New York City

Early Distilling History: Puritan Bibles, Gin & Schnapps

September 12, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

For the first decade of its existence, New Amsterdam was a rough place. Located on the tip of Manhattan Island, it was a haven for pirates and smugglers. Many of the earliest rules and regulations were an attempt to control the unruly citizens of a backwater outpost, but officials proved unable to lay down the law. Intemperate drinking was one of the problems.

In 1640 permission was granted by Willem Kieft, Director of the New Netherland Colony, for liquor to be distilled on Staten Island – in contemporary Dutch: Staaten Eylandt – where what is believed to have been the first commercial distillery in North America was built (today Staten Island is home to the Booze History Museum). [Read more…] about Early Distilling History: Puritan Bibles, Gin & Schnapps

Traveling Art: Gustav Stickley’s 1903 Exhibitions

September 9, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the very first modern traveling art exhibition was not the three-venue, 1913 New York City “Armory Show.” Instead, and a decade earlier, Syracuse and Rochester, New York hosted an important art exhibit.

The novelty of a traveling art exhibition in 1903 is matched by the surprising reason it occurred: a furniture maker’s business deal with an educational institution. [Read more…] about Traveling Art: Gustav Stickley’s 1903 Exhibitions

Rough And Tumble: A Short History of Eye Gouging

September 7, 2022 by John Warren 2 Comments

Last week Thomas Webster, a 20-year veteran of the NYPD, was sentenced to the stiffest sentence so far – 10 years – for his actions while attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6th in an effort to keep Donald Trump in power. In the effort to identify the insurrectionists, Webster was given the name “eye-gouger” for his attempt to gouge the eyes of a Washington D.C. police officer.

It’s a long American tradition. Eye gouging, not insurrection. [Read more…] about Rough And Tumble: A Short History of Eye Gouging

Comic Book Artist Jack Binder & Fort William Henry History

September 6, 2022 by Anthony F. Hall Leave a Comment

What might Lake George have looked like 265 years ago, on the eve of the French attack on Fort William Henry?

That’s the focus of the display in the entryway to the Fort museum and historical attraction. It includes three figures – an American provincial, a British regular and a ranger, all created by the late Jack Binder for the reconstructed fort, which opened to the public in 1955. [Read more…] about Comic Book Artist Jack Binder & Fort William Henry History

Peter Quinn’s Cross Bronx: A Writing Life

August 30, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Cross Bronx: A Writing Life (Fordham University Press, 2022) is Peter Quinn’s forthcoming one-of-a-kind account of his adventures as an ad man, archivist, teacher, Wall Street messenger, court officer, political speechwriter, corporate scribe, and award-winning novelist.

Quinn is a New Yorker through and through. His evolution from a childhood in The Bronx, to his exploits in the halls of Albany, to his decision to walk away from it all — is evocative, enlightening, and most of all, entertaining. [Read more…] about Peter Quinn’s Cross Bronx: A Writing Life

Lake George Millionaires and Ministers

August 29, 2022 by Anthony F. Hall Leave a Comment

I spent my last year of high school at a day school in Brooklyn Heights named Saint Ann’s. Across the street was the church with which the school was loosely affiliated – the Church of Saint Ann and the Holy Trinity.

I don’t think I entered the grand though deteriorating Gothic Revival church for any reason other than to take part in my class’s graduation ceremonies – though I later came to know it as a peerless concert venue. (In some circles, it’s best known as the hall where an unknown Jeff Buckley launched his tragically short career with a tribute to his late father, the folk singer Tim Buckley.)

I wish I had found reasons to visit the church more often. I would have introduced myself to its assisting priest, the Rev. W. Howard Melish, a leftist activist who had written articles for the Daily Worker, the newspaper edited by my father in the 1940s and 50s.

And we could have talked about Lake George. [Read more…] about Lake George Millionaires and Ministers

Girl Scouts Unveil New Women’s History Patch

August 26, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Monumental Women and the Girl Scouts of Greater New York have announced the launch of the Celebrate Women’s History Girl Scout Patch Program in honor of Women’s Equality Day.

The Patch Program gives Girl Scouts the opportunity to learn about women’s suffrage and the history of abolition in New York, the space to learn about the importance of recognizing and honoring these activists, and the tools to advocate for women’s representation in public spaces. [Read more…] about Girl Scouts Unveil New Women’s History Patch

Julien Levy & Art at the Heart of Manhattan

August 24, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

The late 1920s and 1930s were crucial years in New York’s rise as an international artistic center. Cultural contacts between Europe and the United States multiplied. American artists who had studied in Paris returned with fresh ambitions; dollar rich patrons were willing to finance new initiatives; the First World War had unsettled European artists and gallerists, many of whom settled in New York. They were joined by others who fled the Nazi threat. Manhattan was turning into a Mecca of modernism where a multi-national cohort of artists, dealers and investors mixed and mingled.

By our standards the art world was relatively small. At any one time in that epoch, there were probably fewer than fifteen galleries active in New York with only a handful concentrating on contemporary art. A pioneering role was played by Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery on Fifth Avenue. Operational since 1905, the gallery introduced the Parisian avant-garde to an American audience. In modernist Manhattan, Stieglitz was the Godfather. [Read more…] about Julien Levy & Art at the Heart of Manhattan

August 23, 1775: The British Bombard the City of New York

August 22, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On the night of August 23, 1775, during what is now remembered as the Raid on the Battery, the HMS Asia, a 64-gun British battleship, bombarded the city of New York’s shoreline with cannonballs and grapeshot.

The melee was started by Captain John Lamb’s company of Patriots, who attempted to steal British cannons from The Battery, at the tip of Manhattan Island. [Read more…] about August 23, 1775: The British Bombard the City of New York

Chester A. Arthur, The Spoils System & Civil Service Reform

August 17, 2022 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

Yates Street in Schenectady runs north and south from Union Street to Liberty Street, from the Friendship Baptist Church on Union Street to the Katbird Shop at the corner of Liberty and Yates.

In the late 1840s it was regularly traversed by the only former resident of Schenectady and the only graduate of Union College ever destined to occupy the office of President of the United States. [Read more…] about Chester A. Arthur, The Spoils System & Civil Service Reform