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This Weeks New York History Web Highlights

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Each Friday afternoon New York History compiles for our readers a collection of the week’s top weblinks about New York’s state and local history. You can find all our weekly round-ups here.

Subscribe! More than 1,000 people get New York History each day via E-Mail, RSS, or Twitter or Facebook updates.

Family Overnight Camping at the Adirondack Museum

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The Adirondack Museum and the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts will host an overnight adventure at the museum on Tuesday, August 16, 2011. The event will include exploring exhibits by lantern, getting dramatic about Adirondack history with the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, hearing songs and stories by the campfire, and having a sleepover in the Woods & Waters exhibit. Dinner, an evening snack and breakfast will be served.

Camp Out for Families is open to children ages 7 &#8211 13, and the museum requests one adult chaperone for every one to four children. The program starts at 5:30 p.m. and ends the following morning at 9:30 a.m.

Spaces are limited- pre-registration required by August 11, 2011. E-mail or call to register: [email protected] or (518) 352 &#8211 7311 ext 115- [email protected] or (518) 352 &#8211 7311 ext 128. The program fee includes dinner, evening snack, light breakfast, and all activity materials. $45 per person for Adirondack Museum members and Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts members- $55 per person for non-members.

The museum is open through October 17, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 7 days a week, including holidays. There will be an early closing on August 12, and adjusted hours on August 13- the museum will close for the day on September 9. Visit www.adirondackmuseum.org for more information. All paid admissions are valid for a second visit within a one-week period.

A Teacher Open House at the Gage Center

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The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation in Fayetteville, NY would like to share with teachers the opportunity to learn more about Matilda Joslyn Gage, an important local historical figure on Thursday, September 22, 3:30-5:30 pm?.

Matilda Joslyn Gage (1824-1898) was involved in the Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad. Along with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Gage was a major figure in the Women’s Rights Movement. With them, she co-authored The History of Woman Suffrage.

She was a supporter of Native American sovereignty and a proponent of the total separation of Church and State, she was the author of Woman, Church and State.

Because of her strong, liberal position on religious freedom, she was written out of history books until recently.

Gage’s ideas are as relevant today as they were in the 19th century and this is a great way to bring Central New York history into your classroom and promote discussion of the past and contemporary issues.

Materials for lessons, activities, and curriculum packets available.

For more information, call 637-9511.

Olana Civil War Event: Rally Round the Flag

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The 77th New York Regimental Balladeers will present a free concert of music popular during the Civil War along with letters and commentary from and about the war. The music starts at 2 PM on the East Lawn at Olana State Historic Site on Saturday, August 13, 2011. There is a $5 per car fee at the entrance to the park- bring your own blankets and chairs- the concert is from 2 – 4 PM.

The 77th New York has appeared many times at Olana, each time to an enthusiastic response. This year, their performance is part of the Sesquicentennial observances of the Civil War taking place throughout the country. The 77th New York will provide a look at the war from a musical perspective. Dressed in authentic reproductions of historic uniforms and costumes, the 77th New York provides a musical and narrative story of both sides in the painful and bloody conflict

The Civil War is of importance to Olana because of its relevance to Frederic Church, his art, and his family. While Church did not fight in the Civil War, he supported it financially- some of his greatest works, like Icebergs and Cotopaxi, were produced during this time. He and his family, like so many in this country, suffered the deaths of dear friends in the conflict. Long time friend and author Theodore Winthrop was lost in one of the first battles of the war- later friend and fellow Connecticut artist John Jameson died at the infamous Andersonville prison camp.

Currently, an exhibit, Rally ‘round the Flag: Frederic Edwin Church and the Civil War, is featured in the Evelyn and Maurice Sharp Gallery. The exhibit explores the Civil War connection to the artist and the country- it also provides a look at the paintings and a career cut short by the conflict, the works of Church’s young friend and artist, John Jamison.

Historic Huguenot St Creates New Scholarship Fund

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In 1689, when the founders of New Paltz hired Jean Tebanin as the first schoolmaster in the small settlement, they set a precedent for the community. This focus on education continues today at Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) in both the programs and scholarships offered by the New Paltz organization.

Earlier this month, the organization received a bequest from Lucille Stoeppler Baker. The funds were given with the stipulation that they be used for scholarship assistance. Ms. Baker’s intent was to provide financial help to undergraduate students majoring in historical anthropology.

Dr. Baker, who held degrees from the College of St. Vincent, Fordham University and Cornell University, was devoted to the field of education. She served for twenty-four years as Professor of Sociology at Tompkins Cortland Community College in the Finger Lakes region of New York. She was awarded the college’s first Professor Emerita status in March 1993. The Dr. Lucille S. Baker Learning Commons on campus is named in her honor. Dr. Baker’s interest in Huguenot history grew from a friendship with Kenneth Hasbrouck, the long-time director of HHS, and members of the LeFevre Family Association. She is interred at the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.

The funds given by Dr. Baker will be used to create the Lucille Stoeppler Baker Memorial Scholarship Fund. With the creation of this fund, Historic Huguenot Street will now have five distinct scholarship funds. Scholarships are offered on an annual basis in collaboration with the Hasbrouck Family Association.

The deadline for scholarship applications is quickly approaching. Submissions must be received by August 31, 2011. More information and guidelines are available at www.huguenotstreet.org or by calling (845) 255-1660.

Rochester: 19th Amendment Festival August 20th

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A 19th Amendment Festival will be on Saturday, August 20, 2011 from noon to 5 p.m., in the Susan B. Anthony Park between Madison and King streets in Rochester, NY. The event celebrates the ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920, finally giving women the right to vote, after a campaign that lasted more than 70 years.

Music and entertainment in the park will be provided by the Hochstein School of Music and Dance as well as the Genesee Harmonic Society of the Genesee Country Village and Museum. Authentic nineteenth-century baseball demonstrations will be provided by Genesee Country Village’s women baseball team, in period costumes, following the rules and etiquette of the game as it was played in the 1800s.

Walking tours of the historic 19th century Historic Preservation District will also be offered. Tours of the Anthony House will be available beginning at 11 a.m. at the special admission price that day only of $5.00 for all ages. Food and craft vendors will be set up in the park.

Deborah Hughes, executive director of the Susan B. Anthony House, said, “We hold this event each year just before August 26, the date the 19th amendment was officially declared law by the Secretary of State after it was ratified by the required number of states. It’s a wonderful celebration of Susan B. Anthony’s life and work and of all the women and men who campaigned so long and so fervently to win voting rights for women.”

The event is presented by the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood Association and the Susan B. Anthony House.

The National Susan B. Anthony House and Museum preserves the National Historic Landmark where the great reformer lived for 40 of her most politically active years, collects and exhibits artifacts related to her life and work, and offers programs through its learning center that challenge individuals to make a positive difference in their lives and communities.

This Weeks New York History Web Highlights

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Each Friday afternoon New York History compiles for our readers a collection of the week’s top weblinks about New York’s state and local history. You can find all our weekly round-ups here.

Subscribe! More than 1,000 people get New York History each day via E-Mail, RSS, or Twitter or Facebook updates.

Free August Music Series at Saratoga Battlefield

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The race track in Saratoga Springs may be quiet on Tuesdays, but Saratoga Battlefield will be alive with music. Friends of Saratoga Battlefield will sponsor four free lunchtime concerts at Saratoga National Historical Park’s visitor center located on Route 32 and 4 in Stillwater. Bring a lunch and listen to a different program each week: folk, classical and martial music.

August 2­ Rich Bala &#8211 Find out how waterways and canals shaped New York’s history from colonial times to the end of the 19th century on a musical tour by acclaimed folk singer Rich Bala.

August 9­ Elizabeth Huntley &#8211 How much more elegant can things get? Sublime music of the 18th century performed on the harp, sublime views of the Saratoga Battlefield from the Visitor Center lawn. Enjoy classical pieces played upon the Queen of Instruments performed by harpist Elizabeth Huntley.

August 16­ Dave Ruch &#8211 Dave Ruch presents Traditional and Historical Songs of New York. Lively presentations of songs and ditties from all corners of the Empire State. These are the songs of real-life &#8220Yorkers&#8221 from the past &#8211 farmers, lumbermen, immigrants, children,Native Americans, canallers, lake sailors and more &#8211 collected through considerable research, and interpreted for all to enjoy with banjo, guitar, mandolin, bones, spoons and more. (This Speakers in the Humanities event is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York State Legislature.)

August 23­ Fort Ticonderoga Fife and Drum Corps &#8211 Martial music at its best. The Fort Ticonderoga Fife and Drum Corps performs tunes that may have wafted over the landscape mingled with the gun smoke during the Battles of Saratoga.

Saratoga National Historical Park offers a variety of programs. For additional information call (518) 664-9821 ext. 224 or visit www.nps.gov/sara

Photo: Fort Ticonderoga Fife & Drum Corps (Provided).

This Weeks Top New York History News

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Each Friday morning New York History compiles for our readers the previous week’s top stories about New York’s state and local history. You can find all our weekly news round-ups here.

Subscribe! More than 1,000 people get New York History each day via E-Mail, RSS, or Twitter or Facebook updates.

Traveling with Winslow Homer at Adirondack Museum

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Join Robert Demarest for a program entitled &#8220Traveling with Winslow Homer,&#8221 on Monday, August 8, 2011 at the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York. The program is part of the museum’s Monday Evening Lecture series.

Robert Demarest has traveled the world chronicling Homer sites- his destinations have included Cuba, The North Sea Coast, Bermuda, and the North Woods Club in the Adirondacks. He has fished and painted where Homer fished and painted, and has uncovered many new facts about America’s favorite artist.

Demarest recently retired as head of the medical illustration unit and director of the Center for Biocommunications at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY. His work has appeared in numerous medical textbooks, countless research papers, medical journals, and many popular magazines, such as the Reader’s Digest, Life, Newsweek, and Time.

When not painting watercolors Demarest can usually be found fly-fishing on his favorite streams, often in the Adirondacks. His love of watercolor painting and fly-fishing led him to study Winslow Homer and that started him on an odyssey that has consumed him for the past several years. He traveled to all the places that Homer visited throughout the western world, and painted and fished where Homer painted and fished. He has published a book based on his Homer research entitled Traveling with Winslow Homer.

The presentation will be held in the Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. The lecture will be offered at no charge to museum members- the fee for non-members is $5.00. For additional information, please visit www.adirondackmuseum.org or call (518) 352-7311.