Michelle Nevius's Blog, page 10

Postcard Thursday: Happy 225th Birthday to the Bill of Rights

New York was only the capital of the United States for a brief time, but a number of important things happened during the city's tenure as the seat of government. Perhaps none is more important than the passage of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights [warning: PDF], primarily written by future president James Madison, was designed to address what were seen as deficiencies in the Constitution, especially among anti-Federalists, who thought the original document ceded too much power to the federal government and didn't do enough to protect individual rights.

The House of Representatives, meeting in Federal Hall on Wall Street (pictured above), actually voted in favor of 17 amendments. By the time the amendments reached the Senate, they'd been combined and rewritten into 12 amendments, which were then passed to the states for ratification. On December 15, 1791 -- 225 years ago today -- Virginia became the final state to agree to 10 of those 12 amendments, putting the Bill of Rights into effect.

What became of the other two amendments passed along two the states?

One, which proposed a system for ensuring that the House of Representatives was never too small and that bolstered the power of less populous states, couldn't garner enough votes for passage. The other amendment, regarding congressional pay raises -- first ratified by Maryland in 1789 -- was finally approved in 1992 and became the 27th Amendment, 201 years after the rest of the Bill of Rights became the law of the land.


Meanwhile, by the time the Bill of Rights had been ratified, Federal Hall was no long the seat of government. A deal between Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton at Jefferson's home on Maiden Lane moved the capital to Philadelphia in 1790 and, ultimately, to Washington DC. The Federal Hall pictured at the top was torn down in 1812 and today's Federal Hall National Memorial (originally the US Custom House, shown here under a blanket of snow during the blizzard of 1888) went up in 1842.

Read more about NYC history in   Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New YorkersInside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

Postcard Thursday: USS Arizona

Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the sinking of the USS Arizona, which now forms the centerpiece of the memorial on Oahu.

Like many naval vessels of that era, the Arizona was manufactured right here in New York City. Here's a photo of its maiden voyage from the Brooklyn Navy Yard on June 19, 1915. She was named for what was then the newest state in the union and was officially commissioned the following year.

The shot below shows her heading up the East River and was taken sometime in 1916. Note the recently completed Municipal Building (far right), the Woolworth Building, and just to the right of the Brooklyn Bridge, the spire of the Singer Building.


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AND DON'T FORGET THIS SUNDAY:

A GUIDED WALK THROUGH
400 YEARS OF NYC HISTORY DOWNTOWN

Sunday, December 11, 2016 | 11am-1pm | $20 per person

Join us in early December for a walk through the heart of the Financial District. Instead of focusing on a narrow period, as we've done on some of our previous walks, this will be an architecture-heavy look at the city's history from its Dutch beginnings through to the new residential skyscrapers that are rising today. (And, yes, Alexander Hamilton will make a cameo appearance.)

From the few remaining examples of the English-colonial period to Beaux-Arts extravagance, this tour has something for everything, and the rich architectural details will be great for photographers, so bring a camera!

Only $20 per person
Please RSVP by emailing WALKNYC@GMAIL.COM with

your name

the number in your party, and

a cell number where you can be reached that day if there's a problem.

We'll send out details of where to meet to everyone who reserves.

Postcard Thursday: Happy Birthday, LGA

Sometimes, there's a method to postponing Postcard Thursday by a day. (At least that's the story to which we are sticking.) For example, today -- December 2 -- is the birthday of New York City's oldest commercial airport, LaGuardia, which opened on this date in 1939.

The famous story is that in 1934,  Mayor Fiorello La Guardia  was flying back from Pittsburgh but refused to disembark from his plane in New Jersey since his ticket read "New York." The airline, TWA, agreed to fly him to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn instead. The whole thing was a publicity stunt, as reporters were waiting in Brooklyn to hear the mayor complain that New York City was losing out by not having a major commercial airport.

Five years later, La Guardia got his wish when the New York Municipal Airport, opened in Flushing, Queens. Almost immediately, the term "La Guardia Field," was attached to the airport, and by 1947 the name was officially attached. Somewhere along the line the space between "La" and "Guardia" was dropped.

The oldest building at the airport is the Marine Air Terminal, a wonderful piece of a WPA-era architecture and well worth a look if you have time to kill when you are next leaving the city.

LGA is currently undergoing a massive renovation, scheduled to be finished by 2021.

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Read more about NYC history in   Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New YorkersInside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

Postcard Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving postcards aren't much of a thing anymore, but in the early decades of the 20th century, there were a ton of slightly bizarre holiday cards to choose from, such as the Pilgrim child above (evidently that shadow behind him is Plymouth Rock), the characters from Longfellow's "Courtship of Miles Standish" (below) depicted as toddlers, or the very patriotic young man at the bottom of this post presumably carting his dinner off to slaughter.

But the Pilgrims are actually a rather late addition to our Thanksgiving holiday. James published a piece yesterday in the Guardian about Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who spearheaded the modern holiday. You can read it at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/24/thanksgiving-origin-liberal-values-sarah-josepha-hale.

* * *On a completely different note: If you are planning to sign up for our December 11 walking tour of Lower Manhattan, you should do so ASAP. The tour is very close to selling out and reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.
Read all about the tour and sign up at: http://blog.insidetheapple.net/2016/11/december-11-walking-tour-400-years-of.html.

* * *ALSO: Happy Evacuation Day!_________________
Read more about NYC history in   Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New YorkersInside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

Walking Tour: December 11 -- 400 Years of NYC History Downtown

A GUIDED WALK THROUGH
400 YEARS OF NYC HISTORY DOWNTOWN

Sunday, December 11, 2016 | 11am-1pm
$20 per personJoin us in early December for a walk through the heart of the Financial District. Instead of focusing on a narrow period, as we've done on some of our previous walks, this will be an architecture-heavy look at the city's history from its Dutch beginnings through to the new residential skyscrapers that are rising today. (And, yes, Alexander Hamilton will make a cameo appearance.)

From the few remaining examples of the English-colonial period to Beaux-Arts extravagance, this tour has something for everything, and the rich architectural details will be great for photographers, so bring a camera!

Only $20 per person

Please RSVP by emailing WALKNYC@GMAIL.COM with
your namethe number in your party, anda cell number where you can be reached that day if there's a problem.We'll send out details of where to meet to everyone who reserves.

Looking forward to seeing you on December 11!

Best wishes,
Michelle and James Nevius

Happy New Year, Teddy Roosevelt

courtesy of the New York Public Library
Postcard Thursday is a little late again; let's just say it's been a long week -- and certainly a historically unprecedented one.

With Donald Trump's election to the presidency on Tuesday, he becomes only the second person born and bred in New York City to be sent to the Oval Office.

The first was Teddy Roosevelt, born on East 20th Street in a house that no longer stands, but which is commemorated by the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Historic site.

Roosevelt was a popular figure during much of his public life, as shown in these fascinating New Year's cards. The one at the top, for 1906, says "Friede auf Erden, den Menschen ein Wohlgfallen," which means "Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men."

The three men pictured, Roosevelt, the Russian Czar, and the Japanese Emperor, had recently negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese War, for which Roosevelt would win the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.

But why is the message in German? If you have any thoughts, please put them in the comments.


A year later, the same company issued its 1907 card, again featuring Teddy Roosevelt, but this time with John D. Rockefeller and prizefighter James Jeffries. Roosevelt had a reputation for getting out of tight spots--even before the famous 1912 assassination attempt against him.

Today, the tradition of sending New Year's cards has waned (even Christmas cards are slowly becoming a piece of history), but perhaps it's due for a revival. What three faces would you choose for a 2017 postcard?

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Read more about NYC history in   Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New YorkersInside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

Postcard Thursday: The Chicago Cubs

Baseball cards from the 1908-09 Chicago Cubs, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art In honor of the historic win by the Chicago Cubs last night -- breaking a 108-year drought -- here are some baseball cards that date back to the last time the Cubs were national champions.


Mordecai Peter Centennial "Three-Finger" Brown was the Cubs' star pitcher. Born in 1876 (hence his second middle name), he had lost two fingers in a farming accident and as a result, pitched an incredible and rarely hittable curveball.

At the end of the 1908 season, it was Brown on the mound when the Cubs beat the New York Giants to win the pennant and thus advance to the World Series, where they beat the Detroit Tigers in five games. It was their second World Series win in a row, and little did the Cubs or their fans know how long it would take for them to be basking in the limelight again after another championship season.

This cards are part of a huge collection of vintage baseball cards held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There are almost always some of the cards on view in the American wing. You have less than two weeks to enjoy the current exhibition, "The Old Ball Game: New York Baseball 1887-1977."

Congratulations, Cubs!



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Read more about NYC history in
 
Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers
Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

Postcard Thursday: Androboros

One of the most action-packed but least talked about periods in New York City history is the era immediately following the English takeover of the city in 1664. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, it seems that there was always someone in the city on the verge of revolt, from the enslaved African population to those citizens who chafed under royal rule. (We write about this era through the perspective of the Delancey family in Footprints in New York.)

In the midst of all this turmoil, Robert Hunter was appointed the royal governor of the colony in 1710. He arrived with 3000 refugees from Germany who he'd promised to resettle in the Hudson Valley, which immediately made him an unpopular figure. (To put this in perspective, New York City's population at the time was probably about 5000 people.)

Hunter locked horns with many figures in New York, perhaps most prominently the Rev. William Vesey, the rector of Trinity Church. At one point, someone broke into the sacristy of the church and befouled the priest's vestments. Vesey blamed Hunter, though no one was ever caught.

Normally, this might be the sort of story we learn about through diaries, or official letters between the governor and his bosses in London. But Robert Hunter, a friend of Jonathan Swift, was also a playwright, and in 1714 he produced the very first play ever published in the American colonies, Androboros ("man eaters"), a thinly veiled satire of his troubles as governor.

The play has never been produced.... 'til now.

On November 4, 5, and 6 -- just in time for the election -- the Peculiar Works Project is staging Androboros in a boxing ring on Bleecker Street. (And it's free!)

Find out more about this production and the play at http://www.peculiarworks.org/androboros2.html.



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Read more about NYC history in

 

Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers

Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

Postcard Thursday: Pocahontas

Pocahontas (Rebecca Rolfe) in 1616What does Pocahontas have to do with New York City, you may ask. More than you might think, since the image above -- drawn in 1616 when she was in England -- was widely distributed and altered European views of what North America was like.

But the reason we're highlighting it today is that James had a travel story in the New York Post on Tuesday about visiting Jamestown, Virginia. You can read it at  http://nypost.com/2016/10/18/uncover-the-400-year-old-secrets-of-pocahontas/

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Read more about NYC history in
 
Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers
Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

Postcard Thursday: Bob Dylan in New York

As you may have heard, Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature this morning, which came as a shock to just about everyone. He is the first musician to be awarded the honor, and while he has long been seen as the leading figure in post-war music in America, this catapults his reputation to "a whole 'nother level."

We have a chapter about Dylan's New York in Footprints in New York, which includes a good precis of his time in the city.

As we write in the book, Dylan was

born as Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, on May 24, 1941; he grew up in the tight-knit Jewish community in Hibbing, his mother’s hometown. After graduating high school in 1959, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota but only lasted one year. While he was there, he tapped into the burgeoning folk scene and began consistently using the stage name Bob Dylan. Having been a rock and roller, Dylan’s musical trajectory changed around this time when he was introduced to the music of Woody Guthrie, which, in Dylan’s words, “made my head spin.” 

In January 1961, he arrived in New York City determined to do two things: perform in Greenwich Village, the center of America’s folk music revival, and meet Woody Guthrie. By the end of his first week, he’d done both. Dylan probably got to the city January 23, the day the front page of the New York Times proclaimed it the “coldest winter in seventeen years,” a line Dylan would borrow for one of his earliest compositions, “Talkin’ New York.” In No Direction Home, Martin Scorsese’s documentary on Dylan’s early career, the singer remembers that first day: “I took the subway down to the Village. I went to the Cafe Wha?, I looked out at the crowd, and I most likely asked from the stage ‘Does anybody know where a couple of people could stay tonight?’” 

Singer-songwriter Fred Neil presided over the bar’s eclectic all-day lineup. Dylan showed his chops by backing up Neil and singer Karen Dalton on the harmonica and was hired to “blow my lungs out for a dollar a day.” 

Immersing himself in the music scene, Dylan soaked up everything he heard, from live acts in the bars and coffee houses south of Washington Square to the records he’d spin at Izzy Young’s Folklore Center down the street from Cafe Wha?. In the meantime he continued to embellish his back story. In No Direction Home, Izzy Young recalls Dylan telling him, “I was born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1941, moved to Gallup, New Mexico; then until now lived in Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, North Dakota (for a little bit). Started playing in carnivals when I was fourteen, with guitar and piano. . . .” 

Later, newspapers picked up the fake biography, writing about the cowboy singer from Gallup. Stretching all the way back to the city’s Dutch pioneers, people have come to New York to reinvent themselves, to cast off their old identities and strike out in new directions. Dylan’s fanciful back story may have been an extreme case, but it was effective.

There's much more in the book --  pick up a copy today !



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Read more about NYC history in
 
Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers
Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City