We are excited to announce that our company OnCell has acquired Authentic, a New Zealand-based company which develops My Tours and STQRY, a respected competitor in the mobile tour app technology space. As many of you may know, OnCell pioneered the first self-guided mobile tour platform for cultural sites and historic destinations, and allows organizations to offer their visitors immersive educational experiences using their smartphones and tablets. We have been a proud MANY partner and supporter through the years and are excited to offer members more options to create and support their mobile projects.

Over the past decade, OnCell and My Tours have both succeeded at building innovative mobile tour app technology solutions designed to meet the changing needs of museums, parks, attractions, cities, and historic sites of all sizes. With location-based mobile tour delivery, native and web apps, hands-free touring, gaming, and beacons, we both have consistently evolved our platforms as new technologies became available, furthering our commitment to provide cutting-edge products for our clients.

The acquisition strengthens OnCell’s position as a leader in the self-guided mobile tour app space, significantly increases our global presence, and expands our commitment to support hundreds of organizations in their efforts to engage and educate visitors.

OnCell was founded by entrepreneur Thomas Dunne, who has served as Chief Executive Officer and President since OnCell’s inception in 2006. Dunne, with over 25 years of experience in application development, telecommunications, and sales, has grown OnCell to a team of nearly 20 employees.

“This is an exciting time for OnCell. We are thrilled to add Authentic’s brands to our portfolio and welcome both their team and clients,” said Thomas Dunne. “Together, our innovative technologies will keep us ahead in the market, offering an unrivaled product and feature set.”

My Tours was founded by technologist Glen Barnes in 2009. In recent years, Barnes, worked to acquire two additional competitors, and formed Authentic as an umbrella company in 2016. Authentic currently powers three different platforms designed for the cultural and heritage space – My Tours, STQRY, and Curtis.

“We are delighted to be joining the OnCell team,” said Glen Barnes. “Our international client base along with OnCell’s strong US presence creates a powerful worldwide footprint and means we will achieve global scale quicker. The combined product suite will allow us to pick the best solution for our customers, from small museums to the world’s major cities. On a personal note, I am super excited to focus on continually enhancing our clients’ experiences, as Chief Product Officer of OnCell.” 

Dunne will remain President and CEO of OnCell and Barnes will continue to play a vital role in the new company structure as Chief Product Officer, working alongside Dunne on the leadership team, as well as managing a team of engineers. Dunne plans to keep the current My Tours team to support the New Zealand office.

“Our people are core to OnCell’s success. It is their expertise, desire to push boundaries, and passion to ship great products which allows us to expand our technology and keep us ahead in the market. We are elated to have Authentic’s team join our family,” added Dunne.

With Authentic’s portfolio of brands, OnCell can now provide even more services to support cultural and historic sites. In addition to mobile tours, with their platform Curtis, OnCell can now offer collection management tools and an innovative mobile app that allows anyone to discover educational content about fascinating destinations across the world.

Combined, we now power thousands of projects for our clients, delivering stories and interpretation to over ten plus million visitors this past year alone, across 19 countries, making it a clear leader in the mobile tour technology space. The new OnCell will continue to drive technology innovation while providing customers with best-in-class support for all of their platforms.

About OnCell

OnCell provides a full range of mobile tour technologies for museums, parks, and cultural destinations. With a variety of interactive services such as a DIY app builder, native and web apps, audio guides, beacon tours, and games, OnCell helps organizations become mobile-friendly. As mobile communication experts who are passionate about the arts, outdoors, and education, the OnCell team has worked on over 3,000 projects both in the U.S. and internationally since its inception in 2006. www.oncell.com

About Authentic

Authentic is passionate about creating mobile applications to help audiences explore, engage, and discover arts and culture in new ways. Powering three platforms which address the different needs of cultural and historic sites, Authentic empowers organizations to create their own mobile tour apps, searchable websites and kiosks for their collections, and provides the ability to share their stories via an innovative app which allows visitors to search all things arts and culture in their area. www.getauthentic.io

The New-York Historical Society has created an 8-piece poster exhibit based on their exhibition Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow, on view at NYHS until March 3, 2019. 

It recounts the dramatic, national story of the struggle for black equality after the end of slavery, and explores the years from the Civil War through World War I. 

Opening to mark the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the exhibition is organized chronologically from the end of the Civil War to the end of World War I and highlights the central role played by African Americans in advocating for their rights. It also examines the depth and breadth of opposition to black advancement. Art, artifacts, photographs, and media will help visitors explore these transformative decades in American history, and understand their continuing relevance today. Curated by Marci Reaven, vice president of history exhibitions, and Lily Wong, assistant curator.

Interested venues can be sent the digital files free of charge (eight 40" x 30" posters), and then venues may choose how to print them and where to mount them.

The NY-Historical Society is also partnering with Humanities New York who will offer Quick Grants of $500.00 to cover the costs of printing. 

For more information please contact the NY-Historical Society at historyexhibits@nyshistory.org.

Matton Shipyard Preservation & Adaptive Reuse Initiative

Hello Matton Shipyard enthusiasts!

We wanted to take a moment to update you on our progress with the Matton Shipyard Preservation & Adaptive Reuse Initiative.

1. Our Feasibility Report is now available. You can check out the executive summary on our Matton webpage here: https://eriecanalway.org/get-involved/matton or give us a call or send an email to request a paper copy of the full report.
2. Our first key step forward is to address other environmental needs. To that end, we’ve recently completed a Hazardous Materials Survey of the seven remaining structures. Look for additional environmental testing on the site’s grounds and shoreline to follow once the weather warms up.
3. This summer The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum will be conducting an underwater archeological survey off of Matton’s Hudson River shoreline. These are the same folks who built and operate the Lois McClure canal schooner. We’re hoping for awesome discoveries off the Matton shoreline!

Thanks for your continued interest in the preservation of Matton Shipyard. We couldn’t do this without your support.

Matton Shipyard is located in Peebles Island State Park at the junction of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. It is strategically linked to several land and water-based recreational trails.

Preserve our proud past and drive a sustainable future at Matton Shipyard in Cohoes.

The historic Matton Shipyard is a rare surviving example of an early 20th century ship building and repair facility. From 1916 to 1983, Matton workers built more than 340 tug boats, police boats, WWII submarine chasers, and other vessels.

Apply for funding to attend the conference!

William G. Pomeroy Foundation

The William G. Pomeroy Foundation makes grants to 501(c)(3) organizations, municipalities and educational institutions with budgets under $50,000 to support causes and work aligned with their mission, striving to make a meaningful difference in communities and in the lives of patients and their families. Learn more and apply today.

DHPSNY Collections and Community Survey

We need your help!  As collecting institutions (archives, libraries, museums, cultural heritage institutions, etc.) we ask, whose stories are we listening to? What voices are represented in our holdings? What materials and formats are we collecting that record these various histories? What are we doing to build, maintain, and strengthen trusting, reciprocal relationships with community partners? 

I invite you to join the Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York (DHPSNY) on a multi-year research project to develop a plan that guides collecting institutions and individuals to under-documented topics in New York State History and connects them with local, regional and state-wide program resources to ensure an equitable and robust historical record remains for future generations.

This survey is the first step in identifying collections and community partnerships. The results of this survey will help us to connect with communities across the state and develop a strategy for greater inclusion and access to resources and services.

Please complete this online survey between now and January 18, 2019.

 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L5PKZCV

We ask that, if you know of anyone or any group in your community that have collections of cultural or historical significance who may want to participate, please forward this survey to them, or let DHPSNY know by contacting us at info@dhpsny.org or 215-545-0613.

If you have any difficulty accessing the survey. please reach out to DHPSNY atinfo@dhpsny.org or 215-545-0613.

The Preservation League of New York State, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation announced today that their annual Preserve New York grant applications are now open. Launched in 1993 through a partnership between NYSCA and the Preservation League, Preserve New York makes grants for historic structure reports, building condition reports, cultural landscape reports, and cultural resource surveys. Since 2017, The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation has provided generous additional support for projects in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Through its Preserve New York grant program, the League has strategically invested in the rehabilitation of historic places, leveraged significant additional cash and in-kind resources, and protected properties at the local, state and national level through landmark designations. These grants help municipalities and not-for-profit organizations conserve and protect their cultural resources and are an important catalyst in realizing community preservation goals. “The Preservation League of New York State plays a vital role in our state’s culture and our communities, ensuring that the historic structures that embody our heritage and generations of artistry can be appreciated for years to come,” said New York State Council on the Arts Chair Katherine Nicholls. “NYSCA is deeply grateful for our Preserve New York partnership, which supports our mission to sustain and expand our state’s cultural resources.”

Preserve New York will have over $250,000 grant funding available in 2019. This includes over $210,000 in funding from NYSCA and $40,000 from The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation for projects in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. “This collaboration between the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation and the Preservation League of NYS focuses on our Long Island historic communities.

These awards offer professional evaluation and awareness on how to best to proceed toward protecting their historic structures,” said Kathryn M. Curran, Executive Director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

Not-for-profit organizations with 501(c)(3) status and units of local government are eligible to apply. Arts and cultural organizations are particularly encouraged to apply. Applicants cannot apply to Preserve New York and the New York State Council on the Arts for the same project.

Guidelines and a list of frequently asked questions for Preserve New York are available on the League's website at www.preservenys.org/preserve-new-york. 

Applications are not available online. Prospective applicants must discuss their proposed project with Frances Gubler, Manager of Technical & Grant Programs at the League by calling (518) 462-5658 x 10 or by email at fgubler@preservenys.org.

The Preserve New York application deadline is March 25^th.

The Preservation League invests in people and projects that champion the essential role of preservation in community revitalization, sustainable economic growth, and the protection of our historic buildings and landscapes. It leads advocacy, economic development and education programs across New York State.

Attention: MANY Members

Fellow Member, Michael Hardy, has a contract with Connect Travel, and is able to extend an early registration discount for MANY Members to attend the trade show at $1,950 dollars if we can get 5 or members to sign up.  In addition, a donation of $100 will be made to MANY for every participant that joins the collaboration! This trade show, in it second year, is specifically for organizations wanting to make progress in and explore the potential of the international group tours and foreign individual traveler (FIT) markets.  The “MANY Collaborators Fee” of $1950 each for 5 or more MANY Member partners can be obtained by reaching out to Michael at AHardyHello@gmail.com . If we cannot get the five participants, he has been given permission to offer single MANY organizations the early sign-on offer of $2950 ($1,000 off the $3950 registration fee - an extension of the Oct. 31 Deadline). Please feel free to visit  www.connecttravel.com and contact Michael with interest and/or questions. He can easily send you more information to help with your decision but the 40 guaranteed appointment with qualified buyers over two days in Kissimmee, FL, Feb. 20-22, 2019 is certain to be of interest to your group sales and/or admission staff(s).  Michael can also be called at 585-721-6032.  Deadline December 15., 2018

The New York State Archives is pleased to announce the availability of the guidelines and application for the 2019-2020 Documentary Heritage Program (DHP) grants.  DHP grants support improved access to historical records in New York State by funding arrangement and description projects and documentation projects. Detailed information about these projects and the DHP Grants is available online at:  http://www.archives.nysed.gov/grants/grants_dhp.shtml

 Applicants are encouraged to contact the DHP office to discuss their projects and file a notice of intent to apply. 

Brookside Museum/Saratoga County Historical Society is pleased to announce the public launch of our "Digital Docent."  The "Docent," found on our website (www.brooksidemuseum.org), is a computer algorithm that directs on line visitors through the Brookside Museum/SCHS collection by providing them with suggestions of objects to view that are related to what they have previously clicked on in our collection.  

The software was created by the partnership of Trajectory Sports and Datanomers and utilizes "Intelligent Machine/Artificial Inteligence" infrastructure.

Suitcases

“There’s a museum about that?” is a question we sometimes get when telling people about the Museum of disAbility History, on line at http:// museum of disability.org/ and in our building at 3826 Main Street in Amherst, New York. A twenty year old project of People Inc., the largest disability service provider in Western New York, the museum was founded to spread understanding of disabilities and the lives of people who possess them. It is the only brick and mortar museum dedicated to the history of disability in the United States.

Disability has a long, complicated history, and it has been our task to interpret the wide, frequently changing variety of understandings over time in Western societies of what is regarded as the normal body and mind.  The peculiar spelling of “disAbility” in our title projects these hopes: it is intended to suggest what society has come increasingly to understand: given the opportunity to participate and be self-determining, people with disabilities bring many abilities that are socially useful. All museums have purposes. Ours also has this mission.

The museum occupies much of the ground floor of a building dedicated to People Inc.’s training program, and has exhibits largely consisting of tall panels with explanatory texts and illustrations and of material artifacts. We also have an expanding archive and a reference library in the basement of our facility, which have been of use to academic researchers. Our catalog records reveal over 8,000 entries, some of them conglomerate collections, compromised of documents, public records and clippings, published books, photographs, and physical objects.  Members of the general public have consulted these collections, which proven especially useful in tracking family and friends who were once institutionalized in now closed state institutions and perhaps buried in unmarked graves on the site of those facilities.

The range of artifacts that a museum dedicated to disability can be a surprise on first reflection. Viewers expect perhaps artificial arms and legs, cereal boxes with photos of disabled athletes, and television and movie promotions featuring cast member with disabilities. But a recent acquisition may be more of a surprise. It tells complex and engaging stories.

The New York State Museum mounted an exhibit, The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from A State Hospital in 2004 based on the unique artifacts found at Willard State Hospital, a New York State institution for those diagnosed with psychological illnesses. After Willard closed in 1995, 500 suitcases belonging to those who were resident were found in the vast, long sealed attic. The contents of these suitcases tell poignant personal stories, and illuminate the random processes by which people ended up in such institutions. With support from the van Ameringen and the Nathan Cummings foundations, a 1500 square foot travelling suitcase exhibit was created in 2004, and it toured the country, going to 30 venues in 11 different states, before it came to reside at the Museum of disAbility History, with the assistance of the Community Consortium.

“Where are the suitcases?’ we were frequently asked by visitors, who have the craving for authenticity familiar to those who work in museums, They have been in the possession of the New York State Museum, which wasn’t going to further display them, but felt legally bound to keep them from further display, because of questions about legal ownership and in connection with that, concerns about protecting the identities of their owners. The New York State Museum is now attempting to locate descendants or more distant relatives of the suitcase owners, and return these possessions to them.

After long negotiations, involving legal issues touching on these privacy and ownership questions, the Museum of disAbility History has managed with the needed permission of a surviving relative of one of the suitcase owners and the cooperation of the New York State Museum, to take possession on-loan of the suitcase of a former resident of Willard. Lawrence Mocha, an immigrant from Austria-Hungary, was born in 1878 and committed to Willard in 1916, where he resided until his death in 1968, He may have suffered a traumatic brain injury before immigrating, but he was symptom free sufficiently to have been admitted into the United States by immigration officers in 1907. Mocha defies the usual stereotypes about those institutionalized for mental illness. Whatever problems ultimately led him at a certain point in his life to go to Willard, while resident there he carved out an almost independent life for himself as the institution’s much needed cemetery-keeper. He lived on his own in a small house on the grounds, going to meals in the kitchen when he pleased. He was eccentric, but hardly detached from reality, or difficult to get along with.

Mocha’s life after coming to Willard was not that different than many other of its institutionalized people. He got used to living there, and his needs were provided for as they were not reliably on the outside. Like many immigrants – and the foreign-born constituted a disproportionate percentage of the institutionalized population – his networks of personal support may well have been fragile or nonexistent. While New York State provided a solution to the problems he had in living independently, like other residents his dignity was preserved to the extent he worked on the grounds, assisting in the maintenance of the complex community that Willard supported. After being there many years, Mocha petitioned to leave, but was denied, perhaps on the basis of doubts that he could live on his own after being provided for so long. It is also said that the authorities recognized that his labor in maintaining the cemetery was needed.

The stories of Mocha and nine other individuals who were the basis of the suitcases exhibit are found in Darby Penney and Peter Stastny, The Lives They Left Behind (2008). Stories of this sort are ones that the Museum of disAbility History is dedicated to telling. Stop in; you’ll be surprised.

The rollout for the exhibit of Mr. Mocha’s suitcase will occur at the Museum of disAbility History on 18 October 2018.  We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the Community Consortium and of the New York State Museum.

David Gerber, Chair, Board of Trustees, Museum of disAbility History