On Sunday, October 16 from 1-3 pm, the Madison County Historical Society will mark the opening of the exhibit entitled, "19th Century Leisure in Madison County” by hosting a presentation by Mary Jeanne Bialas, “Enjoying the day, the Victorian Way”.
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The 1800's brought the Industrial Revolution, which provided more time for relaxation and social intermingling. People who made their homes in the villages and towns of Madison County enjoyed a variety of leisure activities.  Many outings included visits to the Chittenango Spa, or an impromptu picnic at Sylvan Beach. Nights at the Madison Opera House or quiet evenings at home playing parlor games were how many spent their leisure time. This program, presented by Mary Jeanne Bialas, educator and program designer for Victorian Whispers, and Speaker for the NYS Council for the Humanities, will take you into the leisure time of the 1800's and highlight the roles of men, women, fashions, and the Victorian rules of propriety and behavior in some of Madison County's most favorite pastimes.

There is no charge to attend the new exhibition and program on October 16. Mary Jeanne's program will start promptly at 1 pm; viewing of the exhibit will follow the program. Refreshments will be served. For more information call 315-363-4136, or 315-361-9735, or stop by the Madison County Historical Society at 435 Main Street in Oneida.
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Have ever wanted to know a little bit more about the Oneida Community Mansion House?  Check out this You Tube video that highlights many of the unique features of this National Historic Landmark.
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Abolitionist and women’s rights activist Abby Kelley Foster will be inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame on October 1st in Seneca Falls and into the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) on Saturday, October 22 at ceremonies to be held at Colgate University, Hamilton NY. Born in Pelham MA January 15, 1811 Kelley was raised a Quaker and became a teacher at the Friends School in Lynn MA in 1829. In 1832, when she lived in Worcester, she was influenced by a speech from radical abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. She joined the Lynn Female Anti-Slavery Society, and in 1837, she, and others, gathered over six thousand signatures on anti-slavery petitions.  The Lynn Female Society named her a delegate to the first national Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women in New York City. The following year, at the second Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, Abby Kelley gave her first speech against slavery with a mob threatening to burn down Pennsylvania Hall. 

Abby and fellow radical abolitionist Stephen Foster married in 1845 and bought a farm in Worcester MA. Abby gave birth to their daughter, Alla, in 1847. Kelley faced hostile audiences from within and from outside the abolition movement in her five decades of advocating for immediate abolition of slavery and for advocating leaving churches that did not condemn slavery.

At 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 22, Stacey Robertson PhD. will present Abby Kelley Foster: A Radical Voice in the West, the first program in the annual afternoon Upstate Institute Inductee Symposia. Robertson states, “Abby Kelley Foster single handedly transformed the nature of the western antislavery movement in the 1840s.  From her first visit in the summer of 1845 she inspired hundreds of abolitionists to reconsider their approach to the movement and embrace a more uncompromising position.  Women found her irresistible and she helped to organize dozens of female anti-slavery societies in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.  She also convinced several women to join her in the lecturing field, devoting themselves full-time to the movement.  No other person impacted western antislavery more than Abby Kelley Foster.”
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Dr. Judith Wellman, well known scholar and author on the history of women’s rights and the Underground Railroad, will be the keynote speaker on Sunday, September 25 at 12:30 p.m. at the Annual In the Kitchen Bloomer Tea held at the Smithfield Community Center in Peterboro to celebrate Elizabeth Smith Miller’s birthday and women’s rights heritage. Miller, daughter of Ann and Gerrit Smith, is credited with creating a trouser costume in the mid 1800s that became a symbol of the women’s movement.

Dr. Wellman, author of The Road to Seneca Falls, will describe Peterboro’s role in the women’s movement, including the influence of Gerrit and Ann Smith during the summers that Elizabeth Cady Stanton spent in Peterboro, the debates over dress reform, and the inclusion of women in the Liberty League convention. Wellman states, “Everybody knows about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her work for women's rights. But few people understand how important her cousins, Gerrit and Ann Smith and their daughter Elizabeth Smith Miller, were in shaping her reform agenda. Stanton and Elizabeth Smith Miller had a lifelong friendship, based on their shared sense of humor and their commitment to women's rights (including dress reform). From Gerrit Smith, Stanton gained access to ideas and people at the highest levels of antislavery organization. (If you) want to hear the backstory of the Seneca Falls convention, come to this talk!”
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Congressman Paul Tonko joined officials from the National Park Service; Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor; I LOVE NEW YORK; the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; and others today to announce a joint tourism initiative that aims to increase visitation to upstate New York by highlighting historic sites, museums, and tours dedicated to interpreting the story of the Underground Railroad (UGRR). Historically, about eight out of 10 national travelers have included a cultural, arts, heritage or historic activity or event while on a trip of 50 miles or more. This represents a significant contribution to the State’s vital $50 billion a year tourism industry. “The Underground Railroad is one of the greatest stories in our nation’s history, and I am proud of the commitment that Interior and the National Park Service are making to ensure it’s told far and wide,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said. “Encouraging people to visit these hallowed sites will not only honor the men and women who risked so much in the name of equality and freedom, but will also drive tourism and help spur local economies in New York.”

As a major part of this collaborative initiative, from September 10th through 15th I LOVE NEW YORK will lead a familiarization tour* of historic sites and museums related to the Underground Railroad and slavery in New York, crossing the state with journalists from six different media outlets and a tour wholesaler, all from the United Kingdom.

Many of these sites have received promotional and marketing support from the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor (ECNHC), which has recently been inducted into  the National Park Service Network to Freedom Program** in recognition of its important work linking and promoting UGRR sites along the New York State Canal System.

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Lucretia Coffin Mott was one of the most famous and controversial women in nineteenth-century America. Mott was viewed in her time as a dominant figure in the dual struggles for racial and sexual equality. In the first biography of Mott in thirty years, historian Carol Faulkner reveals the motivations of Mott’s activism and interest in peace, temperance, prison reform, religious freedom, and Native American rights. Mott was among the first white Americans to call for an immediate end to slavery. Her long-term collaboration with white and black women in the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society was remarkable. Mott was known as the "moving spirit" of the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls in 1848. She envisioned women's rights not as a new and separate movement, but rather as an extension of the universal principles of liberty and equality.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, August 28, Carol Faulkner Ph.D. will discuss her new biography Lucretia Mott's Heresy: Abolition and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America and sign books at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY. Mott was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005 in the first group to be honored.
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Equality Day has been observed on August 26 since 1971 when the efforts of Congresswoman Bella Abzug succeeded in commemorating the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – the Woman Suffrage Amendment. The final programs of the 2011 Peterboro Heritage season recognize women of the 19th Century who laid the ground work for extending suffrage to disenfranchised groups.

Equality Day Weekend will be observed in Peterboro by two presentations on three women who led the women’s rights movement. On Saturday, August 27 at 2 p.m. author Penny Colman presents Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship that Changed the World, and signs her new book by the same name at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, 4543 Peterboro Road, Peterboro. The next day Dr. Carol Faulkner presents her new biography Lucretia Mott’s Heresy: Abolition and Women’s History in 19th Century America at the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro.
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Oil painting by Bill Edmonston
In August 1850 Gerrit Smith and Frederick Douglass organized a two day convention of abolitionists to protest Congressional debate on the proposed Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.  2,000 people attended the meeting in Cazenovia which Ezra Greenleaf Weld captured in the famous daguerreotype image owned by the Madison County Historical Society in Oneida NY. At 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 21, the 151st anniversary of the first day of that Cazenovia Convention, Norman K. Dann Ph.D. and W. Edward Edmonston Ph.D. will present Protest to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.

Norm Dann, professor emeritus Morrisville State College, will provide a brief chronology of the events that led to the second of two laws to return escaped slaves, and outline the horrendous intent and the dreadful impact of the law on slaves and free citizens. Dann is the author of Practical Dreamer: Gerrit Smith and the Crusade for Social Reform (2009), a Steward at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, and a founder and member of the Cabinet of Freedom for the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
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Come join us and explore arts and leisure at the turn of the 20th century at The Madison County Historical Society’s Charles E. Page Summer History Camp August 2nd- 4th  from 10 am- 3 pm.   The camp is geared for children between the ages of 8-12 years. MaryBeth Russo, a fourth grade teacher at Willard Prior, Madison County Historical Society Trustee, and Co-Chair of Education Committee will lead the camp at the society.

 

The camp will offer a series of presentations and activities focused on various art forms, trends, and games prevalent at the turn of the 20th century in America. On Tuesday, guest speaker, Linda Russell, a historical musician and Pam Lynch, an art educator will present programs on art and music followed by workshops on silhouette making, decoupaging, and playing period instruments. On Wednesday, the artistry of floral design, a popular leisure activity, will be demonstrated by Oneida Floral. The program continues as travel and fashion come to life as Mary Jeanne Bialas, educator and historical re-enactor of the Victorian era, will time travel into the past with trunks and satchels, packed and ready to go.On Thursday, Julie Colvin, of Oneida, will demonstrate the art of bead making followed by a presentation by Oneida Indian Nation educators on Native American’s cultural perspective on arts and leisure. Daily the campers will be journaling about their experiences, touring the society’s beautiful home, Cottage Lawn, and playing a favorite leisure pastime game of croquet.

The enrollment fee for the camp is $50 for MCHS members and $60 for nonmembers. No refund will be given to those who withdraw after the first day of camp. The deadline to enroll, as space is limited to 15 children, is July 26th.  Children must bring their own lunch each day. Snacks will be provided.

There is still time to apply for the Charles E. Page Summer History Camp Scholarship. The scholarship valued at full enrollment cost of $60 will be granted to a Madison County child that has an interest in learning about history. Applicants must be a Madison County resident between the ages of 8- 12 years and are required to submit a 100 word or less essay describing why learning about history is interesting and important to you.

Essays will be judged on creativity, neatness, and grammar.  Typed or handwritten essays are acceptable. The deadline for the scholarship is July 15th with notification on July 21st. All submissions must be sent to the Madison County Historical Society, Attn: Charles E. Page Scholarship Award, 435 Main Street, Oneida, NY 13421. Please include your name, address, age, and phone number along with your essay.

The society’s summer history camp is named in memory of Charles E. Page.  Mr. Page, a native of Madison County, operated a farm for 20 years until he was appointed Farm Employment Representative in New York State Department of Labor. Mr. Page's hobbies were gardening, wood sculpture, violin playing, genealogy, and writing about Madison County.  His passion for learning and teaching history is best recounted by his children who fondly remember their father instilling in them the importance of teaching respect for every aspect of our heritage. 

For more information or to enroll your child, please call the historical society at 315.363.4136, or email us at history@mchs1900.org. The deadline to enroll in the Charles E, Page Summer Camp is July 26th.
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Abolitionist Gerrit Smith liked to play croquet daily during the summer.  In honor of Smith’s summer recreation, the Grounds Squad of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark plans to hold its second annual Family Day of Croquet on Sunday, July 17 from 2 – 6 p.m. on the grounds of Smith’s 19th Century home.  The event will be attended by local croquet enthusiasts and a group dressed in croquet outfits. Croquet can be played by amateurs of all ages, and is enjoying a national resurgence.  The public is urged to join in reviving this tradition. Croquet attire of the 19th - 21st Century or all white outfits are encouraged but not required.

During the afternoon, croquet courts and equipment will be available. Three buildings on the Gerrit Smith Estate with Heritage New York State Underground Railroad exhibits and the Peterboro Mercantile will be open. The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum will also be open from 1 – 5 p.m.  The daily court fee is $2 per person.   Gerrit Smith Estate tours cost $2 per person.  Ice cream, beverages a 50-50 raffle, boxed lunches and baked goods will also be for sale.

Proceeds from the event support the preservation and promotion of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark which is a site on both the New York State Underground Railroad Heritage Trail and the National Park Service Network to Freedom.  Family Day of Croquet is one of a series of programs provided by the Stewards for the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark during 2011 and partially supported by a PACE grant from the Central New York Community Foundation. For more information on the croquet event contact Lisa Louisa Bryant at 917-578-9674 or at lisalouisabryant@yahoo.com. For a complete listing of programs, contact www.sca-peterboro.com or mail@sca-peterboro.com

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