New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Syracuse

America’s 250th Student Fellowships Funded In Western NY

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History student intern Dwight DinkinsThe Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation has awarded SUNY distinguished professor of history Michael Leroy Oberg, the SUNY Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History, and a consortium of six other colleges and universities, a three-year grant of more than $300K for American War of Independence Semiquincentennial student fellowships.

Several of the institutions in the fellowship program have committed $150K of matching funds for the project, bringing the total to over $450K. [Read more…] about America’s 250th Student Fellowships Funded In Western NY

Gilded Age Syracuse Senator Frank Hiscock: ‘We Will Bury Free Trade’

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Frank Hiscock from the 1891 Puck cartoon 'Doomed' by Louis Dalrymple and in the SenateThe St. Mary’s Band of Glens Falls played a quickstep the evening of October 26th, 1887 as the musicians paraded from Church Street to Glen Street to escort U.S. Senator Frank Hiscock from the Rockwell House hotel to the Glens Falls Opera House, where the freshman senator from Syracuse was to be keynote speaker at a Republican rally. [Read more…] about Gilded Age Syracuse Senator Frank Hiscock: ‘We Will Bury Free Trade’

David Haas’ @syracusehistory Instagram Wins Historic Preservation Award

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screenshot of the @syracusehistory Instagram account run by David HaasThe Instagram account @syracusehistory has won a 2021 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award from the Preservation League of NYS.

Since 2013, @syracusehistory, a social media blog dedicated to the preservation of neighborhoods and narratives by David Haas, has exposed tens of thousands of people to the history of the City of Syracuse and the Central New York region. [Read more…] about David Haas’ @syracusehistory Instagram Wins Historic Preservation Award

Friedensfest: Syracuse’s 1871 German-American Peace Festival

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The front page of the Syracuse Union German-language newspaper on May 3, 1871, reporting on ‘Das deutsche Friedensfest’ in Syracuse.One of nineteenth century Syracuse’s largest celebrations took place on the 1st of May, 1871. It was called the Friedensfest, the Peace Festival.

The reason for celebration was the unification of Germany following Prussia’s crushing defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War. The emphasis on Peace was less about the end of hostilities between Prussia and France than it was about a new and lasting peace among the previously independent states of Germany, some of whom were caught in a rivalry between Austria and Prussia that had already erupted in war, in 1866. [Read more…] about Friedensfest: Syracuse’s 1871 German-American Peace Festival

Canal Blow-Out: The Big Break in Syracuse in 1907

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post card of damaged canal vessels being burned to hasten their removal after the Big Break in Syracuse when a culvert over Onondoga Creek collapsedIn 1903, voters in New York State ratified the Barge Canal referendum which provided for construction of our present canal system. The Barge Canal design is an integrated improvement of natural lakes and rivers, with only short stretches of pure canal to eliminate bends and to link the natural bodies together.

The Barge Canal was designed to be used only by motorized vessels. The former canals had been completely man-made, elevated above and across the natural bodies of water. This feature allowed the older version of the canal to nearly eliminate any current, thereby making draft animals practical. [Read more…] about Canal Blow-Out: The Big Break in Syracuse in 1907

Historical Research Internships in Syracuse

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pomeroy foundation logoThe William G. Pomeroy Foundation has announced their 2019 Historical Research Intern program, a chance to gain history research and archival experience in the nonprofit sector. These are paid internship opportunities.

Historical Research Interns will work with the Pomeroy Foundation team on a variety of history-related projects that will have a direct impact on enhancing digital archives, newly redesigned website, and online historic signage database. [Read more…] about Historical Research Internships in Syracuse

Wheelchair Downhill Pioneer Louis’s Twists and Turns

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Louis in the paperA planned escape? An outing to visit family and friends? Or just for fun?

One spring day in 1937, Louis must have decided it was a time for a change of scenery and maybe the opportunity to get back to city life and family he once lived with.

But to travel off of Onondaga Hill, there are several ways. Unfortunately, all down hill. [Read more…] about Wheelchair Downhill Pioneer Louis’s Twists and Turns

Remembering Onondaga’s Split Rock Explosion

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split rockAs Rich Miller remembers, it was sometime around 1984 that a colleague at the bank where he worked first mentioned Onondaga’s Split Rock Explosion of July 2, 1918.

This was not the first time that Rich’s interest was piqued by the Split Rock Explosion. He had read former newspaper columnist Dick Case’s columns on that event, but this was the first time someone offered to take Rich up to explore Split Rock.

Over thirty years later, his research has lead him to write a four volume series about Split Rock – before, during and after the explosion that changed the lives of the people who worked there and the communities nearby. [Read more…] about Remembering Onondaga’s Split Rock Explosion

Matilda Joslyn Gage Opera Opening in Syracuse

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reclaiming gageThe world premiere of the opera, Pushed Aside: Reclaiming Gage, is set for 4 pm Sunday, January 21 at the Carrier Theater, Civic Center, Syracuse.

Pushed Aside tells the story of Matilda Joslyn Gage, the lesser known third member of the “triumvirate” of early women’s suffragists – the other two being Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

This opera tells how the three came together in the early 1850’s, then had their split in 1890, resulting in Matilda being “pushed aside,” and right out of the history books. Matilda fought for others who had been “pushed aside,” including African-Americans and Native Americans, and how she came to believe that all freedom struggles are equal and interconnected. [Read more…] about Matilda Joslyn Gage Opera Opening in Syracuse