The award-winning New York Archives Magazine is expanding to include a new Jr! educational insert and other related enhancements thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. The Jr! insert expands access to young New Yorkers and offers educators another tool for bringing primary sources into the classroom. Each issue contains learning activities specific to a local history story published in the quarterly magazine and geared to building historical thinking and civic literacy skills that meet 4th-7th grade curriculum standards.

 

The grant project also includes funding for The Best of New York Archives Volume II, Selections from the Magazine 2012-2022, with an educator companion guide and development of a regional tool kit for educators, students, and history organizations to contribute information to be included in New York Archives Magazine and the Jr! edition.

 

Educators will find New York Archives Jr! available for free on ConsidertheSourceNY.org beginning in 2024. Teachers can discover a continuously expanding collection of professional learning resources and document-based activities - or create their own - by visiting ConsidertheSourceNY.org today.

 

"Teachers encourage students to make discoveries every day and teaching with primary sources is an excellent way to spark discovery in the classroom. New York Archives Jr.! offers an engaging way to teach civics issues, broaden the historical narrative to include more voices from diverse audiences, and promote local history engagement through activities and connections to local historical organizations," said Dr. Kristi Fragnoli, APT Board Member and Professor in the Lally School of Education at The

Reminder: applications must be received by January 15, 2023. The Larry J. Hackman Research Residency Program supports advanced work on New York State history, government, or public policy using historical records in the State Archives. The onsite program is open to faculty and graduate students in the humanities and social, natural, and life sciences, public historians, and teachers.

SHHS Second Preservation Forum
Dec 3, 2020
Christ Episcopal Church
 

If you were unable to attend our last Preservation Forum or if you want to hear what was said again, please click here to access the one hour and twenty five minute recording of the entire forum.

You can also access it by visiting our blog on our website www.sagharborhistorical.org.
 

COMPLETE LECTURE SERIES:

Registration required on all lectures
Lectures are free to members
A $10.00 suggested donation to help defer costs

Tuesday January 10, 2023
How To Read the Weather
Clouds are only words on a page. Take the next step.  This special Seminar was designed for Boaters and those interested in a first step in learning about weather.  A seminar created by the United Power Squadrons/ America’s Boating Club with content provider by NOAA, and the National Weather Service.  The Seminar covers weather fundamentals, global heating, air mases, humidity and winds.  The fundamentals will help us better interpret storm dynamics and onboard observations, seas states, clouds and winds.  Presented by Peconic Bay Power Squadron/ Commander Fred Smith, JN-ON
 
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
A Virtual Walk on the Beach
Full of interesting facts and stories, this presentation puts the joy of knowledge in your footsteps. John Holzapfel, scientist/historian, and presenter has been keeping us informed about the world around us since he replanted his first spat.
 
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
From Plankton to Whales- Why our local waters are worth protecting
With endless stories and photos of fish kills, harmful algal blooms, oil spills, beach closures, etc. filling our daily news feeds, it appears that our environment is in a horrific state of “Doom and Gloom”. Although we do face many environmental challenges, this constant bombardment of negativity creates a lack of enthusiasm among local communities when it comes to protecting our environment. Regain your enthusiasm for protecting our marine environment by learning about some of the fascinating marine life that inhabits the waters of Long Island."  Chris Parparo aka. The Fish Guy has been photographing and lecturing for years and his work always brings fresh insight into his subject. President of the NYS outdoor Writers Association. His photos and reels are available on most social platforms @fishguyphotos.
 
 Tuesday February 28, 2023
One fish, two fish, blackfish and bluefish - A Tour of NY's Artificial Reefs
Description: Sunken ships, railroad cars, armored tanks, and pieces of the Tappan Zee bridge.  What do all these things have in common?  They've all been used to build New York’s Artificial Reefs!  Learn about how these reefs are made, what they do, how we study them, and what different fish and sharks we see using these structures.  
About the lecturer:  Brittney Scannell is a Ph.D. student at Stony Brook University in the Peterson Community Ecology lab.  For her work, she uses acoustic telemetry to examine questions about how local species, including sharks, rays, and fish, move along the south shore of Long Island.
 
Tuesday March 7,2023
Rumrunning in Suffolk County
Amy Folk, Historian/Author lays out the history, stories, and effects on our economy, based on her recently published book. Name of book* book can be available to purchase at time of registration.
 
Tuesday March 14,2023
Seaweed. Things you never knew. 
Learn the fascinating general biology of marine algae and its pivotal role in our world. Seaweed, long harvested, is now making its way to our shores as a product in search of its place in the aquaculture market.
Stephen Schott, Marine Botany/Habitat Restoration Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension, explores these marine algae and their importance.
 
 

Registration required on all lectures
Lectures are free to members
A $10.00 suggested donation to help defer costs

Winter Lecture Series — East End Seaport Museum & Marine Foundation

Welcome back!

There are so many opportunities to learn about New York City history at The Gotham Center this spring! Below you'll find our calendar of free public events and several courses we'll be offering through our new online adult education program GothamEd.

And remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with our blog, podcasts, digital exhibits, and other special initiatives!

Free, virtual programs

 

Working-Class Utopias: A History of Cooperative Housing in New York City

Tuesday, January 24th
4–5:30 PM

As World War II ended and Americans turned their attention to problems at home, union leaders and other prominent New Yorkers came to believe that cooperative housing would solve the city’s century-old problem of providing decent housing at a reasonable cost for working-class families. In Working-Class Utopias, Robert Fogelson, one of the nation’s foremost urban historians, tells the story of this ambitious movement from the construction of the Amalgamated Houses after World War I to the building of Co-op City, the world’s largest housing cooperative, four decades later. Matthew Lasner, co-editor of Affordable Housing in New York, joins in conversation.

Register here

 

 

The Pirate's Wife: Sarah Kidd and the Golden Age of Piracy in New York City

Tuesday, February 21st
6:30-8 PM

Captain Kidd was one of the most notorious pirates to ever sail the seas. But few know the behind-the-scenes player who enabled his plundering and helped him outpace his enemies. That accomplice was his wife Sarah, a well-to-do woman whose extraordinary life is a lesson in reinvention and resourcefulness. Twice widowed by twenty-one and operating within the strictures of polite society in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century New York, Sarah secretly aided and abetted her husband, fighting off his accusers. Marshaling newly discovered sources, historian and journalist Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos reconstructs her life in this new biography, placing it within colonial New York, a “utopia” for pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy. Erin Skye Mackie, author of Rakes, Highwaymen, and Pirates: The Making of the Modern Gentleman in the Eighteenth Century, joins in conversation.

Register here

 

 

Dogopolis: How Dogs Made New York

Thursday, March 2nd
4–5:30 PM

Stroll through any US or European city today and you probably won’t get far before seeing a dog taken for a walk. It’s expected to find domesticated animals easily navigating sidewalks, streets, and the built environment. But what if our cities were actually shaped in response to dogs more than we realized? In Dogopolis: How Dogs and Humans Made Modern New York, London, and Paris, Chris Pearson boldly and convincingly argues that human-canine relations were a crucial factor in the formation of modern urban living. Dogopolis details the complex interrelations and the way they reshaped our society. Andrew A. Robichaud, author of Animal City: The Domestication of America, joins in conversation.

Register here

 

 

Fishtown, USA: The Rise of Fall of New York's Fish Supply Market

Tuesday, March 21st
6:30–8 PM

From the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, New York served as the largest fish and seafood center in the US, provisioning much of the nation. That industry was concentrated around the iconic Fulton Fish Market, where generations of immigrants labored, introduced the rest of the five boroughs to their culinary traditions, and by the 1920s worked under the shadow of organized crime. In The Fulton Fish Market: A History, Jonathan H. Rees explores the market’s workings and significance from its founding in 1822 to its relocation to the Bronx in 2005, telling the stories of the fishermen, retailers, chefs, and others who depended on the Market, and how it shaped the New York and US diet. Megan J. Elias, author of Food in the United States,1890- 1945 and Lunch: A History, joins in conversation.

Register here

 

 

The Night Patriots Burned New York City Down

Thursday, March 30th
6:30–8 PM

New York, the strategic center of the Revolutionary War, was the most important place in North America in 1776. That summer, an unruly rebel army under George Washington repeatedly threatened to burn the city rather than let the British take it. Shortly after the Crown’s forces took New York, much of it burned to the ground. Who set the blaze? In The Great New York Fire of 1776, Benjamin L. Carp delivers the “definitive account of this crucial but forgotten episode” of the war, the first book to fully explore it. Examining why its origins remained a mystery, even after two British investigations, Carp uncovers stories of espionage, terror, chaos, and tragedy in a historical moment we normally associate with “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Russell Shorto, author of Island at the Center of the World and Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom, joins in conversation.

Register here

 

 

Morgenthau: Four Generations of a New York City Dynasty

Monday, April 10th
6:30–8 PM

After coming to America from Germany in 1866, the Morgenthaus made history in diplomacy, US politics, and the criminal justice system. With unprecedented, exclusive access to family archives, award-winning journalist and biographer Andrew Meier vividly chronicles how they also amassed a fortune in Manhattan realty, advised presidents, advanced the New Deal, exposed the Armenian genocide, rescued victims of the Holocaust, waged war in the Mediterranean and Pacific, and, from a foundation of private wealth, built a dynasty of public service. In the words of former mayor Ed Koch, they were “the closest we’ve got to royalty in New York City.” Susie J. Pak, author of Gentlemen Bankers: The World of J. P. Morgan, joins in conversation about this celebrated new multi-generational biography.

Register here

 

 

"Unbought and Unbossed": Shirley Chisholm's New York

Monday, May 1st
5:30–7 PM

Shaking up local and national politics by becoming the first African-American congresswoman and the first black (major-party) presidential candidate, Shirley Chisholm left an indelible mark as an "unbought and unbossed" firebrand and a leader in politics. Formed by her early years in Barbados and Brooklyn, her political development and outlook did not follow the standard of the civil rights and feminist establishments. Rather, Anastasia C. Curwood argues in this new biography, she took her own path, making signature contributions as a forerunner of black feminist power — centering black women in a movement that sought to create a broadly democratic force through multicultural, multigenerational, and cross-gender coalition-building. Brian Purnell, author of Fighting Jim Crow in the County of Kings, joins in conversation.

Register here

 

Spring courses

Building The Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers

Mondays, 5:30 - 7 PM (ET)
January 9 to February 13 (6 sessions)

 

This course covers the birth, rise, and continued rise of Manhattan’s skyline, focusing on the historical, economic, political, and geographic reasons for its construction and heights. It will discuss the good, bad, and ugly — not just as it relates to architecture but also the skyscraper’s larger impacts on Gotham.

Register here

 

Showroom Gotham: How New York City Became The International Art Capital

Tuesdays, 7-8:30 PM (ET)
February 7th to 28th (4 sessions)

 

During the Gilded Age, collectors and patrons made New York City the headquarters for art in the United States and the world. In this course, we will discuss the exploits of these tastemakers and the fruits of their endeavors as Gotham rose to international economic and cultural preeminence.

Register here

 

New York City's American Revolution

Mondays & Thursdays, 5:30-7PM
March 6th to 23rd (6 sessions)

 

This course will examine the causes, courses, and consequences of the war, from the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765 to British evacuation in 1783, learning about the elite and nonelite, male and female, free and enslaved populations of New York to better understand why the city, more than any other urban center in colonial America, was central to the Revolution.

Register here

 

Before Central Park: Its Secrets And Stories

Wednesdays, 6–7:30 PM (ET)
April 12th to May 3rd (4 sessions)

 

Before Central Park there were eons of geologic history and over 250-years of social history: the clash of Native and Dutch culture, the first European family’s tobacco farm, colonial roads and taverns, a secret Revolutionary War meeting, the butchers who helped to build the War of 1812 forts, epidemics, slavery, immigration, canal and reservoir building, real estate speculation, the Black community of Seneca Village, Jewish burial grounds, Irish Sisters of Charity, German bone-boiling factories, women’s property rights (or lack thereof), and the many schools, farms, piggeries, churches, orchards and gardens. You will meet con men, greedy speculators, corrupt officials, strong women, heroes, activists, and dreamers and many extraordinary New Yorkers that history had almost forgotten.

Register here

Travel back to Long Island's colonial days at Ketcham Inn in Moriches

On this Road Trip: Close to Home you can travel back to Long Island's colonial days.

News 12's Danielle Campbell visited the Ketcham Inn in Moriches where you can experience eating, drinking, and cooking colonial food on a hearth from the 1600s.

Travel back to Long Island's colonial days at Ketcham Inn in Moriches (news12.com)

This week, Congressman Tom Suozzi (D – Long Island, Queens) announced that he championed and helped secure critical funding, one of the largest ever, for 15 community-funded projects that will directly benefit the residents of New York’s 3rd Congressional District. The nearly $14 million in funding was included in the Fiscal Year 2023 omnibus government funding package, which passed the House by a vote of 225-201. This funding responds directly to some of the most pressing needs in New York’s 3rd District.

Suozzi’s Final Act in Congress is to Fund 15 Major Projects for $14 Million Throughout His Congressional District (longislandbusiness.com)

From left, Greg Wagner, Huntington's director of cultural affairs; Barry Lites, Huntington African American Museum board chairman; Huntington Supervisor Ed Smyth; Irene Moore, museum board vice chairwoman, and Beverly Gorham, museum secretary, at the proposed site of the Huntington African American Museum on Dec. 19. Credit: Barry Sloan

That saxophone legend John Coltrane wrote his masterpiece, "A Love Supreme," in Dix Hills, and "pickle king" Samuel Bolton harvested an enormous amount of pickles in Greenlawn are stories more commonly known to Long Islanders.

But a group of Huntington residents wants everyone to know that other notable African Americans — including Jupiter Hammon, America's first African American Colonial-era poet to be published in the United States, and educator and presidential adviser Booker T. Washington — also have called the Town of Huntington home.

Proposed Huntington African American Museum seeks to share stories, contributions of town's past residents - Newsday

 

An East Hampton burial ground whose origin dates to the late 1700s is among 11 properties recommended by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to be added to the state and national registers of historic places, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday.

Hochul's announcement said the Van Scoy Burying Ground was located in the historic settlement of Northwest, a hamlet in the Town of East Hampton, and is a "small, isolated family burial place dating from 1782-1884."

Van Scoy Burying Ground in East Hampton recommended for historic registers - Newsday

RDLGF 2022 grantees receive their awards in Albany at NYS Archives

Pictured are representatives from NY Archive Partnership Trust, Preservation League of NY,  MANY and RDLGF Executive Director 

Kathryn M. Curran. 

Making tourists aware of these lesser-known sites is the aim of an augmented reality app to be developed at the behest of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Inc. The app, to be built over time, will be available on smartphones  and other mobile devices, according to foundation officials.

Introducing tourists “to all of these Teddy Roosevelt sites will hopefully give them an appreciation of his role on Long Island beyond just the immediate Sagamore Hill story,” said Kathryn M. Curran, the foundation’s executive director.

App to bring to life lesser-known Theodore Roosevelt sites - Newsday

From left: Karen Adamo and Jeanne Browne, co-presidents at The Long Beach Historical Society on Wednesday. The society is fighting to save its 113-year-old museum, which, they say, needs urgent renovations and repairs. Credit: Danielle Silverman

The Long Beach Historical and Preservation Society faces a funding gap that could cause the organization to lose its 113-year-old museum unless it raises the money needed to repair and restore the deteriorating facility.

The coronavirus pandemic's effect on fundraising events — like the society's annual craft fair — hobbled the organization's finances and caused it to lose out on some $200,000, said society co-president Karen Adamo. Maintaining the museum costs about $70,000 annually, she said. 

The white craftsman-style house on West Penn Street, made of stucco and topped with a red-shingled roof, is the base of the society and serves as its admission-free museum, where members host historic tours and educational programs. It is also the site of the organization's archive, which preserves the 100-year history of Long Beach. 

The society has raised about $60,000 during its campaign, but is still facing a funding gap. While Adamo and co-president Jeanne Browne said the home, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is inspected annually and has been deemed safe to visit, nearly $140,000 in work needs to be completed, including for the building’s 47 windows, basement floor, balcony and stucco work. Some of the door sills are rotting and the balcony is ready to crumble, Adamo said. 

"The repairs are urgent," Adamo said. "As soon as we have enough money to start the work, we will start." 

The society still owes close to $50,000 on its mortgage for the home, and the nonprofit tapped into its reserves to keep afloat over the last year, Browne said. Insurance runs around $18,000 yearly. As it stands, the society has enough money to continue operations for a year, Adamo said. 

"We’re between a rock and a hard place. … We want to be able to keep the building," Browne said. "It’s an asset to the community." 

Although the repairs and significant renovation work is the society's top priority, organization leaders also want to enhance the museum to attract visitors and members, such as the addition of Wi-Fi. 

Like many historical societies, the organization is managed by unpaid volunteers who participate as their schedule allows, which the co-presidents said can prove challenging when it comes to museum tours and educational programs. Of the more than 300 members who pay a fee to join the society, about 50 volunteer, Browne said. 

"What a sad thing it would be to lose the museum," said historical society trustee and archivist Joanne Belli. "It’s really an integral part of the community."

An important contributor to Amityville's growth almost 150 years ago was honored Sunday with a historic marker to preserve his memory in the community.

Amityville Village officials and the Jewish Historical Society of Long Island erected a marker at the pond in Peterkin Park in honor of Jacob Hartmann, a former resident and prominent businessman. Hartmann, one of the village’s early Jewish citizens and a German native, moved to Amityville in 1877, said historical society president and founder Brad Kolodny. Although Hartmann was well known at the time, acknowledgment of his legacy has waned in recent decades. 

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/jacob-hartmann-marker-jewish-businessman-wuzamq9i

Since 1961 the Roslyn Landmark Society has been dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and historic resources of Roslyn and its neighboring communities. As the Roslyn Landmark Society evolves and grows, an executive director is being recruited to guide the organization into its next phase of development. This position will be appointed to the candidate who exemplifies achievement, dedication, and a clear vision for the future. As always, the Roslyn Landmark Society continues to serve the Roslyn community of yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

JOB DESCRIPTION The Roslyn Landmark Society is seeking an executive director with a comprehensive understanding of not-for-profit organizations as well as a clear vision for the Society's future. The qualified candidate has excellent leadership, development, and project management skills. The executive director is the public face of the Society and must maintain the highest professional standards at all times. Efficient resource management will require the executive director to surround themselves with the tools to meet projected goals in a timely manner. The Society expects a motivated work ethic to uphold the community engagement, financial stability, and mission of the organization. The executive director will report directly to the board of trustees.

Submit a cover letter and resume to dstg@roslynlandmarks.org

2023 Conference Scholarships

Finding Center: Access, Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement

April 15 - 18, 2023 | Syracuse, NY

MANY is pleased to announce 28 scholarship opportunities for museum professionals to attend "Finding Center: Access, Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement" in Syracuse, NY.

We've extended the deadline!

Conference Scholarship applications are due by 5 PM Friday, December 16

Museum Association of New York - Conference Scholarships (nysmuseums.org)

The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation celebrated their local 2022 Second Round Grantees at the historic Ketchum Inn.

Bert Seides, the Executive Director of the Ketchum Inn Foundation hosted a luncheon for 22 representatives from the Long Island historic community. 

At the event, the individual grant contracts were signed and awards were made. 

Introduction to the Ketchum Inn and the story of its restoration were shared by Mr. Seides. 

He then introduced The Honorable Peter Fox Cohalan, Suffolk County Historian and RDLGF Board member, who spoke to the mission of the RDLG Foundation. 

Kathryn M. Curran, Executive Director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner, welcomed the attendees and praised their shared excellence in promoting Long Island’s regional history.  

Ketchum Inn educator, Diane Schwindt, prepared an incredible period lunch on the 1700’s kitchen hearth of the Inn.  

The Ketchum Inn staff and volunteers created a festive, delicious and informative afternoon celebration. 

 

Remaining RDLGF 2022 Second Round Grantees will be hosted by New York State Archives in Albany, NY. Awards will be made to the Museum Association of New York, the New York Preservation League and  the New York Archives Partnership Trust.

 

The entire 2022 yearly RDLGF Awards totaled $4,515,390.  

Central Park's hidden stories

 

With more than 800 sprawling acres in the middle of America’s densest city, Central Park is an urban masterpiece, a living model to countless successors around the world. But before it gained its shape and name, it was home to New Yorkers of many different backgrounds, the site of farms, businesses, churches, burial grounds, and war. From the first Dutch settlers through the crusade to establish America’s first major urban park, there are stories of indigenous hunters, black slaves and white slaveowners, Patriots and Loyalists, the Afro- and Irish-American landowners and pig farmers of Seneca Village, Catholic sisters, Jewish protesters, and more—tales of political chicanery, real estate speculation, cons, and scams, as well as democratic idealism, immigrant striving, and powerfully human lives. Along the way, there has been a British fortification and camp built during the Revolution, a suburban retreat from yellow fever epidemics constructed at the turn of the last century, and the properties that a group of free black Americans used to secure the right to vote, showing how much of the history of early America is still etched upon Central Park’s landscape today.

Do you want to learn more about this fascinating history?

The Graduate Center, CUNY. GothamEd | Before Central Park: Its Secrets and Stories - Spring 2023 (nbsstore.net)

New Self-Paced Course:
Presidential Leadership at Historic Crossroads

In Presidential Leadership at Historic Crossroads, Barbara A. Perry, Director of Presidential Studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, explores the various inflection points that have shaped the American presidency. These include

• Washington's precedents
• Jacksonian democracy,
• Lincoln's Civil War power assertions
• Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson's creation of the "rhetorical presidency"
• FDR's Great Depression and World War II presidency
• The Cold War's impact on John F. Kennedy's tenure

This course includes 12 lectures, primary source readings that supplement the lectures, and a certificate of completion for 15 professional development credits for educators. 

Self-Paced Courses - The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Shop | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

In 1838, f­ree Black people determined to have a safe haven of their own established Weeksville, a settlement tucked away in what is now the Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood of Crown Heights. Four wood-framed cottages, known as the Historic Hunterfly Road Houses (shown above), are all that remain today of this pre–Civil War enclave, which once was among the country’s largest independent 19th-century Black communities.

Weeksville attracted Black people from the North and South. Some had been born free and others had been born enslaved and escaped, but all who moved there wanted the opportunity to thrive. They found that in Weeksville. Their rich stories came to light in the rediscovery of these houses more than five decades ago.

How the Free Black Community of Weeksville Rose in 19th-Century Brooklyn | National Trust for Historic Preservation (savingplaces.org)

GHHN/NYSCA Conservation Treatment Grants Announced

$191,886 Awarded Across New York State

 

The Greater Hudson Heritage Network (GHHN) and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) are awarding $191,886 in conservation treatment grants to 32 organizations, located in 16 New York counties. Conservation Treatment Grants fund professional conservation to stabilize and preserve historical objects and works of art in New York museums, history centers, and cultural organizations.

 

The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation is generously providing 50% of the funding for conservation treatment projects on Nassau & Suffolk counties and New York City.

Over the past year, the GHHN/NYSCA Conservation Treatment Grants guidelines were revised to make funding more accessible for projects that reflect the spectrum of communities and cultures across New York State. Supported conservation projects include five stoneware vessels made by 19th century African-American potter Thomas Commeraw at the New-York Historical Society; the preservation of a Mohican/Munsee wood-splint basket at the Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz; and a portrait of Lucille Armstrong by Samuel Countee at the Louis Armstrong Museum. A full list of recipients can be found below.

 

“The field of conservation is continually changing,” noted Greater Hudson Heritage Network Executive Director Priscilla Brendler. “It requires practitioners who have demonstrated high levels of proficiency and advanced knowledge, adherence to the ethics and standards of the American Institute of Conservation (AIC), and are recognized for their expertise in the museum field. We are so pleased that these awards will involve 13 individual conservators and 5 conservation labs - all members of the AIC.”

 

NYSCA Executive Director Mara Manus said, “Working with the Greater Hudson Heritage Network, NYSCA funding will measurably contribute to the conservation of our rich cultural heritage. From the sculptures of Emma Stebbins, the first female to receive public art commissions in New York City to an early example of a WWI Blue Star Mother’s Flag, these fascinating objects will share the stories of their creation for generations to come. On behalf of the entire NYSCA team – we are grateful to all the grantees for their essential contributions to preserving our history and contributing to the cultural bounty of New York.”

 

Conservation Grant Recipients:

 

Albany County Historical Association

(Albany County)

$6,897 for the conservation of a c. 1885 Duparquet & Huot Plate Warmer. The object is a focal point in the Ten Broeck Mansion’s butler’s pantry helping to tell the story of the African-American, Irish and German servants who worked there. Conservator: Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

 

Bowne House Historical Society, Inc.*

(Queens County)

$3,750 for the conservation of a 19th century Black doll. The doll will become part of an exhibition focused on the Bowne and Parsons families’ involvement in the Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad as well as the free Black community within Flushing. Conservator: The Textile Conservation Workshop.

 

Cayuga Museum of History and Art

(Cayuga County)

$3,963 for the conservation of gouache and ink drawing of the Nye & Wait Carpet factory complex in Auburn NY (c.1889). Conservator: West Lake Conservators.

 

Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council*

(Suffolk County)

$3,365 for the conservation of a Service flag, also called a Blue Star Mothers Flag (c.1917). Designed and patented by WWI Army Captain Robert L. Queisser in 1917, the flag quickly became the unofficial symbol of a child in service. As they often hung outdoors, few survive. Conservator: The Textile Conservation Workshop.

 

Dansville Area Historical Society

(Livingston County)

$1,500 for the conservation of the chromolithograph “Our Home on the Hillside” by Sage & Sons Co. (1878). Conservator: Gary E. Albright.

 

Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance*

(New York County)

$4,530 for the textile conservation of embroidered sampler created by Martha Dyckman (early 1780). Conservator: Spicer Art Conservation.

 

East Hampton Historical Society*

(Suffolk County)

$6,014 for the textile conservation of a Sack Coat from the Civil War era, overcoat with cape from the Civil War, Silk Jacket Bodice from the late 19th century and Men’s Wool Tailcoat circa 1820-35. Conservator: Spicer Art Conservation.

 

Fenimore Art Museum

(Otsego County)

$7,500 for the conservation of a painted wooden figure depicting the Reverend Campbell (c.1880) attributed to Thomas Brooks. The figure will go on display in the museum’s Folk Art Gallery, where the public will learn both about the conservation and the story of this free, empowered man of African descent. Conservator: Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

 

Friends of Rock Hall, Inc.*

(Nassau County)

$5,699 for the conservation of two open-air indoor archaeological features in the foundation of Rock Hall House. Conservator: Cultural Preservation and Restoration.

 

Hispanic Society of America*

(New York County)

$7,495 for the textile conservation of 6 Mantones (shawls) dated between 1800 and 1920s. Among objects that Spanish immigrants brought to America, these shawls will be featured in a future exhibition centered on diverse cultures and the immigrant experience developed as a result of trade routes. Conservator: Anna Andreeva.

 

Historic Cherry Hill

(Albany County) 

$7,500.00 for the conservation of a pair of 19th-century male and female Black dolls associated with Minnie Knapp. Raised at Cherry Hill, Minnie was a servant and a ward of the family. Once conserved the dolls will be interpreted as part of the museum’s 4th and 5th grade program and become part of new interpretive techniques on the house tour. Conservator: Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

 

Historical Society of Woodstock

(Ulster County)

$2,750 for the conservation of works on paper "Flowers" by William H. Arlt (1869-1952). Conservator: Nadia Ghannam Fine Art Conservation.

 

Historic Huguenot Street

(Ulster County)

$4,888 for the conservation of a Mohican/Munsee wood-splint basket with lid (c. late 18th/19th centuries). The object will be featured in an upcoming exhibition seeking to dispel misconceptions about Indigenous people in the region. Conservator: A.M. Art Conservation, LLC.

 

Howland Stone Store Museum

(Cayuga County)

$7,495 for the conservation of double-sided street banner “Vote For Woman Suffrage Amendment No.1" used in the 1917 campaign. Conservator: Spicer Art Conservation.

 

Hudson River Museum

(Westchester County)

$5,850 for the conservation of the ink drawing “Equis Dream” by the artist Alvin C. Hollingsworth (c.1960). The works will be part of a retrospective of this significant African-American artists and art educator. Conservator: Valerie Faivre Paper Conservation. Mounting and framing: Christina Zuccari. 

 

Lindenhurst Historical Society*

(Suffolk County)

$7,500 for the conservation of two historic bicycles: a chainless bicycle (c.1900) and a velocipede (c.1882). Conservator: Kate Wight LLC.

 

Louis Armstrong House Museum*

(Queens County)

$7,500 for the conservation of oil on canvas of Lucille Armstrong (c.1940), dancer and wife of jazz musician Louis Armstrong, painted by artist Samuel Countee. The painting figures prominently in the house tour and serves as an introduction of the importance of Lucille who dedicated her life to preserving her husband’s legacy and serving her community. Conservator: Carolyn Jean Tomkiewicz.

 

Merchants House Museum*

(New York County)

$7,100 for the conservation of paper Rose and Lion Bandboxes (c.1845). Conservator: Found Object Art Conservation.

 

Museum of Chinese in America*

(New York County)

$1,100 for the conservation of a wooden drawer that holds school records of Chinese immigrant students born in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who attended various schools in Manhattan. To be exhibited in the new core exhibition, the drawer and its records help share stories of the expansion and development of Chinatown. Conservator: A.M. Art Conservation.

 

New-York Historical Society*

(New York County)

$4,588 for the conservation of five stoneware vessels made by free Black potter Thomas W. Commeraw who operated his own pottery in lower Manhattan from about 1797 to 1819. The pottery will be featured in an upcoming exhibition telling the story of his life. Conservator: Give Me A Break Conservation Services.

 

Niagara County Historical Society

(Niagara County)

$7,032 for the conservation of a framed oil on canvas portrait painting of Belva Ann Bennett McNall Lockwood (1830-1917) by M. W. Clark. Conservator: Great Lakes Art Conservation.

 

Niagara University - Castellani Art Museum

(Niagara County)

$5,200 for the conservation of oil on canvas painting “The Sunburst” by artist George Inness Jr. (1853-1926). Conservator: Great Lakes Art Conservation. 

 

Old Westbury Gardens*

(Nassau County) 

$7,450 for the conservation of a George II mahogany and needlepoint fire screen (1745). Conservator: A.M. Art Conservation, LLC.

 

Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation*

(New York County)

$7,500 for the conservation of a late 19th century Nigerian face mask (Mwaw) surmounted by double headed antelope, horse, and two leopards. The mask will be featured in an upcoming exhibition focused on the abstraction of the human form in African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian/Pre-Hispanic works. Conservator: Found Object Conservation.

 

Seymour Public Library District

(Cayuga County)

$7,500 for the conservation of oil on canvas portrait of James S. Seymour by artist Charles Loring Elliott (1839). Conservator: West Lake Conservators.

 

Skaneateles Library

(Onondaga County)

$7,500 for the conservation of oil on canvas painting “Conflicting Faiths” by artist DeCost Smith (c.1888). Conservator: West Lake Conservators.

 

The Friends of Alice Austen House*

(Richmond County)

$3,880 for the conservation of a late-19th or early-20th century Indian octagonal carved and inlayed table. Owned by photographer Alice Austen and her partner Gertrude Tate, it is one of few original objects in the house. The table helps tell the story of the challenges facing LGBTQ+ couples at the turn of the century as well as their eventual eviction from the house and separation. Conservator: Traditional Line Ltd.

 

The Heckscher Museum of Art*

(Suffolk County)

$7,500 for the conservation of two marble sculptures “Lotus Eater” and “Sandalphon,” created by sculptor Emma Stebbins (1860). Stebbins was the first woman to receive a public art commission from New York City. These works were completed while living in Rome with her partner, the actress Charlotte Cushman. Conservator: Tatti Art Conservation.

 

The Madoo Conservancy, Inc.*

(Suffolk County)

$5,600 for the conservation of wall mounted mixed media sculpture “Rin Tin Tin” created by Robert Dash (1968). Conservator: New York Art Conservation.

 

Thomas Cole Historic House

(Greene County)

$7,500 for the conservation of oil on canvas painting “Voyage of Life: Old Age” by artist Sarah Cole (1805-1857). Conservator: Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

 

University of Rochester/Memorial Art Gallery

(Monroe County)

$5,887 for the conservation of oil on canvas self-portrait by artist Kathleen McEnery Cunningham (1885-1971). Conservator: Hamm Arts, LLC.

 

Yates County History Center

(Yates County) 

$7,500 for the conservation oil on canvas portrait of Joseph Thayer, Sr. (1809-1871) by unknown artist. Conservator: Zold Art Conservation.

 

* Indicates additional funding from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation

 

Hello Kathryn,

I am excited to share with you the 2022 Conservation Treatment Grant awardees! The Gardiner Foundation funds of $47,711.25 were awarded to successful conservation projects.  The CTG program received 21 applications from Nassau & Suffolk Counties and NYC of which 16 projects were recommended for funding.  This was the largest number of applications received and the largest number supported yet to date. I am delighted to report that the CTG applications from Long Island have continued to grow over the last 4 years and most importantly, the quality of applications has vastly improved which is reflected in the increasing number of projects funded.

Thank you to you and the Gardiner Foundation for providing the critical financial resources to conserve Long Island's priceless Heritage Collections!

Wishing you all the best for the Holiday Season!
 

 

Best wishes,
Priscilla

Priscilla Brendler, Executive Director

GHHN (Greater Hudson Heritage Network)

 

In June, The New York Times published a look at treasured family heirlooms — and asked Times readers to share their own stories. From a phone number to a wooden Snoopy, here are 12 of their most notable keepsakes.

New York Times Readers on Family Heirlooms and Traditions - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Book Breaks is a weekly interview series with historians held every Sunday at 2 pm ET (11 am PT) on Zoom. Scroll down to see our upcoming programs!

Each week our hosts interview renowned scholars and discuss their acclaimed and frequently award-winning works, followed by a Q&A with the at-home audience. Our guests have included David Blight, Eric Foner, Annette Gordon-Reed, Clint Smith, Peniel Joseph, and Elizabeth Varon. 

Book Breaks | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Grants

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund works to advance the broader preservation movement towards a more diverse and equitable representation of American history. Grants showcase the beauty and complexity of Black history and culture in America, while underscoring the urgent need to protect, preserve and interpret these invaluable American assets.

Action Fund grant requirements and deadlines vary. Visit the links below to access the most up-to-date information, as well as for application guidelines and deadlines.

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Grants | National Trust for Historic Preservation (savingplaces.org)

MANY’s Awards of Distinction recognize the exceptional achievements of New York’s museums and museum professionals. Awards celebrate museums and honor museum professionals who create transformative experiences for visitors, shape innovative programs, and use collections to tell the stories of everyone who calls New York home.

 

We've extended the deadline! 

Submit your nominations by 5 PM Friday, December 16.

Museum Association of New York - Awards of Distinction (nysmuseums.org)

Applications are open for The Making of America!

The Making of America: Colonial Era to Reconstruction is an in-person, two-week program—developed with the support of the NEH and designed for K–8 educators—that offers the opportunity to explore the people, ideas, and events that made America into a cultural, social, and political reality.

Dates: July 9–22, 2023
Location: The George Washington University in Washington, DC
Application Deadline: March 3, 2023, at 11:59 pm PT
About the Program: Teachers will learn through lectures, group discussions, and visits to museums and historic sites around Washington, DC. They will have the opportunity to learn from renowned scholars, engage with place-based and object-based learning, and converse with museum professionals. Stipends for meals, housing, and travel will be provided.

2023 NEH Summer Institute | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Cemetery cleanup exhumes ancient grime from Long Island gravestones - Newsday

Apply by December 12!

Humanities New York Reading & Discussion Grants help unite community members for a series of thematically linked, text-based conversations about important ideas.

Themes
Currently, we have 18 Reading & Discussion themes to choose from, including "Land, Liberty, and Loss," exploring the indigenous experience of the Revolutionary era, "The Vietnam War," and "James Baldwin's America."How to apply
Any tax-exempt entity in New York State may apply; programs can be conducted in-person or virtually.

Applicants can hold between four and six conversations facilitated by a local humanities expert of their choice. Application is required and can be found here.

HNY will train the facilitator virtually and compensate them for their time. Books for the program are available for lending in limited quantities; please allow time for shipping.

If you have additional questions, please visit the Reading & Discussion webpage or contact our Director of Programs, Adam Capitanio (acapitanio@humanitiesny.org | 212-233-1131).

Reading & Discussion - HNY (humanitiesny.org)

Today, the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund opened the Letter of Intent (LOI) period for its 2023 National Grant Program. Grants provide a range of funding from $50,000 to $150,000 for ongoing preservation activities for historic places like sites, museums and landscapes that represent African American cultural heritage. Learn more about the 2022 grantees.

Through its National Grant Program, the Action Fund supports projects focused on African American cultural heritage, including capital projects, organizational capacity-building, project planning, and programming and interpretation. There are new priorities for this grant round. 

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund - Preservation Leadership Forum - A Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (savingplaces.org)

The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation is sponsoring ten (10) scholarships for Long Island museum professionals to attend the 2023 annual conference Finding Center: Access, Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement annual conference in Syracuse, NY, April 15 to 18.

Museum Association of New York - Conference Scholarships (nysmuseums.org)

QHS Collections Manager Job Description 2022.pdf

The Hamilton Education Program Online provides students, teachers, and parents with the opportunity to explore America’s Founding Era and shows students how to use that knowledge to create and perform their own narrative in the form of a song, rap, spoken word, or scene.

Students who create a performance piece are eligible for our national competition and lottery. Here are the details:

• We will select a total of 20 winners—10 performances chosen by our judging panel and 10 performances chosen at random.

• This program is open to both school and—new in 2022—at-home submissions.

• Up to 3 submissions per parent or teacher are allowed.

• Winners will be invited to New York City for an all-expenses-paid, full-day theater experience, including a performance of Hamilton, in Spring 2023.

• Submissions are open to all students in grades 6-12.

• Deadline to submit performances: December 16, 2022.

Homepage | Hamilton Education Program (gilderlehrman.org)

In Colonial North America and early republic United States, slavery was a part of life everywhere. This was true on Long Island, N.Y. and across the Northeast. Enslaved people of African heritage were a presence in the farms and homes of nearly every European family of means, and not just on the estates of the very wealthy.

Starting with the East End of Long Island in the mid-17th century, the Plain Sight Project works to restore the stories of enslaved persons to their essential place in American history.

Learn About the Project · Plain Sight Project

Alice Austen and the Gilded Age | Tony Guida's NY

Alice Austen and the Gilded Age | Tony Guida's NY - YouTube

Four great ways to explore American history next summer

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is pleased to announce multiple in-person and online professional development programs for educators in Summer 2023!

Click the links below to learn more and visit gilderlehrman.org/summer2023 to explore all of our summer PD opportunities for K–12 educators.

2023 Summer Professional Development | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Islip Town now has a New York State historic marker that honors a soldier who local historians say is “one of the town's most famous veterans.”

The new marker was unveiled Friday on Foster Avenue in Sayville following a two-year effort by town historian George Munkenbeck and members of the Society of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War educational nonprofit. The marker honors Major General Philippe Régis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand — commonly known as Régis de Trobriand — a French aristocrat who became an American citizen in 1861 and led troops into battle during the Civil War.

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/regis-de-trobriand-state-historic-marker-islip-rchiisk0
https://www.newsday.com/amp/long-island/suffolk/regis-de-trobriand-state-historic-marker-islip-rchiisk0

The Long Island Music Hall of Fame has finally found a home — and even a new name. The nonprofit will move to the Ward Melville Heritage Organization’s Educational and Cultural Center in Stony Brook and be known by an expanded title, the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF). The announcement was made at a news conference from the facility on Tuesday.

 

https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/long-island-music-hall-of-fame-c57ljyiu
https://www.newsday.com/amp/entertainment/music/long-island-music-hall-of-fame-c57ljyiu

See the article HERE

Looking for professional development opportunities for your K–12 school district, department, or yourself?

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers a wide range of professional development opportunities, from customized in-person training at your school with scholars and master teachers, to rigorous summer teacher seminars and online courses for CEUs and graduate credits.

Professional Development | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

2023 Conference Scholarships

Finding Center: Access, Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement

April 15 - 18, 2023 | Syracuse, NY

MANY is pleased to announce 27 scholarship opportunities for museum professionals to attend "Finding Center: Access, Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement" in Syracuse, NY.

Additional scholarships may become available. Check back for other opportunities to attend the 2023 conference. 

Museum Association of New York - Conference Scholarships (nysmuseums.org)

Recent CBS & News 12 segments

featuring the Waterfront Museum

Red Hook captain recalls weathering Sandy on historic barge which operates as a Waterfront Museum

Road Trip: Close to Home - The Waterfront Museum in Brooklyn

A Slow Film by Pascal Perich | Waterfront Barge Museum (waterfrontmuseum.org)

Property tussles in the moneyed enclaves of Long Island are nothing new, but the battle to preserve the homestead of Pyrrhus Concer raises questions of whose history gets to be honored.

A Hamptons Property Fight Over a Black Whaler’s Homestead - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Students are carefully scanning and capturing images of documents and photos from the collections of historical societies throughout Long Island.

Digitizing Long Island's history (fox5ny.com)

The Fall 2022 issue of History Now, "New Light on the Declaration and Its Signers," explores important aspects of the lives of the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence. It restores these founders to view and celebrates their role in supporting revolutionary ideas that would change the world.

History Now | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

In our newest Self-Paced Course, University of Chicago Professor Eric Slauter investigates the origins, meanings, and contested legacies of one of the most consequential political documents in world history, the Declaration of Independence.

Shop | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The Pomeroy Fund, which is a partnership between the William G. Pomeroy Foundation® and the Museum Association of New York (MANY), has awarded almost $300,000 to 96 history-related organizations across New York State since spring 2020. 

“We are grateful to museum educators across the state who help enhance our understanding of history,” said Deryn Pomeroy, Trustee and Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Pomeroy Foundation. “We are proud to provide funding and support to these organizations and their dedicated employees, who play a vital role in preserving and sharing New York’s rich historical heritage.”

Educators receiving support through the fifth round of the Pomeroy Fund will plan and deliver interpretive programs, including school programs, teen programs, early childhood programs, family days, festivals, programs for older adults, programs for New Americans, and targeted audience-specific programs.

“We are honored to be able to continue this partnership with the Pomeroy Foundation to support the work of museums that tell the story of New York State’s history through their collections and programs,” said MANY Executive Director Erika Sanger. “This was an especially competitive grant cycle and awards were made to only the most outstanding applicants. Museum Education staff and the programs they deliver were especially hard hit in the past three years and these grants will make a real difference in twenty different communities.” 

Pomeroy Fund for NYS History (nysmuseums.org)

Three North Fork projects were awarded Suffolk County Downtown Revitalization grants, according to County Executive Steve Bellone, who said that a total of $500,000 will be divided among 15 organizations.

Southold Historical Museum, Friends of Mitchell Park among recipients of county grants - The Suffolk Times (timesreview.com)

The nonprofit that runs a Shoreham site honoring Nikola Tesla hopes to turn the famed inventor's former laboratory into a museum in about two years after receiving a $500,000 federal grant.

Tesla Science Center officials get $500G grant toward museum - Newsday

Dear Members, Friends, and Colleagues,

Last week, the American Association of State and Local History published their 2022 National Visitation Report. The report illustrates that although some history organizations saw as much as a 75% increase in attendance in 2021 over 2020, overall visitation remains well below pre-pandemic levels. With hard data like this, organizational leaders and stakeholders can gain insights into the progress of the sector’s ongoing recovery.    

Quantifiable trends clearly show that museums can no longer operate –care for collections, produce exhibitions, and engage with communities– the way that they operated in 2019. But how much funding do museums need now and for what purposes? How do we measure the value that museums bring as economic drivers? How can we show all the ways that that museums contribute to communities? 

In Governor Hochul’s recent announcement of the historic allocation of $150M in capital grants available through the New York State Council on the Arts, she said “New York’s arts and cultural organizations strengthen our economic well-being, nourish our diversity and identity, and support our communities.” The Museum Study Bill, passed almost unanimously by the legislature earlier this year, directs the department of economic development, in conjunction with other departments and entities, to conduct a comprehensive study of public and private museums, including taking a census of public and private museums in the state, and to report the findings and recommendations of such study. 

This bill and the resulting report will help all of New York’s museums quantify their impact and communicate their value. But we still need Governor Hochul to sign the bill.

Your voice is essential in our efforts to strengthen the field and to show the Governor the important roles your museums play in your community. Please take a few minutes out of your day today to let the Governor know that you support the bill, that you need the data to respond to changes in our world, and the ways in which the report will help communicate the value of your museum. You can send an email to Governor Hochul using this link or send a handwritten note to:  

The Honorable Kathy Hochul
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

 

With thanks in advance for your time and your support, 

Erika Sanger, Executive Director

Alexander Hamilton: Immigrant, Patriot, Visionary

This exhibition examines Hamilton’s central role during the Revolutionary War and Founding period in creating the economic, constitutional, social, journalistic, political, and foreign policy templates for modern America. Using reproductions from the Gilder Lehrman Collection and the Library of the New-York Historical Society, and drawing on recent scholarship about Alexander Hamilton, this traveling exhibition helps students learn that Hamilton was a statesman and visionary whose life shaped the America we live in two hundred years after his death.

Alexander Hamilton: Immigrant, Patriot, Visionary | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The Historical Society of Islip Hamlet put on a show at Oakwood Cemetery in Bay Shore where actors portrayed the people buried there, bringing the history of Long Island to life. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

Living history actors bring tales from the past alive - NewsdayTV

Justyna Solowinska – video | Oysterponds Historical Society

October Preservation News

Grants Available, Upcoming Events & More

Press Room — Preservation League of NYS (preservenys.org)

I wanted to invite you to attend the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s annual conference, PastForward Online 2022, this year. On-demand programming will be launching soon, with additional marquee events taking place November 1-4 online.

PastForward National Preservation Conference 2022 | National Trust for Historic Preservation (savingplaces.org)

Art & Architecture Quarterly – East End (aaqeastend.com)

When author and self-described history buff Katherine Kirkpatrick visited the area around her childhood home on Long Island several years ago, she had no idea that taking a historical tour of a Colonial-era saltbox farmhouse in Setauket would open a door to her future.

Book shines light on people of color in LI artist's paintings - Newsday

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced a record $150 million in capital funding will be available for arts and culture organizations through the New York State Council on the Arts' Capital Projects Fund. The Fund has two grant categories: Small and Midsized Capital Improvement Grants and Large Capital Improvement Grants. This unprecedented investment includes $100 million in new, multi-year funding to facilitate large-scale capital projects that prioritize community development and placemaking. It is the State's largest ever commitment to NYSCA for capital projects for the arts, following on already record-level funding for the arts in the FY 2023 Budget. Governor Hochul will further discuss her commitment to supporting the arts at the Carnegie Hall 2022-2023 Season Opening later this evening.

Governor Hochul Announces Unprecedented $150 Million in Capital Funding Opportunities to Open for Arts and Culture Organizations | Governor Kathy Hochul (ny.gov)

 

The Museum Association of New York welcomes proposals for conference sessions, workshops, panel discussions, facilitated discussions, and peer-to-peer learning experiences that focus on our 2023 conference theme, Finding Center: Access, Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement. We will be gathering in Syracuse, in the Central Region of our state, and the home of the Onondaga Nation, the Central Fire of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Born in Trinidad in 1932, the Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul struggled while trying to write his autobiography. After multiple drafts, the threads he found to weave his story did not lead to his birthplace, but to a moment in time when he faced tremendous challenges. He described this process as finding the center.

As we all discover new ways to use the transformative power of museums as places for human encounters and face challenges created by the ways in which our lives and our institutions have changed over the past three years, we hope that you will join us as we explore Access, Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement as pathways to finding center for our institutions and our audiences.

Call for Proposals (nysmuseums.org)

There are so many opportunities to learn about New York City history at The Gotham Center this fall! Below you'll find a schedule for our public events. Several great interviews with authors of important new works are just around the corner. Sign up now to get reminders! Further on, you'll find the first of several courses we'll be offering this winter for GothamEd, our digital adult learning program. More is on the way soon! And remember to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information: podcasts, blogs, digital exhibits, courses, and other special initiatives. Welcome back, Gothamites! We hope you enjoyed the summer.

Click here for the schedule: Fall Schedule (madmimi.com)

https://vimeo.com/754851356/e985a51884

Would you be interested in having a college student intern work with you at your organization, with the Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History picking up the tab?

 

If so, I would like to invite you to participate in the Gardiner Foundation Semiquincentennial Summer Fellowship Program. We are soliciting applications from government-appointed historians across New York State. This exciting program will place college student fellows in your office in the summer of 2023 or 2024 to work with you on public-facing projects commemorating the 250th anniversary of American Independence. We would love to be of assistance!

 

Funded by the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, this program will offer fellowships to fifty students from seven colleges and universities (Canisius College, Cornell University, Brooklyn College (CUNY), SUNY Geneseo, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Potsdam, and Stony Brook University). If you are selected, we will pay you $500 dollars for your work with a Gardiner Foundation Semiquincentennial Summer Fellow. The Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History at SUNY Geneseo will pay the student fellows. Faculty mentors from the participant colleges and universities and the program director will visit each student fellow during the summer to provide advice and support. Each student will be available to work approximately 150 hours over the course of the summer of 2023 or 2024.

 

The Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History, this project’s headquarters, shares with local historians a simple but important goal: to present history to as large an audience as possible. The program will benefit local historians by providing them with the energy, commitment and expertise of the program’s faculty mentors and their talented student fellows. I hope we can all work together to contemplate the layered meanings of the revolution and American independence in myth, memory, and history as we approach its 250th anniversary.

 

Among the questions you might consider for this ambitious program are:

 

• How have New Yorkers defined “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” over the 250 years since American Independence?
• What have New Yorkers meant when they asserted their belief that “all men are created equal” and how have those meanings changed over time?
• How have New Yorkers remembered the American Revolution, and its conflicting legacies, since 1776?

 

More broadly, we feel reflection on the meaning of independence will encourage salutary community conversations about these broader questions: 

 

• How did we get here? What historical forces have made our community the way it is?
• What are the historical sources of the challenges we face as members of communities? 
• How can we confront those challenges effectively, and what have we tried before?
• What obligations do we have as members of our communities to those who came before us? 
• How well have we lived up to the highest ideals of the American Revolution?

 

We believe a community-wide reflection on the meaning of independence will help increase civic engagement, produce a more historically informed public, and help contribute to a deeper understanding of the American Revolution and its ambivalent legacy as the 250th anniversary of Independence approaches. We are excited to work with you and have our student fellows assist you.

If you are interested in applying, please fill out the following form online,

 

Gardiner Foundation Semiquincentennial Summer Fellowship—Historian’s Application

 

 or you may print out the attached form and mail it to:

 

                                    Michael Oberg

                                    Center for Local and Municipal History

                                    Department of History

                                    SUNY Geneseo

                                    Geneseo, NY, 14454

If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach me at (585)245-5730 or by email to localhistory@geneseo.edu.

The Bug Light story is about how a small group of determined people accomplished something good. In 1989, the Marine Foundation was formed to raise funds to buy the site for eventual restoration. That foundation later merged with the East End Seaport Museum to form a single organization whose purpose was to save Bug Light.

In an effort to save history, group hopes to begin Bug Light renovations next spring - The Suffolk Times (timesreview.com)

Preservation Long Island has awarded the Village of East Hills for its work in preserving John Mackay III’s Happy House.

Preservation Long Island’s goal is to safeguard and celebrate historic places. Its biennial Preservation Awards honor outstanding success in historic preservation on Long Island.

The event was held last Wednesday at the John Mackay III House at 2A Melby Lane in East Hills. Attendees included members of the Roslyn Landmark Society, residents and East Hills officials. Mayor Michael Koblenz received the honor from Preservation Long Island Executive Director Alexandra Wolfe and Director of Preservation Sarah Kautz.

East Hills recognized for Happy House preservation - News - The Island 360

By Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell, Chair of the NYS Assembly Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts, and Sports Development 

Across New York, museums serve as anchors as well as reflections of your communities. Your missions to connect individuals to culture, history, and information is deeply needed and commendable.

In keeping with the pivotal role museums play in civil society, right now you have an opportunity to become a part of history by contributing to New York State’s efforts to expand voter access. Today, I am asking you to reach out to your local board of elections and offer to host a poll site during future elections. Not only will this support your communities’ civic engagement, but it will also improve your museums’ engagement with community members.

New York has taken dramatic and exciting leaps forward in expanding access to voting in the past two years. My colleagues in the State Legislature and I passed laws implementing automatic voter registration, cementing vital civil rights voting protections, and establishing 10 days of early voting before each election in NY. Although New Yorkers now have increased voters’ access to the polls, there are still a few wrinkles to iron out – one of which I believe New York Museums can help resolve.

With the recent expansion in voting opportunities, Boards of Elections have found it difficult to secure polling sites at locations other than public schools. New York’s museums can help address this by stepping up and volunteering to host more voting locations for our communities. I believe it is a fantastic opportunity for both community members and museums to strengthen civil society and advance your missions in tandem.

I would like to relay a few concerns that demonstrate the urgency of this matter and the difference your contribution will make. After the Boards of Elections create their list of potential polling sites, they reach out to these locations to determine their availability. While many sites have the option to opt-out, public schools do not. More often than not, this is the case. 

Although the recent expansion in voting opportunities is great for the larger community, serving as polling sites often disrupts students’ academic performance. As an Assembly Member, I have heard concerns from students, parents, and school administrators about students unable to access areas of their school, such as gymnasiums or other common areas, for days at a time. Even during the summer, polling sites can interfere with classes and activities scheduled for some locations. Public schools recognize their role in supporting our communities’ civic engagement, but I believe museums have similar values and obligations to contribute to the public good.

The good news is: I have no doubt that hosting a polling site would lead to positive outcomes for your organizations, too. While the COVID-19 pandemic stymied foot traffic in many NY museums, serving as a polling site can help bring back visitors through increased community engagement with museums. Although many New Yorkers already frequent museums, voting brings in a broad cross-section of the community, including some people who rarely or never visit museums. I have no doubt that coming to your building to vote will encourage these individuals to visit their local museums more often. 

Further, as more New Yorkers experience first-hand the ways museums contribute to their communities, support for these museums will only improve. Community members often contact their representatives to advocate on behalf of their favorite organizations, institutions, programs, etc. If hosting a poll site isn’t a great way for museums to increase their visibility and popularity among community members, I don’t know what is!

In addition, hosting a polling location is a meaningful expression of museums’ values, and furthers your mission to strengthen civil society. It builds on the recent series “Museums and Democracy” hosted by MANY in collaboration with Museum Hue - focused on improving democracy and civic engagement. Now more than ever, we need every part of civil society to step up and recommit to maintaining a strong, vibrant democracy. You can be a critical part of this shared mission by making sure voting is accessible to New Yorkers. 

I urge you to consider my request: help New Yorkers, and yourselves, by volunteering to host a poll site for future elections. If you need a place to start, try reaching out to your local Boards of Elections and tell them you want to help. You can find their contact information here: https://www.elections.ny.gov/CountyBoards.html 

I thank you and the Museum Association of New York for your invaluable contributions to our society. I also thank you for your time and attention to this matter. 

A nearly 300-year-old Bible was discovered in the village of Roslyn.

Jennifer Lister of the Roslyn Landmark Society found the Bible in the attic of the headquarters for the Roslyn Landmark Society.

It belonged to Hendrik Onderdonk, one of the village founders.

The Bible contains Scriptures written in Dutch, maps and vignette drawings. It also has handwritten notes of wedding and birth dates of Onderdonk family members.
 

Watch News12 coverage here

On Wednesday, September 14, 2022, the completion of the first phase of the restoration of the historic Townsend Cemetery was celebrated in East Hills. The Townsend Cemetery was the burying ground for 31 early English and Quaker settlers to the town including six families; Townsend, Jackson, Horsfield, Titus, Willis and Boerem. Active for 136 years from 1790 to 1926, it is the only cemetery in the Village of East Hills.

Descendants, officials & the Roslyn Landmark Society celebrate the Townsend Cemetery restoration. | News | Roslyn Landmark Society

Preservation Long Island, the Cold Spring Harbor-based cultural heritage group, will begin a yearlong reassessment this fall of the way it catalogs and tracks its collection of 3,000 historical objects and hundreds of cubic feet of archival material.

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/grant-preservation-long-island-inventory-archives-objects-a9qv90c0

A Civil War soldier’s 160-year-old letters, discovered in a shoe box in Rhode Island, have been donated to an Islip historical society where they are being transcribed and made into a book.

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/civil-war-soldier-letter-islip-historical-society-mbe7dq5i

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, tribes and crowds came to the Shinnecock Indian Nation for their 76th annual powwow on Saturday. NewsdayTV's Steve Langford reports.

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/powwow-shinnecock-southampton-uybuqrym

Long Island University, “Digitizing Local History Sources”

A generous five-year grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation is enabling the Palmer School of Library and Information Science at Long Island University to digitize local history materials in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The $1.5 million grant provides fellowships for master’s and doctoral students to assist with the project.

We are pleased to provide public access to materials we have digitized to date:

• 44 historical organizations
• 75,000 images
• 4,600 gigabytes of data

We will continue to add new historical materials, highlight particular collections, and enhance the search functionality of the site.  Please visit often to explore primary sources documenting the people of Long Island!

For additional information, please contact the Project Director, Dr. Gregory S. Hunter, at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science:  greg.hunter@liu.edu.

| Long Island University "Digitizing Local History Sources" (preservica.com)

As we jump into the new school year, the Gilder Lehrman Institute is pleased to share a few updates and a look at what's ahead in Fall 2022.

Highlights of our Back-to-School Newsletter include

• A tribute to David McCullough (1933–2022), a singular figure in American history beloved by millions of readers, educators, and history enthusiasts around the world
• The full slate of 2022 State History Teacher of the Year award winners
• A spotlight on the new Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA in American History and the Fall 2022 courses open for registration
• Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Institute's inaugural Seminar Symposium
• A look at Gilder Lehrman Affiliate School Program benefits, including free access to the Hamilton Education Program Online
• A guide to "Celebrating American Historical Holidays"—a new series that provides entry points for a deeper exploration of pivotal moments and key figures in American history

Visit this page to read the Gilder Lehrman Back-to-School Newsletter. 

The Huntington Historical Society is looking for gardens for our 2023 Spring Festival of Gardens.

Next year's tour is scheduled for Sunday, June 4th, 2023.

 

Please email Stephanie Gotard director@huntingtonhistoricalsociety.org

if you think your garden would be a candidate for our 2023 Tour! 

Descendants of the Jackson and Townsend families who are interred in the Townsend Cemetery have forwarded the above photo to "express our gratitude" for the restoration of this historic burying ground in East Hills. From left to right: Bill Stone, Colleen Stone, Linda Fosdick and David Stone Fosdick.
 

https://www.roslynlandmarks.org/news/descendants-express-their-thank-for-the-restoration-of-the-townsend-cemetery-in-east-hills

The Latest Issue of New York History is Now Available

Cornell University Press

New York History strives to promote and interpret the state’s history through the publication of historical research and case studies dealing with New York State, as well as, its relationship to national and international events. New York History, published twice a year, presents articles dealing with every aspect of New York State history, and reviews of books, exhibitions, and media projects with a New York focus. The Editorial Board actively solicits articles, essays, reports from the field and case studies that support this mission.

Office of State History | The New York State Museum (nysed.gov)

NYH_103.1_00FM_FF.pdf (dhjhkxawhe8q4.cloudfront.net)

A Literary Luminary's Work is on Display at the Museum of African American History in Boston | National Trust for Historic Preservation (savingplaces.org)

In 1761, when Phillis Wheatley was only a child, European slave traders took her from her West African home and sold her to the Wheatleys, a wealthy merchant family in Boston.

Wheatley learned English quickly and proved to be a precocious student of reading, writing, Latin, and religion, among other subjects. Still enslaved, she began to write and publish acclaimed poems. By the time she was a teenager, Wheatley’s writing was widely praised in New England and Great Britain. White leaders of the time often assumed Black intellectual inferiority, and many incorrectly questioned her authorship of her work. Despite facing racism and enslavement, she became the first person of African descent to publish a book of poetry in the English language: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

A first edition of that 1773 book is on display at the Museum of African American History in Boston, a National Trust Historic Site. The small, leather-bound volume lays open to the title page and frontispiece, which depicts the young poet with a quill set to paper. This etching is attributed to artist Scipio Moorhead, an enslaved man who was a friend and neighbor of Wheatley’s. It makes the book especially meaningful, says Director of Education and Interpretation L’Merchie Frazier, because it combines published literary and visual art by two enslaved 18th–century African Americans. “This book is a story of triumph over tremendous adversity,” she says.

The Roe Tavern, built circa 1703, will be moved near its original location on town-owned property on Route 25A in East Setauket. General George Washington slept at the public house on April 22, 1790. During his trip, many people believe he came to thank the Culper Spy Ring members based in Setauket.

Town to move Roe Tavern back to North Country Road in East Setauket | TBR News Media

$1.64M raised for historic Roslyn Grist Mill's restoration - News - The Island 360

Over $1.64 million has been raised for the Roslyn Grist Mill’s restoration, the Roslyn Landmark Society announced.

The Grist Mill, which was constructed between 1715 and 1741, is a unique surviving example of a Dutch-framed watermill. The National Register of Historic Places currently recognizes it as a historic site.

The Roslyn Grist Mill Million Dollar Match Challenge was launched in December 2021 by Howard Kroplick, co-president of the Roslyn Landmark Society and his wife Rosalind.

Through June 30, all grants, awards, dues from members and sponsor contributions and grants were trebly matched up to one million dollars.

The Southampton History Museum:

William “Willie” Dunn Sr. was a Scottish professional golf player, born in Musselburgh (outside Edinburgh), Scotland in 1821. Willie often played challenge matches with his twin brother, Jamie, and they frequently challenged the professionals from St. Andrews, including Old Tom Morris and Allan Robertson.

Fore! The Golf Clubs of Willie Dunn, Sr. (southamptonhistory.org)

The Northport Historical Society is happy to announce the purchase of 209 Main Street, The Donahue House.

The purchase was made possible thanks to Arlene Handel and her late sister Muriel Gottesman who also donated The Skidmore House (at 199 Main Street) to the Society several years earlier. The sisters, who have been long time philanthropists, shared a desire to help preserve the historic character of Northport. ‘The Society’s ownership of the three historic buildings,’ says Ms. Handel, ‘will further strengthen the mission of the Society.’

In 1895, a doctor named George Donahue bought the land and built the house that still stands today. In 1913 when the Literary Union was looking for a place to build a public library, Dr. Donahue sold them the corner lot of his property for $3,000. The Northport Public Library, which was built in 1914 with grant money from Andrew Carnegie, is now the home of the Northport Historical Society Museum, so it is fitting that the two lots are now joined together again.

As Caitlyn Shea, the Executive Director of the Northport Historical Society says, ‘The future for the Society is bright with the addition of the Donahue property. For several years the Board and staff have been working towards an “Access 4 All” project which would make the museum accessible for everyone. Since our goal is to share local history with the entire community, it is vital that we can welcome every visitor to our exhibits and our events. If you are interested in donating directly towards this project please contact us.

 

Reminder: NYSCA/GHHN Conservation Treatment Grant Program Applications are due in 17 days!

 

As we approach the application deadline, GHHN staff are standing by to help answer any questions you may have! Sign up for a one-on-one call with Executive Director Priscilla Brendler here: meetings.hubspot.com/priscilla-brendler or email at director@greaterhudson.org

 

Also, don't forget to check out our informational videos - they introduce the grant program, application process, eligibility requirements, and most are under 10 minutes. Find the videos on the CTG webpage here.

The cluster of homes in the neighborhood south of Sunrise Highway is known as Merrick Gables. The homes were built in the 1920s by a New York developer and the founder of Fox Film Corp., the forerunner of 20th Century Fox. About 260 of the 400 original Merrick Gables houses still exist, according to Preservation Long Island.

Merrick Gables homes getting landmark status as Hempstead seeks to preserve a piece of history (newsday.com)

Explore the history of medicine in America from the colonial period to the present

This fall, we invite you to join Jim Downs, Gilder Lehrman-National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Civil War Era Studies and History at Gettysburg College, to explore how medicine has evolved and shaped American history over the last 500 years. 

FINAL SYLLABUS Narratives of Illness Fall 2022 (gilderlehrman.org)

David McCullough was widely acclaimed as a “master of the art of narrative history” and “a matchless writer.” He was twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize and twice winner of the National Book Award, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

Remembering David McCullough (1933-2022) | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Congratulations to the 2022 State History Teachers of the Year! 

 

The Gilder Lehrman Institute is proud to announce the 2022 State History Teachers of the Year.

Since 2004, 960 exemplary American history teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools in all fifty states, Department of Defense schools, Washington DC, and US territories have been named State History Teacher of the Year.

Many have gone on to work with the Institute, many as master teachers for programs such as History School and Gilder Lehrman professional development initiatives.

Southold Historical Museum applies for funding for new exhibit on farm labor camps - The Suffolk Times

The Southold Historical Museum is applying for a grant to build an exhibit on the “untold stories” of 20th century immigrant farm laborers in town.

National Trust for Historic Preservation Submission Manager - 2022 Diversity Scholarship Program (submittable.com)

2022 Diversity Scholarship Program

Ends on September 2, 2022

The Diversity Scholarship Program convenes established and emerging leaders in the historic preservation community at the annual PastForward conference, hosted each year by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Celebrating 30 years in 2022, the  program has provided over 2,500 scholarships to conference participants from historically underrepresented groups in the preservation movement and its allied fields including race, ethnicity, gender, gender identification, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background. Those who identify with one or more of these underrepresented groups are eligible for the scholarship. Preservation volunteers, students, and professionals are all encouraged to apply.  

A few weeks ago we had our Bike Southampton event co-sponsored with the Southampton African American Museum and the Southampton Village Climate Action Committee and this week there was a great article in The Express Magazine by Kim Covell about it. If you have not had a chance, we recommend you go on the ride yourself! It is a great way to see Southampton.

 

Biking Through The Centuries - The Express Magazine (southamptonhistory.org)

DHPSNY Newsletter: July 2022 vol. 2

 

Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York | (dhpsny.org)

 During the year 2021 Higher Ground Inter-Cultural & Heritage Association got a big boost from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. The Executive Director of the foundation, Kathryn M. Curran, has always been an influential figure supporting small, undeveloped non-profits working in the field of historic preservation who have exhibited excellence in their endeavors. In 2020 - 2021, she succeeded in creating a program containing a grant to build the organizational capacity of several non-profits, one of which was the Higher Ground Inter-Cultural & Heritage Association of Setauket, NY.

 

Higher Ground, Setauket, Long Island (highergroundliny.blogspot.com)

Southold Town Historian Amy Folk's latest book, Rumrunning, Bootlegging and More Criminal History of ‘Liquor Island’

 

For Amy Kasuga Folk, the Southold Town Historian in Long Island, it pays to know the difference between the Prohibition terms rumrunning and bootlegging. As she explains in her book “Rumrunning in Suffolk County,” rumrunning is about boats bringing verboten liquor to shore from ships moored at sea, where the bootleggers pick it up and drive it to its destination. This teamwork, she writes, led to the rise of organized crime in the United States

 

Rumrunning, Bootlegging and More Criminal History of ‘Liquor Island’ - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

American Express (NYSE: AXP) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation today announced the 25 U.S. historic independent restaurants that will collectively receive $1 million in grant funding through the “Backing Historic Small Restaurants” grant program.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220707005188/en/American-Express-and-the-National-Trust-for-Historic-Preservation-Announce-25-Recipients-of-the-1-Million-%E2%80%9CBacking-Historic-Small-Restaurants%E2%80%9D-Grant-Program

Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation moves headquarters to Riverhead - Riverhead News Review (timesreview.com)

 

It has been said that the late Robert David Lion Gardiner held a special place in his heart for Riverhead. Now the foundation named after him can call Riverhead home.

The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on regional history, completed the move of its headquarters from Hampton Bays to Riverhead July 11. The new office location is 30 West Main St.

Photo caption: Riley Danbusky (second from left in the first row) during the Mackay Estate Clean-Up on April 23, 2022.

The Roslyn Landmark Society has been awarded a $1,500 Gardiner Youth Scholars award from the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation. The Gardiner Youth Scholars award is available to all Long Island historical societies. The Gardiner Youth Scholars’ candidates are selected at the discretion of the historical society which oversees the scholars’ hours and activities. The candidate must complete 100 hours of service after being nominated and be between the ages of 15 to 22.

For 2022, the Roslyn Landmark Society has nominated Riley Danbusky, an incoming sophomore at Roslyn High School. Riley started volunteering for the Roslyn Landmark Society in the summer of 2021. She assisted with filing, archiving and mailings for the organization. Most recently, Riley assisted with the Mackay Estate Gate Lodge clean-up day on April 23, 2022. Riley will continue her community service over the next year, while implementing the Roslyn Landmark Society student membership program and project-related activities.

“I was honored to nominate Riley as a Gardiner Youth Scholar. Riley is an enthusiastic volunteer willing to help wherever needed. She is dedicated to her community, and I look forward to working together over the next year to complete the required community service hours. I would also like to thank the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation for this wonderful youth scholars’ program.” said Jennifer Lister, executive director of the Roslyn Landmark Society.

Any student wishing to obtain community service with the Roslyn Landmark Society should call Jennifer Lister at (515) 625-4363.

Sag Harbor Historical Society NEW HOURS!

New hours:

Saturdays and  Sundays
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
And By Appointment

Come See Us Soon

On July 19, 2022, the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded $3 million in grants to 33 sites and organizations through its African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

Among the resources  of the Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) is a database of town, village and city historians including the current Nassau County and Suffolk County historians. 

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

American Express (NYSE: AXP) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation today announced the 25 U.S. historic independent restaurants that will collectively receive $1 million in grant funding through the “Backing Historic Small Restaurants” grant program.

Local businesses are the backbone of villages, towns and cities across the state and have helped to shape the history, heritage, and identity of the communities they serve. New York State's Historic Business Preservation Registry was established by Chapter 241 of the Laws of 2020. The program is administered by the Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, and highlights businesses that have been in operation for at least 50 years and have contributed to their communities' history. At a time when many businesses face new and unique challenges, this registry allows us to recognize and honor historic businesses, while providing educational and promotional assistance to ensure their continued viability and success.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Submit a Proposal – The New York State History and Education Conference (nystate-history.com)

“History Fights Back”  

Call for Proposals  

New York State History and Education Conference (NYSHEC)  

SUNY Oneonta, October 28-30, 2022  

  

Innovative, accessible, and inclusive history research and education have never been more relevant than in our current moment. History has a critical role to play in leadership, decision-making, policy, civics education, justice work, and community life. Yet, historians and educators face an increasingly challenging landscape in which politicians and pundits seek to limit open discourse and critical interrogation of many aspects of the past. The conference theme— “History Fights Back”—tackles this situation head on, creating spaces for lively discussion and dialogue on the ways in which historians and educators of all backgrounds can make their voices heard and stand up for well-researched and inclusive historical narratives.  

  

The New York State History and Education Conference has five guiding objectives:  

• Encourage collaboration across the history community (and beyond)  
• Connect K-12 educators and history professionals and provide resources for teaching the complex history of New York State, the nation, and the world  
• Imagine a more diverse and inclusive history of New York State  
• Deliberately amplify Indigenous voices  
• Challenge traditional conference structures to be livelier and more welcoming  

We welcome proposals from all history practitioners and educators that address the diverse history of New York State. We especially welcome proposals that feature Indigenous histories and voices.  

 

We strongly urge participants not to read papers. Instead, sessions that adopt a variety of formats—such as roundtable discussions, workshops, performances, and interactive activities—are encouraged. An important objective is to generate dialogue and authentic engagement among conference participants. We invite substantive exchanges and creative re-imaginings of the standard conference formats.  

 

We are particularly interested in proposals that connect K-12 educators with historians working in a variety of settings, such as museums, historic sites, and colleges and universities. Proposals that highlight primary resources and digital projects are encouraged.  

 

Finally, we welcome full session proposals that include a theme and slate of presenters. Our preference is for full session proposals; however, individual presentation proposals will be accepted, and we will make an effort to group them around common themes.

  

Proposals are due by July 15, 2022. 

 

Submit your proposal here: https://nystate-history.com/submit-a-proposal/

 

Conference website: https://nystate-history.com/  

Follow us on Twitter @NYSHEConference https://twitter.com/NYSHEConference

The Fire Island Lighthouse helped sailors safely navigate the dangerous waters leading to New York Harbor. From the Summer 2022 Issue of NEW YORK ARCHIVES Magazine

Summer 2022, Volume 22, Number 1 :: New York State Archives Partnership Trust (nysarchivestrust.org)

"A Shining Beacon" - an interview with Bill Bleyer, author - YouTube

The Board of Trustees of the Oysterponds Historical Society (OHS) is pleased to announce that Alison Ventura will be joining the organization as Executive Director, effective July 5th. 

Newsday, July 1, 2022 Grave undertaking

Cemetery cleanup

The condition of three historic Long Island cemeteries has become a little less grave.

Restoration crews are cleaning dozens of headstones — propping up some that had fallen — at graveyards in Coram, East Hills and Yaphank. The ancient burial grounds contain the remains of Revolutionary War veterans and prominent 18th-century Long Islanders.

Thank you TBR News Media and reporter Tara Mae for this wonderful article about the final three films of our Maritime Film Festival being presented at  the Huntington Cinema Arts Centre. The remaining three films include: The Bungalows of Rockaway on June 14 at 7:30 pm; A World Within a World: Long Island’s Bay Houses on June 21 at 7:30 pm; and, Maiden on July 12 at 7:30 pm. Please join us!

The Rocky Point Historical Society is pleased to announce that it has received a Preserve New York Grant!

Rocky Point Historical Society is one of this year’s Preserve New York (PNY)
grantees. Their grant of $6,685 will fund a Building Condition Report of the Noah Hallock Homestead. The Preservation League of NYS and their program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation are thrilled to help fund this important work. The Noah Hallock Homestead, ca. 1721, is recognized as a landmark in Brookhaven Town and was
listed on the State and National Registers in 2013. It is one of the few remaining 18th century Cape Cod-style farmhouses in Suffolk County. Seven consecutive generations occupied the house until 1964.

Letter from Erika: What If? Grant Applications as Acts of Hope

We have hope for the future of New York’s museums as our society grapples with tremendous change. Museums can use their resources to support and empower communities to face ideas, issues, and challenges. Grants that help museums emerge from the pandemic stronger than they were before 2020 and build their capacity for the future are available from an amazing array of sources. 

Click here for details.

Image: Beatrix Farrand Garden, Hyde Park

(Huntington, NY) – The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation and grant recipient The Heckscher Museum of Art announce the launch of the new website Historic Artists’ Sites of Long Island, www.lihistoricartistssites.org developed by Graphic Image Group, Inc.

From the 19^th century to present times, Long Island has held a special place in the creative imagination. From native landscape and genre painters William Sidney Mount and his family to modernist transplants like Arthur Dove and Helen Torr and the abstract expressionists who clustered on the East End, artists working in various styles and media, from traditional to experimental, have found common ground here.

Kathryn M. Curran, Executive Director of The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation describes the importance of these locations, "Long Island has a proud place in American art history. Offering exceptional light and air, along with inspirational vistas, artists have always flocked here to live and work. This website links the studios and homes of some of America's greatest artists over centuries. It offers a historic view into another aspect of our region's rich creative and cultural heritage. I strongly urge you to explore these places and support the stewards who are dedicated to their oversight and promote their legacy."

The website is an online guide to discover the living and working environments of some of America’s most influential artists. Visitors to the site can explore these homes and studios, experience the surroundings that inspired the artists, and gain insights into their creative processes. Many of these locations are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

• Arthur Dove and Helen Torr Cottage, Centerport - The Heckscher Museum of Art
• Arts Center at Duck Creek (artist John Little), East Hampton
• D'Amico Institute (The Art Barge) (artists Victor D’Amico and Mabel Birckhead D’Amico), Amagansett
• Dan Flavin Art Institute at Dia Bridgehampton
• Elaine de Kooning House, East Hampton
• Leiber Museum (designer Judith Leiber and artist Gerson Leiber), East Hampton
• LongHouse Reserve (artist Jack Lenor Larsen), East Hampton
• Pollock-Krasner House (Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner), East Hampton - Stony Brook University
• Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran Studio, East Hampton
• Watermill Center (artist Robert Wilson), Watermill
• William Sidney Mount House, Stony Brook - Long Island Museum

Restoration of the Horsfield Monument uncovers new discoveries for the Townsend Cemetery in East Hills | News | Roslyn Landmark Society

 

As a result of the June 2022 restoration of the cemetery supported by a grant from the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation, the Horsfield Monument has been cleaned and the seven inscriptions uncovered. These inscriptions combined with profiles from LongIslandsurnames.com provided the following new information on the Townsend Cemetery

On May 26, 2022, the Board of Trustees of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation announced the initiation of our second year of offering to our historic community for 2022: 

This opportunity is available to Long Island historical societies. It requires the completion of 100 hours of service to a historic society accompanied by a stipend of $1,500 to be paid to the Scholar. Gardiner Youth Scholars candidates are selected at the discretion of the individual historical society which oversees their hours and activities. Candidates must be between the ages of 15 to 22.

Hard copies requests must be received by June 24, 2022. 2022 current membership to LIHS required. Renewal application form is on the LIHS website.  

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Kimberly Reyes Flores, a 2021 Gardiner Young Scholar award winner, provides a review of her experiences at the Southampton African American Museum in Southampton, New York.

 

Preservation Long Island announced its 2022 preservation awards consisting of two Project Excellence Awards and four Organization Awards. Nominated by the Roslyn Landmark Society, the Village of East Hills received an organizational excellence award for "leadership in new approaches to local preservation and for achieving a meaningful mitigation of adverse impacts on John Mackay III’s Happy House via environmental review."

As posted on Preservation Long Island's website, East Hills received the award "in recognition of the Village’s leadership and commitment to municipal process in preserving John Mackay III’s Happy House (aka 2a Melby Lane or Stonehouse, one of our 2021 Endangered Historic Places).

 

Ketcham Inn was recipient of seven bluestone stepping stones donated by Island Stone of Glen Cove, Sunday, June 19, 2022.

Ketcham Inn stepping stones – Ketcham Inn Foundation

The Greater Patchogue Historical Society was formed in 1982 by a small group of longtime Patchogue residents who had a similar interest in reminiscing about the history of Patchogue.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

The Smithtown Historical Society is cooking up something new. 

Beginning on June 9, the Society will launch a new cooking series titled Cooking with Stars featuring local culinary professionals sharing their tips, techniques and skills while presenting trending foods, recipes and offering a taste to bring the community together. 

Smithtown Historical Society launches Cooking with the Stars | TBR News Media

Celebrating some of Shelter Island’s noted artists: Showing through the summer at the Historical Society

By Susan Carey Dempsey

As one of numerous special events to mark its 100th anniversary, the Shelter Island Historical Society presents “Once On This Island,” an exhibition featuring the work of artists who have lived and worked on Shelter Island, opening Saturday, June 4.

The exhibit is curated by Margaret Garrett — who is also one of the eight featured artists, along with Karen Arm, John Chamberlain, Janet Culbertson, Willem de Kooning, Jules Feiffer, Alan Shields and Ned Smyth.

The exhibit will be at the Shelter Island Historical Society, 16 South Ferry Road, through Sept. 7. Exhibition hours are Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and on Saturdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or by appointment: 631-749-0025.

Frequent travelers on Merrick Avenue have likely passed the original Merrick Library, though they may be unfamiliar with its history. The building — which has stood on the corner of Merrick and Kirkwood avenues since its completion in 1897 — is an accredited New York State Historical Site that has been unused for many years.

Recently, the Historical Society of the Merricks has discussed putting this treasure to use, and though a plan is in the earliest stages of development, the opening of a one- or two-room museum inside the original library may be in Merrick’s future.

Historical society mulls turning old Merrick library into museum | Herald Community Newspapers | www.liherald.com

On April 18, Paul Gunther assumed a new post that is very much an outgrowth of his career in history and art: he will become the executive director of the Oysterponds Historical Society.

Head of Gracie Mansion Conservancy named head of Oysterponds Historical Society - The Suffolk Times (timesreview.com)

Local voices matter once again! Thank you to all who joined in supporting the preservation of Belgrave Motors (aka Great Neck Tower Ford or Biener Audi), a historic place in the Village of Thomaston threatened by demolition. On February 8, 2022, the Village of Thomaston’s Preservation Commission voted 5-0 that the Tower Ford building meets the criteria for landmark status.

The Commission’s determination acknowledges that the building at 124 South Middle Neck Rd. meets the criteria of a “building or structure which embodies the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural specimen of construction” or which embodies economic or social history of the community, under the village’s landmark code.

UPDATE! Belgrave Motors: Local Landmark Designation Approved! - Preservation Long Island

HISTORY IS WRITTEN, read and studied. Sometimes it can be heard.

That was the case Nov. 28, when musical chords from almost 150 years ago reverberated through the Mattituck-Laurel Historical Society and Museums’ 1799 Jesse Tuthill House. The occasion was a holiday event, centered around the playing of an 1880 square grand piano, believed to be among the last of its kind produced. The Victorian-era piano, which is being restored by the historical society, hadn’t been played or tuned in “easily” at least 60 years, said Mark MacNish, the society’s collections manager and curator.

Mattituck-Laurel Historical Society brings piano from 1880 back to life - The Suffolk Times (timesreview.com)

Cemeteries offer a unique view into the way the world once was: how long people lived, how they died, and how they were buried.

Inspired by New York State’s “Path Through History,” the Greater Patchogue Historical Society (GPHS) hosted a tour of West Main Street’s historic cemeteries, located just east of the former Lace Mill.  GPHS members, including Arlene Capobianco, Christopher Capobianco and Steve Lucas, escorted visitors and told them of local lore and legend.