History, Natural History & the Arts
In April 2009, the heirs of Berlin-born George Grosz filed a restitution lawsuit against New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) claiming that three paintings by the artist held in the museum’s collection rightfully belong to the family.
The trustees resisted the call. [Read more…] about Painters, Poets, A Manhattan Museum, and the Nazis
The American Revolution was not only fought militarily in the colonies, artists also played an integral role. In The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution (Harvard University Press, 2025) Dr. Zara Anishanslin highlights the intertwined lives of three of them: Robert Edge Pine, Prince Demah and Patience Wright.
Of particular interest to New Yorkers, Wright was born a Quaker (and a relative of the Townsend family) in Oyster Bay, Nassau County, on Long Island. She had a talent for sculpting and her medium was the wax figure. Her museum in the city of New York was a popular attraction, featuring lifelike replicas of notable figures. [Read more…] about Patience Wright: A Revolutionary NY Artist in England
The latest episode of the Crossroads of Rockland History turns attention to the complex story of Margaret “Peggy” Shippen Arnold (1760–1804), the second wife of America’s most notorious traitor, Benedict Arnold. [Read more…] about Peggy Shippen Arnold: Wife of the Famous Traitor
At present, politicians London and Washington are alert to Beijing’s attempts to exploit Anglo-American technology. They are weary of China stealing trade secrets, copying methodologies, or obtaining sensitive business data, whilst Western companies continue to seek admission to the Chinese market.
Over time, Britain and America themselves have been involved in acts of intellectual property theft. In fact, the United States accuses China of similar illicit practices that helped its nascent industry leapfrog that of European rivals and come out as an industrial giant. The means used today may be more sophisticated, but the purpose of gaining a competitive edge remains the same. [Read more…] about Alexander Hamilton, Industrial Spies & Rogue Nations
The latest episode of the New York Minute in History podcast tells the harrowing story of the capture of British spymaster Major John André, who was caught attempting to bring vital information on the American garrison at West Point to the British army command during the American Revolution.
The documents hidden in André’s boot made it clear that American General Benedict Arnold was involved in the conspiracy and a traitor to the cause. [Read more…] about Unpacking John André’s Boot
The Revolutionary War Culper Spy Ring has been the subject of numerous books and the television series, Turn!: Washington’s Spies. Using cipher, codes, and invisible ink, the Culper Spy Ring exposed the British plans to attack the Patriots’ French allies at Newport, Rhode Island, and their plot to counterfeit colonial currency. Many of the Culper Spy Ring sites can be visited today.
Bill Bleyer, former Newsday reporter, and the author of George Washington’s Long Island Spy Ring: A History and Tour Guide, (History Press, 2023) will speak in person and online on Sunday, February 1st at 2 pm. [Read more…] about Culper Spy Ring: A History and Tour Guide
Where history fails to provide, authors of historical fiction can fill the gap. In her new novel To Outwit Them All, author Peggy Wirgau delves into the Revolutionary War history of the Culper Spy Ring.
The ring was a network of spies active during the war, organized by Major Benjamin Tallmadge and General George Washington to provide information on British Army operations in the city of New York, the British headquarters. [Read more…] about Culper Spy #355 Brought to Life
Even as Hitler and his Nazi regime ran roughshod over Germany and Europe in the 1930s, there were those in America who championed their rise. And nowhere so much as on Long Island.
Camp Siegfried in Yaphank (a community in the south part of the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County) became a focal point for certain German Americans to gather and espouse the Nazi cause. [Read more…] about Nazis of Long Island: Sedition, Espionage & the Plot Against America
Culper Spy Day has been an annual tradition on Long Island for over a decade. Created by Margo Arceri in conjunction with the Three Village Historical Society, it has grown into a weekend-long celebration of resilience and resistance during the Revolutionary War.
The Long Island History Project made the trip this year to experience the sights and sounds and mingle with people who share a similar passion for local history. [Read more…] about Culper Spy Day: An Annual Long Island Tradition
Shooters Island in Newark Bay, near Staten Island, is so-called because the Dutch supposedly went there to shoot wild geese. Its industrial use resulted in filling and expansion of the area of the island from its original six acres to upwards of 42 acres today, it lies on the border between New York and New Jersey. [Read more…] about Shooters Island: Hunter’s Haven to Bird Sanctuary
It was British novelist Ian Fleming’s tenth James Bond novel. The 1962 book, The Spy Who Loved Me, was set in the Adirondacks, around Lake George. The fictional publication’s antagonists were not Spectre terrorists. Rather, the villains were two Upstate New York mobsters.
Ian Fleming (1908–1964) was born in London, UK. He came from an affluent family. Fleming’s father, a Member of Parliament, died in World War I (1914–1918). Fleming attended both Eton College and Sandhurst military academy. [Read more…] about The James Bond Novel Set in the Adirondacks
It was July 1942, the seventh month of the United States in World War II (1941–1945). The German military had driven into the Caucasus region of southeastern Europe. New York residents were shocked, too, by news that fascists from a German U-boat had landed several weeks earlier in eastern Long Island but the Nazi agents were captured.
Then the media reported that on July 16, six parachutists had been spotted in the skies near Hyde Park, NY, home of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The government worried that enemy spies or assassins might be near Roosevelt’s Hudson Valley residence. [Read more…] about Beware the Enemy: World War II Upstate New York Manhunts
In 1766 jurist William Blackstone published his Commentaries on the Law of England in which he defined the term “enemy alien” as it was understood in common law. He confirmed that during a time of war “alien enemies have no rights, no privileges.” The Crown exercises absolute power. In a simple turn of phrase, the Oxford professor anticipated the agony of millions of migrants. [Read more…] about Italian-Americans as Alien Enemies: Westchester Opera Star Ezio Pinza
I was researching the biography of Dutchess County Revolutionary War Militia Colonel Jacob Griffin. I was having a hard time of it. By sheer accident I came upon an old historical text entitled New York in the Revolution, as Colony and State: Supplement.
The book was compiled and written during the years 1895-1901, by a former New York State comptroller Erastus C. Knight (and others). It’s an incredibly detailed account of the New York State Assembly’s and Militia’s legal, financial and military policies, procedures and activities from the outset of the American Revolution in 1774 through its conclusion in late 1783. [Read more…] about Culper Spies: Curse of the Black Letter
Brian Kilmeade has done historians on Long Island a great favor. With his latest book, George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution (Sentinel, 2013), co-authored by Don Yaeger and currently one of the top-selling non-fiction books in the country.
He has focused national attention on the role played by the Culper Spy Ring that operated between New York City and Setauket, bringing information about British plans and troop movements across Long Island Sound to Connecticut and on to General Washington. But is book accurate? [Read more…] about Fact And Fiction In Brian Kilmeade’s ‘Secret Six’
Use your bank’s “bill pay” option (or just send a check)
Thanks for your support! These are difficult times. Without your support we cannot publish the Almanack.
*Donations are not tax deductible.
(Click the X in the top right corner this box to not see this message again for 7 days).