Proceeds support efforts to preserve historical archives and make them accessible to the public

Brooklyn, NY— On Wednesday May 1, Brooklyn Historical Society (BHS) hosted over 100 guests for the 15^th annual library dinner at its landmark Pierrepont Street building. The Library Dinner raises vital funds in support of Brooklyn Historical Society’s efforts to preserve, digitize and make the collections increasingly available to the public.

The Library Dinner raised $300,000 for the institution’s Othmer Library, a research library comprising special collections, archives and manuscripts, images and oral history collections. This unique collection of Brooklyn and Long Island materials provides important insights into our nation’s history and heritage. Each year, thousands of students, scholars, and other users visit to examine manuscripts, maps, photographs, books, and other materials.

The evening commenced with a cocktail hour in Brooklyn Historical Society’s Great Hall where Tom Finkelpearl, Commissioner of NYC Department of Cultural Affairs gave opening remarks. After cocktails, guests made their way to the Othmer Library where Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams formally welcomed patrons. BHS President Deborah Schwartz made her own remarks and introduced honoree Peter Meyer, Market President for TD Bank. Meyer accepted an award for his many accomplishments and contributions to Brooklyn’s diverse communities and delivered a brief speech before Schwartz invited guests to enjoy dinner. After dining, BHS Chair Jim Rossman introduced this year’s Library Dinner speaker, writer and Pulitzer Prize winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger, for a special presentation on the importance of Brooklyn in his work followed by a brief question and answer.

This year’s event honored Peter Meyer of TD Bank. As Market President for TD Bank in New York City, Peter Meyer is responsible for Commercial, Small Business, Middle Market and not-for-profit Banking. Meyer joined TD in 2002 to execute the bank’s aggressive expansion into the market. During this time, TD has grown to 142 retail stores and has become a major lender to small and middle market companies as well as to not-for-profits and healthcare institutions. Active in the community, Peter is past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Queens Museum, past Chairman of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and continues to serve on the Executive Committees of each organization. He is a trustee of his alma mater St. Joseph College and is active in a number of other local nonprofit and civic organizations.

Paul Goldberger served as the distinguished speaker for the evening. Goldberger is a Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair and served as the Architecture Critic for The New Yorker from 1997 to 2011. He holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School. Goldberger began his career at The New York Times, where in 1984 his architecture criticism was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism. He is author of numerous books, including Why

Architecture Matters. His most forthcoming book, BALLPARK: Baseball in the American City, will be released to the public on May 14. Signed advance copies were provided as a gift to all attendees.

Notable guests in attendance included New York City Council Member for the 40^th District Mathieu Eugene, Schneps Communications CEO Joshua Schneps, and Publisher and Owner of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Dozier Hasty.

About Brooklyn Historical Society Founded in 1863, Brooklyn Historical Society is a nationally recognized urban history center dedicated to preserving and encouraging the study of Brooklyn's extraordinary 400-year history. Located in Brooklyn Heights and housed in a magnificent landmark building designed by George Post and opened in 1881, today's BHS is a cultural hub for civic dialogue, thoughtful engagement and community outreach. In May 2017 BHS opened a second site in DUMBO’s Brooklyn Bridge Park.

William G. Pomeroy Foundation® Now Accepting Online Applications for Signage Grants 

The William G. Pomeroy Foundation, a private, grant-making foundation based in Syracuse, N.Y., will officially open the next grant round of its NYS Historic Marker Grant Program beginning on Monday, April 29. The program commemorates historic people, places or things during the years 1740 to 1919. Grants cover the entire cost of the historic marker, pole and shipping.

The current grant round is available in the following New York State counties: Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond (Region 1); Nassau and Suffolk (Region 2); and Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester (Region 3).

One of the Pomeroy Foundation’s main initiatives is to help people celebrate their community’s history through a variety of signage grant programs, including its NYS Historic Marker Grant Program, as well as its Legends & Lore® Marker Grant Program and National Register Signage Grant Program.

The NYS Historic Marker Grant Program is open to all 501(c)(3) organizations, municipalities and nonprofit academic institutions in New York State. Interested individuals are encouraged to contact an eligible local organization, such as a municipal historian or historical society. They will often apply for the grant on behalf of the individual.

Those interested in applying for a marker grant should submit their online Letter of Intent to verify primary sources by Friday, June 14. The final application deadline is due Monday, July 8. To apply for a grant or review application guidelines, visit the Foundation’s NYS Historic Marker Grant Program page. A complete grant schedule by region is also available on the Pomeroy Foundation website. The site also features a digital map of all the markers and plaques that have been funded. 

About the Pomeroy Foundation
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation is a private foundation established in 2005. The Foundation is committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and to raising awareness, supporting research and improving the quality of care for patients and their families who are facing a blood cancer diagnosis. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than 800 grants for historic signage in New York State and beyond. Visit:www.wgpfoundation.org

What visitation trends have you seen at your site over the last few years? 

Your response is critical:

Have you received an Erie Canalway Grant? Have you never applied for this grant, but want to learn more? Do you have funding needs that you’d like Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor to consider? Staff at Erie Canalway wants to hear your feedback on how they can improve their grant program.

Grants discussion sessions:

• Rochester - Tuesday, April 23, 2pm, Rochester Museum & Science Center
• Chittenango - Thursday, April 25, 2:30pm, Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum
• Waterford - Thursday, May 2, 2pm, Peebles Island State Park Visitor Center

Please contact Andy Kitzmann for additional information and to RSVP: andy_kitzmann@partner.nps.gov.

Due to popular demand, the exhibition "Last Days of the Last Tsar" at the Russian History Museum in Jordanville, NY, has been extended until May 17. The exhibition is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the tragic death of Russia's last monarch, Tsar Nicholas II, and his family. 

On the night of July 17, 1918, Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, their five children, and four loyal attendants were led to the basement of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Siberia. There they were brutally murdered by their Bolshevik captors. "Last Days of the Last Tsar" narrates the events leading up to this grim finale and portrays the family whose life and tragic fate have fascinated the world for a century. This is the first exhibition in North America dedicated exclusively to the final months of Nicholas II and his family.

Drawn from the rich museum, archival and library collections of the Russian History Foundation, the exhibition highlights the unique objects and documents collected by Nikolai Sokolov during the 1918-1919 investigation of the imperial family’s murder. The Foundation’s artefacts are supplemented by loans from a dozen U.S. collections, which range from splendid coronation gifts and luxurious objets d’art by Fabergé to modest personal effects found during Sokolov’s investigation. After being dispersed for a century, these objects are brought together, many of them displayed for the first time.

The exhibition is also the first to publicly present recent findings of a DNA analysis conducted by the FBI that shed light upon the ongoing investigation into the identification of the remains of Nicholas II, his family, and their attendants.

For information on visiting the exhibition and the Russian History Museum, please visit www.russianhistoryfoundation.org.

NEH guidelines are now available for Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants!

Awards up to $750,000 in federal matching funds support capital expenditures, equipment & software, collections preservation & conservation, and existing digital infrastructure. These grants have a fundraising component and offer special encouragement to projects addressing the 250^th anniversary of American independence and those from HBCUs, HSIs, TCUs, and community colleges. Optional drafts reviewed if sent by April 3.

Questions welcome at challenge@neh.gov or 202-606-8309.

Deadline: May 15.

The William G. Pomeroy Foundation® has officially opened the next grant round of its NYS Historic Marker Grant Program, which commemorates historic people, places or things during the years 1740 to 1918. A grant covers the entire cost of the historic marker, pole and shipping.

This grant round is available in the following New York State counties: Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Schuyler, Tioga, and Tompkins (Region 10); Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, and Yates (Region 11); and Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming (Region 12).

The Pomeroy Foundation is a private, grant-making foundation based in Syracuse, N.Y. One of its main initiatives is helping people celebrate their community’s history through a variety of signage grant programs, including its NYS Historic Marker Grant Program, as well as its newly launched National Women’s Suffrage Marker Program and the Historic Transportation Canals Marker Grant Program.

The NYS Historic Marker Grant Program is open to all municipalities, nonprofit academic institutions and 501(c)(3) organizations in New York State. Interested individuals are encouraged to contact an eligible local organization, such as a municipal historian or historical organization. They will often apply for the grant on behalf of the individual.

Those interested in applying for a marker grant should submit their Letter of Intent to verify primary sources by Monday, March 4, 2019. The final application deadline is Monday, April 1, 2019. To apply for a grant or review application guidelines, visit the Foundation’s NYS Historic Marker Grant Program page. A complete grant schedule by region is also available on the website. Visit the Foundation’s Historic Signage Grant Programs page for information about its new women’s suffrage and historic canal programs.

About the Pomeroy Foundation
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation is a private foundation established in 2005. The Foundation is committed to supporting the celebration and preservation of community history; and to raising awareness, supporting research and improving the quality of care for patients and their families who are facing a blood cancer diagnosis. To date, the Foundation has awarded nearly 800 grants for historic signage in New York State and beyond. Visit: www.wgpfoundation.org

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Steve Bodnar
Communications Manager
William G. Pomeroy Foundation
steve@wgpfoundation.org
315-913-4068

Small Museums Scholarships

2019 AASLH Annual Meeting and Online Conference

Philadelphia, PA

DEADLINE: 15 May 2019

The American Association for State and Local History will hold its Annual Meeting and Online Conference in Philadelphia, PA from 28-31 August 2019. This year’s theme, What Are We Waiting For?,examines the personal, communal, and organizational journeys that lead to vibrancy, authenticity, social change and sustainability. 

Unfortunately, many working in our nation’s small museums feel as if we can only dream of attending this meeting. In a perfect world, boards would grant every request to fund our professional development. Institutions of modest means, however, may not have the resources to help us become effective stewards of our community’s memory.

Websites, listservs, and social media constantly offer new sources of technical and psychological support, but nothing is better than sharing challenges, strategies and successes face-to-face. Every year, increasing numbers of Annual Meeting sessions address issues specifically affecting small museums. These sessions can be as practical and wide-ranging as training, marketing, and strategic planning. Other sessions focus on creative ways to forge and re-energize relationships with the surrounding community.

Now in its fourteenth year, AASLH’s Small Museums Committee is offering scholarships to any AASLH members who are full-time, part-time, paid, or volunteer employees of small museums. Each $700 scholarship will cover the cost of both the conference registration and the Small Museums luncheon. Any remaining funds may be used to offset travel and/or lodging expenses. Recipients, though, must submit a post to the AASLH blog, Big Ideas for Small Museums, about their Annual Meeting experience.

To qualify, the applicant must work for a museum with a budget of $250,000 or less. They also must either be an individual AASLH member or work for an institutional member. Application forms are available at www.aaslh.org

The deadline for applications is 15 May. The committee will email award winners by 1 June. For questions, please contact Bruce Teeple, Small Museum Scholarship Subcommittee Chair at mongopawn44@hotmail.com, or Aja Bain, AASLH Program and Publications Coordinator, at abain@aaslh.org

_{ASCHS Changes Its Name to Long Island Historical Societies}

SOUTHAMPTON, NY. Reflecting the expansion of its services and territory, the Association of Suffolk County Historical Societies (ASCHS) has officially changed its name to Long Island Historical Societies. Permission for the name change and territory was recently received from the New York State Board of Regents.

The organization was founded by Robert David Lion Gardiner in 1969 focusing on Suffolk County historical societies. In 2018, the organization’s Board of Trustees developed and approved a new strategic plan expanding its services and geographic reach. The name change was approved by the Board of Trustees reflecting this plan and following a survey of its membership.

“Our expanded mission will aim to preserve local history, landmarks and historical buildings by supporting coordinating and unifying the historical societies located throughout Long Island” said Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, president of the Board of the Long Island Historical Societies and executive director of the Eastville Community Center.

“Robert David Lion Gardiner had a great respect for Long Island’s historic stewards. When he founded ASCHS it was to recognize their efforts. Today with the name change to Long Island Historical Societies, Robert Gardiner’s original vision has expanded to be more inclusive and focused on the growth and success of these organizations,” said Kathryn M. Curran, vice president of the Board and the executive director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

Howard Kroplick, a trustee of the Long Island Historical Societies, town historian of North Hempstead and president of the Roslyn Landmark Society said; “I am very excited about the name change since its better reflects our membership and our goal to serve as a resource hub throughout Long Island, while promoting its history.”