History, Natural History & the Arts
The American artist Wilhelmina Douglas Hawley (Perth Amboy, NJ 1860 – Rijsoord, Netherlands 1958), my great-grandmother, lived a long and interesting life. Her artistic career and family history has fascinated me since I was a young girl.
Wilhelmina’s ancestors were English and Scottish migrants, who moved to the east coast of the United States and Canada in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. [Read more…] about The Hawleys, Opposition to the War of 1812 and the Church of the Presidents
It was 1924. America was in the midst of a roaring economic boom, and so was R.H. Macy & Co.
It had gone public in 1922 and, flush with capital, had bought out competitors, opened a network of regional stores, and transformed its flagship New York City emporium. [Read more…] about Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Some History
The following text is from the 1819 letters to his father by Henry Meigs (1782-1861), who served as Congressman from New York from 1819 to 1821, describing his life in then rural Greenwich Village. It was transcribed by Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteer George A. Thompson and lightly edited for clarity and annotated by John Warren.
1819: New York, February 6th, 1819
Dear father. Since I last wrote you, Julia and I have decided on placing our tent in the Country [at what is now Greenwich Village] as we call it for the ensuing summer. Where we can live much more economically and deliciously. [Read more…] about 1819 Letters From Greenwich Village
Nicholas L. Syrett’s new biography, The Trials of Madame Restell: Nineteenth-Century America’s Most Infamous Female Physician and the Campaign to Make Abortion a Crime (The New Press, 2023), tells the story of one of the most important female doctors of the nineteenth century, a tale with unmistakable parallels today.
“Madame Restell,” the nom de guerre of the most successful female physician in America, sold birth control, delivered children, and performed abortions for decades in a series of clinics run out of her home in New York City. “Restellism” becoming a term detractors used to indict her. [Read more…] about The Trials of Madame Restell: A Female Physician and the Campaign to Make Abortion a Crime
On April 6, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson declared America’s entrance into the First World War and initiated a nation-wide drive to strengthen the armed forces. It was decided that the commemorations of Patriots’ Day on April 19 should coincide with a “Wake up America Day” of recruitment. Every city hosted its own parties and spectacles.
In New York City, festivities were organized with decorated floats, patriotic banners and a grand vaudeville at Carnegie Hall starring Will Rogers, Ethel Barrymore, and others. James Montgomery Flagg designed the posters announcing the event. Fifth Avenue hosted a parade, whilst Army and Navy planes dropped pamphlets encouraging the crowd to summon the “Spirit of 1776.” [Read more…] about The First World War & New York City
This week on the Historians Podcast, New York City correspondent Jim Kaplan on Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates. American commander in the key victory over the British in the Battles of Saratoga, Gates’s reputation suffered at the end of the war.
He later moved to the city of New York and helped elect Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800. He is buried in Lower Manhattan. [Read more…] about General Horatio Gates after the Revolution
On October 11th, U.S. Park Police and New York City Parks Enforcement Officers alerted New York State Environmental Conservation Officer Goonan about a man with a large Burmese python in Battery Park near the Statue of Liberty ferry terminal in Manhattan. [Read more…] about Man Returns To Battery Park With Another Burmese Python
Since 1984, the Preservation League of New York State’s annual Excellence Awards program has shone a light on the people who are using historic preservation to make all our lives better — through exemplary restoration projects, indispensable publications, individual action, and organizational distinction. [Read more…] about Preservation League of New York State Names Excellence Award Winners
The first annual exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists opened at Manhattan’s Grand Central Palace on the evening of April 10, 1917. Thousands of guests gathered to celebrate what was to be the largest art show ever held in New York. The momentous occasion took place in an atmosphere of growing political tension as it coincided with America’s entry into the First World War.
In spite of these circumstances, there was a single figure who attracted widespread attention. Known by his adopted name of Arthur Cravan, he had been invited to deliver a lecture on “The Independent Artists in France and America.” His outrageous behavior shocked New York’s artistic elite. [Read more…] about Poet-Boxer Arthur Cravan: The Man Who Shocked Greenwich Village
The Historic Districts Council of New York City is a consulting party to the Section 106 Historic Review Process for proposed Link5G Towers.
This summer, CityBridge, the private contractor installing 32-foot tall 5G towers, sought to begin the review process. [Read more…] about Preservationists Reviewing Siting for Thousands of 5G Towers