History, Natural History & the Arts
The Museum Association of New York’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to postpone the Annual Conference and Museum and Folk Art Forum until later in 2020.
An announcement sent to members and supporters said: “Although this decision was made because the health and well-being of our museum community comes first, it has severe financial consequences for the Museum Association of New York.”
[Read more…] about MANY Update: Museums Conference Postponed, More
A substantial fire has closed the 1920s Palisades Interstate Park New Jersey Park Headquarters building in Alpine, N.J., across the Hudson River from Yonkers. No one was hurt in the blaze, but one Park Commissioner has said some of the Commission’s on-site records have been destroyed. The building was significantly damaged.
“All the historic things in the building are lost forever – the chief’s records and the records are gone,” Palisades Park Commissioner Sophie Haymann said, standing outside the smoldering 100-year old building. The Commission’s archival holdings are a largely untapped Hudson Valley treasure, but most are stored off-site. [Read more…] about Fire Damages Palisades Park Commission Building, Archives
The National Park Service (NPS) has released findings and a follow-up corrective action plan for the December 2018 visitor center fire at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay, NY. The loss of the visitor center impacted the staff and operations at the park, as the building housed many aspects of park operations including staff, historic house tour ticket sales and a bookstore.
The NPS investigation into the cause of the fire was inconclusive, however they concluded that there did not appear to be any indications that it was intentionally caused. Several accidental causes of the fire were considered, including furnace malfunction, original equipment installation issues and storage practices. The report says the building had a monitored fire detection and alarm system and portable fire extinguishers and Park leadership and staff followed applicable NPS structural fire policies. [Read more…] about Sagamore Hill Fire Findings Released By Park Service
The University at Albany, University Libraries, the Capital District Library Council, the NY Capital Region Alliance for Response, and the New York State Education Department have announced a half-day seminar “After the Big One: Navigating Disaster Recovery for Cultural Institutions,” set for May 21st, 2019 from 8:30 am to 1 pm, at the University at Albany’s Science Library in the 3rd Floor Standish Room. [Read more…] about Navigating Disaster Recovery for Cultural Institutions
How useful are historical insights in addressing a state’s problems?
California is experiencing a historic drought so severe that Governor Jerry Brown has ordered a 25% reduction in the use of water with some exceptions, e.g., certain types of agriculture. As California endures this crisis, how helpful is historical insight in both understanding it and charting a way forward? So far, the results are mixed. [Read more…] about Crises, Problems and Historical Insights
The recent revival of “Evacuation Day” – November 25, 1783, the day British military forces left New York City at the end of the Revolution – is a reminder of New York City’s resilience. The city had been occupied for several years but soon after the British left and New Yorkers got control of their city, it began a recovery and remarkable upward trajectory.
“Resilience” is an often-used term these days. Andrew Zoli and Annmarie Healy’s 2012 book Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back summarized recent scholarship and help popularize the term. [Read more…] about Lessons From New York’s History of Resilience
Since 2013 the Rockefeller Foundation has been celebrating its 100th Anniversary with a focus on resilience, a theme devised to match its mission of global engagement with big problems. Judith Rodin, the president of Rockefeller Foundation has even found time to write a whole book, The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong. Mayor de Blasio has an Office of Resilience and Recovery run by Daniel Zarrilli, and New York has won a place in the 100 Resilient Cities Project which is trying to build stronger urban systems to resist catastrophes before they happen. But the waters are rising, and New York has been drenched again and again. Can human actions defy the cycle of damage and the predictions of future devastation proclaimed with every conference on climate change and disaster’s aftermath? [Read more…] about Resilience and History: 2 Years After Superstorm Sandy
The recent two year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy serves as a reminder of how vulnerable cultural organizations can be when confronted by natural disasters.
CultureAID (Culture Active in Disasters) was established to keep New York City’s arts and cultural communities better connected in time of disaster – whether natural or manmade. The network is a volunteer-based communication system, designed to systematize messages about preparedness as well as recovery-related information and resources. [Read more…] about CultureAID Connects NYC Orgs During Disasters
On Tuesday night, January 7, 2014 about 10:30 pm a fire broke out in the Kanisteo Historical Society in Canisteo, Steuben County, on main street.
The building is only feet from the Canisteo Volunteer Fire Department, who were able to stop the fire and save most of the artifacts and holdings. [Read more…] about Fire At Kanisteo Historical Society, Steuben County
Four recent developments remind us of the opportunities to tie history to other initiatives here in New York. Doing that successfully will continue to require leadership, persistence, and imagination.
*New York pride…and history? The New York State Economic Development Corporation is running ads in business journals to attract businesses to the state. The ads link to the Development Corporation’s Web Site. The ads say, among other things: [Read more…] about Connecting History And Public Policy