New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Education

The Queen of Greenwich Village: Romany Marie Marchand

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Au bistroThe coffee habit was introduced into Western Europe in the mid-seventeenth century. The emergence of the London coffeehouse transformed various aspects of intellectual and commercial life. Lloyd’s insurance, the postal system and the auction house are some of the institutions that trace their origins back to the coffeehouse.

At a time that journalism was in its infancy, the coffeehouse provided a center of communication and news dissemination. It served as a forum of discussion, often becoming a hotbed of political strife and faction. Coffeehouse culture helped shape the public sphere of the Enlightenment. [Read more…] about The Queen of Greenwich Village: Romany Marie Marchand

Archives Magazine To Expand Reach To Young Readers

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New York Archives Jr!The award-winning New York Archives Magazine is expanding to include a new Jr! educational insert and other related enhancements thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

The Jr! insert is expected to expand access to young New Yorkers and offer educators another tool for bringing primary sources into the classroom. Each issue will contain learning activities specific to a local history story published in the quarterly magazine and geared to building historical thinking and civic literacy skills that meet 4th-7th grade curriculum standards. [Read more…] about Archives Magazine To Expand Reach To Young Readers

Sandra Adickes: New York City Teacher and Civil Rights Activist

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Sandra Adickes teaching at Benjamin Franklin High SchoolOn June 25, 1964, The New York Times reported that thirty New York City public school teachers, most of them women, young, and white, would travel to rural Mississippi to teach African American children in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades for six weeks. While in Mississippi the teachers would live in the homes of Black families and join the families on Sundays in “Negro churches.”

On June 30, 1964, at the end of the school year, eight New York City teachers boarded a bus bound for Memphis, Tennessee where they would receive training before continuing on to Mississippi. Another 23 New York City teachers were expected to join them. [Read more…] about Sandra Adickes: New York City Teacher and Civil Rights Activist

Reinstein Woods Environmental Education Center Getting Major Upgrade

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Reinstein Woods Environmental Education Center ca 2021New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced plans to expand the Reinstein Woods Environmental Education Center in the town of Cheektowaga, Erie County, and more than double the facility’s size.

The approximately 7,000-square-foot addition to the education building, will more than double its current square footage and enhance outdoor recreation and environmental education programs offered by Reinstein Woods while improving accessibility for visitors with mobility impairments and other disabilities. [Read more…] about Reinstein Woods Environmental Education Center Getting Major Upgrade

$100K Awarded To Museum Educators

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Pomeroy FundThe Pomeroy Fund for NYS History has awarded 20 history-related organizations across New York State $5,000 each during its fifth grant round to bring back or hire museum educators. [Read more…] about $100K Awarded To Museum Educators

Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal & National Identity

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teaching white supremacyIn his book Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal And The Forging Of Our National Identity (Pantheon, 2022), Donald Yacovone shows clear evidence of white supremacy’s deep-seated roots in our nation’s education system using an in-depth examination of a wide assortment of texts, from primary readers to college textbooks and other higher-ed course materials. [Read more…] about Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal & National Identity

Student Loan Debt Strike Info Session July 26th

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debt collectiveAs of right now, President Joseph Biden is still planning to turn on federal student debt payments on September 1st, 2022. The payment pause was originally initiated by former President Donald Trump in March 2020.

About 43 million student loan borrowers, mired in more than $1.6 trillion in debt, are still waiting on Biden’s promise to cancel student debt. [Read more…] about Student Loan Debt Strike Info Session July 26th

Forests & Their Benefits for Children’s Health

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Striped maple growing at the edge of a forest with pine and hickory in the background courtesy Wikimedia user N3362Although the Grimm Brothers’ tale of Hansel and Gretel surviving alone in the woods after being abandoned by their parents is based on a grim reality – the famine of 1315-1317 – there are compelling reasons to take kids into a forest today.

As long as they are kept out of the clutches of evil witches, and are brought to their respective homes right afterward. [Read more…] about Forests & Their Benefits for Children’s Health

Educating Black Children at the Williamsburg Bray School

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ben franklins world podcastIn a town as old as Williamsburg, Virginia, which was established in 1638, it’s often the case that historic buildings with interesting pasts stand unnoticed and in plain sight.

Such was the case for the building that once housed Williamsburg’s Bray School. A school founded by a group of Anglican clergymen with the express purpose of educating Black children in the ways of the Anglican faith. It was an education that included reading, possibly writing, and the Book of Common Prayer. [Read more…] about Educating Black Children at the Williamsburg Bray School