Richard Whitby: Notable Upstate Musician
Richard Whitby’s career in music had blossomed, and after years of hard work, he was offered Second Chair Trombone in John Philip Sousa’s band, and First Chair upon the lead trombonist’s imminent...
View ArticleHarlem Blues: Last Party At The Lenox Lounge
On New Year’s Eve the cigar smoke was thick on the sidewalk in front of the famed jazz club, the Lenox Lounge. Men in tuxes and women in clingy gowns stepped out of white stretch limos, three deep on...
View ArticleJames Hazen Hyde: A Gilded Age Scandal
This portrait has captured the imaginations of New-York Historical Society visitors. Who was this dapper man, with his seductively villainous good looks? Why this dashing, bold pose for what seems to...
View ArticleCircle of Life: Performance Art at the Cosmic Center
We are a story-telling species. We tell stories through various media which have changed over time as our technologies have changed. In ancient times the common modes of expression included the verbal...
View Article19th Century Games: Let’s Play Department Store!
Monopoly has long held the title of America’s most capitalist board game—a mad scramble to accumulate as much money and property as possible before someone accuses the banker of cheating and storms off...
View ArticleSpain’s Gift to Catholic New York
It is hard to imagine now but in the 18th century New York City and much of the rest of the thirteen British colonies of America, it was practically illegal to be a Roman Catholic. Widespread...
View ArticleNewburgh: Cradle of the American Lawn Mower Industry
Abraham Levitt, the man who arguably built more suburban homes in the United States than anyone else in the years following World War II once said that: “No single feature of a suburban residential...
View ArticleHappy Birthday Washington Irving!
On April 3, 1783 Writer and satirist Washington Irving was born in New York City. He best known for his short stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van...
View ArticleMohican, Algonquin Peoples Seminar Seeks Presentations
The Native American Institute of the Hudson River Valley and the New York State Museum invite you to submit a paper or other presentation to be given at the 13th Mohican/Algonquian Peoples Seminar held...
View ArticleNYCs Green-Wood Cemetery To Mark 175th Anniversary
What do artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, toy merchant Frederick A.O. Schwarz and political powerhouse William Magear “Boss” Tweed have in common? They’re all buried in Brooklyn’s Historic Green-Wood...
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