Obituaries vary widely in their historical value. Sometimes they’re elaborate- at times they are understated- some leave out important facts- and some, well … some are just hard to explain. Like this one from March 1952: “Richard A. Whitby, a native of Warrensburg, died on Wednesday of last week at his home in Albany. Survivors are his wife, Mrs. Kathryn M. Waring Whitby- two sisters, Mrs. Frank Chapman and Miss Kate Whitby of Yonkers.” Read more
Exhibit: Rarely Seen American and European Quilts
An exhibition of some thirty-five exceptional American and European quilt masterpieces from the Brooklyn Museum’s renowned decorative arts holdings will examine the impact of feminist scholarship on the ways in which historical quilts have been and are currently viewed, contextualized, and interpreted.
Only one of these rare quilts has been on public display in the past thirty years. “Workt by Hand”: Hidden Labor and Historical Quilts will be on view in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art from March 15 through September 15, 2013. Read more
This Weeks Top New York History News
- Scarsdale Doctor Killer Dies
- More Mohawk Gaming Arrests
- Harness Racing Museum Burglarized
- Pike’s Cantonment Marks 200 Yrs
- Bushmaster Maker Remington Being Sold
- Separate SUNY Presidencies Preserved
- Farm Bureau Opposes Rooftop Highway
- 1800s Archeology Find in Utica
- $165M UAlbany Expansion Approved
- Call for New Urban Research
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.
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This Weeks New York History Web Highlights
- Jimmy Vielkind: Cold War Reminder in Malta
- Photos: Madison Square Garden II, 1890-1925
- ‘-The Whole Nine Yards’: Seeking a Phrase’s Origin
- The Root: Henry Louis Gates Interviews Tarantino
- Bill O’Reilly: Most Popular Historian in America?
- Gettsyburg 1863: Washington Co’s Heroic Fight
- Opinion: Rail-Removal Advocates Twist Facts
- Brian Mann: Do Regional Economic Councils Work?
- Holidays: Shared Roots of Hanukkah, Christmas
- 2nd Amendment: A History in Two Paintings
Each Friday morning New York History compiles for our readers the previous week’s top web links about New York’s state and local history. You can find all our weekly round-ups here.
Subscribe! More than 3,200 people get New York History each day via E-mail, RSS, or Twitter or Facebook updates.
Peter Feinman: NY and The End of the World
It is with deep regret and heavy heart that I have the onerous task to inform you that once again the world has come to an end. The passing of our beloved planet marks the third time in this still young century when we endured this ignominious ending to our long history.
First came the secular Y2K ending, then the Christian rapture in 2011, and now the Mayan recycling of 2012. The ending of the world has become as frequent as the storms of the century. We scarcely have time to catch our breath before once again the world will fall over its cliff into an abyss from which it can never recover. Read more
Sink or Swim? Post-Sandy Waterfront Restoration
Scape Studio. Plan for Oyster Reefs in NY Harbor
As people blow dry the mold from basement walls and vacuum Sandy from corners and carpets, city activists gathered in a forum sponsored by the Municipal Art Society and Columbia University’s Center for Urban Real Estate, called “Sink or Swim: Waterfront Restoration in a Post-Sandy Era.”
Read more
The Churubusco Live-In: Clinton Countys Woodstock
The Churubusco Live-In, planned as the 1970 sequel to the historic Woodstock concert of 1969, was in deep trouble. The town of Clinton, which included Churubusco, sought legal help to shut the event down. J. Byron O’Connell, an outstanding trial attorney, was bombastic at times, and his aggressive quotes [if long-haired people came to the village, “they’re just liable to get shot”] appeared in major newspapers in Boston, New York, and elsewhere. As Churubusco’s representative, he sought to derail the concert and preserve the hamlet’s quiet, rural life, while the promoters, Hal Abramson and Raymond Filiberti, fought back. Read more
Photo Research and Editing: The John Brown Photos
It was long past the eleventh hour of my publication timetable and I still needed to get one last image to illustrate the article “‘-No Mortal Eye Can Penetrate’: Louis Ransom’s Commemoration of John Brown” which would be appearing in our Autumn issue. I turned to the Library of Congress’s website, found and saved the file along with the metadata in order to be able to cite it correctly, and sent the last of the material to our designer.
Six short weeks later, the Autumn 2012 issue of The Hudson River Valley Review was out to great acclaim, and just a few even shorter days after that I received my first correction. It was about that image, and it was from Jean Libby, who had been cited in the article as the curator and author of the John Brown Photo Chronology. It was clear that I had gotten something wrong. Read more
Picturing Diasbility: Beggar, Freak, Citizen Photo Rhetoric
Midget, feeble-minded, crippled, lame, and insane: these terms and the historical photographs that accompany them may seem shocking to present-day audiences. A young woman with no arms wears a sequined tutu and smiles for the camera as she smokes a cigarette with her toes- a man holds up two prosthetic legs while his own legs are bared to the knees to show his missing feet.
The photos were used as promotional material for circus sideshows, charity drives, and art galleries. They were found on begging cards and in family albums. In Picturing Disability: Beggar, Freak, Citizen, and Other Photographic Rhetoric, Bogdan and his collaborators gather over 200 historical photographs showing how people with disabilities have been presented and exploring the contexts in which they were photographed. Read more
New Book: Reporting The Revolutionary War
Social media is often credited with igniting and organizing the Arab Spring revolutions in the Middle East, yet this is not the first time that media has acted as a catalyst for large-scale political change.
Two hundred years ago during the American Revolution real-time reporting was responsible for uniting colonists looking to break free from British rule. Colonial newspaper reports kept the colonists motivated and informed, and without them, it’s possible the revolution may not have happened. Read more