The Brooklyn Museum, together with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has organized the landmark exhibition John Singer Sargent Watercolors, which unites for the first time the holdings of Sargent watercolors acquired by each of the two institutions in the early twentieth century. The ninety-three watercolors in the exhibition–including thirty-eight from Brooklyn’s collection, most of which have not been on view for decades–provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to view a broad range of Sargent’s finest production in the medium. Read more
This Weeks Top New York History News
- Campout to Mark Pike’s Cantonment
- War of 1812 Pension Digitization Funded
- Lawsuit in Ganienkeh Mohawk Case
- Utica Railroad Meeting Divided
- Archives Trust Honors Ken Burns
- U.S. Defends Mohawk Land Claim
- Ft. Ticonderoga Reports Growth
- Green-Wood Damaged by Storm
- Historic Kinderhook Bbuildings Destroyed
- Mohawk Seek Land-Claim Settlement
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
- Photos: Saratoga Victorian Streetwalk
- For Statue of Liberty, A Lonely End to the Year
- AHA Today: The Humanities Indicators
- Gingerbread House: Scary Roots of Holiday Tradition
- Jack LaDuke: The Ancient Art of Dowsing
- Hurricane Sandy: Problems of Digital Archives
- Harold Holzer: True and False in Lincoln Movie
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.
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Civil War in New York Historyhostel/Teacherhostel
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Emancipation Weekend in the Adirondacks
January 1, 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and students, educators, and general public across the North Country will have the opportunity to support a New Proclamation of Freedom for the 21st century.
On Friday 30 November and Saturday 1 December, modern-day abolitionists will gather with students, teachers and the general public concerned about human freedom and human trafficking at various venues in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid. Activities will include an art exhibition, a screening of the popular Civil War film Glory, workshops, lectures, and a closing reception following historian David Blight’s keynote address on Saturday night. (Full schedule follows.) Read more
Discovering Columbus From Atop Columbus Circle
Columbus steers over Central Park
The enormous thirteen-foot tall explorer is steering the Santa Maria right over Central Park. Tatzu Nishi’s “Discovering Columbus” allows visitors to climb 75 feet up the column in Columbus Circle to see the famous statue up close. Nishi has surrounded it with a living room stage set, furnished with modern accoutrements from Bloomingdale’s, that gives a truly odd twist to the experience of seeing the pock-marked monument set atop a coffee table.
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Contribute To A History of NYC in 100 Objects
A Checker taxicab, a conductor’s (OK, not just any conductor but Leonard Bernstein) baton, the blue-and-white Greek coffee cups and the elevator safety brake. A subway token and a mastodon tusk. Inspired by the British Museum’s ”A History of the World in 100 Objects,” The New York Times recruited historians and curators to identify objects that embody the narrative of New York City. Now they’re expanding that list into a book and need your help!
The museum’s ”History of the World” was limited to objects in its own collection. We have no limitations, except that when we asked readers for their suggestions, we probably should have defined “objects” more specifically. Readers suggested a number of people (former Mayor Edward I. Koch, among others) and some things like Central Park, Grand Central Terminal, Kennedy Airport, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building and the Unisphere, which wouldn’t fit in a museum.
Readers recommended the subway token (substituted for a NYC MetroCard), Bella Abzug’s hat, and a hearty helping of food, from pizza slices (triangular and square)- egg creams (made with Fox’s U-bet chocolate syrup)- pastrami sandwiches- Mello-Rolls and other ice cream treats- seltzer bottles- Ebinger’s blackout cake- the cream-cheese sandwiches at Chock Full o’Nuts- plantains- cheesecake from Junior’s and Lindy’s- Charlotte russes- a pickle barrel- and hot dogs from Nathan’s and from carts under the ubiquitous blue-and-yellow Sabrett umbrellas.
Only a few symbols summon the city more immediately than the ”I love NY” logo, designed by Milton Glaser in 1977 for a state campaign to spur tourism, but does that qualify as an object? Also, we are looking for quirky, other-than-obvious objects that don’t just evoke New York, but that also could be used to tell the story of the city: A lottery wheel from the Civil War draft, a crack vial from the 1980s, the 1-inch-by-3 inch Delaney card, the visual attendance record invented by a Bronx teacher that, the reader wrote, ”held the power of life and death over a student” and Con Edison’s orange-and-white chimneys placed over manholes to allow steam to escape without scalding passers-by or obscuring visibility.
Any suggestions would be very welcome. Send them to Sam Roberts at The New York Times ([email protected]).
Northern New York Survival Stories
I recently covered some pretty tough hombres from Lyon Mountain in far upstate New York. Rugged folks, for sure, but by no means had they cornered the market on regional toughness. Here are a few of my favorite stories of Adirondack and North Country resilience. Read more
Ulster County Desperado: Big Bad Bill Monroe
Americans are captivated with outlaws. Our history is filled with those colorful characters who bent the law to fit their own ends, from Jesse James to Al Capone.
Newspapers fed this fascination by following every move of many of these individuals. They were given curious names such as “The Kid,” “Gyp the Blood,” or in the case of Capone, “Scarface.” Many people do not know that a small hamlet in Ulster County had its own outlaw, known as “Big Bad” Bill Monroe. He was also identified as the “Gardiner Desperado.” Read more
This Weeks New York History Web Highlights
- Beats and Politics: Tribe Called Red’s ‘-Electric Pow Wow’
- NY Historical: Profile of Student Historian Jonathan Brown
- New Yorker: Vast Recorded Grateful Dead Legacy
- World Bank: Climate Warming Must Be Avoided
- Steel Standing: Campaign to Save Bethlehem Steel Bldng
- Mary Thill: Most Interesting Man In the Adirondacks
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.