Newsletter #10, June 15, 2020

Hello Members, Friends and Supporters of the New Paltz Historical Society,

Welcome to the New Paltz Historical Society’s Second Biweekly Newsletter, which will be sent to you every other Monday.

A Note on Current Events:

As we watch the wave of protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement wash across the United States and the World, the New Paltz Historical Society is deeply committed to revealing the history of African-Americans and local Indigenous People who were so integral in establishing our community. As part of that community, we are dedicated to emphasizing the stories of these marginalized populations as groups and as individuals and how they have positively influenced the culture, identity and collaborative spirit of New Paltz.

We will continue to focus on revealing local history that has often been hidden.

Two online exhibits, originally curated by our members Susan Stessin-Cohn and Ashley Hurlburt Biagini, titled The Missing Chapter, Untold Stories of the African American Presence in the Mid-Hudson Valley and Before Hudson, 8,000 Years of Native American History and Culture, are available for viewing by clicking on the titles above. Here you can find hundreds of documents, artifacts and images from local collections that focus on the African American and Native history of the Hudson Valley.

Also of local interest, In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York's Hudson River Valley by Susan Stessin-Cohn and Ashley Hurlburt Biagini, with an introduction by A. J. Williams Myers, is a collection of hundreds of runaway slave notices from the Hudson Valley documenting the brutality and inhumaneness of slavery in the Valley as well as the enduring spirit of self-emancipated blacks.

We still have much work to do!

The Executive Staff of the New Paltz Historical Society

Newsletter #10, June 15, 2020

(NOTE: If you have any difficulty getting any links to open, hold down the Control (CTRL) key in the lower left of your keyboard, 

and then place your cursor on the link and left click on it.)

* We continue our series of video lectures originally hosted by the Senate House State Historic Site, in Kingston. This series, “Kingston’s Buried Treasures” featured the forgotten, yet vital people of Kingston, and the events that took place in New York’s first capital, one of America’s most unique communities. Kingston’s history tells more than just the story of a city - its arguably the story of a nation. Through war and peace, boom and bust, Kingston’s place in our state and our national lore has few rivals. One of our past (and favorite) speakers, Paul O'Neill, Commissioner of Jurors for Ulster County, facilitated this series. 

Ezra Hasbrouck Fitch

This week’s lecture is titled “Ezra Fitch: Founder of Abercrombie & Fitch” and is presented by Edwin Ford, Kingston City Historian. Ezra Hasbrouck Fitch (September 27, 1865 – June 16, 1930) was born in Coxsackie, NY.  He was the co-founder of the modern lifestyle brand Abercrombie & Fitch and is attributed with the introduction of Mahjong to the United States.

Click https://youtu.be/fFTxeSVXUtc to begin viewing.  This talk took place at the Senate House on Feb 15, 2013. (Note: the lecture begins at about 1 minute 08 seconds, and the total time of the video is 56 minutes.)

** Also this week we have a link to a recorded webinar titled “Food and the First World War in the Hudson Valley.” Food historian Sarah Wassberg Johnson presents an overview of food rationing, conservation, and production efforts during the First World War, with a special focus on the Hudson Valley, from community canning kitchens around the Valley to farmerettes and special instruction trains. 
Click here to view the presentation: https://www.senylrc.org/FoodAndWarWebinar. 
The lecture runs approximately 1 hour and 12 minutes. This program was originally a Webinar aired by the Southeastern NY Library Resources Council on June 1, 2020.

*** Are you ready to take a virtual trip through some Dutchess County history? If so, we have one for you titled “Poughkeepsie: A Local Path Toward Racial Equality,” by Bill Jeffway.

This virtual tour, a Dutchess County Equality Trail, that shows the local path, taken through Poughkeepsie, toward racial equality.  Whether you are actually on the street ~ or hit the trail virtually ~ we hope you’ll meet people, and see places, that illuminate the path that led to a US constitutional promise of equality after the Civil War, and the ongoing effort to realize that promise. This is the story of individuals, regularly suffering under extreme prejudice, determined to pursue life, liberty and happiness regardless of the stark limitations put on them. 

The trail starts on the banks of the Hudson River, where the paradox of slavery in a country promising equality and liberty can readily be seen.

To begin your tour, click on this link: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/302c1a635a6849ecb1548ec54a9e326d

This tour is a project of the Mid-Hudson Anti-Slavery History Project and the Dutchess County Historical Society.

**** And, if you are ready for a challenge, strap on your thinking caps, because in this issue, we also have a New PaltzNewspaper Puzzle, created by Linda Tantillo, for your amusement. The puzzle consists of some old articles from the local newspapers, and the challenge is for you to guess the year that the article originally appeared in the news. Click here “Newspaper Quiz” to download and print the puzzle. The answers will appear in our next Newsletter, which will be sent to you on June 29, 2020.

***** We encourage you to visit our website and Facebook page.  
Click on the link and check it our website: https://sites.google.com/view/newpaltzhistoricalsociety/home.  

And here is our Facebook page link: https://www.facebook.com/newpaltzhistoricalsociety

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome! Let us know what you think of our digital presence on the web.

***** We do not know what we will be doing for July yet, our presentation is likely cancelled, but we will keep you informed.  Our decisions will be based New York State Policy, sound medical advice, social distancing issues, the Town, County and State guidelines, and Community Center policy and room capacity.  Your health and safety is our main concern.  We look forward to being able to continue our program of lectures and events as soon as it is safe to do so, and are investigating alternate possibilities for the near future.  We will inform you of any developments through these Newsletters. 

****** We try to include something of interest for many tastes in these Newsletters, but it is difficult for us to know how many people are reading the Newsletters, and what you think about the content.  Therefore, we would appreciate hearing from you.  Are you following the Newsletter?  Do you connect to any of the links we post?  Have any favorites from the links we’ve posted?  Have you tried the games, or puzzles?  Do you want a quiz from time to time?  Is there something you would like us include in a Newsletter? 

Please let us know by dropping us a line at: nphistoricalsociety@gmail.com. We hope that you are enjoying our Newsletter, and if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, let us know.

Stay safe, stay home!  

Diane, Ashley, Susan, Dolly, Jack, and Marny