New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Grants

Schuylerville Area Gets Battlefield Preservation Grants

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The National Park Service has announced the award of two American Battlefield Preservation Program grants totaling over $100,000 to Saratoga P.L.A.N. and National Heritage Trust, for projects in the Schuylerville area. Both organizations are members of the Hudson-Hoosick Partnership and will partner with Saratoga National Historical Park in these projects.

Saratoga PLAN was awarded $21,425 for planning and designing interpretive signs for the Fish Creek Trail, a one-mile trail along the south side of Fish Creek that is part of a six-mile historic loop linking Schuyler House with Victory Woods, the Saratoga Monument and the 71-mile Champlain Canalway Trail slated for completion in 2013. 

“With the funds, we intend to hire an artist to help us tell the stories of Fish Creek,” said Maria Trabka, Executive Director of Saratoga P.L.A.N., a conservation organization serving Saratoga County. “The site has a long history for fishing, travel, hydropower, and as an American stronghold during the Revolutionary War, when the British were forced to surrender.”
Natural Heritage Trust was awarded $80,000 for a study of two colonial era battlefields at Saratoga (present day Schuylerville). As European and Native nations vied for dominance in North America a series of wars were fought between Great Britain, France and their Native allies. During these wars in the 1690s and again in the 1740s a number of battles were fought at Saratoga. This research will shed new light on the significant formative history of Canada and America and the important role of the Schuyler family.

The grants are part of over $4 million that the Partnership has generated for communities along the Hudson River since 2006. The Partnership, founded by Senator Roy McDonald and Assemblyman Steve Englebright, is a legislatively designated public-benefit corporation whose mission is to preserve, enhance and develop the historic, agricultural, scenic, natural and recreational resources and the significant waterways within the Partnership region. The Partnership fosters collaborative projects with
non-profit and governmental entities emphasizing both agricultural and open space protection, economic and tourism development, and the protection and interpretation of the region’s natural and cultural heritage.

Photo: Town of Saratoga Historical Marker, Schuylerville. Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy the Historical Marker Database. 

Hudson River Greenway Offers Trail Grant Program

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Applications are now available for the 2012 Greenway Conservancy Small Grant Program from the The Hudson River Valley Greenway. A total of $50,000 is available for matching grants in this year’s program.

The Greenway Conservancy Small Grant Program is an annual competitive grant funding opportunity available to communities and not-for-profit organizations within the designated Hudson River Valley Greenway area, which extends from Saratoga and Washington counties to Battery Park, Manhattan.
The program offers funding for trail planning and design, construction and rehabilitation, and education and interpretation. Emphasis is placed on trail projects that seek to implement the goals of the Greenway Trail Vision Plan, fill in identified gaps in the Greenway Trail System, and make improvements to designated Greenway Trails. Copies of the Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail Vision Plan may be downloaded online. 
This annual program has offered technical and financial assistance to municipalities and not-for-profit organizations since 1995.

Projects that will be considered for funding through this year’s grant program include:

· Education and Interpretation projects, including trail signs, kiosks, guides, maps, brochures, one-day conferences or workshop series. 

· Projects to construct, design or plan trail segments or trail links that further the goals of the Greenway Trail Program.

· Rehabilitation projects to improve trails/trail segments that further the goals of the Greenway Trail Program.

Applications can be requested by calling (518) 473-3835, by emailing the Greenway at hrvg@hudsongreenway.ny.gov, or by download from the Greenway website. All applications must be postmarked by 5:00 pm, August 17, 2012. Late, incomplete, faxed or emailed applications will not be accepted.

Finger Lakes Boating Museum Gets $2.4 Million

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The City of Geneva and the Finger Lakes Boating Museum have announced that grant agreements totaling $2,450,000 in state funds for the development of the Boating Museum and Visitor Center have been received and are being executed.

The funds will be used for the design and construction of a museum showcasing boating and boat building in the Finger Lakes region, as well as an enhanced visitor center. The project will be developed on the north shore of Seneca Lake on the site of the existing visitor center.

The State of New York announced two separate grant awards, the first a $2,000,000 grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, secured through the efforts of State Sen. Michael Nozzolio. The second grant of $450,000 from New York’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program was announced as part of the 2011 Consolidated Funding Application process.

“After many months of planning, we are very pleased to be getting under way soon in providing Geneva and the entire Finger Lakes with a beautiful museum that will bring to life the history of boating and its influence on life in the Finger Lakes” said Vince Scalise, President of the Finger Lakes Boating Museum Board of Trustees. “We look forward to cooperating with the City in bringing this educational facility to the lakefront for all to enjoy and to learn.”

The City has selected Pittsford-based Hanlon Architects for design and engineering, which will begin immediately, and Chrisanntha Construction for construction of the project, which is slated to begin this fall.

Interested persons can see some of the Museum’s collection of boats on display at the 2012 Boating Festival in the Geneva Lakeshore Park Saturday (10-5) and Sunday (10-4), July 14 and 15. The Show will be held the same days as the Musselman Triathlon 2012 races and events.

The boat show will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 15. Admission is free.

Many of the Museum’s wooden rowboats, power boats, and canoes built in the Finger Lakes will be on display. Activities will include workshops and demonstrations on boat building and restoration, interactive nautical displays and a sailing regatta. For more information, check the Boating Museum’s website at www.flbm.org.

The Boating Museum reached agreement with the City of Geneva in the fall of 2009 to establish a permanent home on the Geneva waterfront in association with a Visitor Center.

The Boating Museum has assembled a collection of more than 115 wooden boats built in the Finger Lakes over the past 100 years, as well as numerous related artifacts and extensive reference material. Portions of the collection will be displayed on a rotating basis within the new facility, but President Scalise emphasized that there will be a lot more to the museum than viewing boats because education, restoration and preservation are the key elements of the museum’s mission.

Also featured will be boat rides on Seneca Lake, active on-water programs including sailing and small boat handling, interactive workshops and displays to engage visitors in the design and construction of boats and boating history materials and programs.

The boating museum is a 501c3 not-for-profit corporation and was chartered by the New York State Department of Education in 1997 to “research, document, preserve and share the boating history of the Finger Lakes region.”

Photo: Construction of the Finger Lakes Boating Museum and Visitor Center will begin this fall on the north shore of Seneca Lake in Geneva.

40 NYC Historic Sites Vie for $3 Million, Vote Now

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Forty historic New York places representing all five boroughs have been named finalists competing for $3 million in grants through Partners in Preservation, a collaboration between American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The preservation effort powered by social media will allow the public to vote online through May 21, 2012 for the preservation projects most important to them at www.PartnersinPreservation.com. Participants can vote once a day, every day, for the same site or for different sites. The top four vote-getters, to be announced May 22, are guaranteed to receive grants for their preservation projects. A Partners in Preservation advisory committee of community and preservation leaders, will select sites that will receive the rest of the $3 million in grants.
To encourage voting, a “Preservation Station” vehicle will travel around New York City throughout the voting period, giving New Yorkers the opportunity to get their photos taken against the backdrop of their favorite sites and have those pictures projected onto buildings. To find out where the “Preservation Station” will be, follow @PartnersinPres and @AmericanExpress on Twitter.

The 40 historic places in New York City competing for the $3 million in grants are:

  • Alice Austen House Museum, Staten Island
  • Apollo Theater, Manhattan
  • Astoria Pool, Queens
  • Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, Bronx
  • Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library, Brooklyn
  • Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Brooklyn
  • Caribbean Cultural Center, Manhattan
  • City Island Nautical Museum, Bronx
  • Cleopatra’s Needle, Manhattan
  • Coney Island B&B Carousell, Brooklyn
  • Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn
  • Duo Multicultural Arts Center, Manhattan
  • Ellis Island Hospital Complex, Manhattan
  • Erasmus Hall Campus, Brooklyn
  • Federal Hall National Memorial, Manhattan
  • Flushing Town Hall, Queens
  • Gateway National Recreation Area, Brooklyn
  • Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, Brooklyn
  • Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan
  • Helen Hayes Theatre, Manhattan
  • Henry Street Settlement, Manhattan
  • High Line, Manhattan
  • Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Manhattan
  • Japan Society, Inc., Manhattan
  • Jefferson Market Library, Manhattan
  • Louis Armstrong House Museum, Queens
  • Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Manhattan
  • Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center, Bronx
  • Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan
  • New York Botanical Garden, Bronx
  • Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society of Rosebank, Staten Island
  • Queens County Farm Museum, Queens
  • Rocket Thrower, Queens
  • Rossville African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Staten Island
  • Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Manhattan
  • St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, Manhattan
  • Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor, Staten Island
  • Tug Pegasus & Waterfront Museum Barge, Brooklyn
  • eeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn
  • Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx

    • Online Voting for $3M in NYC Preservation Funding

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    New York City will be this year’s location for Partners in Preservation, American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s community-based initiative to raise awareness of the importance of historic places. The program will infuse $3 million in grants to preserve the city’s historic buildings, icons and landmarks. The program hopes enlist the aid of New Yorkers, and anyone who loves New York, to vote online for the preservation projects most important to them.

    From April 26 to May 21, 2012, anyone 13 years of age and older, anywhere in the world can vote online – either from their web-enabled mobile device, online or on Facebook – for one of 40 to-be-announced historic New York City places, by visiting www.Facebook.com/PartnersinPreservation or www.PartnersinPreservation.com.

    The public voting process kicks off April 26 with the announcement of the 40 competing historic sites. Everyone can vote up to once a day, for the same site or for a different site. On May 22, the top three public vote-getters and the grants for their preservation projects will be revealed.

    Hudson River Greenway Meeting Featuring Grants

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    On Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 the Hudson River Valley Greenway meeting will feature presentations from various New York State Agencies on upcoming grant and funding opportunities available through New York State.

    NYS Empire State Development will provide an update on the upcoming Consolidated Funding Application round. Representatives from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation; Department of State; Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Office of General Services; and Agriculture and Markets will provide updates on funding opportunities that their agencies have availiable or will have available.

    The meeting will also feature Hudson River Valley Greenway and National Heritage Area business and project updates.

    The meeting will be held March 21, 2012, at 9:30 AM at the Henry A. Wallace Center at the FDR Presidential Library and Home, 4079 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY.

    For more information contact the Greenway at 518-473-3835 or hrvg@hudsongreenway.ny.gov.

    New-York Historical Announces Fellowships

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    The New-York Historical Society has announced five fellowship recipients for the 2012-2013 academic year. New-York Historical offers fellowships to scholars dedicated to understanding and promoting American history. Basing their work on New-York Historical’s museum and library collections of more than 350,000 books, three million manuscripts, and collections of maps, photographs, prints, art objects and ephemera documenting the history of America from the perspective of New York, these scholars extend and enrich their previous work to develop new publications that illuminate complex issues of the past. [Read more…] about New-York Historical Announces Fellowships

    New Netherland: Kenney Award Applications Due

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    The New Netherland Institute is the recipient of an annual grant from the Alice P. Kenney Memorial Trust Fund. This grant enables the Institute to award an annual prize of $1,000 to an individual or group which has made a significant contribution to colonial Dutch studies and/or has encouraged understanding of the significance of the Dutch colonial experience in North America by research, teaching, writing, speaking, or in other ways. Reasonable travel expenses will be reimbursed. Persons or groups to be considered for this award can be involved in any pursuit of any aspect of Dutch colonial life in North America. Emphasis is on those activities which reach a broad, popular audience in the same way that Alice P. Kenney’s activities did.

    Criteria for Nominations:

    * Candidates for the award can be nominated by members of the New Netherland Institute, by historical organizations, or by the general public.

    * Nominations should be in the form of a nominating letter or statement (1-2 pages long)detailing how the nominator became aware of the nominee, which of the nominee’s activities led to the nomination, how those activities qualify for the award, and what the perceived impact is of the nominee’s activities.

    * Nominations may also include illustrative materials which demonstrate the nominee’s activities such as maps, brochures, photographs of exhibits.

    * Nominations may also include up to three one-page letters of support from other persons.

    * Three copies of all material must be submitted.

    Selection Criteria:

    * The winner shall be selected by a four-person committee consisting of the Director of the New Netherland Project, two members of the New Netherland Institute and a representative of the Alice P. Kenney Memorial Trust Fund.

    * The committee shall consider (1) if the nominee qualifies for the award, (2) how significant the nominee’s contributions are, (3) how large the audience is, (4) how great the chances are for continued influence, and (5) whether the materials are historically accurate and based on the most recent primary and secondary research.

    Send nominations by April 4, 2012 to:

    The Alice P. Kenney Award Selection Committee
    New Netherland Institute
    P.O.Box 2536, Empire State Plaza Station
    Albany, NY 12220-0536

    E-mail: nyslfnn@mail.nysed.gov

    Documentary Heritage Program Grant Apps Due

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    The 2012-2013 Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) Grant Guidelines are now available. The Documentary Heritage Program is a statewide program established by law to provide financial support and guidance to not-for-profit organizations that hold, collect and make available New York’s historical records. Funding is available to support sound archival administration, and for projects that relate to groups and topics traditionally under-represented in New York’s historical record.

    The New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) 2012-2013 appropriation for DHP is $461,000. This includes $369,000 for regional services and $92,000 for DHP Grants. DHP Grant Project Types include: Documentation and Arrangement & Description. DHP is administered by the New York State Archives, a unit of the New York State Education Department.

    The guidelines may be obtained by emailing the New York State Archives at dhs@mail.nysed.gov or by visiting the State Archives website.

    Applications for Archival Documentation and Arrangement & Description projects will be considered. Postmark deadline is Thursday, March 1, 2012 for projects to be carried out from July 1, 2012-June 30, 2013.

    Preserve New York Grants Available

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    Applications are now available to eligible municipalities and not-for-profit organizations to compete for funds through Preserve New York, a grant program of the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

    A total of $83,674 is available for historic structure reports, historic landscape reports and cultural resource surveys. Grants are likely to range between $3,000 and $10,000 each. The application deadline is May 7, 2012.

    Examples of eligible projects include: historic structure reports for cultural institutions and public buildings; historic landscape reports for municipal parks; and cultural resource surveys of downtowns and residential neighborhoods.

    In 2012, the Preservation League especially encourages projects that advance the preservation of neighborhoods and downtowns that qualify for the NYS Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit; identify and protect buildings and cultural landscapes at risk due to technological, transportation and energy developments; and continue the use of historic public buildings for cultural, interpretive and artistic purpose.

    For Preserve New York Grant Program guidelines, visit the League’s website at www.preservenys.org. Prospective applicants should contact the Preservation League to discuss their projects and to request an application form.

    The Preservation League of New York State is a private, not-for-profit organization that works to protect and enhance the Empire State’s historic buildings, landscapes and neighborhoods. The Preserve New York Grant Program is made possible through funding from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

    Organizations and municipalities receiving grant awards in 2011 were: Albany County: Delaware Avenue Neighborhood Association; Cattaraugus County: Randolph Area Community Development Corporation; Chautauqua County: Fenton History Center; Chemung County: Near Westside Neighborhood Association, Inc.; Erie County (2): Preservation Buffalo Niagara; Hamlin Park Community and Taxpayers Association, Inc.; Essex County: Town of Crown Point; Kings County: Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus (FROGG); Monroe County: The South Wedge Planning Committee, Inc.; Montgomery County (2): City of Amsterdam; Village of Fort Plain; Sullivan County: Roscoe-Rockland Chamber of Commerce; Tompkins County: City of Ithaca Planning & Development Department; Wayne County: Cracker Box Palace, Inc.; Wyoming County: Warsaw Historical Society.