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Kathryn Kosta, Director of the Albany Historical Association, will relate how a single, seemingly ordinary painted scene in the Ten Broeck Mansion, of an old Albany Boarding House, can reveal so much about the politics and people of early nineteenth-century Albany.
Michael Diana, Historian and Director of Education at the Schenectady Historic Society, will take us back to when the settlement of Schenectady was founded in 1661 as a tiny trade post where diverse cultures and languages met. He will relate the remarkable stories of the first generations of Schenectadians and the community they built.
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Anyone who has Irish ancestors is usually eager to find out just where in Ireland they came from. This can be a very difficult task for researchers, given the limited information typically given in historic documents about Irish ancestors, especially those of the famine era (1840's-1860's). Professional genealogist Lisa Dougherty will focus on sources to use here in the United States to help identify a place of origin for your Irish ancestor, and hopefully help further your research with Irish sources.
Michael Lucas, Archeologist with the State Museum, will discuss the little known but surprising and fascinating story of owner-operated African American farms in the Capital region in the 1800s as revealed in unique historical and archaeological sources.
Genealogist and Gravestone Conservator, Christopher White, will take us on a journey into old and neglected local cemeteries where time has taken its toll on 18th and 19th century gravestones. Gravestones can be the last and only vestige of a person's life and older neglected cemeteries may be some of our most vulnerable historic sites. Conservation of the artifacts can be extremely rewarding to all involved. Through a series of photographs White will present the process of gravestone conservation, maintenance, and restoration on both small and large gravestones.
Learn about and participate in America’s oldest hymn tradition hosted by the Albany Sacred Harp. Started in colonial New England and surviving in the rural South, Sacred Harp singing is known for its driving rhythms, full loud voices, and archaic melodies and harmonies. At this participatory workshop, you will learn to read and sing from shape note notation, an ingenious 200-year-old variation on traditional music notation that enables participants to sight sing in harmony even if they cannot read music.
The American defeat of British forces at Bennington in 1777 paved the way for victory in the Battles of Saratoga and ultimately in the Revolutionary War. However, few people realize that this crucial battle was fought in New York’s present day Capital Region. David Pitlyk, Historic Site interpreter, will relate the story of the Battle of Bennington, drawing from contemporary source material and archaeological findings and touch on how the battle has been commemorated and interpreted over time, both in New York and Vermont.
Event free and open to the public. The New Scotland Museum will be open 30 minutes before start of program.
Kathryn Sheehan, Rensselaer County & Troy City Historian, will present an illustrated lecture on how Troy’s 19th century architecture became an integral backdrop to the Julian Fellows HBO series, The Gilded Age.
Kathryn worked with the location scouts and production designer at sites throughout the city and provided information on how Troy appeared during the Gilded Age, and who the city’s major “old money” and “new money” families were.
Kathryn will also share some of the behind-the-scenes stories that happened during the filming for season one.
Brad Utter, Senior Historian and Curator at the New York State Museum and co-author of Enterprising Waters: The History and Art of New York’s Erie Canal, will discuss the artifacts, documents, images, and artworks that illustrate the history of the Erie Canal from its inception until today.
Focusing on the Capital Region, he will touch on themes of politics, engineering, commerce, and life on the canal illustrated by full color images of artifacts, documents, and images featured in the book and the exhibit on which it was based.
Dr. Charles Gehring, Dutch language scholar, Director of the New Netherland Research Center, and a proud New Scotland resident, will discuss the origin and meaning of Dutch family and place names prominent in the regions that were part of New Netherland.
The Revolutionary War in the Mohawk Valley was largely a civil war between neighbors, siblings, and fathers and sons.
Historian Terry McMaster will discuss the Battle of Oriskany—one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War—along with the major players whose actions tore the Mohawk Valley apart, including the Herkimers, Johnsons, Brants, Butlers, the Palatine German, Dutch and Scots-Irish settlers, as well as the Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca and other Native participants.
Click HERE for more on the Battle of Oriskany.
The New Scotland Historical Association will soon dedicate two new historical markers. Please join us for the ceremony!
The first will be on the site of the home and laboratory of Robert E. Horton at 10 a.m. on Krumkill Road (between Hilton Road and Normanskill Road)
The dedication for the Cooper Farm will begin at 10:45 a.m. and is on Picard Road at Heldeberg workshop (353 Picard Road in Voorheesville).
Today we’re going to be doing a Zomm.
