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Back Number Budd: A 19th Century One-Man Newspaper Archive

June 1, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

New York Merchants’ Exchange Reading Room in the 1860s“Back number” in contemporary parlance means “back issue.” Today we take for granted the availability of old newspapers and other periodicals, as well as their invaluable glimpse into our past. But this was not the case in the 19th century. [Read more…] about Back Number Budd: A 19th Century One-Man Newspaper Archive

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Archives, Black History, Civil War, Journalism, Legal History, Manhattan, Media, New York City, New York Public Library, Newspapers, Publishing, Roosevelt Island Historical Society

New York State Historic Newspapers Website Upgrade Underway

May 9, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

New York State Historic Newspapers websiteSince its launch in 2014, New York State Historic Newspapers has provided free access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York’s unique history. This now includes 920 titles from all 62 counties comprising over 11.7 million pages of historical content. In these years, the content has been hosted on servers located in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York. [Read more…] about New York State Historic Newspapers Website Upgrade Underway

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Academia, Genealogy, New York State Historic Newspaper Project, Newspapers, Online Resources

Justus Schwab & East Village Radicalism

April 9, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 3 Comments

Portrait of Justus Schwab Today, the city of Frankfurt-am-Main is the largest financial hub in Continental Europe, home to the European Central Bank (ECB), the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The same city was at one time the epicenter of a liberal uprising that swept the German states. The Frankfurt Parliament was convened in May 1848; its members were elected by direct (male) suffrage, representing the full political spectrum. In the end, the revolution of 1848 failed and was suppressed with excessive force and retribution. [Read more…] about Justus Schwab & East Village Radicalism

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Anarchism, Crime and Justice, Emma Goldman, German-American History, Greenwich Village, Jewish History, Labor History, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City, Newspapers, Political History, Revolutions of 1848, Socialism

A Catskills Copperhead Strikes Against Lincoln & Abolition

March 5, 2023 by John Conway 1 Comment

Sullivan County Copperhead James Eldridge QuinlanOne of Sullivan County, NY’s first historians and most noted newspaper publishers, James Eldridge Quinlan, was a Copperhead, a pro-slavery Southern sympathizer, during the Civil War.

Anyone with any doubts about Quinlan’s leanings on the subjects of slavery, the abolitionists, and Abraham Lincoln need only peruse the pages of the Republican Watchman newspaper during the years leading up to the Civil War and during the war itself, to be convinced. [Read more…] about A Catskills Copperhead Strikes Against Lincoln & Abolition

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Abe Lincoln, Catskills, Civil War, Monticello, Newspapers, Political History, Publishing, Sullivan County

Science & Suckers: The Cohoes Mastodon & The Cardiff Giant

February 9, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Cohoes Mastodon exhibit at the New York State Museum, Albany New York (photo courtesy Kenneth C. Zirkel)In 1866, NY State Geologist James Hall received a message from T.G. Younglove, an official at Harmony Mills in Cohoes, New York, informing Hall that while conducting some excavations to expand the mill they uncovered a “great pothole” at the foot of Cohoes Falls where the Mohawk River begins to empty into the Hudson.

The “great pothole” contained a large jawbone “of some unknown beast,” much larger than that of an elephant. [Read more…] about Science & Suckers: The Cohoes Mastodon & The Cardiff Giant

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Archaeology, Board of Regents, Cardiff Giant, Cohoes, Cooperstown, Farmers' Museum, Fossils, Geology, Indigenous History, Iroquois, Journalism, Mohawk River, Native American, nature, New York State Education Department, New York State Museum, Newspapers, Onondaga County, Otsego County, Paleontology, PT Barnum, Religious History, Science History, sculpture, Wildlife

Smugglers & The Law: Prohibition In Northern New York

January 19, 2023 by John Warren 7 Comments

A recreated chase of bootleggers in Chestertown, NY in 2013 (photo by John Warren)Dennis Warren left his job as a coal shoveler on the New York Central Railroad in Albany to ship out to the First World War. His transport ship had a close call with a German submarine on the way over, but got there in time to take part in what one of the bloodiest military campaigns in American history.

For Americans after the war, the Argonne would mean what Normandy meant just 25 years later – sacrifice. Sadly, that sacrifice in the Argonne Forest was never repaid to Dennis Warren, who met the death of a smuggler – running from an officious and invasive law on a treacherous mountain road near Port Henry on Lake Champlain.

According to the newsman who reported his death at the age of 29, “Canadian Ale was spread across the road.” [Read more…] about Smugglers & The Law: Prohibition In Northern New York

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Al Smith, beer, Canada, Clinton County, Crime and Justice, DeWitt, Essex County, Franklin County, Genealogy, Journalism, Lafayette, Lake Champlain, Legal History, liquor, Manlius, Newspapers, Onondaga, Onondaga County, Oral History, Plattsburgh, Political History, Pompey, Port Henry, Prohibition, Quebec, Rouses Point, Route 9, St Lawrence County, State Police, SUNY Plattsburgh, Vice, World War One

Political History & Wit From Northern NY Newspapers

January 13, 2023 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

A New York Times pressman checking a newspaper for defects in 1942Trivia clue: He had an unusual career path from the ice business to lawyer, with a stopover in Congress.

Correct response: Who is Charles Henry Turner?

On December 27th, 1889, The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported that there were 130 new members of Congress, including this member who felt a bit out of place. [Read more…] about Political History & Wit From Northern NY Newspapers

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Newspapers, Political History

Political Anecdotes From Northern New York Newspapers

December 12, 2022 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

Thomas Brackett Reed by John Singer Sargent (from House of Representatives collections)Trivia clue: He was elected Speaker of the House on December 1, 1889.

Correct response: Who was Thomas Brackett Reed, better known as Tom Reed? [Read more…] about Political Anecdotes From Northern New York Newspapers

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Newspapers, Political History

George Cooke: Albany Snake Oil Salesman

December 5, 2022 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

Patent Medicines (photo by John Warren)In the June 1841 the Albany Evening Journal ran the following notice:

“Dr. Cooke, No. 3 Norton Street, Albany, NY — In every age of the world, men of superior genius have lived: Homer, Voltaire, Euripides and Virgil. It has, however, remained for the 19th century to produce a man whose attainments, both in letters and science, which justly entitles him to equal rank with the illustrious mentioned above. That man is the world-renowned surgeon and physician, Gen. George Cooke whose fame and knowledge of the healing art have reached every clime. [Read more…] about George Cooke: Albany Snake Oil Salesman

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Advertising, Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, Medical History, Newspapers, Patent Medicine, Science History

Misinformation Nation: Truth in Revolutionary America

November 21, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

misinformation nationThe new book Misinformation Nation: Foreign News and the Politics of Truth in Revolutionary America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022) by Jordan E. Taylor reveals how foreign news defined the boundaries of American politics and ultimately drove colonists to revolt against Britain and create a new nation.

“Fake news” is not new. Just like millions of Americans today, the revolutionaries of the eighteenth century worried that they were entering a “post-truth” era. Their fears, however, were not fixated on social media or click-bait, but rather on peoples’ increasing reliance on reading news gathered from foreign newspapers. [Read more…] about Misinformation Nation: Truth in Revolutionary America

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: American Revolution, Journalism, Newspapers, Political History

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