State History

New York State Museum’s
NYS History Month Public Programs
November 2017

New York Women’s Suffrage Centennial Conference
Saturday, November 4 | 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
New York State Museum | Adults | Fee
This conference is organized by the Cultural Heritage Tourism Network. Interested participants must register at www.nychtn.com/rsvp/signup1.php    

An Evening Celebrating Votes for Women: New York’s Suffrage Centennial
Saturday, November 4 | 5–8 p.m.
New York State Museum | Adults | Fee
This event is hosted by The League of Women Voters of New York State Education Foundation and the Archives Partnership Trust. Visit www.lwvny.org for more information and to purchase tickets.

Lunch Bite: Votes For Women Gallery Tour
Monday November 6 | 12 p.m.
West Hall | Adults | Free
Join Chief Curator of History Jennifer Lemak and Senior Historian Ashley Hopkins-Benton for a brief tour of the New York State Museum’s Suffrage Centennial exhibition, Votes For Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial. Learn about the history of the suffrage movement in New York State through artifacts on display and highlighted women who led this equal rights movement. This exhibit was created in partnership with the New York State Archives and New York State Library, and in cooperation with organizations and citizens from across the state.The New York State Museum galleries will be open on Monday November 6, 2017 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lunch Bite: Erie Canal Phase I Gallery Tour  
Tuesday, November 7 | Noon
Meet at South Hall | Adults and Teens | Free
Join Senior Historian and Curator Brad L. Utter for a tour of Phase I of New York State Museum’s Erie Canal Bicentennial exhibition, Enterprising Waters: New York’s Erie Canal. Learn about the gigantic windlass and how it moved cargo from barges with only two men!

World War I Teacher Workshop:
A Spirit of Sacrifice: New York State in the First World War
Thursday, November 9 | 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
1st Floor Museum Galleries | Adults | Free
This free workshop is offered by the staff of the New York State Museum, State Library, State Archives, and Public Broadcasting Office at the Cultural Education Center in Albany, NY. The workshop is designed to aid educators in teaching the history of World War I. For more information on workshop, CTLE credits or registration, visit www.nysm.nysed.gov/programs/world-war-i-teacher-workshop-spirit-sacrifice-new-york-state-first-world-war

World War I Gallery Tour
Saturday, November 11 | Noon
South Hall Collections Gallery | Adults & Teens | Free
Join Senior Historian and Curator Aaron Noble for a tour of the New York State Museum’s World War I Centennial exhibition, A Spirit of Sacrifice: New York State in the First World War. Learn about the artifacts and images on display, as well as behind the scenes stories about New York’s pivotal role in the American war effort.

“The Empire State and the War of Empires, 1917-1918”
Saturday, November 11 | 1 p.m.
South Hall | Adults | Free
Join University at Albany, SUNY Professor Richard Fogarty to explore several aspects of the global war that New Yorkers joined in 1917. The primary reason the war was a World War was that all of its major belligerents were empires, each with vast geographical reach. And when citizens of the Empire State entered the conflict, their experiences of home front mobilization, propaganda and patriotism, racial politics and the color line, industrialized warfare, and more fit into the larger context of this modern global war of empires.

Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom - A Lecture and Book Signing by Russell Shorto
Monday, November 13 | 7 p.m.
Huxley Theater | Adults | Free
In his epic new book, Revolution Song: A Story of American Freedom, author and historian Russell Shorto takes us back to the founding of the American nation, drawing on diaries, letters and autobiographies to explore six lives that cast the era in a fresh new light. These stories include an African man who freed himself and his family from slavery, a rebellious young woman who abandoned her abusive husband to chart her own course, and a certain Mr. Washington, who was admired for his social graces but harshly criticized for his often-disastrous military strategy.

Through these lives we understand that the revolution was fought over the meaning of individual freedom, a philosophical idea that became a force for violent change. A powerful narrative and a brilliant defense of American values, Revolution Song makes the compelling case that the American Revolution is still being fought today and that its ideals are worth defending.

A book signing will follow the lecture. Books can be purchased at the event.

Brainfood for the Curious: Short Talks at Lunchtime
“Contemporary Native American Art Collection”
Tuesday, November 14 | 12:10 p.m.
Huxley Theater | Adults | Free
Each year the New York State Museum acquires new artworks for the Contemporary Native American Art Collection (CNAAC) from artists whose heritage is affiliated with Indigenous communities in New York. Join Curator of Ethnology Gwen Saul for an introduction to recent acquisitions (2016-2017) to the CNAAC featuring contemporary work in photography, basketry, painting, and intricately carved woodwork. This group of eight new artworks by five artists evokes lively conversation about what it means to be Indigenous in the twenty-first century. This program includes a 20-minute talk and Dr. Saul will be happy to answer any questions following the presentation. Participants are welcomed to bring their lunches.

Aleda or The Flight of the Suff Birdwomen: One-Act Chamber Opera in Three Scenes
Friday, November 17 | 7:30 p.m.
Clark Auditorium | Adults | Free
On Staten Island in 1916, pilot Leda Richberg-Hornsby and the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) attempted a unique women’s suffrage demonstration. Piloting a bi-plane with a cargo of votes-for-women petitions, and a huge banner reading "Women want liberty too," Leda set out to fly over New York Harbor, "bombing" President Woodrow Wilson with petitions as he attended a national celebration at the Statue of Liberty. The elaborate plan was a fiasco as gale force winds necessitated a crash-landing in a Staten Island swamp (with no casualties!) – yet the attempt stands as a testimony to the courage, inventiveness, and dramatic flair of these women in their struggle for suffrage.
Music and libretto by Max Caplan; commissioned and produced by Musicians of Ma’alwyck, Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, Director. More information, participant bios, and additional Researching New York public events are available at www.nystatehistory.org

Hudson Valley Ruins Gallery Tour
Saturday, November 18 | 1 p.m. & 3 p.m.
Photography Gallery | Adults & Teens | Free
Thomas Rinaldi and Robert Yasinsac, photographers and authors of the book Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmark of an American Landscape, will present a gallery tour and tell the story of the region through its ruins. They will share anecdotes from 20 years spent traversing the region on a mission to document its vanishing architectural legacy. Their book will be available for purchase at the program.

Votes For Women Exhibition Public Reception and Gallery Tour
Sunday, November 19 | 1 p.m.
West Hall | Adults | Free
Join Chief Curator of History Jennifer Lemak and Senior Historian Ashley Hopkins-Benton for a reception to celebrate New York’s Suffrage Centennial. Votes For Women commemorates New York state granting women the right to vote. This exhibit was created in partnership with the NYS Archives and NYS Library, and in cooperation with organizations and citizens from across the state.
A curator led gallery tour of Votes for Women will begin at 1:30 p.m.

Behind the Scenes Tour of NYS Museum’s History Collection
Sunday, November 19 | 2 p.m.
Pre-registration is required. | Adults and Children, ages 7 or older | Free
This program will take you behind the scenes to tour the New York State Museum's History Collections with a Curator of History. Visitors on the tour will have the chance to see storage rooms including furniture, Shaker materials, stoneware, paintings, textiles, toys and military and political memorabilia. Children ages 7+ are welcome on the tour.
Tour is limited to 15 people and registration is due by Wednesday, November 15. Please contact Nicole LaFountain at (518) 474-0575 or email nicole.lafountain@nysed.gov if interested.

Brainfood for the Curious: Short Talks at Lunchtime
“Astronauts of Inner-Space: The Millbrook Commune and the ‘60s.”
Tuesday, November 28 | 12:10 p.m.
Huxley Theater | Adults | Free
“Turn on, tune in and drop out” during your lunchbreak and join NYS Historian Devin Lander as he explores New York’s unique role in the psychedelic ‘60s through the history of the Millbrook Commune, Timothy Leary’s ‘Grounded Space Colony’ housed on a 2,500-acre estate in Dutchess County. From its founding in 1963 as one of the nation’s first psychedelic intentional communities, through its eventual forced closure in 1968, the Millbrook Commune was the epicenter of East Coast psychedelia. It played host to a who’s who of ‘60s countercultural icons while becoming a microcosm of the struggle between the established societal ideals of law and order and a new concept of personal and religious freedom introduced through the ingesting of psychedelic substances. This program includes a 20-minute talk and Devin will be happy to answer any questions following the presentation. Participants are welcomed to bring their lunches.