New York Almanack

The American Revolutionary Committee System: 1765-1775

Guest Contributor — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:00:12 +0000

During the controversies over the enforcement of the Navigation Acts, the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765, committees were created in New York to correspond with those of other colonies and to contrive means of opposing those measures. Similar committees were organized elsewhere.

The Townshend Acts of 1767 reawakened the disturbance occasioned by the Stamp Act and furnished a renewed occasion for protests through committees.

These Acts provided (1) that customs officers should be sent to America to collect the duties; (2) that new customs duties should be placed on glass, paints, tea etc.; (3) that writs of assistance were legal; and (4) that concessions to the East India Company should enable it to sell tea in America at a price low enough to drive out smuggled tea.

Canadian Travel to US Down for 15th Straight Month

North Country Public Radio — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 17:00:17 +0000

Canadians continue to curb their enthusiasm for American booze and travel, with no end in sight.

Canadian travel to the U.S. is down for the 15th straight month, when President Donald Trump began his tariff war against Canada, and his rhetoric about the country becoming the 51st state.

Ordinary Canadians have been fighting back in the ways they can, choosing to vacation at home and choosing not to buy American products, especially booze.

19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers

Editorial Staff — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:00:48 +0000

The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 19 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

The nominations include a nineteenth-century church in Jefferson County that developed and promoted Universalism in Upstate New York, a pre-Revolutionary War house owned by seven generations of the Hulse family on Long Island’s North Shore, and additional documentation for New York City’s Hotel Chelsea recognizing its significance as a center of LGBTQ cultural and creative life.

Songs of Slavery and Emancipation Concert

Editorial Staff — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:00:15 +0000

The Abolition Hall of Fame will host “Singing a Journey of Freedom: Songs of Slavery and Emancipation Concert” in Utica, NY on June 16th.

Led by Dr. Kathy Bullock, the concert features the duo Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore, and the Jubalo Singers performing works drawn from the Songs of Slavery and Emancipation project — a book, CD, and film by Mat Callahan, about songs of resistance, hope, and freedom composed more than a century ago and arranged for modern audiences.

George Foster Peabody and Lake George

Anthony F. Hall — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:00:48 +0000

Glen Underwood, the author of the recently published Discovering George Foster Peabody (Abenia Cottage Press, 2025) was at the Lake George Historical Association recently to discuss the life and legacy of the banker and philanthropist. The program included the unveiling of a portrait of Peabody that will hang in the museum.

Appropriately enough, the museum overlooks Shepard Park, named in honor of Peabody’s close friend, Brooklyn politician Edward Morse Shepard (1850-1911).

The 1922 ‘Shifters’ Moral Panic

Dave Waite — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 16:00:42 +0000

With the 19th Amendment offering greater rights for women, and the nation’s economy recovering from the First World War, the Roaring Twenties opened the door for young and old alike to shake off the Victorian Era restraints of the previous century. This was the era when women were “flappers,” and their men “sheiks.” It also gave rise to the speakeasy and to jazz. It was a time when numerous crazes, such as flagpole sitting and a dance called the Charleston, swept the country.

Workers Unearth Mysterious Cannonballs in Lake George

Joseph W. Zarzynski — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 13:30:42 +0000

The Williams Monument lies several miles south of the head of Lake George along Route 9. On September 21, 1921, workers digging a hole for a sign near the obelisk revealed five cannonballs believed to date to the French & Indian War (1754–1763).

Following the unexpected discovery, made in 20 inches of soil, the laborers refilled the excavation. They then dug a post-hole in a different spot.

Melvin J. Ball, described in the September 30, 1921 Salem Press newspaper issue as a “Glens Falls collector,” heard of the find and went to the historic marker.

New Eyes on Alice Austen: Queering the Museum

Editorial Staff — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 11:00:34 +0000

Staten Island photographer Elizabeth Alice Austen (1866–1952) is best known for her street photography and intimate depictions of women’s lives and relationships in the Victorian era.

“New Eyes on Alice Austen,” a groundbreaking permanent exhibition at the Alice Austen House Museum finally puts her into an appropriate LGBTQ+ history context with respect denied her during her lifetime.

From the mid-1890s to 1912, Austen worked photographing the equipment and conditions at the Quarantine Station of Ellis Island.

Driftwood Sculptor Caitlin Roben’s Artistic Evolution

Wendy Hobday Haugh — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 18:00:35 +0000

If you’ve always been drawn to the timeless beauty of driftwood, you’ll surely appreciate the exquisite elegance of Hope Falls (in northern Fulton County, NY) artist Caitlin Roben’s driftwood sculptures. Roben’s work embodies the alluring mystique that beachcombers and river walkers alike savor when they stumble upon a piece of aged wood, worn smooth by the forces of nature.

A lifelong driftwood scavenger, Roben grew up on the banks of the Mohawk River in Glenville, Schenectady County.

Forest Rangers Recover Body, Make Several Rescues of Lost, Injured, Unprepared

Editorial Staff — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 17:00:33 +0000

More hikers in the woods and nicer weather led to several NYS Forest Ranger missions to rescue injured, lost, or unprepared people in the backcountry of the Adirondacks, Catskills, and elsewhere around New York. They also recovered a man’s body in the Croghan Tract Conservation Easement in Lewis County.

Other missions included two unprepared hikers on Giant Mountain; a tired 52-year-old at Remsen Falls; lost hikers in Moreau Lake State Park and Balsam Lake Wild Forest; a stranded paddler on Thirteenth Lake; and a late night rescue of a hiker who dislocated their knee when they slipped in the mud on Tabletop Mountain in the High Peaks.