Schenectady County Historical Society

Wintertide Tours
2020-12-10 14:00 - 15:30, 2020-12-11 14:00 - 15:30, 2020-12-17 14:00 - 15:30, 2020-12-18 14:00 - 15:30, 2020-12-23 14:00 - 15:30, 2020-12-23 16:00 - 17:30 (America/New_York)
December 10, 11, 17, 18, & 23 at 2pm or 4pm @ Mabee Farm Historic Site
Enjoy the spectacularly decorated Mabee House this season. It’s, warm, cozy, and will be filled with good cheer. During Wintertide Tours of the farm, our expert guide will show you around Schenectady’s oldest home, and discuss what life was like for 18th century farmers during the year’s very darkest month.
Masks are required. Cost, $10 per person (free for members, but registration still required), tickets at schenectadyhistorical.org/programs.

All SCHS Sites Closed
2020-12-24 - 2020-12-25, 2020-12-31 - 2021-01-01
Closed for the Holidays!

A Mabee Christmas Carol CANCELLED
2020-12-30 15:00 - 17:00, 2021-01-02 15:00 - 17:00
Humans have long celebrated the winter solstice, greeting the year’s longest night with songs, drinks, and merriment. From the pagan rituals of Yuletide to the trimmings of modern Christmas, we’ll explore the history of the holidays from the perspective of Mabee Farm. The house, properly decked in festive decor by the Hugh Platt Garden Club will be open for tours from 3-5pm, and at 4pm, we’ll feature a special performance of historic carols sung by our very own Schenectady Historical Wassailers. Each ticket includes a warm drink of wassail (for adults) or hot chocolate (for kids), best enjoyed around the campfire.
This is an outdoor performance and will be properly socially distanced- be sure to dress warm! Masks are required. Cost, $6 per person, tickets at schenectadyhistorical.org/programs

Virtual Talk: Dr. William Griswold - Archaeology at Saratoga Battlefield
2021-01-21 19:00 - 20:30
The Battles of Saratoga in 1777 gave a decisive victory to the Americans in the Revolutionary War. Nearly 250 years later, we’re still learning about the details of this turning point in the fight for independence. In 2019 the National Park Service and its partners undertook a study at the Barber Wheatfield, Saratoga National Historical Park, where the second battle of Saratoga started. Team Lead Dr. William Griswold will share results of the project.
This program is free for members, or $5. Pre-registration is required, and a link to the Google Meet will be emailed out in advance of the program. Please register or purchase tickets by visiting www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs

Resilient Schenectady
2021-02-06 - 2021-02-07
Resilient Schenectady
February 6-7, the Stockade and online
The weekend we’ll commemorate 1690’s fiery massacre, while lighting our way, one candle at a time, to an even better future in a very special place: The Stockade of Schenectady.
In 1690, Schenectady’s first church was destroyed as the village burned. Attackers killed Domine Petrus Tessemacher, along with neighbors attending his engagement party. Each year in February, First Reformed Church observes this Heritage and, alongside the Stockade Association and SCHS, invites all neighbors to join in this shared experience.
Saturday, February 6:
In the evening (5-8pm), luminaries will glow throughout Schenectady’s Stockade, and we invite participants to build snowmen and stroll this historic neighborhood. Self-guided walking tours of the neighborhood are available through the izi.travel app.
Sunday, February 7:
You can worship virtually with the First Reformed Church as they dedicate new framed prints of the four Native American Sachems (and church members). Later, historians John Gearing and Chris Leonard will discuss the recent release of “Schenectady Genesis, Volume II.” We’ll end the weekend with 5pm Heritage Jazz Vespers: jazz with stories and poems that reflect on Schenectady’s heritage of resilience, including the tale of Domine Petrus Tessemacher’s engagement party. All at www.1streformed.com

Virtual Talk: Scots-Irish Revolutionaries of Corry’s Brook (Currybush)
2021-02-06 14:00 - 15:00
Local Scots-Irish settlers were highly rebellious toward British rule, and, almost to a person, fought for the Rebel American side during the American Revolution. Terry McMaster is an independent historian whose research focuses on the American Revolution in the Mohawk Valley and on the settlement patterns, family connections, and border warfare along colonial New York’s western frontier in the 18th century.

This event will be held via Zoom. Admission is $5 or free for SCHS members. All participants should register at www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs

Virtual Talk: Becoming a “Nation of Statesmen: The Mohicans' Incorporation into the Iroquois League
2021-02-10 18:00 - 20:00
Join Dr. Evan Haefeli for an expert look at Mohican and Iroquois relations in the 1670s. Using oral traditions alongside the documentary record, Dr. Haefeli uncovered a little known peace forged between the Mohicans and the Iroquois League on the eve of King Philip’s War. The resulting alliance altered the regional balance of power and provided the foundation for Mohican diplomacy for the next century and a half.

Dr. Evan Haefeli is Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M University, whose work has ranged from the frontier between New France and New England, to early Native American history, obscure revolts in colonial New York, book publishing in colonial America, and religious toleration New Netherland. He is currently finishing a book for the University of Chicago Press on the politics of religious toleration and English overseas expansion from 1497-1688, and editing a volume of essays entitled Anti-Catholicism: The Anglo-American Experience c. 1600-1850.

This event will be held via Zoom. Admission is $5 or free for SCHS members. All participants should register at www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs

Virtual Talk: "Fearing too great a Correspondency”: The 1690 Schenectady Massacre and Jacob Leisler
2021-02-17 19:00 - 20:00
What is the relationship between Leisler’s Rebellion and the 1690 Schenectady Massacre? In the 17th century rebellion, merchant and militia captain Jacob Leisler seized control of southern New York. As his power expanded north to Albany, Leisler called for elections at Schenectady in January 1690. However, the next month, invaders burned Schenectady and massacred its people. How is this all connected?

Dr. David William Voorhees is the Director of the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, and managing Editor of de Halve Maen. His published works include The Concise Dictionary of American History (1983), The Holland Society: A Centennial History 1885-1985 (1985) as well as numerous articles on late seventeenth-century New York. He is currently a consultant to Historic Hudson and Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz, NY. In 2010 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands presented Dr. Voorhees with knighthood in the Order of Orange Nassau.

This event will be held via Zoom. Admission is $5 or free for SCHS members. All participants should register at www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs

SOLD OUT Mabee Maple Day
2021-02-27 10:00 - 12:00
As winter cold begins to recede, the ground unfreezes and the sap starts to run. On a New York farm, the first harvest of the year was always maple syrup. In this family-friendly program, you’ll learn the process for yourself from colonial techniques to later innovations. Each ticket holder will receive a syrup sample to take home
COVID safety will be observed and face masks will be required at all times. This is an outdoor event so be prepared for winter temperatures.
Pre-Registration Required. Tickets are $10/person, for adults and kids 4+. Members are free.
This event is sold out.

Virtual Talk: An Upright Stockade and a Small Breastwork: Fortifications in New Netherland
2021-02-27 14:00 - 15:00
Dr. Jaap Jacobs is a Professor in the University of St Andrews History Department with a specialization in the history of the Dutch Republic and its colonies. Dr. Jacobs has written several books, his most recent is “The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America.” Dr. Jacobs is currently working on a biography on Petrus Stuyvesant. He’ll discuss colonial fortifications from Kingston, NY northwards, ending with Schenectady.

This is a virtual program, which is free for SCHS members, otherwise $5. Registration is at www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs. A Zoom link will be emailed to all registrants prior to the virtual program

The Seneca Nation and the Kinzua Dam
2021-03-18 19:00 - 20:00
Dr. Jason Corwin will give a talk on the Kinzua Dam and its effects on the Seneca Nation. Jason will provide a timeline of the Seneca, from their creation in the Finger Lakes to their eventual settlement along the Ohi:yo’ (Allegheny River) to the creation of the Kinzua Dam and its after-effects. Questions are encouraged.
Dr. Jason Corwin (Seneca Nation, Deer Clan) is the Executive Director of the Seneca Media & Communications Center, as well as a member of the Seneca Nation’s Watershed Resources Working Group, COVID Response Task Force, and Climate Change Task Force. He has worked extensively as a both a community and university-based media and environmental educator. Jason earned a PhD in Natural Resources from Cornell University, is the co-founder of the community organizations Defend Ohi:yo’ and Sustainable Indigenous Futures, and has produced many documentaries on Seneca, Indigenous, and social justice topics. He enjoys spending his time outdoors hunting for edible and medicinal mushrooms, deer, and photos of the night sky.

Virtual Talk: The Wider World of Early Schenectady
2021-03-24 19:00 - 20:00
Dr. L.H. Roper is a Professor in the SUNY New Paltz department of history, whose research focuses on early America. He’ll discuss the wider world of early Schenectady, touching on the culture and politics that influenced the colonial town.

Dr. Roper’s many publications include seven books on early America, including “The Seventeenth-Century Worlds of the Hudson Valley” and “Constructing Early Modern Empires: Proprietary Colonies in the Atlantic World, 1500-1750,” as well as myriad scholarly articles, the most recent of which are “Fear and the Genesis of the English Empire in America” in Fear and the Shaping of Early American Societies (2016) and “The Fall of New Netherland and Seventeenth-Century Anglo-American Imperial Formation” in The New England Quarterly (2014). Dr. Roper is also the Chair of the Scholarly Advisory Board at Historic Huguenot Street, and serves on the boards of several institutes studying early American history.

This is a virtual program, which is free for SCHS members, otherwise $5. Registration is at www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs. A Zoom link will be emailed to all registrants prior to the virtual program

Virtual Talk: "America's First Freedom Rider: Elizabeth Jennings, Chester A. Arthur, and the Early Fight for Civil Rights"
2021-04-07 19:00 - 20:00
When Elizabeth Jennings refused to step off a bus for “whites”, she was assaulted by the bus’ conductor and a NY police officer. In 1855, the Elizabeth Jennings v. Third Avenue Rail Road case was settled. Seeking $500 in damages, the jury stunned the courtroom with a $250 verdict in Lizzie’s favor. Future US president Chester A. Arthur (and Union College graduate) was Jennings’ attorney and their lives would be forever onward intertwined. This is the story of Jennings, Arthur, the struggle for equality, and race relations. It’s the history of America at its most despicable and most exhilarating. Yet few historians know of Elizabeth Jennings or how her momentous victory over the Third Avenue Railroad gave birth to the freedoms that are the underpinning of the civil and gender rights movements that are still a battlefront today.
Jerry Mikorenda’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Newsday, The Boston Herald, and The Gotham Center History Blog. His debut biography America’s First Freedom Rider: Elizabeth Jennings, Chester A. Arthur, and the Early Fight for Civil Rights was published in 2020. Jerry has appeared on Live with Pat Kiernan on NY1 discussing Freedom Rider and various podcasts such as NPR’s Cityscape, BYU’s Constant Wonder, and The Author’s Show. His historical novel, The Whaler’s Daughter will be published by Regal House Publishing this summer. He is a graduate of the University at Albany and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School.

Virtual Talk and Annual Meeting: Enslavement and the Dual Nature of Early New York's Homes"
2021-04-22 19:00 - 20:00
Across New York State eighteenth-century houses like the Mabee Farm remind us of the state’s Dutch American history. These homes are often considered symbols of family, domesticity, and security. Yet, for the men, women, and children who were enslaved in these homes, these were spaces of forced labor, violence, and enslavement. This talk will explore this dual nature of the home.
Dr. Andrea Mosterman is Associate Professor of history at The University of New Orleans, specializing in Atlantic and Early American History. She is currently working on a manuscript that examines exchanges and interactions between African and Dutch descendants in Early New York. Her broader research explores the multi-faceted dimensions of slavery, the slave trade, and cross-cultural contact in the Early Modern Dutch Atlantic. She has published in, among others, The Journal of African History.

This is a virtual program, which is free for SCHS members, otherwise $5. Registration is at www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs. A Zoom link will be emailed to all registrants prior to the virtual program

Family Program: Mabee Young Farmers Day
2021-04-24 10:00 - 13:00, 2021-05-01 10:00 - 13:00
April 24 & May 1 at 10am @ Mabee Farm | $8/child
It’s time for the first planting of the year and we need all the help we can get! In this program we’ll learn how generations of kids would help their parents grow the food they needed to survive. We’ll start with seeds in our own garden and end with a baked treat to enjoy. A real farm to table experience!
Preregistration required: www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs

In and Out of Control: Fashion's Role in Alternative Communities with Sarah Byrd
2021-05-08 19:00 - 20:00
Fashion is not just the clothing shown on runways, featured in magazines, and worn by celebrities. How we dress ourselves every day can follow, or flout, the spoken and unspoken rules of society. Fashion is an important component in understanding how people express freedom and restraint, especially in cases of strict regulations and deliberate rebellions. If we look beyond the styles of mainstream America and towards alternative spiritual communities, both historically notable ones such as the Shakers and the Oneida Community, and more contemporary communities, a richer history of how clothing communicates cultural values emerge.

This virtual program celebrates the opening of our new exhibition, “Redesigning Fashion: Transgression and Identity in Women’s Historic Dress.” To register, please visit www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs.

Sarah Byrd is a fashion historian, archivist, & educator. She received her BA from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and MA in Fashion and Textile Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Sarah currently teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology and New York University.

Walking Tour: The Stockade Beyond the Pines
2021-05-12 18:00 - 19:30, 2021-05-15 16:00 - 17:30
May 12 at 6pm @ 32 Washington | $11
May 15 at 4pm @ 32 Washington | $11
This walking tour takes us back to a land you may know but a world that’s unrecognizable. In the 17th century, Schenectady sat at the crossroads of many competing empires, where European colonists met native American nations. Come see how our city’s story began!
Preregistration required: www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs

Mohicans, Constantly in Motion: Mapping the Mohicans' Various Settlements from 900 CE to Today
2021-05-12 19:00 - 20:00
The word Muh-he-con-ni-tuk means ‘river that ebb and flow, constantly in motion.” Such could also be said about the Mohicans themselves, especially in the 1600s. In this multi-media presentation, Evan Pritchard will take us inside the “floating castles” of the three Mohican clan chiefs, Aepjin, Unawat, and Monnemin, of “Mohican Proper.” (Though these fortified cities or “castles” didn’t actually float in the air, they were so mobile that in today’s volunteering language, they might be called “floaters.”) We will explore their influence over the various “nine nations” of the Mohican confederacy, also rather mobile, each honoring three clans; bear, turtle and wolf. From there, we will follow archaeological footprints back to 900 CE, to the upper Delaware River valley, and then to the Schoharie Valley of 1300 CE to trace the eastward contraction of the Mohicans, and the origins of their wandering ways. Discussion to follow.
Evan Pritchard is the founder and director of the Center for Algonquin Culture, and a former Professor of Native American history at Marist College. His published books include “Native New Yorkers,” and “Henry Hudson and the Algonquins of New York: European Discovery, Native American Prophecy.” Since 1990, his work helping Algonquin elders and bringing their message to the media has helped thousands of people gain a better understanding of this great civilization and its teachings. He lectures frequently around the United States, sharing storytelling, traditional and contemporary songs, and bi-lingual poetry.

Family Program: Colonial Kids Saturdays
2021-05-15 10:00 - 13:00
May 15, June 5 & June 12 at 10am @ Mabee Farm | $8/child
On these special dates, the Mabee Farm will be open just for kids! Tour the entirety of our farm with special demonstrations of colonial crafts. Butter making, barn-building, blacksmithing and meeting the farm animals are just some of the activities available.
Preregistration required: www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs

Walking Tour: Revolutionary Schenectady
2021-05-19 18:00, 2021-05-22 16:00
May 19 at 6pm @ 32 Washington | $11
May 22 at 4pm @ 32 Washington | $11
The American Revolution is, of course, a pivotal moment in the history of our city and our nation. And while the generation of ‘76 looms large in our memory, the complex issues of the day often get lost over time. Come explore a conflict that sundered families and communities alike. What does it mean to be a Patriot?
Preregistration required: www.schenectadyhistorical.org/programs
