history

Saratoga Race Track’s Wilson Chute is Returning; Here’s Some History

January 25, 2022 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

The New York Racing Association has recently announced a revised configuration for the historic Saratoga Race Course for the 2022 race meet. A chute, or straight-away will return, allowing for a start directly into the clubhouse turn for races of one mile in distance. Known as the Wilson Chute, it had been a regular feature of the track until 1972, when the area was converted to additional parking.

The Wilson Chute is named in honor of Richard T. Wilson, Jr. who had been the President of the Saratoga Racing Association beginning in 1909. As an executive and an investor, he was integral in saving racing at the Spa and then developing the sport and the racing plant that so many are familiar with today. [Read more…] about Saratoga Race Track’s Wilson Chute is Returning; Here’s Some History

Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

December 12, 2018 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

We tend to view gay marriage as a cultural and legal development of the 21st century.

But did you know that some early Americans lived openly as same-sex married couples? [Read more…] about Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

Considering Biography In Early American History

October 31, 2018 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Biography. Since the earliest days of the United States, and even before the thirteen colonies came together to forge a nation, Americans have been interested in biography. But why?

What is it about the lives of others that makes the past so interesting and fun to explore?

This episode of Ben Franklin’s World: A Podcast About Early American History marks the start of the Omohundro Institute’s four-episode Doing History series about biography. This series will take us behind-the-scenes of biography and how historians and biographers reconstruct the lives of people from the past. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/209

Deborah Read Franklin And Sally Franklin Bache

April 1, 2015 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

Have you heard the saying “behind every great man stands a great woman?”

In this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, Vivian Bruce Conger, the Robert Ryan Professor in the Humanities at Ithaca College, joins us to explore the two great women that Benjamin Franklin had standing behind and beside him: his wife, Deborah Read Franklin, and his daughter, Sally Franklin Bache. You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/022

Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit

February 11, 2015 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue as part of the great European quest to find new routes and shortcuts to the spice islands and territories of Asia.

Spain and Portugal led this quest during the 15th and 16th centuries and their race to access the Asian spice trade caused Columbus to sail unwittingly into the Caribbean and North America.