History, Natural History & the Arts
Harold Toles took a lot of pictures. If anything big happened in Schoharie County from 1948 to 1984, Toles was probably there with his camera.
The Old Stone Fort Museum Research Library has more than 150,000 of his negatives in its collection, as well as 13 notebooks recording a description of each shot. [Read more…] about Featured Collection: Harold Toles’ Schoharie County Photos
Paris-based documentary director Tal Zana is seeking amateur photographs and films that show the liner Normandie in the New York City harbor between 1935 and 1942.
The Normandie was a popular sight at the time, so it is probable it was photographed by New-Yorkers and tourists who had the proper equipment. For this documentary, the filmmaking team is especially interested in showing photographs and films that haven’t been seen by the general public before. [Read more…] about Documentarian Seeking Images of SS Normandie
Stereographs were the latter day virtual reality, an inventive means to immerse the viewer into another place and time. Two photographs are exposed simultaneously but from slightly different perspectives. When the final print is viewed through a stereoscope a depth of field is introduced that brings the photograph more to life.
In 2018 I digitally re-imagined many dozens of American Civil War scenes using an animation process that essentially reveals that same depth of field but on more common 2D screens. In doing so, the need for specific viewing equipment is eliminated and the immersive nature of the stereoscope is maintained. [Read more…] about Motion Imagery of Ellis Island Revealed in Stereographs
Cynthia S. Brenwall’s new book The Central Park: Original Designs for New York’s Greatest Treasure (Abrams, 2019), with a forward by architecture critic Martin Filler, is a virtual time machine, drawn from the collections of the NYC Municipal Archives, that takes a journey through Central Park as it was originally envisioned.
[Read more…] about Central Park: New Book Highlights Original Designs
Heralding the official opening of the major league baseball, the NYC Department of Records & Information Services has announced the sale of unique baseball reproduction historical photographs and illustrations from the Municipal Archives collection.
Highlights include reproductions of original architectural drawings of Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, and photographs of bygone champions such as Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio. [Read more…] about Vintage Baseball Reproductions Available from NYC Archives
Newburgh Barbershops: Shaping Community is set to open at the Newburgh Community Photo Project on Sunday, March 31, showcasing photography and interviews that celebrate nine barbershops and their role as social and community anchors for Newburgh, NY.
An opening reception is set for March 31st from 5 to 7 pm. The exhibit will run through June 1st, and will be open on Saturdays from noon to 6 pm, or by appointment. [Read more…] about Newburgh Barbershop: Shaping Community
A new book edited by Richard Timberlake and Philip Terrie, J.S. Wooley: Adirondack Photographer (Syracuse University Press, 2018) tells the story of Jesse Sumner Wooley, a gifted and prolific Adirondack photographer at the turn of the twentieth century.
In 1880, Jesse Sumner Wooley, an energetic and entrepreneurial thirteen-year-old farm boy from Saratoga County, took a job as an errand boy for a pair of town photographers. The summer job led to a career that would define Wooley’s life. From that early start, he went on to become a prominent businessman and inventive photographer in Upstate New York. [Read more…] about New Book On Adirondack Photographer J.S. Wooley
Jessie Elliott was a unique figure in the history of the Beaver River country in the west central Adirondacks. Visitors to the tiny settlement of Beaver River are still told she went to prison for her role in the bootlegging that was rampant in the lumberjack days of the early 1920s. She is listed among the “lawless ladies” in Niki Kourofsky’s recent book, Adirondack Outlaws. Pat Thompson’s memoir about life in Beaver River claims Jessie rode her steed through the settlement with her long hair flowing and a pistol in a holster on her belt. More fantastic stories about Jessie can be found in Bill Donnelly’s Short History of Beaver River where she is described, among other things, as a good-looking Calamity Jane, a bootlegger, and a prostitute. The truth underlying the legends reveals a much more complex and interesting wilderness woman. [Read more…] about “Wild Jess” Elliott: Setting the Record Straight
The Chapman Historical Museum in Glens Falls has just published Water & Light: S.R. Stoddard’s Lake George, a new work on the photography of Seneca Ray Stoddard.
The 160-page book features 150 of Stoddard’s photos, as well as some samples of his painting, sketches and cartography.
As a 19th century American photographer, S. R. Stoddard is often ranked with William Henry Jackson and Carlton Watkins, and the quality of his photographic compositions is compared with many of the Hudson River School painters. It is estimated Stoddard took some ten thousand images in the Adirondack Mountains alone. [Read more…] about New Stoddard Photography Book Features Lake George
Twelve images that capture the beauty and character of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor have been selected as winners of the 12th Annual Erie Canalway Photo Contest.
Winning images will be featured in the 2018 Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Calendar, which will be available for free in December.
Judges selected twelve winners from nearly 300 entries. First, second and third place photographs were chosen in each of four contest categories: Classic Canal, Along the Trail, On the Water, and Canal Communities. In addition, twelve photographs received an honorable mention. [Read more…] about Erie Canalway Photo Contest Winners Announced