The MHSA blog

Oral Histories: Conducting Them and Preserving Them

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:34:23 -0700

Do you have a shelf of recorded oral histories in your Historical Society? Would you like to know how to create an oral history project for your family? For your town? For your school? Do you want to know how to preserve the tapes that contain that oral history? Then “Oral Histories: Conducting Them and Preserving Them” is for you!

It is not easy to conduct oral history interviews that will provide useful information in the future. Good preparation and knowledge about interviewing techniques are necessary to assure high quality results.

Third in a series of Symposia, “Oral Histories: Conducting Them and Preserving Them” will take place on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 at the Cosmopolitan Club, 122 E 66th Street.

Mary Marshall Clark, an expert in this field and the Director of The Columbia University Oral History Research Office, will give a talk about conducting oral history interviews and establishing an oral history project. The Columbia University office is the oldest and largest organized oral history program in the world. Founded in 1948 by Pulitzer Prize winning historian Allan Nevins, the oral history collection now contains nearly 8,000 taped memoirs, and nearly 1,000,000 pages of transcript.

Over the past decade, Clark has interviewed notable individuals such as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and the late Congresswoman Bella Abzug among many others. Currently, she is working on the Malcolm X – Dr. Betty Shabazz Oral History Project, which will record interviews with their surviving siblings and close relatives, prominent civil rights, labor, business and community leaders from Harlem and throughout black America.
Prior to her work at Columbia, Clark was involved with the "New York Times History Project," an effort to compile oral histories of Times employees, and has served as a consultant for internationally award-winning documentary films. She has developed other oral history projects in New York, including programs for public and private schools and museums. She is president of the United States Oral History Association and has served on the Executive Council of the International Oral History Association. She teaches a graduate oral history course at Columbia and directs the Columbia University Summer Institute on Oral History. Clark has lectured and delivered seminars at Columbia University's Teachers College, Barnard College, Sarah Lawrence College, the City University of New York and many other institutions. In addition, she has lectured in Brazil and the Netherlands on topics related to oral history and memory.
Each year, more than 2,000 scholars consult Columbia's Oral History Research Office, which boasts interviews with such notables as former President Jimmy Carter, former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Dorothy Parker, and Fred Astaire. Founded in 1948, the collection is second only to the Library of Congress in scope, with 15,000 hours of tape and 8,000 interviews.

Peter Brothers is a recognized authority on the preservation of (audio and video) magnetic tape. He has worked on tape damaged by Hurricane Katrina, as well as tape from government agencies, major broadcast networks, libraries, museums and archives. He will talk about how to preserve your tape collections, as well as how to deal with tape collections damaged by a disaster.

Peter Brothers is CEO of Specs Bros, a magnetic tape restoration, disaster recovery and re-mastering facility that has processed over 350,000 tapes since 1983. He is also an active member and contributing author to the SMPTE, AES, ANSI, and ISO technical commissions that write National and International Standards concerning the preservation of magnetic tape.
Mr. Brothers will discuss a number of basic issues concerning the handling and preservation of magnetic tape. Among the issues he will cover are proper storage conditions and a few basic handling techniques to help protect your tapes. He will also review a simple visual examination you can use to evaluate the general condition of your tapes and determine if the tapes you have are still safe to use as is, or may need some attention. This examination, which is now a part of published international standards, is simple, fast, and requires no equipment to perform.
Registration for this event is $40 for MHSA or LHC members, $25 Students, and $50 for the general public.

For further information, please contact Matthew Nash, MHSA Interim Executive Director at 917.679.5884 or matthewnash@nyc.rr.com.

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Ghosts and Gore: History Goes Halloween

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:32:59 -0700

While better known as a scholarly Museum of mid-19th century domestic culture, the Merchant’s House has also been called “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House.” This October, the Museum’s spirited reputation will again attract scores of visitors to its annual series of entertaining (and educational) programs about death and mourning in the 19th century.
The House will be draped in black crepe, as if for a 19th-century funeral, and visitors will experience the eeriness of authentically recreated deathbed and funeral scenes, complete with corpse and coffin. Special events include five nights of Candlelight Tours (called “resonant theater” by The New York Times) and a mid-19th century funeral. See calendar below.
Last October, nationwide web and print coverage drew crowds to the Museum and thousands to its website. Many may have come just to see the ghosts, but we’re proud to say they left with a deeper appreciation of life – and death – in 19th-century New York City.

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Staten Island Historical Society Awarded Prestigious Grant

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:28:24 -0700

Future generations will be able to glimpse into the lives of early New Yorkers thanks to a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The grant will enable the Staten Island Historical Society to preserve the extensive collection of vintage negatives and prints by E. Alice Austen (1866-1952), that document life in New York during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Purchased by the Society in 1950, the Austen collection was designated a “We the People” project by the National Endowment for Humanities in 2005. The Collection, the largest of Ms. Austen’s work, includes more than 7,000 items that reflect Ms. Austen’s class, gender and era. Her images include scenes of the affluent social circle in which she lived, and documents the prominent social concerns of the day of immigration, urbanization and family life.

“This grant provides funding to help preserve and care for this valuable collection and follows an earlier grant from the National Endowment for Humanities,” said John W. Guild, Executive Director of the Staten Island Historical Society. “The grant will allow the Society to improve storage and continue to catalog the collection, assuring that current and future generations will have access to these photos. The IMLS grant is a part of the National Conservation Project Support program.” The Society is one of only five New York State grantees.

Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Ph.D., Director, Institute of Museum and Library Services noted, “The Conservation Project Support awards help museums develop comprehensive strategies for the care of their collections, safeguarding pieces of our nation’s story, now and for future generations.”

Conservation Project Support awards to help museums identify conservation needs and priorities and perform activities to ensure the safekeeping of their collections. The grants are awarded through competitive peer review and require, at least, a 100 percent match by the applicant. These grants help museums develop a logical, institution-wide approach to caring for their collections. The program is an essential component of the Institute’s goal of sustaining cultural heritage as a means of creating and sustaining a nation of learners. Applicants apply for the project that meets the institution’s highest conservation needs.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 15,000 museums. Its mission is to grow and sustain a “Nation of Learners” because life-long learning is essential to a democratic society and individual success. Through its grant making, convenings, research and publications, the Institute empowers museums and libraries nationwide to provide leadership and services to enhance learning in families and communities, sustain cultural heritage, build twenty-first-century skills, and increase civic participation. To learn more about the Institute, please visit: http://www.imls.gov.

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Nassau County Museum of Art Presents Brueghel

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:27:14 -0700

Nassau County Museum of Art unveils a never-before-seen small exhibition of paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. The famed painting, Netherlandish Proverbs, is included in this first viewing on the East Coast. Among the other works are Seven Acts of Mercy, The Wedding Dance, Peasants Merrymaking and The Bird Trap. The exhibition is sponsored by the Belgian Tourist Office — Flanders Region and David Lerner Associates; it is supported in part by Astoria Federal Savings.

In conjunction with this exhibition, on Saturday, September 29, NCMA is presenting Sixteenth- and Seventeenth Century Flemish Culture, the first in a series of Humanities Symposia devoted to themes that arise in coming exhibitions at the museum. The September 29 keynote speaker is Wolfgang Mieder, Ph.D., Professor of German and Folklore at the University of Vermont. Watch our website, nassaumuseum.com, for further details. For information about the Belgium Tourist Office’s sponsorship of this exhibition, log onto visitbelgium.com.

Brueghel, Wedding Dance

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Major Renovation of Edgar Allan...

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:23:48 -0700

Federal funding, through the “Save America’s Treasures” preservation program has been secured to implement the first major restoration of the historic landmark Edgar Allan Poe Cottage sine the city of New York purchased it in 1913 and opened it as a museum. The grant, secured through the efforts of Congressman José E. Serrano, has been matched with funding from the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission and city capital money put into the budget by NYC Councilman Joel Rivera, and the Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion’s Office. The restoration project calls for extensive interior and exterior conservation and preservation work, including window conservation, plaster restoration, removal of multiple layers of exterior paint, and wood repair, as needed. The anticipated start period for construction is Fall/Winter 2007. The Historic House Trust and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation will supervise the project, in coordination with the Bronx County Historical Society and the National Park Service, the project’s federal agency partner.

Poe Cottage, built c. 1812, as a City and State historic landmark, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Here in Poe’s last home (1846-1849), he wrote such memorable works as “The Bells,” “Annabel Lee,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” Visited by people from around the world, a guided tour through its period rooms is supplemented by a show on Poe’s life as understood in the context of 1840s New York. In addition to the Poe Cottage restoration work, 2007 should see the start of construction for the Poe Park Visitors’ Center, expected to include public bathrooms and programmatic space. The historic house museum is operated by the Bronx County Historical Society and is a member of the Historic House Trust of New York City.

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The Kresge Foundation Grants $800,000 to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s Orchard Street Camp

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:41:45 -0700

On March 15th the Lower East Side Tenement Museum received an $800,000 challenge award from The Kresge Foundation, an independent private foundation created by the personal gifts of Sebastian S. Kresge. This generous and prestigious award will be used to assist The Tenement’s Orchard Street Campaign, a $15 million capacity building campaign that increase its programmatic and administrative space and build a strong foundation for future growth. The Kresge Foundation’s contribution will help leverage private donations to complete the Campaign.

Established to build its capacity to welcome new visitors, the Orchard Street Campaign’s goal is to enable The Tenement Museum to increase visitorship. According to Ruth Abram, President, “The Tenement has been forced to turn visitors and school groups away despite being open 361 days a year, 7 days a week, and offering tours every 20 minutes.” Funds raised by the Campaign will allow The Tenement Museum to purchase and renovate new space to meet visitor demand, stabilize its national historic landmark building at 97 Orchard Street to allow the installation of new permanent exhibits, and build a solid base for expansion through the establishment of its first endowment.

Rip Rapson, President and CEO of The Kresge Foundation, stated “With the aid of this challenge grant, we hope [The Tenement Museum’s] campaign can become an even more strategic opportunity …to connect and reach out to new donors, volunteers, participants, and general community. Your compelling plan to sustain the higher levels of giving after the campaign concludes will help strengthen your organization well into the future.”

The Kresge Foundation’s core grant making activity is its Capital Challenge Grants program. A major focus of The Kresge Foundation is to promote endeavors that fortify nonprofit leadership and encourage generosity through challenge grants for capital projects.

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Fourth Street Miracle –– Merchant’s House 175th Anniversary

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:22:43 -0700

One hundred and seventy-five years ago, when most of Manhattan was countryside and forest, and Andrew Jackson was president, Joseph Brewster built a brick and marble rowhouse on Fourth Street in what was then a quiet, exclusive suburb of the city.

In 1835, just three years later, the house was purchased by a prosperous hardware merchant, Seabury Tredwell, and the Tredwell family continued to live in the house for almost 100 years.

Today, miraculously, that merchant’s house still stands, though more than once it has come close to the brink of being lost forever.

The last surviving member of the family, Gertrude Tredwell, who had been born in the house in 1840, died in the house in 1933. Her cousin, George Chapman, recognizing the historic value of a 19th-century home that still retained its original furniture and family possessions, purchased the house, and after making extensive repairs, opened it as a museum on May 11, 1936.

For 25 years, Chapman provided almost all of the museum’s support with his personal funds, but by 1959, when he died, time had caught up with the old house and it was perilously close to being beyond repair.

In 1962, after limping along for three years with temporary caretakers, the museum was taken over as a project of the Decorators Club of New York City. They hoped, by raising funds, restoring furniture and reproducing the draperies and carpets, they could continue to present the house to the public.

However, in 1968, serious water damage convinced the Decorators that extensive structural repairs were needed –– repairs that were far beyond their ability to manage. Wisely, they called on Joseph Roberto, New York University architect, to advise them.

It was not long before Roberto fell in love with the house and committed himself to a complete structural restoration that would take more than nine years to complete.

He and his wife, Carolyn, an interior designer, worked tirelessly to raise funds and Roberto then undertook the restoration, scrupulously maintaining the integrity of the original design. Then, assisted by the Decorators Club, the Robertos restored and reinstalled the collection of the Tredwells’ furniture and personal belongings and reopened the Museum to the public in 1979. The Robertos and the Decorators did it all on a volunteer basis. Following Roberto’s untimely death in 1988, with the help of a number of the city’s preservation organizations the museum raised seed money to hire its first professional staff.

In 1977, the museum received a one million dollar grant from the Vincent Astor Foundation, thus for the first time securing an endowment that would provide for its future financial security. In 1999, the House joined the Historic House Trust of New York City, further ensuring its preservation for generations to come.

The Merchant’s House has a lot to celebrate in this, its 175th year. The house is here today because of the countless friends and volunteers who came under its spell and so generously offered their time and financial support over the years.

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Michelle Obama to Speak at New York Historical Society

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:21:46 -0700

Michelle Obama, attorney, hospital administrator and wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, will be the featured guest at the New-York Historical Society’s new Women in Public Life series at the annual Strawberry Festival benefit on June 26. The event begins at 12:30 p.m. and concludes at 2:00 p.m., at 170 Central Park West at 77th Street.

Currently Vice President of Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals, Michelle Obama previously served as Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University Community Service Center. In 1993, she was the founding director of Public Allies, an Americorps-funded program that provides leadership skills training to young adults. She also practiced intellectual property law in the corporate sector prior to her tenure as an assistant to Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago.

Michelle Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1988 and received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1985; she majored in Sociology with a minor in African-American Studies. She grew up on Chicago’s South Side as Michelle Robinson, and met Barack Obama when she was appointed his advisor while they were both working as attorneys at Sidley & Austin in Chicago.. The couple has two daughters, Malia 8, and Sasha 5, and the family resides on Chicago’s South Side.

The 2007 Strawberry Festival marks the launch of the New-York Historical Society’s Women in Public Life series. The N-YHS annual Strawberry Festival dates to June 1856. Previous Strawberry Festivals have featured Hillary Clinton, Betsey Gotbaum, Anna Quindlen, Leslie Stahl, Christine Quinn and Wendy Wasserstein.

Proceeds will benefit the programs of the New-York Historical Society, including major exhibitions and educational programs on American history. Current N-YHS exhibitions include: New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War and A New Light on Tiffany. Strawberry Festival tickets are $300, $600, and $1,000. Media RSVP required.

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Garibaldi-Meucci Museum Wine Tasting

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:19:25 -0700

The second annual Wine Tasting Event on Il Grande Prato will be held on Friday, June 15th at 6:30 p.m. at the Garibaldi Meucci Museum on Staten Island.

Enjoy an unforgettable evening of great tasting vino! Meet wine expert, Ron Kapon, who will guide you through your wine tasting experience. Ron is a member of the Society For Wine Educators, a co-host on the syndicated radio show, The Wonderful World of Wine & Spirits, is the wine, spirits & travel correspondent for Sally Jesse Raphael’s internet talk show, and is a Professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s International School of Hospitality Management.

Sample different flavored red and white wines from a variety of vendors and listen to the sounds of our strolling musicians while you learn about wine making and wine pairing from winery representatives! Make your own wine charm and test your wine knowledge at our blind taste testing booth! Bid on items in our silent auction! There will also be educational olive oil tasting presented by olive oil connoisseur, Micheal Castaldo.

Cost: $35 in advance, $40 at the door. Price includes a commemorative wine glass and a chance to win the door prize, a brand new wine refrigerator! To purchase tickets, call the museum at 718-442-1608.

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NY Interior Design Does Pre-Fab

nobody@vox.com(MHSA) — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 12:44:30 -0800

The New York School of Interior Design’s 70th Street Gallery presents an exhibit entitled Prefabricated Homes in America: The Early 20th Century Mail-order House through April 21, 2007. The show will include facsimiles of vintage catalogues and pattern books featuring mail-order houses and plans for purchasing the ideal home. As early as 1914, consumers were able to acquired prefabricated houses factory-direct through mail-order sources. Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and many other sources, provided a viable way to own a piece of "the American dream."

With colorful covers, these all-inclusive catalogues offered perspective views and interior floor plans, numerous architectural styles, and many optional enticements. Also included were the latest in home appliances, mechanical equipment, lighting fixtures, built-in cabinetry -- as well as coordinated fabrics, wallpapers, furniture and china. Historically, the prefabricated home provided a creative and economical solution for housing in America.

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