Though Ernest Duane had eventually admitted killing popular Lake Pleasant guide Eula Davis, there was no guarantee he would be found guilty in court. The defense focused on proving Duane’s supposed mental abnormalities, which they claimed had been exacerbated by the lonely life of a woodsman who often spent long months alone. It seemed a weak argument at best, but then came the kicker: Duane’s epilepsy, seized upon by his attorneys in a strategy described as the “dream defense.” Read more
This Weeks Top New York History News
This Weeks New York History Web Highlights
Remembering Gordon Parks In 100 Moments
Gordon Parks bought his first camera in a pawn shop and got his first real photography job at the New Deal’s Farm Security Administration (FSA).”American Gothic,” his bold arrangement of a White House cleaning lady with a mop in front of a flag, got him in trouble on his first assignment.
As a multifaceted creative artist, Parks stacked up firsts again and again in a long career that has been seeing numerous tributes over the past year. 2012 was the 100th anniversary of his birth, and exhibits are still underway. Read more
The American Historical Association and NY History
One of the types of posts which I have writing is conference reports. The purpose is to share with people who have not attended a conference what I have learned by attending one. In this post I wish to deviate slightly by reporting on a conference I did not attend but from which relevant information still is available. The conference is the annual meeting of the American Historical Association just held in New Orleans.
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A Backcountry Murder in Lake Pleasant
In late 1928, the life of an Adirondack guide came to an unfortunate, premature end. Like many of his brethren who died from accidental shootings over the years, the victim succumbed to the effects of a serious gunshot wound. But the demise of Eula Davis was no accident. Clearly, this was a case of murder, and the beginning of a twisted saga that kept all eyes glued on the Lake Pleasant region for some time. Read more
Harlem Blues: Last Party At The Lenox Lounge
On New Year’s Eve the cigar smoke was thick on the sidewalk in front of the famed jazz club, the Lenox Lounge. Men in tuxes and women in clingy gowns stepped out of white stretch limos, three deep on Malcolm X Avenue, a.k.a Lenox Avenue in Harlem, as blue notes popped from the chromed doorway.
A huge bejeweled crowd could be glimpsed dancing and drinking through the wide octogon window. Read more
New York City: What Is Your World War Two Story?
When the New-York Historical Society set out to create its WWII &- NYC exhibit, we knew that personal histories would be an important part of our presentation and our approach to soliciting visitor responses. Many visitors would have served on the home front or war fronts, or experienced the “War Emergency” as children. Others would have heard stories from their parents and grandparents. Read more
This Weeks Top New York History News
- Mohawks Seek Indigenous Solidarity
- No One Elected to Baseball Hall
- Ticonderoga Sawmill Replica Planned
- OSI Acquires Marion River Carry
- 8 Canal Dams May be Rebuilt
- New Mathematics Museum Opens
- Preservationist Lenore Norman Dies
- Cyndi’s List Files Lawsuit
- Feminist, Historian, Gerda Lerner Dies Read more
This Weeks New York History Web Highlights
- Adirondack Attic: Peddler to Tupper Lake Civic Leader
- The Rochesterian: Tearing Down Churches
- Peck’s Lake: Alice Peck, 96, Writes Book
- Caleb Crain: NYPL’s Central Library Plan Update
- Eastman’s Online: Genealogy 2012 in Review
- Histpres: 2012 Report on Preservation Employment
- A Century Ago: A Mayor Who Wrote Back
- New Website: Autism In the Museum
- Dick Eastman: Irish Newspapers Will Now Be Ignored
- AHA: January Perspectives on History Read more