroes and Ballyhoo: How the Golden Age of the 1920s Transformed American Sports, profiles the great American sports heroes of that era and highlights their roles in turning their sports into the kind of large spectator events they are today. Among them are the standards like Babe Ruth, Bobby Jones, Jack Dempsey, and Knute Rockne, but also those from the fringes of modern sport.
Swimmers like Johnny Weissmuller, who turned Olympic success into a seminal role as Tarzan, and Gertrude Ederle, the first to swim the English Channel are profiled. Helen Wills is here, the winner of 31 Grand Slam tennis titles who the New York Times called “the first American born woman to achieve international celebrity as an athlete.” Heroes and Ballyhoo also considers the role of tennis player Bill Tilden and golfer Walter Hagen in bringing large audiences to their sports.
Arena sports became a cornerstone of modern American life in the 1920s, after Americans, freed from the burden of World War I and Victorian traditions, seemed to seek out everything that was modern, from bobbed hair, bathtub gin, jazz, Model Ts, movies and radio to fads of all kinds.
The author goes further to explore the people behind the scenes: press agents, and over-the-top sports writers and journalists that helped establish what the publisher calls “the secular religion of sports and sports heroes, and helping bond disparate social and regional sectors of the country.”
Reporters like Grantland Rice and Damon Runyon, are found here, along with modern era promoters like C. C. Pyle and Tex Rickard and agent Christy Walsh, a founder of sports marketing.
Photo: Parade for Gertrude Ederle coming up Broadway, New York City in 1926.
RCHS to Host Monthly Travel and Tourism Book Series
In a unique collaboration, the New York Council for the Humanities has joined forces with the Rensselaer County Historical Society to offer Reading Between the Lines: Travel and Tourism Narratives of the Empire State, a monthly reading and discussion series that runs from March through June, 2010.
“Reading Between the Lines offers an unusual twist on the standard book group format with focused thematic discussions led by humanities scholars,” says Council Executive Director Sara Ogger. At the Rensselaer County Historical Society, the discussion leader will be Shealeen Meaney, Assistant Professor of English at Russell Sage College.
Meaney will lead four discussion sessions each focused on a book related to the series theme: Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Other Tales, by Washington Irving; The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862, by Carol Sherrif; The Second Greatest Disappointment: Honeymooning and Tourism at Niagara Falls, by Karen Dubinsky and Taxi! A Social History of the New York City Cabdriver, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges.
Mari Shopsis, Director of Education at the Rensselaer County Historical Society adds: “The Rensselaer County Historical Society is very pleased to host this Reading Between the Lines program. Groups like this provide an important venue for civic engagement and social interaction, and Professor Meaney’s work on women’s travel writing and the Historical Society’s collection of travel diaries, postcards and letters are an interesting counterpart to the books being discussed.”
Participants in the series read works of non-fiction and works of literature that are discussed within an historical context. The program is free and open to the public, although pre-registration is required. The group will meet on the third Thursday of the month – March 18, April 15, May 20, and June 17 from 7-8:30pm at the Rensselaer County Historical Society, 57 Second Street, Troy, NY. For more information on the program, visit http://www.rchsonline.org/programs.htm#RBTL or contact Mari Shopsis at 518-272-7232, x 17 or at mshopsis@rchsonline.org.
Reading Between the Lines is designed to promote lively, informed conversation about humanities themes and strengthen the relationship between humanities institutions and the public. Reading Between the Lines series are currently being held in communities across New York State. The project is supported by the We The People initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information about Reading Between the Lines: Travel and Tourism Narratives of the Empire State, visit www.nyhumanities.org/discussion_groups.
NYS Museum Exhibit: George Eastman House Photos
“Seeing Ourselves: Masterpieces of American Photography from George Eastman House Collection” opens February 12 at the New York State Museum and will be on view through May 9 in the Museum’s West Gallery. The exhibit will introduce visitors to historical and contemporary photographic masterpieces. Proving the power of photography, more than 155 images and artifacts tell the story of America over the last 150 years.
The photographers range from professionals such as Lewis W. Hine, Dorothea Lange, Matthew Brady and many others, including several who are unidentified. The images capture America and Americans in various ages and stages. They depict grandeur and simplicity, joy and anger, beauty and grit. A limited number of brochures on the exhibition will be available at the gallery entrance.
The exhibition is drawn entirely from the collection of George Eastman House. It is arranged into five sections: “American Masterpieces,” “American Faces,” “America at War,” “America the Beautiful” and “American Families.” Each section addresses key photographic works documenting the American cultural experience.
The “American Masterpieces” section displays photographs that show outstanding artistry, skill or workmanship. They show that American masterpieces cover a broad spectrum of subject, format, and history. Some photographs began as intentional works of art while others began as something else – propaganda, information, aide memoire, or novelty — and only later achieved iconic status. This section will include “The Steerage” by Alfred Stieglitz, “Nautilus” by Edward Weston, and “Yosemite Valley, Summer” by Ansel Adams.
In the “American Faces” section visitors will see photographs of people that have been used to create celebrity, establish identity, and influence our perceptions. Photographers who have captured these American faces include Mathew Brady, Richard Avedon, Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Edward Steichen, Mary Ellen Mark, and Gordon Parks.
The “America at War” section reminds visitors that of all the information that photography brings us, little is more pressing than news about war. Since the beginning of photography, images have defined our understanding of conflict. Images will include “A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg” by Timothy O’Sullivan; David Douglas Duncan’s “Combat, Korea”; “Reaching Out, The DMZ” by Larry Burrows; and “Vietnam Memorial, Washington, DC” by Hiroshi Watanabe.
Timeless photographs that exemplify the beauty and power of nature and an expanding America are included in the “America the Beautiful” section. On display will be William Henry Jackson’s “Mt Sopris, from Junction of Rock Creek,” “Refugio Beach” by Ansel Adams, “Dunes” by Edward Weston and “Desertscape, Death Valley” by Marilyn Bridges.
The “American Families” section explores the role photography can play in helping to put our own family experience into context and define “family” for ourselves. Included are “Tenement Penthouse” by Weegee, “Italian Family, Ellis Island” by Lewis Hine, “East Harlem” by Helen Levitt and “The Damm Family in Their Car” by Mary Ellen Mark.
Forty-minute Interpretive Tours of Seeing Ourselves, and an open discussion focusing on several photographs, will be held at 1 and 2 p.m. on February 13-14, 27-28, March 20-21, April 24-25 and May. 8-9.
A podcast is available at http://podcast.eastmanhouse.org/discussing-seeing-ourselves/.
Photo: Powerhouse Mechanic, 1920, by Lewis W. Hine. Courtesy George Eastman House.
Adirondack Museum Offers "Passion in the Park"
The Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake wants visitors to discover the romantic side of the Adirondack Park, by joining them for a special Valentine’s Day program that explores love stories happy, melodramatic, and tragic – all set in the North Country. Museum officials are suggesting you “bring a special loved one and plenty of handkerchiefs” on Sunday, February 14, 2010 as the Adirondack Museum presents “Passion in the Park” a Valentine’s Day edition of the Cabin Fever Sunday series with Curator Hallie E. Bond.
The presentation will be held in the Auditorium, and will begin promptly at 1:30 p.m. Cabin Fever Sunday programs are offered at no charge to museum members. The fee for non-members is $5.00. There is no charge for children of elementary school age or younger. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, please call the Education Department at (518) 352-7311, ext. 128 or visit the museum’s web site at
www.adirondackmuseum.org.
Some of the love stories that Bond will share are part of the established folklore and history of the region. Others have recently come to light through research in the Adirondack Museum’s fine collection of diaries and personal letters.
Bond will discuss how the reputation of the Adirondack Mountains as a romantic spot was established in the mid-nineteenth century and share the ways Valentine’s Day was celebrated before the era of cards from Hallmark. The program will be illustrated with charming images of vintage Valentines and photographs from museum collections.
Hallie Bond has been Curator at the Adirondack Museum since 1987. She has curated a number of popular exhibits including “Common Threads” 150 Years of Adirondack Quilts and Comforters,” “A Paradise for Boys and Girls: Children’s Camps in the Adirondacks,” and “Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks.” She has written extensively about regional history and material culture.
Photo: Valentine greeting, ca. 1910. Collection of the Adirondack Museum.
Hodson-Brown Fellowship:Literature, History, Culture, Art Before 1820
The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the John Carter Brown Library invite applications for the Hodson Trust-John Carter Brown Fellowship, a unique research and writing fellowship.
The Hodson-Brown Fellowship supports work by academics, independent scholars and writers working on significant projects relating to the literature, history, culture, or art of the Americas before 1830. Candidates with a U.S. history topic are strongly encouraged to concentrate on the period prior to 1801. The fellowship is also open to
filmmakers, novelists, creative and performing artists, and others working on projects that draw on this period of history.
The fellowship award supports two months of research (conducted at the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, R.I.) and two months of writing (at Washington College in Chestertown, Md). Housing and university privileges will be provided. The fellowship includes a stipend of $5,000 per month for a total of $20,000.
Deadline for applications for the 2010-11 fellowship year is March 15, 2010.
For more information and application instructions, please visit the Starr Center’s website at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.
2010 Meeting of the American Society for Ethnohistory
The 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Ethnohistory, will take place at the Lord Elgin Hotel, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on October 13 – 17, 2010. The American Society for Ethnohistory (ASE) was founded in 1954 to promote the interdisciplinary investigation of the histories of the Native Peoples of the Americas. The ethnohistorical method, as it has come to be known, involves developing histories informed by ethnography, linguistics, archaeology, and ecology.
The theme for the ASE Ottawa 2010 is titled ‘Creating Nations and Building States: Past and Present,’ focusing on indigenous societies and their relations with expanding colonial and modern state structures of Canada, America, and Latin America. This general theme is intended to initiate discussions on the complex and often fractious relations between Native societies and expanding state structures in the Americas from contact onward.
Papers on instances of ethnogenesis, persistence and transformation of identity, culture and social structures over time are especially welcomed. Since the meeting is being held in Canada’s capital during the 125th anniversary of the second Métis provisional government and resistance movement at Batoche, the organizers are encouraging discussions and reflection on alternative models of indigenous nation building, displacement and violence in the interior, and the vast process of native exclusion in the construction of modern states.
The organizers invite proposals that speak to and think creatively about this year’s theme on the formation and transformation of both state and national entities, but they accept other ethnohistorical topics as well. Complete panel proposals with presenters, and chair are preferred, but individual paper proposals are also accepted.
The firm deadline for applications is April 15, 2010. Note the earlier than customary date of the conference as well as the earlier than usual deadline for the submission of proposals and abstracts. Applicants will be notified of the status of their proposals by June 15, 2010.
It is not necessary to register for the conference in order to have a paper or panel accepted. Once papers and panels are accepted, however, participants MUST register as an ASE member by August 1, 2010.
Click here for conference information.
Special Editor’s Session
The Editors and Editorial Board of Ethnohistory invite proposals for an invited Editors’ Session to be held at the 2010 meeting in Ottawa. They are looking for a session proposal that closely mirrors the theme of the conference “Creating Nations and Building States: Past and Present,” which involves representatives from several regions and disciplinary orientations exploring a common theme. The successful session proposal will be published as a special issue of the journal. Completed papers will be due within six months of the meeting. The session should consist of 6-8 papers. In order to for a session to be considered for the Editor’s Session, submit a session proposal, including a session abstract and abstracts of individual papers by the April 15th deadline. Be sure to check the box ”For consideration of the Editor’s Session.” Submissions not accepted for the Editors’ Session will be considered for inclusion in the regular program without prejudice.
Program questions should be directed to:
ASE Program Committee Chair
Professor Jean Francois Belisle
History Department
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1N 6N5
jbelisle@uOttawa.ca
1-613-562-5800 #1293
Local arrangements questions should be directed to:
ASE Local Arrangements Committee Chair
Professor Nicole St-Onge
History Department
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1N 6N5
nstonge@uOttawa.ca
1-613-562-5800 # 1317