Political History

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.

Historical Fiction: Secret of the White Rose

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2010 Edgar Award winning Author Stefanie Pintoff has a new novel of historic fiction set in turn-of-the-century New York, Secret of the White Rose.

The murder of Judge Hugo Jackson is out of Detective Simon Ziele’s jurisdiction in more ways than one. For one, it’s high-profile enough to command the attention of the notorious new police commissioner, since Judge Jackson was presiding over the sensational trial of Al Drayson. Drayson, an anarchist, set off a bomb at a Carnegie family wedding, but instead of killing millionaires, it killed passersbys, including a child. The dramatic trial captured the full attention of 1906 New York City.

Furthermore, Simon’s assigned precinct on Manhattan’s West Side includes the gritty Tenderloin but not the tonier Gramercy Park, which is where the judge is found in his locked town house with his throat slashed on the night before the jury is set to deliberate. But his widow insists on calling her husband’s old classmate criminologist, Alistair Sinclair, who in turn enlists Ziele’s help. Together they must steer Sinclair’s unorthodox methods past a police force that is so focused on rounding up Drayson’s supporters that they’ve all but rejected any other possibilities.

Stefanie Pintoff’s combination of characters and a fascinating case set amongst the sometimes brutal, sometimes glittering history of turn-of-the-century New York makes for compelling reading.

Pintofff, who won an Edgar Award Winner for her first novel, is a long-time New Yorker whose first two novels, In the Shadow of Gotham (April 2009), A Curtain Falls (May 2010) also cover early New York circa 1904-1906.

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

NY Suffrage Writer Hits PBS in September

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Writer Louise Bernikow uncovers the long Suffrage Campaign in New York City, a place she says &#8220where the urban landscape became a prop for incomparable political spectacle. The Statue of Liberty, the transit system, Fifth Avenue, Wall Street, parks and streetcorners&#8211 all became venues for a complicated, shifting alliance across lines of race and class, ending in a historic victory in 1917.&#8221 Read more →

Grand Opening of New Calvin Coolidge Exhibit

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A new permanent exhibit that examines the life and times of President Calvin Coolidge will open August 6 at the 30th President’s state historic site and childhood home in Vermont.

The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation will host the exhibit’s grand opening on Plymouth Old Home Day at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Gov. Peter Shumlin, Coolidge family members, and state officials will be among the honored guests at the opening of “Calvin Coolidge: His Life & Legacy” at the President Calvin Coolidge Museum & Education Center at 10 a.m.

“Calvin Coolidge embodied a respect for this beautiful state and the deeply-rooted pragmatism that present day Vermonters revere and endeavor to sustain,” said Gov. Peter Shumlin. “Visitors to Plymouth Village truly understand how this place shaped the man and why it remained so important to him throughout his life.”

“Calvin Coolidge: His Life & Legacy” will include interactive features, historic newsreels, a voice recognition station and a holographic image. The Division for Historic Preservation has worked closely over the past several months with Media-FX, a Montreal -based design firm noted for its innovative, interpretive displays.

The grand opening and Plymouth Old Home Day will continue with building tours and performances by pianist Abigail Charbeneau and the Green Mountain Brass Band. Also on exhibit this season is “First Pets: The Coolidge White House Animals,” which reveals the important role animals played in the private life and public image of the Coolidge family.

Plymouth Old Home Day, which dates back to the early 20th century, unites town organizations in a fun-filled festival of historic music, traditional craft and farm demonstrations, wagon rides and culinary treats. Activities will include:

* Old-time children’s games, apple head doll making with Susan Remington, Native American artifact tent from the Chimney Point State Historic Site

* Cart rides with Zandor the dog

* Wagon rides and sheep shearing with Fred DePaul

* Chicken barbecue and bake sale to benefit the Plymouth Volunteer Fire Department

* Home-style cooking at the Wilder House Restaurant

* Cheese making at the Plymouth Cheese Factory

* Vermont artisans – Fiber Arts in Vermont (demonstrating creative fiber arts – weaving, spinning, knitting, etc.), Heritage Weaving (rag rugs), Irene Ames (basket making), Carolyn Guest (silhouettes & fancy paper cutting), Marianne Fassett (paper quilling), Black River Academy Museum (chair caning)

* Old-time fiddler Adam Boyce

* Special exhibits by the Plymouth Historical Society and Vermont State Parks

* Vintage automobiles on display

Plymouth Old Home Day is the great opportunity to explore Plymouth Notch, considered one of the best-preserved presidential sites in the country. Twelve buildings are open to the public including the Coolidge Homestead, Coolidge Birthplace, general store, village church, cheese factory (still making cheese using the original 1890 recipe), and 1924 Summer White House office. An outstanding collection of early agricultural equipment is displayed in the Wilder Barns.

For more information about Plymouth Old Home Day and the grand opening of the new Coolidge exhibit, call 802-828-3051 or visit www.HistoricVermont.org/Coolidge

July 4th at Saratoga National Historical Park

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Independence Day on Monday, July 4 will be celebrated at Saratoga National Historical Park on Routes 4 and 32 in Stillwater, with a 10:00am Citizenship Ceremony and traditional readings of the Declaration of Independence with free lemonade toasts at 1 and 3pm.

At 10:00 am, on the anniversary of our nation and upon the grounds where independence was won, 20 immigrants from countries all over the world will become new citizens of the United States of America. Fife and drums, color guard, musket and cannon firings frame this special event organized by Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution, Friends of Saratoga Battlefield and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

At 1 and 3 pm, as a messenger from 1776, park ranger Joe Craig reads from the Declaration of Independence with authentic 18th century toasts reflecting the insightful wit of the document signers. Enjoy free lemonade to share in the toasts, followed by celebratory musket and cannon firings.

Saratoga Monument in Victory and the General Philip Schuyler House in Schuylerville, both located 8 miles north of Saratoga Battlefield, will also be open from 9:00am to 4:45pm. The Battlefield is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.

Saratoga National Historical Park, located on Routes 4 and 32 in Stillwater, offers a variety of special events throughout the season. For further information, please call (518) 664-9821 ext. 224, or visit www.nps.gov/sara.

Photo: John Neilson Farmhouse &#8212- mid-level headquarters for the American Army at the Battle of Saratoga (Photo: Saratoga National Historical Park)

New-York Historical Aquires Lansing Papers

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At an auction held in May at Sotheby’s the Chairman of the New-York Historical Society, Roger Hertog, purchased the Constitutional Convention notebooks of John Lansing, Jr., a New York delegate to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention. Mr. Hertog has announced that he will donate the exceptionally rare documents to the Library of the Historical Society.

The New-York Historical Society plans to digitize the Lansing papers in their original format to share with scholars everywhere. The documents will also be displayed in an exhibit when the Historical Society’s galleries re-open in November 2011.

“With this magnificent gift, Roger Hertog has secured the New-York Historical Society’s place of privilege as one of the most important repositories in the world for scholarship and teaching around constitutional history,” said Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the Historical Society. “Together with the notes on the Convention written by South Carolinian Pierce Butler—part of the Gilder Lehrman Collection on deposit at the Historical Society—and other extraordinary original resources of both Gilder Lehrman and Historical Society collections, Lansing’s Constitutional Convention Notebooks establish our institution as a principal site for understanding that the Constitution was a product of compromise, negotiation and brilliant thinking, an accomplishment nearly without parallel in modern history.”

“If you love American history, ask yourself how often (if ever) you get the chance to see a first-hand account of one of the most important events in that history,” Roger Hertog stated. “John Lansing’s notebooks from the Constitutional Convention are a rare such account: an eye-witness report of what went into the creation of the U.S. Constitution.”

John Lansing, Jr. (1754-1829) was born in Albany, took up the legal profession and served as a New York delegate to the Constitutional Convention. His detailed notes of the Convention join those of Rufus King, which are already in the Historical Society’s collection, and enrich our knowledge of the debates and compromises that helped forge the foundational document of the United States. Lansing was also a major figure in the New York State ratification convention in 1788 in Poughkeepsie, where his insistence that the new Constitution be enlarged by a Bill of Rights helped to secure the protections that citizens enjoy today.

The delegates’ vow of secrecy, which banned the taking of notes for publication, limited the amount of material created documenting the Convention proceedings. Although notes by a number of other delegates, including James Madison, survive, Lansing’s are among the purest and most detailed, providing a unique and unedited first-hand account of the period of Lansing’s attendance at the Convention.

“Reading through the Lansing notebooks is a thrilling experience,” Jean Ashton, Executive Vice President of the New-York Historical Society and Director of the Library Division said in a prepared statement. “Lansing recorded speeches and discussions, assigning names and identifying positions, as the delegates participated in the give-and-take of debate. Lansing became distressed that the meeting was seeking to establish an entirely new government rather than simply amending the Articles of Confederation, as charged. Lansing and his fellow New Yorker Richard Yates left the Convention early, but not before he had participated actively and created this illuminating and highly significant record.”

Illustration: Engraving of John Lansing (1754–1829) from the New-York Historical Society Library, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, Gift of Albert Rosenthal.

Ethan Allen Life and Times Talk

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Author Willard Sterne Randall will give a talk on Ethan Allen, one of Vermont’s best known historic figures, on June 18 at 1 p.m., at the Mount Independence State Historic Site in Orwell, VT. Randall’s new book, Ethan Allen: His Life and Times, which W.W. Norton will be coming out with later this summer, is the first comprehensive biography of Allen in a half century.

In this talk and the book, Randall uses new source material to strip away the myths about Ethan Allen, heroic rebel, and reveals a complex character, defender of settlers to the Green Mountains, public spirited, but also self-serving and self-interested.

Randall, whose previous book was Benedict Arnold, is a noted Vermont author and historian and teaches history at Champlain College.

The program is sponsored by the Mount Independence Coalition, the official friends group for the Mount Independence State Historic Site. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children under 15- it includes the program, visiting the museum, and access to the grounds and trails.

Mount Independence, one of Vermont’s State-owned Historic Sites, is a National Historic Landmark and one of the best-preserved Revolutionary War sites in America. It is located along the shore of Lake Champlain and near the end of Mount Independence Road, six miles west of the intersections of VT Routes 22A and 73 in Orwell. The site is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. through October 10. Call 802-948-2000 for more information.

Library and Archives Canada Voter Finding Aid

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Library and Archives Canada has announced the launch of an updated version of its finding aid to locate electoral districts in its federal voters’ lists collection from 1935 to 1980. This updated version now provides for each of the 892 microfilm reels of the collection, the electoral year, the province, the exact name of the electoral district and the page numbers for each microfilm. This tool will facilitate the frequent consultation and use of the federal voters’ lists collection by genealogists and family historians.

The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the nation’s documentary heritage for present and future generations, and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, contributing to the cultural, social and economic development of Canada. Library and Archives Canada also facilitates co-operation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge, and represents the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions. Genealogy Services includes all on-site and online genealogical services of Library and Archives Canada. It offers information, services, advice, research tools and the opportunity to work on joint projects, in both official languages.

Nouvel instrument de recherche pour les listes electorales federales, 1935-1980

Bibliotheque et Archives Canada d’annoncer le lancement d’une version amelioree de son instrument de recherche pour localiser les districts electoraux dans sa collection de listes electorales federales de 1935 a 1980. Cette nouvelle version fournit maintenant pour chacune des 892 bobines de microfilm de la collection, l’annee d’election, la province, le nom exact du district electoral et les numeros de pages pour chaque microfilm. Cet instrument facilitera la consultation et l’usage de cette collection, tres souvent consultee par les genealogistes.

Le mandat de Bibliotheque et Archives Canada est de preserver le patrimoine documentaire du pays pour les generations presentes et futures, et d’etre une source de savoir permanent accessible a tous et qui contribue a l’epanouissement culturel, social et economique du Canada. En outre, Bibliotheque et Archives Canada facilite au Canada la concertation des divers milieux interesses a l’acquisition, a la preservation et a la diffusion du savoir, et represente la memoire permanente de l’administration federale et de ses institutions. Les Services de genealogie englobent tous les services genealogiques physiques et en ligne de Bibliotheque et Archives Canada. Ils offrent de l’information, des services, des conseils, des outils de recherche et la possibilite de travailler a des projets communs, et ce, dans les deux langues officielles.

Nous sommes tres reconnaissants envers les nombreux membres du personnel de Bibliotheque et Archives Canada qui, grace a leurs efforts soutenus, ont rendu possible la realisation de ce projet. Pour de plus amples renseignements, ecrivez-nous a [email protected].

Erie Canal Celebrates 200 Years of History

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April 2011 marked the 200th anniversary of the key decisions for the construction of the Erie Canal, a monumental public works project that transformed the economy of New York State.

Two centuries ago, on April 8, 1811, the state Legislature approved a measure that set into motion the construction of the Erie Canal. This followed the delivery of a report on March 2, 2011 of a report by the original Commission.

The 363-mile-long Erie Canal corridor offers numerous opportunities for shippers, boaters, bicyclists and walkers. The canal-side venues are the scenes of dozens of festivals, fairs and community events throughout the year.

In addition to its traditional role as a transportation corridor, the Canal system serves critical Upstate needs for hydropower, drinking water, irrigation and flood control.

The inter-agency Mohawk-Erie Corridor Study is examining how sustainable transportation assets can promote economic growth in Upstate New York.

The original Canal Commission was comprised of some of the most distinguished citizens of New York: Stephen Van Rensselaer, Gouverneur Morris, DeWitt Clinton, Simeon DeWitt, William North, Thomas Eddy and Peter R. Porter.

It had been directed by the Legislature in 1810 to conduct a survey across New York to examine possible routes for the canal. The Canal Commission suggested that such a canal not only could, but should, be built by New Yorkers to link the Great Lakes with the Atlantic seaboard.

The suggestion that a canal be constructed &#8220350 miles through the wilderness&#8221 of upstate New York had been described by President Thomas Jefferson as &#8220a little short of madness.&#8221 Still, the Canal Commissioners had concluded that it was not only possible, but that the benefits to New York, and the nation, would be enormous.

However audacious the plan, the Commissioners’ report accurately predicted that the benefits would far outweigh the costs, whatever the price: &#8220Thus, were it (by giving a loose to fancy) extended to fifty millions of dollars, even that enormous sum does not exceed half the value of what, in all human probability, and at no distant period, will annually be carried along the Canal.&#8221

When the Legislature adopted the Commission report, it appropriated $15,000 for the Commission to continue its work and added two more distinguished members Robert L. Livingston and Robert Fulton.

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, please visit www.canals.ny.gov or call 1-800-4CANAL4.

The New York State Canal Corporation is a subsidiary of the New York State Thruway Authority. State legislation in 1992 transferred the Canal System from the New York State Department of Transportation to the Thruway Authority. Canal operating and maintenance activities are supported by Thruway toll revenues.

The New York State Thruway Authority/Canal Corporation offers a free email service called TRANSalert to its customers via email or text messaging to inform them of major incidents and emergencies that may affect travel on the Thruway or navigation on the Canal System. To sign up for the Canal TRANSalert service, visit the website.

CCNY Historian Edits Book on Pakistan

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Since its inception 64 years ago, Pakistan’s quest for democracy has been tenuous. In Pakistan: From the Rhetoric of Democracy to the Rise of Militancy, edited by Dr. Ravi Kalia, professor of history at The City College of New York, readers get an idea of why.

Published by Routledge (2011), the book comprises essays by scholars and diplomats from three continents. They reflect on the political, social, military and urban history of Pakistan with focus on its search for democracy as well as its pivotal role in the global war on terror. It is the only non-NATO country aligned with the United States in the war on terror.

Pakistan was carved out of British India in 1947 as a homeland for Indian Muslims and has alternated between military and civilian rule since. While the political rhetoric by successive leaders from both sides has indicated a desire for democracy, liberalism, freedom of expression and other such progressive concepts, the reality has been starkly different.

Instead, the world’s sixth most populous nation, nuclear-armed with a population exceeding 170 million, has continued to drift towards increasing authoritarianism, religious extremism and intolerance against minorities.

“This chasm between animated political rhetoric and grim political reality has baffled the world as much as Pakistanis themselves,” said Professor Kalia, an expert in South Asian studies. “In this volume, scholars and practitioners of statecraft from around the world have sought to explain the dichotomy that exists between the rhetoric and the reality.”

A major obstacle to democracy highlighted by Professor Kalia is a society based on powerful tribal loyalties and kinship associations.

“Pakistani institutions operate on the premise of tribal loyalty and kinship and while these help keep the country together, they hinder its transition into the 21st century. The military is the only entity that bares any resemblance to a western institution,” he said.

Contributors to the book are:

Dr. Gilles Boquerat, head of the South Asia program at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris.

Ainslie T. Embree, professor emeritus of history, Columbia University

Frederic Grare, charge de mission for Asian Perspectives, Department of Strategic Affairs, Ministry of Defense, France.

J. Andrew Greig, retired Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Department of State and United States Information Agency.

Annie Harper, social anthropologist, Trinity College, Conn.

Nazir Hussain, associate professor, Department of International Relations, Quaidi-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Zafar Iqbal, sociologist, political activist, Pakistan.

T.C.A. Rangachari, retired Indian diplomat, visiting professor, Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.

Tahmina Rashid, associate professor, International Studies, Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra, Australia.

Oskar Verkaaik, associate professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Amsterdam.

About Professor Ravi Kalia

A graduate of the University of Delhi (BA Hons., MA) and University of California-Los Angeles (MBA, PhD), Professor Kalia specializes in South Asian studies. His focus is urban-architectural history in colonial and post-colonial India. His books include “Chandigarh: The Making of an Indian City” (Southern Illinois Univ. Press & Oxford Univ.Press, 1987- revised, 1999), “Bhubaneshwar: From a Temple Town to a Capital City” (Southern Illinois Univ. Press & Oxford Univ. Press, 1994), and “Gandhinagar: Building National Identity in Postcolonial India” (Univ. of South Carolina Press & Oxford Univ. Press, 2004). Professor Kalia has been published in numerous journals including “Habitat International,” “India Quarterly,” “Journal of Urban History,” “The Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II” (2006), as well as many international newspapers. He’s the recipient of three Fulbright scholarships and numerous other research awards.