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Social History

An 1896 ‘Old Timers’ Boxing Event in New York City

January 26, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Professor Mike Donovan (on right) helping his son train in boxing, ca1910sThe following essay was published in the “The World Of Sport” column in The [Troy] Daily Times on December 15, 1896.

Pugilistic champions of other days and of the present time passed in rapid review before a crowd of 2,500 sports in the Broadway Athletic Club last night. There was a rare galaxy of them. [Read more…] about An 1896 ‘Old Timers’ Boxing Event in New York City

Filed Under: History, New York City, Recreation Tagged With: boxing, Gambling, Manhattan, New York City, Social History, Sports History, Vice

The Women Behind Benjamin Franklin

January 25, 2023 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben franklins world podcastIn this episode of Ben Franklin’s World, Nancy Rubin Stuart, an award-winning historian and journalist and author of Poor Richard’s Women: Deborah Read Franklin and the Other Women Behind the Founding Father (Beacon Press, 2022), joins Liz Covart to investigate the private life of Benjamin Franklin by using the women in his life as a window on to his experiences as a husband, father, and friend. [Read more…] about The Women Behind Benjamin Franklin

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Benjamin Franklin, Cultural History, Podcasts, Social History, womens history

PT Barnum’s Promotion of General Tom Thumb in London

January 5, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastIn this episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast, P.T. Barnum works to promote the performances of his famous protégé, General Tom Thumb, in London. He uses handbills, street parades, and even advertising vans to attract a crowd. This episode includes an interesting tale of how Barnum brought General Tom Thumb to the stage in London and offers a unique glimpse into 19th century entertainment. [Read more…] about PT Barnum’s Promotion of General Tom Thumb in London

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Circus, Cultural History, London, Performing Arts, Podcasts, PT Barnum, Social History

This Holiday Season Record Your Family’s Oral History

December 23, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Oral History Home InterviewsBy combining technology with time-honored techniques of interviewing and storytelling, this holiday season can be an ideal time for people to hear and preserve eyewitness accounts of life experiences from loved ones for future generations, says an historian at Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History. [Read more…] about This Holiday Season Record Your Family’s Oral History

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Christmas, Genealogy, Holidays, Oral History, Social History

South Bronx Rising

December 10, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

south bronx risingA new edition of South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City (Fordham University Press, 2022) by Jill Jonnes with foreword by Nilka Martell chronicles the ongoing revival of the South Bronx, thirty-five years after this landmark of urban history first captured the rise, fall, and rebirth of a once-thriving New York City borough — ravaged in the 1970s and ’80s by disinvestment and fires, then heroically revived and rebuilt in the 1990s by community activists. [Read more…] about South Bronx Rising

Filed Under: Books, History, New York City Tagged With: Bronx River, Cultural History, New York City, Political History, Social History, The Bronx, Urban History

Hudson Area Library Launches Online Oral History Collections

December 5, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Black Legacy Association of Columbia County Oral History ProjectThe Hudson Area Library has announced two newly-launched online oral history archives: the Hudson Area Library Oral History Project (HAL OHP), an open collection of interviews collected locally over the past decade, and the Black Legacy Association of Columbia County Oral History Project (BLACC) collection from the 1980s. [Read more…] about Hudson Area Library Launches Online Oral History Collections

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Black History, Columbia County, Hudson, Hudson Area Library, Hudson River, Industrial History, Labor History, Online Resources, Oral History, Social History

Roger Lamb’s American Revolution: A British Soldier’s Story Updated

November 25, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Roger Lamb's American RevolutionOf all the British soldiers who served in North America during the American Revolution, none wrote more about his experiences than Roger Lamb. His service in two of the most important campaigns — the 1777 Saratoga campaign and the 1781 campaign through the Carolinas to Virginia — put him in the thick of some of the war’s most famous battles. [Read more…] about Roger Lamb’s American Revolution: A British Soldier’s Story Updated

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: American Revolution, Battle of Saratoga, Military History, Social History

Bolton Historical Museum Acquires Trolley Car Diner

November 22, 2022 by Anthony F. Hall Leave a Comment

Bill Gates Diner on display at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain LakeThe Bill Gates Diner, a fixture of life in Bolton Landing on Lake George from 1949 until 1980, when it was purchased by two local residents and then donated to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, will return to Bolton, Warren County, NY.

The diner has been acquired by the Bolton Historical Museum, which will care for it as “a piece of living history,” said Dr. Glenn A. Long, the museum’s interim executive director. [Read more…] about Bolton Historical Museum Acquires Trolley Car Diner

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Adirondack Experience, Adirondacks, Bolton, Bolton Historical Museum, Champlain Valley Transportation Museum, Culinary History, Cultural History, David Smith, Hudson River Railway, Museums, Social History, Transportation History, Warren County

PT Barnum & Showing Human Beings As Curiosities

November 20, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Becoming Barnum podcastThis episode of the Becoming Barnum podcast discusses an uncomfortable truth about showing human beings as curiosities. A letter from P.T. Barnum in November 1845 concerns the exhibition of people with genetic abnormalities. To be sure, this topic is complex. [Read more…] about PT Barnum & Showing Human Beings As Curiosities

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Circus, Cultural History, Medical History, Museums, Podcasts, PT Barnum, Social History

The Fulton Fish Market: A History

November 6, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Fulton Fish MarketThe Fulton Fish Market stands out as an iconic New York institution. At first a neighborhood retail market for many different kinds of food, it became the nation’s largest fish and seafood wholesaling center by the late nineteenth century.

Waves of immigrants worked at the Fulton Fish Market and then introduced the rest of the city to their seafood traditions. In popular culture, the market — celebrated by Joseph Mitchell in The New Yorker — conjures up images of the bustling East River waterfront, late-night fishmongering, organized crime, and a vanished working-class New York. [Read more…] about The Fulton Fish Market: A History

Filed Under: Books, History, New York City Tagged With: Atlantic Ocean, Books, Culinary History, Economic History, Environmental History, fish, Fisheries, fishing, ice, Labor History, New York City, Social History, Technology, The Bronx, Urban History

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