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Labor History

The Borden Company’s Milk Condensing Plant in 1893

November 26, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Borden Company delivery wagon and horseThe following essay, “‘Crazy Uncle Gail’s’ Idea and What Came of It,” by Eliza Archard Conner, appeared in the June 10, 1893 Northern Star of Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer George A. Thompson and annotated by John Warren.

About forty years ago Gail Borden, a civil engineer of New England ancestry, conceived the idea that milk could be boiled down in a vacuum till from the liquid condition it became substantially solid, and in that state, preserved by means of another Yankee invention — the sealed tin can — it could be kept for any length of time. [Read more…] about The Borden Company’s Milk Condensing Plant in 1893

Filed Under: Food, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Agricultural History, Catskills, Dairy, Dutchess County, Hudson River, Industrial History, Kingston, Labor History, local farms, Marlboro Mountains, New York City, Orange County, Rondout, Shawangunk Ridge, Sullivan County, Ulster County, Wallkill River

Obstinate Becky Jones: At Home in Ludlow Jail

November 25, 2023 by David Fiske 1 Comment

Obstinate Beck JonesThis week’s article was submitted during the summer by David Fiske who passed away on October 28 after a battle with cancer. We publish this story posthumously in his memory.

Rebecca Jones was born in Schoharie County, NY in the 1820s. Her family moved to Ballston Spa, in Saratoga County, where Becky attended a girl’s school. By 1850, she was living in the city of New York and working as a domestic servant for the family of Andrew Gordon Hammersley, a lawyer and banker. [Read more…] about Obstinate Becky Jones: At Home in Ludlow Jail

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Ballston Spa, Crime and Justice, Labor History, New York City, Saratoga County, Schoharie County, womens history

Balbriggans, Long-Johns and Union Suits: New York Underwear Makers

November 10, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Waterford Kavanaugh Knitting Mill Advertising CardWaterpower was the top priority in the development and location of the abundant textile mills in New York State.  In places like Utica or Cohoes, the Mohawk River; in Troy, the Hudson River; and in Waterford, the King Canal (built about 1828 by John Fuller King), provided plenty of rushing water. [Read more…] about Balbriggans, Long-Johns and Union Suits: New York Underwear Makers

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Albany County, Cohoes, Fiber Arts - Textiles, Hudson River, Industrial History, Labor History, Mohawk River, Rensselaer County, Saratoga County, Troy, Waterford

Wintergreen Oil: Local Employer to Bootlegger’s Subterfuge

October 22, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

American Wintergreen (gaultheria procumbens) leaves and berriesOn a wintry walk in the woods, the glossy evergreen leaves and bright red berries of American Wintergreen make a pretty sight against fallen snow. Plentiful in the northern U.S. and Canada, the low-growing Gaultheria procumbens is known for the pungent aroma and mint-like taste of leaf and berry — pleasing but hard to define.

Native Americans used the leaves to treat pain and fever, and introduced colonists to the custom of drinking wintergreen tea. This “teaberry” carried them through the Revolutionary War, when British tea was scarce. [Read more…] about Wintergreen Oil: Local Employer to Bootlegger’s Subterfuge

Filed Under: Food, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Nature Tagged With: baking, Bethel, Catskills, Crime and Justice, Culinary History, Forest Products, Forestburgh, Hancock, Industrial History, Kingston, Labor History, Liberty, liquor, Monticello, Native Plants, Neversink River, Neversink River Unique Area, Newburgh, Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie, Prohibition, Shawangunk, Shawangunk Grasslands, Shawangunk Ridge, Sullivan County, Ulster County

A Legendary Adirondack River Driver

October 15, 2023 by Noel Sherry 3 Comments

A Log Jam, Drawn by J Macdonald, Harpers Weekly April 2, 1887The history of lumbering in the Adirondacks and in America is replete with legendary exploits. There were the championship sled loads each camp paraded, claiming theirs carried the most cords of stacked timber in one season.

There were the annual woodsman’s field days for each region in which lumberjacks showed off their cutting skills. And then there was the most dangerous job of all, that of the “river pigs” as they were called. These log drivers freed tangled logs and guided them downstream for milling.

One legendary feat in logging history happened on the Beaver River on a Sunday, April 27th, in 1913. [Read more…] about A Legendary Adirondack River Driver

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Western NY Tagged With: Beaver River, Croghan, Labor History, Lewis County, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks

‘Thuggery, Intimidation and General Foul Play’: Ogden Mills & The 1935 Nabisco Strike

October 11, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Bakery Workers Picketing The Mansion of Nabsico director Ogden Mills' East 69th Street and 5th avenue Mansion in Manhattan in 1935Like all great mysteries, it started with an unexpected clue. In this case, a photograph that caught the eye of Joe D’Agostino, Historic Interpreter at Staatsburgh State Historic Site in Hyde Park, Dutchess County, NY.

It was a March 3, 1935 Acme News Service photograph showing workers picketing outside the 5th Avenue, Manhattan mansion formerly owned by Ruth Livingston Mills (1855-1920) and her husband Ogden Mills (1856-1929), who had also owned the Staatsburgh Mansion. [Read more…] about ‘Thuggery, Intimidation and General Foul Play’: Ogden Mills & The 1935 Nabisco Strike

Filed Under: Food, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: baking, Calvin Coolidge, Great Depression, Herbert Hoover, Labor History, Manhattan, New Deal, New York City, Political History, Staatsburgh State Historic Site, Treasury Department, Upper West Side

French Canadians in Northern New York: A Primer

October 10, 2023 by Rebecca Rector 4 Comments

Two French Canadian Renaud-King-Lavigne family members arm wrestling in Cohoes (Courtesy Siena College Je me Souviens)Although a few arrived in the 150 years before to exploit the region’s natural resources, French-speaking Canadians began settling in New York in larger numbers during and after the American Revolution (many as refugees from English power in Canada). [Read more…] about French Canadians in Northern New York: A Primer

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Canada, Catholicism, Clinton County, Cohoes, Cultural History, Essex County, Franklin County, French History, Genealogy, Glens Falls, Immigration, Keeseville, Labor History, Lewis County, Logging, malone, Mooers, New France, Patriot War of 1837-38, Plattsburgh, Quebec, Religious History, Rensselaer County, Schuylerville, Siena College, St Lawrence County, Troy, Warren County, Washington County, Waterford, watertown, Whitehall

Black Veins, Green Blood: Coal Mining in Scranton

October 10, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Black Veins Green Blood Scranton Coal Strike Novel In the novel Black Veins, Green Blood (Synthesis Group, 2022) by  Gene McTiernan, Patrick O’Neil begins work as a breaker boy at the Hampton colliery in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1893.

He is the son of an Irish immigrant known simply as “The O’Neil.” He expects to follow in his father’s footsteps to become an independent miner. As he moves through the various colliery jobs, his path seems certain. [Read more…] about Black Veins, Green Blood: Coal Mining in Scranton

Filed Under: Arts, Books, Events, History Tagged With: anthracite coal, HIstorical Fiction, Irish American Heritage Museum, Irish Immigrants, Labor History, Mining, Pennsylvania

Lock Tenders Tribute Monument Dedicated

September 29, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Lock Tenders Tribute Monument in Lockport NY (based on an 1897 photo by FB Clench)The final six sculptures in the Lock Tenders Tribute Monument in Lockport, Niagara County, NY were installed and a formal dedication took place in September.

Lewiston sculptor Susan Geissler created the cast bronze figures to recreate an original photograph taken on the same steps in 1897 by Frank Bernard Clench (F.B. Clench). [Read more…] about Lock Tenders Tribute Monument Dedicated

Filed Under: Arts, History, Western NY Tagged With: Erie Canal, Labor History, Lockport, Monuments, Niagara County, Photography, sculpture

New Backstretch Housing Planned For Saratoga, Belmont

September 21, 2023 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Photo of members of the backstrech workers' community by Walter Wlodarczyk, provided by NYRA.The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has committed to constructing new residential buildings at Belmont Park in Hempstead, Nassau County, and Saratoga Race Course designed to provide additional housing options for the backstretch workers’ community.

These projects are part of NYRA’s multi-year, $40 million campaign to modernize and improve backstretch housing and facilities at Belmont and Saratoga. [Read more…] about New Backstretch Housing Planned For Saratoga, Belmont

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, New York City Tagged With: Belmont Park, Housing, Immigration, Labor History, NYRA, Saratoga Race Course

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