November 2010

The Fenton History Center is a community resource for people of all ages from the pre-school child just learning to read to the senior citizen who still finds something new to learn each day. The resources (collection, library/archives and educational resources) and services (exhibits, research assistance and educational programming) found at the FHC are tied to community interests and reflect what the community cares about. The FHC will continue to develop innovative methods of meeting community interests and priorities- such as the Junior Historians, History Club, Adult History Club and Genealogy Support Group - while continuing to serve as an educational resource for children and adults, a place for families to enjoy together, and a part of the community's heritage.

At the 51st State Firemen's Convention held in Hudson in 1923, a resolution signed by the Presidents and Secretaries of both the Volunteer Firemen's Association and the Exempt Firemen's Association of the City of New York said that if the State Association of the Firemen's Home would authorize the erection of a suitable building for a museum, four fire engines, one built in England in 1725, a Gooseneck more than one hundred years old, a piano-style engine 63 years old and a double-deck engine, would all be donated as the first pieces.

Through its museum, research library, and public programs, the society seeks to provide opportunities for people to encounter human kin across time to make connections between the past and present.

It has operated almost continuously since the early lake port days, making it one of the longest lived structures in town.

The corridor stretches 524 miles across the full expanse of upstate New York. It encompasses the navigable waterways that make up the New York State Canal System, including the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Oswego, and Champlain Canals, as well as their historic alignments, and the 234 cities, towns, and villages that touch the canal system.

A gallery full of participatory exhibits gives visitors a look at canal life and promotes hands-on learning. The museum has three special exhibits each year that draw on its nationally renowned artifact collection and historical research. Museum tours and specialty programs for all age groups are developed to entertain as well as educate. A variety of school programs are also offered by the museum.

Through changing exhibitions and an array of engaging public programs, the Rubin Museum of Art offers opportunities to explore the artistic legacy of the Himalayan region and to appreciate its place in the context of world cultures.

The RMA collection consists of paintings, sculptures, and textiles. Although works of art range in date over two millennia, most reflect major periods and schools of Himalayan art from the 12th century onward.

The exhibitions are organized with particular care to assist viewers who are new to Himalayan art. Wall texts and interpretive panels supply aesthetic, social, and historical perspectives to both scholars and casual viewers. The ExploreArt Galleries on the 3rd and 5th floors (with a video alcove on the 6th floor) take the viewer behind the scenes, answering questions about why and for whom the art was made. Books, paintings, photographs, artifacts, and computer terminals accessing the museum's website and affiliated sites offer other examples of Himalayan and related art.

Jews have lived in the South since the late 17th century. As late as 1820, more Jews lived in Charleston, South Carolina than in New York City. Jews have been an important part of the South ever since they first arrived. The ISJL History Department is actively collecting information and documents relating to every Southern Jewish community that has ever existed.

The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience collects artifacts, photographs, art, and manuscripts to tell this story through oral histories, research, exhibitions, and community programs. The collection, which includes synagogue architectural elements, furnishings, stained glass, sculpture, a historic pipe organ, ceremonial objects, and textiles, reflects both Jewish and southern culture. The Museum currently uses two historically significant sites to tell the story as well as to create community and cultural centers for a variety of programs.

The East Hampton Historical Society is the parent organization for a complex of five museums, national landmark historic sites, and workshop facilities of both local and national importance: Mulford Farm and Barn, Town House, Osborn-Jackson House, Clinton Academy, and East Hampton Town Marine Museum.

The society, in addition to maintaining the structural integrity of these historic buildings, interprets the social and natural history of the area through exhibits, living history programs, publications, tours, lectures, and workshops.

Among the more popular exhibits at the museum are the Fresnel lenses. The Second Order Fresnel lens is shown on the right. Second Order lenses, especially in this condition, are uncommon. In the photo you can see that this was a fixed, as opposed to rotating, light. The middle of the lens is a band that emits a solid sheet of light, rather than a bulls eye which would emit a flash from a rotating optic. The lens served at the Little Gull Island lighthouse from 1869 until 1995.