At the end of December, President Joe Biden signed the FY23 omnibus spending bill that passed the Senate on December 22nd, 2022. Included in that spending package was $210,000 in Congressionally Directed Spending from Senator Bernie Sanders for the Vermont History Center in Barre, Vermont. [Read more…] about Vermont History Center Gets Major Grant
Material Culture
Edward Lange Long Island Artworks Sought For Research
During the 1970s, staff at Preservation Long Island launched the first major effort to document all the known Long Island works by the artist Edward Lange who depicted local communities with precise detail during the 1870s and 80s. [Read more…] about Edward Lange Long Island Artworks Sought For Research
Val-Kill Industries & The American Arts and Crafts Movement
In 1926, Eleanor Roosevelt convened with three of her closest friends, Caroline O’Day, Marion Dickerman, and Nancy Cook, to discuss the probability of a bold new venture. The four women, all active in New York’s Democratic Party, agreed to open a workshop that specialized in the production of Colonial Revival furniture.
Their business would be conducted on the Roosevelts’ Val-Kill property in Hyde Park, Dutchess County, NY and appropriately named “Val-Kill Industries.” Two years prior, Franklin D. Roosevelt built a quaint Dutch Colonial cottage on the property for Eleanor, Marion, and Nancy. This came to be called the “Stone Cottage,” and a more industrial building was constructed for the workshop. [Read more…] about Val-Kill Industries & The American Arts and Crafts Movement
A Fort William Henry Powder Horn That Survived War & Fire
In 1756, a soldier by the name of Doc John Lee was stationed at the head of Lake George, where a provincial regiment had been sent from Albany to defend New York from the French and to construct the fort that would be named William Henry.
Like every other soldier, Lee carried a powder horn, and like many of them, he may have occupied his idle moments with carving the horn, etching the images and words into its surface that would make it distinctively his own. [Read more…] about A Fort William Henry Powder Horn That Survived War & Fire
Elverhoj: The Arts and Crafts Colony at Milton-on-Hudson
Among the trio of turn-of-the-century New York State Arts and Crafts communities, Elverhoj is the least-well-known. The recent publication of Elverhoj: The Arts and Crafts Colony at Milton-on-Hudson (Black Dome Press, 2022; distributed by RIT Press), written by William B. Rhoads and Leslie Melvin, resolves the oversight.
Roycroft, in East Aurora (Erie County), and Byrdcliffe, in Woodstock, both began earlier than Elverhoj. Previously, each was the subject of a definitive scholarly text.
Elverhoj was established by Anders Andersen and Johannes Morton on the picturesque west shore of the Hudson River in 1912. Its Danish name loosely translates to “hill of the fairies.” Persisting until the 1930s, well outside of the Arts and Crafts period, it fell victim to the Depression eventually filing for bankruptcy like so many enterprises. [Read more…] about Elverhoj: The Arts and Crafts Colony at Milton-on-Hudson
Tothmea’s Travels: A Misused Egyptian Mummy in New York
Local historians and writers have previously told the story of Tothmea, the 3,600-year-old Egyptian mummy that was presented to a local museum in Round Lake, Saratoga County, in 1888.
Her travels have taken her from Egypt to Round Lake to Brazil and several places in between. After I learned of some recent developments in her story, I was inspired to recount her journey and update it a bit more. [Read more…] about Tothmea’s Travels: A Misused Egyptian Mummy in New York
Amy & Enid Go To Archeology Camp in Albany
During the pandemic, I watched every episode of the BBC reality archeology program, Time Team, which ran for twenty years. The show condenses three days of archaeological exploration of a site into a one hour episode. Not only did I watch every episode, it is fair to say that I became obsessed with archaeology in general.
About halfway into the pandemic, I discovered that my friend Amy had become similarly obsessed. So when I found out that the Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany, New York was offering an opportunity to volunteer to participate in a five day dig they had planned for August, I called Amy and said, “Wanna do it?” She replied, “Hell yeah!” [Read more…] about Amy & Enid Go To Archeology Camp in Albany
Maritime History: Ship Engineering Drawings
The Cartographic Branch at the National Archives is home to over one million ship plans, with records spanning more than 15 distinct Record Groups and over 25 separate series. These drawings are among the most requested records from researchers in the Cartographic Branch. [Read more…] about Maritime History: Ship Engineering Drawings
Restored Paintings on View at the Historical Society of Woodstock
Two signature paintings in the permanent collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock – Arnold Blanch’s Hervey White in his Studio (1926) and Edmund Rolfe’s Landscape (1914) – have been restored and are currently displayed at the Historical Society’s Eames House Museum at 20 Comeau Drive. [Read more…] about Restored Paintings on View at the Historical Society of Woodstock
Seminar on the American Revolution Call for Papers
Fort Ticonderoga is seeking proposals for the Nineteenth Annual Seminar on the American Revolution to be held Friday-Sunday, September 22nd through 24th, 2023. [Read more…] about Seminar on the American Revolution Call for Papers