Rensselaer County

Hudson River Dinner Cruise with Len Tantillo

admin

The Rensselaer County Historical Society (RCHS) will host the Times Union’s 2009 Best Local Artist and Historian Len Tantillo for a dinner cruise on board the Captain JP II, leaving from Troy and sailing south to the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse. The event will take place on Sunday, July 19th, 2009 from 3 to 9PM- the cost is $85.00 per person for RCHS Members, $95.00 per person for non-menbers.

Tantillo, a noted Hudson River artist and historian, will narrate the often complex relationship that Henry Hudson had with his crew and the various Indian tribes that they encountered on their trips ashore. Scenic highlights and historic landmarks will be pointed out on the west and east side of the river including Papskanee Island in the Town of Schodack, the reputed place that Hudson dropped anchor and traded with the Mahican Indians. Guests will also be treated to a dinner buffet of salmon, roast turkey and prime rib along with a array of vegetables and desserts.

Guests will board at 3PM at the foot of State Street in Troy. Free parking is available dockside. The boat will leave promptly at 3:30 and return to the Troy dock at approximately 9PM.

To purchase tickets for the trip, please visit www.rchsonline.org/tickets.htmlor call (518) 272-7232, extension 12.

Photo: &#8220A View of Troy, New York, 1847&#8243- by Len Tantillo &#8211 &#8220This painting of Troy, New York, depicts the Hudson River city as it might have appeared in the mid 19th century. The image was based on a number of period drawings, photographs and maps from the collection of the Rensselaer County Historical Society&#8221

Dutch Concerts to Benefit Crailo Historic Site

admin

On Sunday June 7 and Sunday June 14, specially researched and custom designed Dutch concerts will be performed by two different musicians groups at the First Presbyterian Church at 38 Broadway in the city of Rensselaer at 3pm. The public is invited to take part and enjoy one very high style concert and, in contrast, one concert for the common folk. The concerts will benefit the Crailo Historic Site.

The first on Sunday June 7 features classical Dutch music of the Golden Age. Musicians of Ma’alwyck perform this Dutch repertoire on clavichord, traverso flute, cello, and violin-instruments popular in the first half of the seventeenth century. Director of Musicians of Ma’alwyck, music historian and virtuoso, Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz has researched and arranged a program fit for the Dutch wealthy middle
and upper classes of the first half of the seventeenth century. The popular regional musical group researched documents at Yale and in the Netherlands in order to present this concert.

The Bells and Motley Consort of Olden Music presents the second concert steeped in seventeenth folk tradition from the Netherlands and Flanders which will be held on Sunday June 14. John and Sondra Bromka, the musical couple that make up this distinctive group, have lived in the Dutch and Belgian countryside studying and teaching music of an earlier time. The instruments used in all of Bells and Motley’s performances are antique or created as authentic reproductions of early musical instruments. John has made many of the instruments himself and audience
members will be introduced to a different look and sound of music&#8211a look and sound enjoyed by the common person of Holland and Flanders in the 1600s.

Gauging from the multitude of paintings depicting Netherlandish culture, music and dance was an important part of life in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, from rollicking village peasants on upwards. In truth, no part of Europe offers better documentation of the arts of musical pastime than the Netherlands during these years, thanks to the skilled and ambitious painters, musical publishers, and composers of this region. Artists’ images leave such a rich legacy of vivid musical scenes that we can almost hear the paintings come to life, be it a village celebration with festive bagpipes, or an intimate indoor scene including the gentle lute.

Crailo State Historic Site will add ambiance to the musical events by offering images of select Dutch paintings and staff members in historic costume.

These concerts are offered as a historic musical experience and to help ring in the Quadricentennial Commemoration and the upcoming permanent exhibit debut of A Sweet and Alien Land: Colony of the Dutch in the Hudson River Valley at Crailo State Historic Site on July 4 and 5 from 11am to 5pm.

Both concerts will be held at 3pm at the First Presbyterian Church at 38 Broadway just a block north of Crailo. Concert goers are invited to the lawns at Crailo following the concert for a reception of Dutch and Flemish cheeses, mustards and pretzels. Drinks will also be served. We plan to offer a sneak preview of Crailo’s very special Marketplace Museum Shop during the receptions.

Tickets are $22.50 per person per concert or just $17.50 per person per concert if purchasing the series. Child tickets are $12.00 each. Checks may be made out to Friends of Fort Crailo and receipt of your check secures your place at the concert or concerts. Checks may be mailed to Friends of Fort Crailo, 9 ? Riverside Avenue, Rensselaer, NY 12144. For more information please contact Crailo at 518-463-8738.

Friends of Fort Crailo is a not-for-profit educational organization that supports the research and interpretive projects at Crailo State Historic Site. Crailo State Historic Site is one of 35 state historic sites and 176 state parks administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. For further information about New York State Parks and Historic Sites, go to www.nysparks.com.

State Archaeologist Paul Huey on Crailo Historic Site

admin

State Archaeologist Paul Huey from the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation will speak at at East Greenbush Community Library, 10 Community Way, East Greenbush, NY, Sunday, April 19 at 2:00 pm. Huey will concentrate on Crailo in the 17th century, explaining what archaeological excavations and documents have revealed.


Important archaeological discoveries have been made at Crailo at various times recently. According to Huey, “In 1974 when the sewer line was installed under Riverside Avenue and in 2007 and 2008 when we excavated for a gas line from the street to the house. We have discovered that Indians lived on the site as early as the 1400s. Dutch pottery and other artifacts discovered in 1990 and in 2008 support the interpretation that this was the location of the home of Domine Megapolensis in 1642, which was a different, earlier structure from the present house.”

Call the State Library at 518-477-7476 to register for this free talk.

A Van Rensselaer Era Program at NYS Library

admin

Friends of the New York State Library are presenting a program entitled &#8220The Van Rensselaer Era&#8221 that features Stefan Bielinski and Charles Gehring with senior librarian Fred Bassett. The program, which unfortunately costs $35 per person, will be held this Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 1:00 p.m at the Huxley Theatre of the Cultural Education Center (Madison Avenue between Eagle and Swan Streets in Albany).

Stefan Bielinski, founder and director of the Colonial Albany Social History Project (a model community history program at the New York State Museum), will describe and depict the individual members of the Van Rensselaer family, Albany’s &#8220First Family&#8221 within the city context for the period 1700-1860 (1:00-1:55 p.m.).

Dr. Charles Gehring, Director, New Netherland Institute and translator of New York Colonial Dutch documents, along with senior NYS Librarian Fred Bassett will display ten of the most significant of the original Dutch documents in the New York State Library’s Van Rensselaer Manor Papers collection dating from 1630 concerning Rensselaerswyck. These scholars will describe the historic importance and relevance to the people of Albany, Rensselaer, Columbia and Greene counties of the Van Rensselaer Manor and the Van Rensselaer family (2:00-3:00 p.m.).

To reserve seats send send $35 per person by Monday, April 20, 2009 to:

The Friends of the New York State Library
P.O. Box 2247
Empire State Plaza Station
Albany, NY 12220

Ticket will be held at the Huxley Theatre on April 23 after 12:15 p.m- Tickets at the door will be $40.

Help Out The Rensselaer County Historical Society

admin

Since the news broke in early March that the Rensselaer County Historical Society (RCHS) was in serious financial trouble, there has been an outpouring of support from the community. RCHS board and staff have been working hard to make the most of many offers and come up with a plan to &#8220Keep the Lights On and the History Alive.&#8221

For the first public event of this campaign, ticket proceeds from the Saturday, April 25, 2009 preview of the New York State Theatre Institute&#8216-s production of Philip Barry’s timeless comedy, &#8220The Philadelphia Story&#8221 will be donated to RCHS to help our 82-year-old organization in the fight to stay open.

Patricia Di Benedetto Snyder, the theater’s producing artistic director, made this generous offer to the organization shortly after RCHS announced that without significant and immediate support it will need to close its doors or greatly reduce public access. The celebrated comedy will play in an 8:00 pm performance on Saturday, April 25 at the Schacht Fine Arts Center of Russell Sage College in Troy.

Tickets benefiting RCHS are available for $30 (Friends of the Family), $50 (Wedding Party), and $100 (Honored Guests) levels. Ticket cost is tax-deductible, and additional donations are welcomed. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling (518) 272-7232, ext.12. All tickets will be held at the box office for pickup the night of the performance.

Rensselaer County Historical Society May Close

admin

The Rensselaer County Historical Society has announced that they may be forced to close due to economic hardship. I will reprint here the message they sent:

We Need Your Help!
Keep the lights on and history alive!

To our members and friends,

As you may have read in [yesterday’s] Times Union, RCHS is currently experiencing severe financial difficulty. The organization been running annual deficits for several years, and despite special efforts, the situation has now become critical. In a matter of weeks RCHS will no longer have funds available to meet its basic operating needs. What may have seemed &#8211 even ten years ago &#8211 a reasonable endowment with sustainable cash reserves has now dwindled to the point where we are no longer able to pay our bills. Without an immediate and substantial infusion of funds (upwards of $150,000), it appears that we will be required to close our doors while we work to implement a prudent fiscal strategy.

If we must close,

· our loyal and hardworking staff will be furloughed. Together these professionals have over 74 years of service to our community.

· exciting new educational initiatives, popular public programs, and long-planned exhibits would cease or be cancelled. The loss to our community &#8211 both economically and psychologically &#8211 would be incalculable. RCHS collections hold over 60,000 items of decorative arts, furniture, paintings, and sculpture. None of these items would remain available to the public. More importantly, an even greater number of documents relating to our past would be completely inaccessible. The utility bills alone for maintaining these collections are almost $6,000 a month.

· RCHS efforts as a major catalyst in highly visible efforts to use the historic fabric of our county to stimulate economic development will be curtailed. We hope to be able to continue serving &#8211 in fact inspiring &#8211 our community through these efforts.

We are beginning a public campaign to &#8220keep the lights on and history alive!&#8221 As in the past, we are grateful for your active interest and suggestions regarding strategies to ensure RCHS’s survival. We also urgently need your personal assistance in providing immediate financial support during this financial crisis.

Our plan is to take the next three to four months to develop &#8211 in partnership with our supporters &#8211 a new business plan for RCHS, designed to ensure its long-term sustainability. We are fortunate to have Rachel Tooker, a very experienced and energizing Transitional Executive leading this effort. The dedicated members of the RCHS board are prepared to join Rachel to discuss our finances and future plans in detail. Please give us a call if you have questions or suggestions for us.

In the meantime, here are some things you can do to help RCHS:

Help us to spread the word about RCHS and its positive impact on the community.

Distribute RCHS membership and program brochures to your clubs and community organizations.

Hold a brunch or get-together and make a group donation to RCHS.

Give an RCHS membership as a birthday present or gift to a new neighbor.

Volunteer to help with an RCHS program or project.

Send us your ideas for making RCHS sustainable and an even more valuable part of the community.

New Netherland Institutes Rensselaerswijck Seminar

admin

The New Netherland Institute has announced its 31st Rensselaerswijck Seminar, &#8220Neighbors in the New World: New Netherland and New France,&#8221 a one-day conference to be held on Saturday, September 13, 2008, in the Kenneth B. Clark Auditorium of the Cultural Education Center at the Empire State Plaza in Albany.

The theme is the relationship between the Dutch and French in 17th-century North America. Major attention will focus on interactions of these European powers and their respective Indian allies. The following speakers will explore various aspects of this relationship, including direct and indirect contacts between these two European trading powers both in Europe and in the New World:

James Bradley, ArchLink, Boston, MA
“In Between Worlds: New Netherland and New France at Mid Century”

Jose Antonio Brandao, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
“An Unreasonable Offer: Iroquois Policy towards their Huron and Mahican Neighbors”

Willem Frijhoff, Free University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
“Jesuits, Calvinists, and Natives: Attitudes, Agency, and Encounters in the Early Christian Missions in the North.”

Joyce Goodfriend, University of Denver, CO
Introduction and presentation of the Hendricks Manuscript Award

Conrad Heidenreich, York University, Ontario, Canada
“The Skirmish with the Mohawk on Lake Champlain: was Champlain a ‘trigger-happy thug’ or ‘just following orders?’”

The conference program and registration information can be found online [pdf].

The New Netherland Institute is the friends group of the New Netherland Project, which, according to their website:

Was established under the sponsorship of the New York State Library and the Holland Society of New York. Its primary objective is to complete the transcription, translation, and publication of all Dutch documents in New York repositories relating to the seventeenth-century colony of New Netherland. This unique resource has already proven invaluable to scholars in a wide variety of disciplines. It also serves to enhance awareness of the major Dutch contributions to America over the centuries and the strong connections between the two nations. The Project is supported by the New York State Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New Netherland Institute.

The New Netherland Institute (formerly Friends of New Netherland) seeks to increase public awareness of the work of the New Netherland Project and supports the Project through fund raising. The Institute assists authors of scholarly and popular material- disseminates information to educators, researchers, historians, curators, genealogists, and anthropologists- develops collaborations with academic institutions and other organizations interested in early American history- provides learning opportunities, such as internships, as well as research and consulting services pertaining to New Netherland- and sponsors activities related to the work of the New Netherland Project.

The Big 400: Champlain Descendants Still Local

admin

2009 will mark the celebration of the 400th Anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s arrival on the big lake, Henry Hudson’s on the big river, and the 200th Anniversary of Fulton’s steamship. Both New York and Vermont will be celebrating Champlain.

Here is an interesting article in the Plattsburgh Press Republican about the family of Champlain’s 12-year-old bride Helene Boulle, daughter of Nicholas Boulle. Helene’s nephew Robert was the first of the family to travel to America and his descendants are still in the area:

Helene was married to the 43-year-old explorer when she was 12 but remained with her parents for a few years after the wedding because of her age&#8230-

Robert Boulle farmed land on the Isle of Orleans in the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City, and that 160-tract of land is still intact, said Boule, who visited the property in the mid-1990s&#8230-

Helene Boulle accompanied Champlain to the area in 1620, but returned to France in 1624.