Author: hiddenheritage

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A Festschrift for Mary Katherine Peters: A Testimonial by Friends and Fellow Workers at the State Institute of Agriculture at Farmingdale of the Enduring Esteem and High Regard Held for Mary Katherine Peters.

Authored by Elena Paparatto

This image shows the green front cover of a festschrift. in the middle of the cover, the title states, a testimonial of the enduring esteem and high regard held for Mary Katherine Peters.

This image shows the front cover of the festschrift compiled in honor of Mary Katherine Peters retirement from The New York State Institute of Agriculture in 1939. During her 21 years of service at the institute she managed to positively impact both students and staff leaving behind her a legacy of exceptional work and inspiring service.

In academia, a festschrift is a collection of writing in honor of a scholar usually presented during the lifetime of the recipient. In this case the festschrift is a collection of letters assembled by friends, students, and fellow workers of Mary Katherine Peters (“A Festschrift” 1934).

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The Albert N’Yanza: Exploration and Subjection is the Belgian Congo

Authored by Leanne N. Manna

Written in 1866, The Albert N’Yanza: Great Basin of the Nile and Exploration of the Nile Sources, gives an account of Samuel White Baker and his Team’s exploration of central Africa. This two-volume set is currently held at Liberty Hall Museum in Union, NJ.

The Albert N’Yanza, or Lake Albert, lies on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is one of the great lakes of Africa. It has long been an object of fascination and exploration. The presence of books like The Albert N’Yanza: Great Basin of the Nile and Exploration of the Nile Sources serve to highlight how celebrated these explorers were. Throughout these narratives there is a common theme of seeking greatness and disregard for the indigenous people. For example, Baker names Lake Albert “in memory of the late illustrious and lamented Prince Consort”(Baker 1866, II). Naming “discovered” landmarks was quite common among explorers. In addition, Romolo Gessi remarked several times in his account of circumnavigating the Albert N’Yanza that people would flee their villages with their belongings as they approached (Gessi 1876, 51-54). This is most likely from fear of whom these new arrivals could be and what they planned on doing. There is a much darker history surrounding the history of exploration in Africa and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo specifically.

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Recognizing Staten Island’s World War II Efforts

Authored by Erin Ajello

A watermarked photograph of blueprints.

This photograph shows Robert Feist’s blueprints of a German rocket from the S. S. White factory on Staten Island. Feist created them as part of a national U. S. Government project.

            As Staten Island is often referred to as the forgotten borough, it unsurprising that it is a place with a rich, forgotten history. The above artifact, a page of missile blueprints from the S. S. White factory on Staten Island, shows a unique part of Staten Island’s war efforts during World War II.     

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Androcles and the Lion: How Theater Made an Identity for the Deaf

Authored by Kylie Feiring

Androcles and the Lion program
Marymount Manhattan College and St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf, Androcles and the Lion, 1971, Marymount Manhattan College, Collection #009, Box 2.

In 1971, Marymount Manhattan College and the St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf united forces to present “Androcles and the Lion,” written by Aurand Harris and adapted by Dorothy Dodd. Harris’ plays for children are remarkable, as he had a deep and real understanding of children’s interests and concerns, what they find funny, and what they find important (McCaslin 1984, 115).

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Ahead of the Curve: The Legacy of Empowering Women at Gordon

Authored by Sammy-Jo Watt

An image of Gordon State College building a dressing room for young women

Taken at the end of 1965, this photo shows Gordon Military College providing women their own dressing room despite not being required by law to do so. The college is providing equality among the genders by not only giving women their own, private dressing room but also, at the above words indicate, also increasing their physical education.

Unfortunately, society has not always provided equality among its inhabitants. Dr. Anne Sutherland noted that there is an “urgent need to extend…protection…to women in institutions of higher education” (History Matters, n.d.). Regrettably, the serious issue for discrimination against women was not truly solved with women speaking out, the 19th Amendment, or the Equal Protection Clause. Women could vote but still had difficulty with access to higher education. According to the Law Library, “the Equal Protection Clause does not require states to satisfy the same strict standards for gender discrimination as for racial” (The Law Library, n.d.). Continue reading →

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A play by William Harris “I Was Sitting on My Patio This guy appeared I Thought I Was hallucinating”

Authored by Kasey Correll

An Image presented by MaryMount Manahattan College that features a review by William Harris dated June 9 1977 on the play “I Was Sitting on My Patio This Guy Appeared I Thought I Was Hallucinating”

This object is a review of the play “I Was Sitting on My Patio This Guy Appeared I Thought I Was Hallucinating” (Harris, 1977). Mr. William Harris reviewed this play for the SoHo Weekly News in June 9, 1977, at the Cherry Lane Theatre. He was a famous writer and well known “contributor to The New York Times on dance and theater” (Harris, 2000, par 3). I selected this object for my AS-L project because it shows the beginning of a new type of play that Mr. Robert Wilson produced. It also represents the Vincentian core value of excellence, because of Mr. Wilson’s drive to not give up.

The famous producer was Mr. Robert Wilson who also stared as one of the main actors. He created this production in order to shape new way that plays are viewed, and believed he should take charge of one of the main roles in his play. This action would ensure that his audience would understand the message he was trying to provide, if he was able fully express it himself. Mr. Wilson wanted to show his dream through his play and also show his audience a new form of entertainment. When a producer is first forming a play they usually begin with forming the plot, characters, or dialogue. However, Mr. Wilson was interested in focusing on the setting first for this particular play, and his first ideas about the setting of the play were “I’ve had the idea for a long time of a room with lots of books, all placed neatly on shelves, and something slicing through the shelves. There is a telephone, and a telephone wire. There is a scrim or gauze over the front of the stage, and images are sometimes projected on it” (Kostelanetz, 1977, par 2).

This particular play was different than past plays Robert Wilson produced, simply because he wanted “to get rid of all the theatrical furniture” (Harris, 2000, par 7). This reasoning was referring to how his play’s setting contains zero dancing, little music, and only one small movie screen feed from a backstage projector. The setting was created without any distracting theatrical furniture, so the viewing audience would be able to focus on the vision and the importance of his Mr. Wilson’s play.

This review of Mr. Wilson’s play was a great object because it strongly reflects Vincentian core value of excellence of St. John’s University. This was Mr. Wilson’s first production that was the beginning of many ideas, on how to perform new ways plays were presented and portrayed. Even though theatrical critics including Mr. William Harris reviewed the play as not impressive and dreadfully boring, Mr. Wilson still had the drive and passion to continue creating plays in a different way. He took the criticism from the reviews about his play, learned from his mistakes and began to produce more productions that followed the different style. This particular play was the beginning of what influenced and created what American theater productions became to be, instead of script heavy European theater performances.

References

Barnes, Clive. 1977. “Patio Is Staged at Cherry Lane; One Must Suspend All Disbelief: Archives.” The New York Times, (May 23, 1977), https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/23/archives/patio-is-staged-at-cherry-lane-one-must-suspend-all-disbelief.html

Cherry Lane Theater. n.d. “History: Mainstage History.” Accessed March 11, 2019, http://www.cherrylanetheatre.org/history/.

Gilbert, Ruth ed. 1977. “In and around town: A Critical Guide to Entertainment in the New York Area.” New York Magazine 10, no 23 (June 6, 1977): 21. https://books.google.com/books?id=QeQCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=I+Was+Sitting+on+my+Patio+This+Guy+Appeared+I+Thought+I+Was+Hallucinating+William+OR+Harris&source= .

Kostelanetz, Richard. 1977. “Robert Wilson Builds a New Play: Archives.” The New York Times. (May 8, 1977), https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/08/archives/robert-wilson-builds-a-new-play-robert-wilson-builds-a-new-play.html

 The New York Times. 2000. “William Harris Writer, 49: Archives.” (July 29, 2000). https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/29/arts/william-harris-writer-49.html.

Wilson, Robert. 1979. “I Was Sitting on My Patio This Guy Appeared I Thought I Was Hallucinating.” Performing Arts Journal 4, no. 1/2 (May, 1979): 200-18. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4623775.

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Higher Education Opportunity Program: A Chance to Achieve Greatness

Authored by William Gorley

An early HEOP brochure utilized by MMC

An undated, early promotional and educational brochure utilized by Marymount Manhattan College to advocate their involvement with the Higher Education Opportunity Program. (Known formally as the Community Leadership Program at Marymount Manhattan College).

Prior to the late 1960’s, higher education in America was reserved for the affluent, bright and well connected. A trend that would continue until a visionary upstate New York politician stepped up to lead a campaign that would provide the underprivileged and underrepresented a chance to achieve greatness. Arthur O. Eve, a member of the NYS Assembly (1967-2003) and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly (1979-2013) representing districts in Buffalo NY (NYSED.gov 2019). Eve took notice of the plight faced by the underprivileged, especially the youth and proposed legislation that would become known as the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) (NYSED.gov 2019).

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Upward Bound: Propelling Veterans to Their Futures at Farmingdale University

Authored by Julianne Odin

A press release announcing the formation of an outreach program for veterans at the Agricultural and Technical College at Farmingdale. The release notes the College’s particular interest in serving “academically disadvantaged” veterans and describes the remedial program of study that would be made available to them.

No discussion of post-World War II American history would be complete without a description of veterans’ education benefits, which allowed for unprecedented societal advancement by individuals who served their country. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, education benefits had become inextricably tied to military service, forever altering Americans’ perceptions of the nature of military service and citizenship (Boulton 2014). This development is largely due to Vietnam War veterans, a greater percentage of whom took advantage of the educational benefits available to them than their World War II and Korean War counterparts (Arminio, Kudo Grabosky, and Lang 2014, 12).

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Lasagna Dinner: From Tradition to Community

Authored by Victor Otero

Taken during the first Lasagna Dinner, a Holy Rosary annual fundraiser, this photograph shows the parish women who came up with the idea, left to right: Pat Bennet, Mary R. Catucci, Eleanor Eisman, Anita Segreti, Mary G., and Rosalie Pappano.

Italian immigrants into the United States represented ethnic/regional and job entitlements. The immigrants originated from different parts of Italy and worked in specific fields and job titles in the native nation. During the period from 1880 to 1915, millions of Italians migrated out of Italy into the US. While in America, the immigrants faced numerous challenges. The immigrants did not understand the English language and had little formal education; therefore, they were forced to take low wage manual labor jobs (Connell 2019). As a result, they were often taken advantage of by the intermediaries who served as go-betweens between them and the potential bosses. Most Italians saw the US as a place that could offer jobs that the unskilled and uneducated Italians peasants like they could do. 

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Farmingdale’s First Director Fights Famine Overseas Through Agriculture

Authored by Kimberly Simmons

Furrow
A page from the August 1921 edition of the student publication The Furrow, featuring article “Bon Voyage, Director Johnson!” At the time of its writing, Johnson had recently embarked on a humanitarian journey to the Near East.

The Furrow was a student publication (1916-1921) of the New York State Institute of Applied Agriculture, currently Farmingdale State College. The digitized item selected here is an article from the August 1921 edition, titled “Bon Voyage, Director Johnson!” (1921). Here we are informed of the journey of the Institute’s first director, Albert A. Johnson, who had recently set out to regions of the Near East that were in the throes of famine.

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