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World War One

A First World War Holiday Miracle

December 14, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

World War One poster Exaggerating the quickness of the war's end Call it an antiquarian newspaper holiday miracle.

“Rather a peculiar thing happened a few days ago,” Lieutenant Howard Smith of Hudson Falls wrote his mother from a military hospital in France on December 26th, 1918. “One of the orderlies of this ward found a picture of me in The Post-Star while he was in another ward. It was an account of my getting a Boche.” [Read more…] about A First World War Holiday Miracle

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Christmas, Glens Falls, Holidays, Hudson Falls, Military History, Warren County, World War One

An Age of Opulence In London and New York

August 25, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

cafe de l'operaIn economic terms, the Western world made its fortune after the Industrial Revolution(s). Money became the deity of the age. But in the words of John Ruskin, “wise consumption is far more difficult than wise production.”

In the race for material prosperity, the idea of social purpose was lost or forgotten. By the beginning of the twentieth century, both in Europe and America, collective aimlessness deteriorated into vulgarities of excess. [Read more…] about An Age of Opulence In London and New York

Filed Under: Arts, Food, History, New York City Tagged With: Culinary History, New York City, World War One

The First Red Scare: Socialist Suppression and Explosive Anarchism

July 26, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Aftermath of bombing in the Wall Street courtesy Library of CongressIn the course of the nineteenth century, powerful and relatively stable explosives were developed. Dynamite became synonymous with radicalism and the moniker “dynamitist” preceded that of terrorist.

On September 16, 1920, a bomb was set off on a busy corner of Manhattan’s financial district. At 12:01 pm, a horse-drawn wagon concealing 100 pounds of dynamite was detonated. The blast killed thirty-eight people. [Read more…] about The First Red Scare: Socialist Suppression and Explosive Anarchism

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, New York City Tagged With: Anarchism, Crime and Justice, First Red Scare, New York City, Political History, Socialism, World War One

New Graphic Novel Features Harlem Hellfighter Henry Johnson

July 19, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

medal of honor henry johnsonA new full-color digital graphic novel by the Association of the United States Army Book Program, Medal of Honor: Henry Johnson, recognizes the remarkable acts of Henry Johnson of Albany during the First World War.

[Read more…] about New Graphic Novel Features Harlem Hellfighter Henry Johnson

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Books, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Albany, Black History, Books, Harlem, Military History, World War One

Politics and War Preparations: Charles Evans Hughes in Plattsburgh

April 29, 2020 by Maury Thompson 2 Comments

Leonard Wood and Charles Evans Huhghes Reviews CItizen Soldiers at the PLattsburgh Training Camp in Sept 1916No one, other than railroad workers, was around on Sept. 5, 1916 when the campaign train of Republican presidential candidate Charles Evans Hughes stopped at the Louisville, Kentucky station, en route to Lexington and eventually upstate New York. [Read more…] about Politics and War Preparations: Charles Evans Hughes in Plattsburgh

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Charles Evans Hughes, Military History, Plattsburgh, Political History, World War One

A Famous Drawing Of An Infamous Prison

February 21, 2020 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, Malta town historian Paul Perreault has the story of a famous drawing of Andersonville Prison in Georgia done by a Union prisoner, Thomas O’Dea. Perreault also has an account of the Saratoga Battlefield and the story of a fighting chaplain in World War I, Reverend Francis Kelly. [Read more…] about A Famous Drawing Of An Infamous Prison

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Art History, Military History, Podcasts, World War One

WWI Vet, Belgian Painter Edward Buyck in NY

January 26, 2020 by Maury Thompson 5 Comments

NYS governor charles poletti by Edward Pierre Buyck Royal Academy of Belgium artist Edward P. Buyck de Morkhoven, known for his portraits of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other prominent politicians, lived in upstate New York for much of his adult life.

Buyck, also was known for his painting of race horses, landscapes and historical settings. At the time of his death in 1960, his painting of an old-time Albany scene at the corner of State and Pearl streets, still hung at the Munger-DeWitt Clinton Hotel in Albany. [Read more…] about WWI Vet, Belgian Painter Edward Buyck in NY

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Albany, Art History, World War One

‘Christmas Truce’ Peace Carol in Utica

December 4, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Christmas Truce by Frederic VilliersThe Christmas Truce was a ceasefire between German, French, and British troop on the western-front on Christmas Eve in December 1914. Both sides informally agreed to stop fighting for a few hours and joined together for food, carols, and companionship.

The 5th Annual Peace Carol, an evening honoring the Christmas Truce of World War One, on Tuesday, December 10th, at 4:30 pm. This celebration features carol sing-alongs led by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Utica choir, a performance by members of the Proctor Senior Choir, the Procter JNROTC Color Guard, a presentation on the truce by Joe Schmidt, light refreshments, and more. [Read more…] about ‘Christmas Truce’ Peace Carol in Utica

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Christmas, Military History, Mohawk Valley, Oneida County History Center, Utica, World War One

First World War Letters from a New York Doughboy

November 20, 2019 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

letters from a doughboyKatherine Truesdell Schumacher’s new book Letters from a Doughboy: the Wartime Experiences of Robert Doan Truesdell in World War I (RIT Press, 2019) documents Corporal Robert Doan Truesdell’s letters to home, personalizing the harsh realities of a war that ended a century ago.

The letters capture the perspective of an American soldier who witnesses the killing fields of Belgium and France, and the great cities of Paris and London. [Read more…] about First World War Letters from a New York Doughboy

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Books, Military History, World War One

Case of the Black Dagger

November 6, 2019 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

black dagger provided by Oneida County History CenterA black dagger passed down through four generations had a “story” behind it. All the family knew was that it was “taken off a German soldier in France, during The First World War.”

The dagger made its way from the battlefields of France to Ontario, Canada and then to Oneida County, NY in 1918. But whose was it, and why had a Canadian soldier brought it home? [Read more…] about Case of the Black Dagger

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Genealogy, Military History, Oneida County, Oneida County History Center, World War One

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