Albany County

Albany Institutes Free, Discount Admission Days

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The Albany Institute of History & Art has announced that it will offer a special discount admission program on Fridays and Saturdays in July and August 2010, as part of an ongoing effort to reach out to members of the Capital District community.

On each Friday in July and August, the Albany Institute will offer free admission to all visitors during regular museum hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There will be no charge for any visitors to enter the museum and see the galleries on these dates: July 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, and August 6, 13, 20, and 27. Additionally, the Institute will offer buy-one-get-one-free admission on Saturdays during July and August during regular museum hours from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Any adult or child visitor purchasing one admission will be entitled to one free admission of equal or lesser value. Buy-one-get-one-free Saturday dates are: July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 and August 7, 14, 21, and 28.

“We understand, especially in difficult economic times like these, that not everyone is able to include a visit to the Albany Institute in their entertainment and education budgets,” said Chris Miles, Executive Director of the Albany Institute. “However, economic ability should never be a barrier to learning. That’s why we’re thrilled to offer this opportunity for people who might not otherwise be able to see all that the Institute has to offer.”

This program is not available in combination with any other discount or coupon offers and does not apply to group tours, facilities rentals, or special events. For more information about the summer discount admission program, call (518) 463-4478. To learn more about current exhibitions and events, visit www.albanyinstitute.org.

Baghdad ER Doc Coming to NYS Museum

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On July 1, the New York State Museum will present the Emmy award-winning HBO documentary “Baghdad ER,” followed by a reunion and discussion between the producer and the first wounded soldier to appear in the film.

Following the 6:30 p.m. film presentation, producer/director Matthew O’Neill will be reunited with Staff Sgt. Craig Macy from Buffalo, a New York National Guard Soldier who was wounded in Iraq in 2005. Macy will speak about his experiences as a wounded veteran, appearing in the documentary and his continuing membership in the National Guard.

The program is being held in conjunction with the new Museum exhibition “Citizen Soldier: New York’s National Guard in the American Century,” open in Exhibition Hall through March 2011.

When it was released in 2006, “Baghdad ER” was the most honored documentary of the year, winning four Emmy Awards for its “unflinching” look at the cost of war. It also won a Peabody Award, the Overseas Press Club Award and the Alfred I. duPont Columbia Award. The groundbreaking documentary chronicles the day-to-day lives of doctors, nurses, medics, soldiers and chaplains in the Army’s premier medical facility in the combat zone. O’Neill and producer Jon Alpert were given unprecedented access to the Army’s 86th Combat Support Hospital during a two-month period in 2005.

The film captures the experiences of the military medical professionals as they work to save lives from their trauma center in the middle of war-ravaged Iraq. The film is not suitable for children. It includes graphic scenes that are at times disturbing and when the film first came out, the Army was concerned about the emotional impact it might have on troops and military families. Instead, the film became almost required viewing for all members of the military medical community and went on to receive critical acclaim from both inside and outside the U.S. military.

Macy was serving with the National Guard’s 1st Battalion 69th Infantry in Iraq in 2005 when he was struck by a sniper as he was handing out candy to Iraqi children. Thanks to his comrades who rushed to his aid, and the expert medical care he received at the trauma center, Macy survived his ordeal, recovered and returned to duty with the National Guard. He volunteered for a deployment to Afghanistan in 2008 with nearly 1700 New York National Guard troops. While still a member of the National Guard, Macy is now a police officer with the City of Buffalo. He recently became a new father and has named his son after one of the soldiers who pulled him to safety in 2005.

This program is the first in a series of special programs that the State Museum is hosting in conjunction with the “Citizen Soldier” exhibition. The exhibition recounts the history of the New York National Guard and those who carried out its mission through wars and battles, natural disasters and national emergencies. The National Guard is based on a tradition dating back to colonial times in a state that has always been guided by the principle that its defense lies in the hands of its citizenry. Citizen soldiers are everyday people who put their lives on hold to defend, aid and protect their communities and their country.

Tracing Your Ancestors to the Dutch Settlers

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Theodore P. Wright, Jr., Ph.D., Vice President of the Dutch Settlers Society of Albany and a trustee of the New Netherland Institute, will discuss resources to aid in tracing your ancestors to the Dutch Settlers, specifically in an area under the jurisdiction of the Court of Rensselaerswijck prior to the year 1665 or in Esopus (Kingston, NY) prior to the year 1661. The program will be held in Librarians Room, New York State Library, Cultural Education Center, 7th floor 310 Madison Avenue, Albany 12230 on Thursday, June 17th, 12:15 &#8211 1:15 PM Online registration is available.

The Dutch Settlers Society of Albany was founded in 1924, in connection with the celebration of the tercentenary of the settlement of the City, and was instituted to: perpetuate the memory and virtues of the individuals who resided here during the time it was a Dutch colony- and to collect and preserve records and information concerning the history and settlement of Albany and its vicinity, including genealogical records of the settlers and their descendants without regard to race, creed, or country of origin.

For more information about this program, contact Sheldon Wein or Mary Beth Bobish at [email protected], or call at 518-474-2274.

Books: Kenneth Salzmanns Albany Scrapbook

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Over the past few days I’ve been enjoying a lighthearted and wide-ranging romp through Albany history while reading Kenneth Salzmann’s Albany Scrapbook. The book is a montage of sorts of life in Albany, often neatly tying the city’s past with its present. Salzmann wrote the essays collected in this volume while working as a freelancer for the now-defunct weekly magazine Albany, New York. The author debunks a few of legends, such as the story that Fidel Castro was once scouted by the Albany Senators, and delves into four centuries worth of the people and places. Salzmann’s fascination with Albany is evident in his introduction, where he writes:

&#8220Where else, after all, do Henry Hudson, a slave named Pomp, Mario Cuomo, Philip Schuyler, the inventor of basketball (perhaps), Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, a flamboyant nineteenth century detective named Elisha Mack, a geographer named Simeon DeWitt, Charles Dickens, the putative Dauphin of France, Fidel Castro, Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Evers, early stage star Joseph Kline Emmet, a nineteenth century renaissance man named Solomon, both Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, and a host of other colorful and compelling characters cross paths?&#8221

The book is broken into five sections: &#8220Yesterday’s News,&#8221 &#8220Polling Places,&#8221 &#8220Public Safety,&#8221 &#8220Stage Directions,&#8221 &#8220Character Studies,&#8221 &#8220Sportin’ Life,&#8221 and &#8220Recommended Reading.&#8221 Each section contains interesting and well researched details, mostly about Albany, but occasionally straying to Saratoga and Troy, as with a short look at one of my favorite Trojans, John &#8220Old Smoke&#8221 Morrissey. All-in-all, an entertaining and engaging read.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

Albany Institutes 50 Tomorrows Artists Today

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The Albany Institute of History & Art is pleased to announce the 50 artists selected for its Tomorrow’s Masters Today Exhibition and Silent Auction. Selected from more than 120 entries, these 50 artists represent some of the Capital Region’s most promising new artists. Tomorrow’s Master Today is part of an effort to promote local artists and highlight the area’s growing artistic wealth.

The exhibition will be a highlight of the Albany Institute’s 2010 Museum Gala on Friday, June 11, and the works will be available for purchase in a silent auction to benefit the Albany Institute. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Friday, June 4, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. Ten of the exhibiting artists will be named to a “Master Class,” which will be announced at the reception. The exhibition will be on view at the museum throughout the month of June.

The 50 artists selected for the Tomorrow’s Masters Today Exhibition and Silent Auction are: David Arsenault, Gabrielle Becker, David Brickman, Joleen Button, Lorraine Chesin, Peter Combe, John Connors, Kristin DeFontes, Paul Deyss, Scott Donohue, Chip Fasciana, Raymond Felix, Jim Florsdorf, Mark Gregory, Audrey Grendahl Kuhn, Robin Guthridge, Theresa Hayes, Brian Hofmeister, Stephen Honicki, Tony Iadicicco, Sylvie Kantorovitz, Jenny Kemp, Chloe Kettlewell, David Kvam, Christopher Lislio, Stacy Livingston, Patricia Loonan Testo, Jason Blue Lake Hawk Martinez, Sarah Martinez, Gary Masline, Jessy Montrose, Gail Nadeau, Clifford Oliver, Dorothea Osborn, Wren Panzella, Bill Pettit III, Laurie Searl, Amy Shafer, Scott M. Smith, Susan Sommer, Susan Stuart, Marie Triller, Carl Voegtling, Catherine Wagner Minnery, Eileen Rice Walker, Sarah Walroth, Tommy Watkins, Michael Weidrich, John W.Yost, and Leif Zurmuhlen.

The selected works may be viewed online.

The River That Flows Both Ways: New Netherland Novel

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The earliest known written record of travel in the New York interior west of the Hudson River appears on an early map of Nieuw Nederlant (New Netherland). In 1614 a trader named Kleyntjen went west to the Mohawk along the river that now bears their name and then turned south along the Susquehanna River. If he or those who followed ever kept journals they haven’t survived, and it’s believed any records of early travels may have been tossed out when the Dutch West India Company archives were purged during a reorganization in 1674. Michael Cooney’s novel The River That Flows Both Ways recaptures some of that time, of Dutch traders, native Mohican and Mohawk people, and the fur trade that held them together in commerce.

Cooney’s novel is based on the one very early New York travelogue that has survived since the first half of the 1600s. Written by Fort Orange (Albany) barber-surgeon Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, it had somehow fallen into private hands and was discovered in an attic in Amsterdam, New York in 1895. His small party, which also included two other Dutchmen (Jeronimus dela Croix and Willem Thomassen) left in the middle of December 1634 in an effort to reach the Oneida tribe and renegotiate the price of beaver. They Oneida had nearly abandoned their trade with the Dutch in favor of the French to their northwest and Van den Bogaert, at the age of 23 was sent to correct the situation in favor of the Dutch.

The journey last six weeks and according to Van den Bogaert took them nearly 100 miles to the west-northwest of Fort Orange where he spotted the Tug Hill Plateau – a harrowing journey to say the least. Van den Bogaert experienced much generosity from the Native People he met in his travels and in 1647, when he was charged with Sodomy committed with his black servant Tobias, he fled to the Iroquois he had visited thirteen years earlier- he was captured in an Indian storehouse by a Rensselaerwyck employee named Hans Vos and in the ensuring struggle the building was burnt down. Van den Bogaert was taken back to Fort Orange but escaped &#8211 as he fled across the frozen Hudson River the ice broke beneath him and he was drowned. That incident serves as the climax of The River That Flows Both Ways.

Cooney, who writes the Upstate Earth blog, tells the story through the eyes of a young Mohican boy in a time when European diseases and war were creating chaos in the local native cultures. Using his wit and imagination, he wins over the Mohawk and finds a home with van den Bogaert. The novel brings together other historical characters like Arent van Corlaer, Adriaen van der Donck, and Isaac Jogues to weave a tapestry of life in the in the first half of the 17th century in the Upper Hudson and Mohawk valleys.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

History Groups Among Recipients of Canal Grants

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The New York State Canal Corporation has announced the recipients of the 2010 Canal Corporation Tourism Matching Grant Awards Program and the list includes several public history organizations. A total of $30,000 is being awarded to a total of 16 projects for local and regional initiatives to promote the New York State Canal System and Canalway Trail as a year-round recreational resource and tourism destination. A full list of the 2010 grant recipients is below, but it includes the Niagara County Historical Society, Schenectady Heritage Area, and Historic Palmyra among other groups whose goals include historical tourism.

The grant program was open to designated Tourism Promotion Agencies (TPAs), Chambers of Commerce, Nonprofit organizations and canal communities in New York State for the development of Canal System promotional material consistent with regional themes set forth in the Canal Recreationway Plan and recommendations contained in the state’s &#8220A Report on the Future of New York State Canals&#8221.

The grants provide up to $2,500 for the development of promotional materials that promote the Canal System and/or Canalway Trail, or specific Canal-related events, festivals or attractions.

Special consideration was given this year to applications that involved collaborative partnerships among several TPAs and/or private industry to create multi-county, regional thematic canal destinations and self-guided tours consistent with historical, cultural, urban and environmental assets and attractions contained along or within the Canal System and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.

Additionally, all awarded projects incorporated Canal Corporation logos and the New York Canal System’s promotional theme: &#8220Cruise the Past, Unlock the Adventure&#8221. Materials will be made available to the public at no charge.

The New York State Canal System is comprised of four historic waterways, the Erie, the Champlain, the Oswego and the Cayuga-Seneca Canals. Spanning 524 miles across New York State, the waterway links the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes and the Niagara River with communities rich in history and culture. For more information regarding events, recreational and vacation opportunities along the Canal System, visit www.nyscanals.gov or call 1-800-4CANAL4.

The New York State Canal Corporation is a subsidiary of the New York State Thruway Authority (Authority). Since 1992, following State legislation transferring the Canal System from the New York State Department of Transportation to the Authority, Canal operating and maintenance activities have been supported by Thruway toll revenue.

2010 CANAL CORPORATION TOURISM MATCHING GRANTS (listed by Canal)

Agency Name – Contact – Grant Award

Canal System-wide

• Canal New York Marketing and Business Alliance, Inc., Victoria Daly, $2,500.00

Erie Canal

• Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway Coalition, Inc., Eric Hamilton, $2,500.00

• Schenectady Heritage Area, Maureen Gebert, $2,500.00

• Stockade Association, Lyn Gordon, $800.00

• U.S. Water Ski Show Team, Kara Pangburn, $2,000.00

• Town of Niskayuna, Lori Peretti, $500.00

• Historic Palmyra, Bonnie Hays, $1,050.00

• Fairport Village Partnership, Scott Winner, $2,500.00

• Niagara County Historical Society, Douglas Farley, $1,117.50

• Lockport Main Street, Inc., Heather Peck, $2,400.00

• Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas, Joyce Santiago, $2,500.00

Champlain Canal

• Lakes to Locks Passage, Inc., Janet Kennedy, $2,500.00

• Hudson Crossing Park, Inc., Marlene Bissell, $2,500.00

• Rensselaer County, Christine Golden, $1,427.84

Oswego Canal

• Oswego County Dept. of Community Development, Tourism and Planning, Janet Clerkin, $2,500.00

Cayuga Seneca Canal

• Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance, Sarah Osterling, $700.00

Documenting Leadership: Symposium on Public Executive Records

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The New York State Archives Partnership Trust and the Albany Law School’s Government Law Center have joined forces to sponsor a two-day event focused on the need for effective record keeping by elected government executives. Entitled Documenting Leadership: A Symposium on Public Executive Records in the 21st Century, the program is designed to explore the importance of the records generated by governors and other
high ranking elected public executives, such as presidents, attorneys general, and mayors. The symposium will be held on the Albany Law School campus, New Scotland Avenue, Albany, NY on May 20-21.

Panelists for the program are coming from throughout the nation and represent government, the media, academia, and law. Among the presenters will be former U.S. Attorney General and former Governor of Pennsylvania Richard Thornburgh, nationally renowned presidential historian Richard Norton Smith, and former NYS Comptroller Ned Regan.

Sessions will include: Public Policy and the Public Interest- Transparency, Executive Records, and the Media- Executive Records: Access and Disclosure- Access in the Digital Age- and Executive Records as Legacy.

The event is free and open to the public. For information about the program and to register, go to www.albanylaw.edu/executiverecords/

Court of Appeals Hosts The Hudson: Yesterday and Today

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The New York Court of Appeals has announced &#8220The Hudson: Yesterday and Today&#8221 featuring Frances F. Dunwell, Hudson River Estuary Coordinator at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and William T. (Chip) Reynolds, Captain, Replica Ship Half Moon, along with an exhibit of Hudson River photographs by the Half Moon crew on Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. A reception sponsored by The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York will follow.

&#8220The Hudson: Yesterday and Today&#8221 will take place at Court of Appeals Hall, 20 Eagle Street, in Albany. Court of Appeals Hall is the former State Hall, completed in 1842. It was renamed Court of Appeals Hall on January 14, 1917. The lecture will be held in the courtroom designed by H.H. Richardson and originally built as part of the Capitol. In 1916, the courtroom was moved, piece by piece, to a specially designed extension to State Hall. The entire building was beautifully restored in 2004.

This event is open to the public and is free of charge. As space is limited, RSVP is requested by Monday, May 3 at [email protected] or 518-455-7817.

World War II Ship USS Slater Seeks Guides

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The USS Slater, located in the Hudson River north of the Port of Albany is preparing to begin their 13th season. Each year they hire 6-8 part-time tour guides who learn the history and technology of World War II with &#8220on-the-job&#8221 training from veterans, as well as from experts in historic ship preservation. Guides have an opportunity to improve their &#8220people&#8221 skills by interacting with a variety of age groups on a daily basis- the
hours are flexible.

For an application, contact Business Manager Rosehn Gipe at [email protected] or by
phone at 518-431-1943.