(Photography credits to Shelley Weresnick)

Caption 

This epaulet belongs to Colonel Johannes Jansen who served in the 4^th militia during the Revolutionary war. Much of what is known about Colonel Johannes Jansen comes from his home in Shawangunk, as well as from a popular story about the failed ambush of the Colonel near his home

Physical Description of the Object 

This epaulet measures about 24 cm in length and 14cm in width.  The steel or metal wiring hangs in coils about 5cm from the body of the epaulet and runs through the front. A braided pattern and two coiled lines made up of the metal border the edges of this piece. In the center of the epaulet is a ball of coiled steel that wraps around itself. This ball measures about 3 ½ cm in diameter. There seemed to have been more metal decorations, but must have gotten ripped out. The fabric underneath the metal decorations is black wool. Beneath the wool is some kind of paper that the metal was sown into, perhaps for more support. Under the layer of paper is a sheet of metal and under the metal there  seems to be a coarse form of cotton that fills the insides of the epaulet. The material at the bottom of the epaulet is a tan colored linen or cotton fabric.

Some of the coils hanging off the epaulet are falling apart and the seam connecting the hanging coils to the body of the epaulet is burst open, allowing us to look inside. On top of the epaulet, parts of the wool and paper have been ripped away, exposing the metal underneath. It seems that the layer of metal inside the epaulet gives it its shape, although a section must be broken because one of the “wings” of the epaulet concaves about 10cm in.

Provenance (about 100 words) 

Johannes Jansen was born in 1725. He served as a Colonel during the Revolutionary war and was in charge of the 4^th regiment in the Ulster County Militia. He was also part of the Whig party, which caused him to be a target for Loyalist and Native American attacks. Johannes Jansen lived in Shawangunk and is currently buried in the Bruynswick Rural cemetery near the Reformed Church of Shawangunk.

Historical Society of Shawangunk and Gardiner- Volume 2 Number 3

Date(s) of Creation 

Circa 1775-1783 (During the revolutionary war)

Narrative 

Brief overview of Epaulets

Before the 20^th century, epaulets and shoulder straps were commonly used to show the rank or status of an officer. The rank of the officer could usually be deciphered through the insignia that appears on the epaulet strap or near the rounded portion over the end of the shoulder (the crescent). For ranks like ‘Major’ or ‘Second Lieutenant,’ the sizes of the epaulet or the fringes on the epaulets were indicative of the officer’s rank (since some officers did not wear any insignia). The word epaulet is derived from an old French word to mean shoulder; and was first made with cloth straps that were worn on the shoulder to keep shoulder sashes and belts in place. Epaulets are also thought to have begun as protective pieces of armor to shield the shoulders. During the Revolutionary war, epaulets were used both by the British and French. These epaulets were created with gold or silver and started from the collar and ended at the end of the shoulders. They were decorated with heavy fringes of gold or silver wire. The epaulets were very expensive as they were made of silver, gold, solid metal, and or plated metal. Officers started wearing gold or silver epaulets in their dress uniforms from 1780 during the Revolutionary war, to about 1872. For sergeants and other enlisted men, the epaulets were made of cheaper metals or cloth.  

http://www.history.navy.mil/trivia/triv4-5a.htm

Johannes Jansen

Johannes Jansen was the lieutenant colonel of the fourth (Hardenbergh’s) regimen of Militia, and represented the people of Shawangunk in the Revolutionary war. In the colonel’s same regiment were; Captain Isaac Davis, Matthew Jansen, Cornelius and Matthew Masten, David Ostrander, Peter Roosa; Lieutenants Jacobus S. Bruyn, Peter Decker, William Ostrander and various others.

(376). The History of Ulster County, New York, edited by Alphonso T. Clearwater

Much of what is known about Colonel Johannes Jansen comes from the Johannes Jansen house, as well as from stories and tales told about the Shawangunk area. The Johannes Jansen house is an example of early stone architecture in the area and it is believed that the west one story wing was built by Johannes Jansen around the 1750s. The main building of the house was built in the early to mid-1800s by the nephew of Johannes Jansen who inherited the house in 1803.

http://www.wallkillhistory.com/Houses/JohannesJansenHouse/JohannesJansenHouse.htm

In the article “Notes of the Ancient History” of Ulster County, published in the New Paltz Times of March 10, 1865 the author writes of Colonel Johannes Jansen. Because Johannes Jansen was a colonel of the militia of Southern Ulster and was part of the Whig party, was very wealthy, and lived so near the mountain, he was thought to be a valuable prize if captured by loyalists. In September 1780, members of the loyalist party Samuel Gonsalus and Ben. DeWilt as well as three Native Americans decided to try and capture Colonel Johannes Jansen. Samuel Gonsalus was the first white man born in the county and was well known as an ‘Indian hunter’ and scout.  Ben. DeWilt or ‘Shank’s Ben’ was also well known in Shawangunk and served in the French war, and had often worked for Johannes Jansen. The party tried to ambush the Colonel as he was leaving the house, but a boy raised the alarm and the Colonel was able to run back to the house and secure the door. Because they couldn’t through the door, the party ransacked the kitchen instead (it was the only room that they could enter). A female slave discovered them there and when the party heard Mrs. Jansen calling out to the neighbors, they took three slaves and a girl named Hannah Grunenwalden who was employed by the Jansens. They ended up killing the girl because they were afraid that her cried would lead their pursuers to them. In the area of Scrub Oak Ridge, the party encountered a man named John George Mack, Elsie, his daughter, and John Mentz, his son in law. While Mentz saw the enemy in time and was able to escape, John George Mack and Elsie were slain and scalped. A few members of the militia found the remains of the old man and his daughter while pursuing the party. The bodies of Hannah Grunenwalden, John George Mack, and Elsie Mack were deposited in their last resting place.

History of Sullivan caounty: embracing an account of its geology, climate, aborigines, early settlement, organization with biographical sketches

James Eldridge Quinlan, Thomas Antisell 

Pg 395

References 

History of Sullivan caounty: embracing an account of its geology, climate, aborigines, early settlement, organization with biographical sketches::James Eldridge Quinlan, Thomas Antisell:::Pg 395

http://www.wallkillhistory.com/Houses/JohannesJansenHouse/JohannesJansenHouse.htm

(376). The History of Ulster County, New York, edited by Alphonso T. Clearwater

http://www.history.navy.mil/trivia/triv4-5a.htm

Historical Society of Shawangunk and Gardiner- Volume 2 Number 3

CAPTION:

This New Paltz Paltzonian Year Book of 1928 captures the essence of the New Paltz Normal School and its culture at this time.

DESCRIPTION:

This black, hardbound book is around 8.5in by 11in.  It is a little scuffed up and tattered around the edges, and has a gold colored symbol embossed on the cover that is worn with age.  This symbol features and armored plate with a seascape in the background, presumably the shores settlers reached on their journey to what is now New Paltz.  There is a hawk at the top, the colleges mascot, and two female figures on each side.  The women are stylized with Greco-Roman influence and are draped in flowing robes.  One of these figures is holding a balance scale, while the other is holding a staph.

The inside of the book is detailed with 200 pages, which include a variety of content, such as numerous pictures students took around New Paltz, details of teachers and students, organizations, sororities, clubs, a literary section, sports, humor, pictures, advertisements, and contributions.

PROVENANCE:

This object was created in 1928 by the local board of the New Paltz Normal School and was saved here at New Paltz up until present day.  Now it remains in the New Paltz special collections at the Sojourner Truth library.

DATE(S):

1928

NARRATIVE:

As I flipped through the dusty pages of the Paltzonian, I was taken back in time to New Paltz in 1928 at the Normal School.  Being that it is a Normal School, the subjects primarily had to do with training students in education.  I turned the pages and came across a list of all of the students here, the senior grade had pictures and suddenly the popular hair style for girls was dark, wavy hair cropped close to the head

This book is dedicated to Edgar V Beebe, an obviously significant man to New Paltz at this time, as his picture takes up an entire page, making it the biggest picture of a person in the yearbook.  Beebe had a doctorate in psychology and was a teacher at the Normal School who had done civil service.

I was immediately surprised by the Native American theme throughout this book, as the settler’s taking over the Munsee Indian’s land and bringing about massacres and disease only a number of years ago should be a source of shame to me, not a source of entertainment to be taken lightly.  However, as propaganda and misleading history is evident all throughout the world, this was not unfitting.

Several clubs, organizations, and Greek life was noted throughout the book, and the Kappa Pi Honorary Art Fraternity is highly likely to be responsible for creating this Asian-themed party with a giant homemade Buddha statue, as depicted in the pictures.  However, the exact year this was done remains unknown, as the only record on the back of the photos is the word “Meyer”, presumably a last name.

There were several literary sections and poems featured throughout the book, and it is apparent that SUNY New Paltz has very artistic roots, even back in the early 1900s.

One of the last pages in the book features contributors and the local board of the school, some of whose last names reference our founding families and consequently reoccurring names on our streets and buildings in the present day, namely: Smiley, Hasbrouck, LeFevre, and Gage.

RESOURCES: to be updated soon!  I need to find more resources on the New Paltz normal school at this time (and have several websites with school records to look into).

-Paltzonian 1928

-Buddha party pictures

-http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2010/Kingston%20NY%20Daily%20Freeman/Kingston%20NY%20Daily%20Freeman%201942%20Grayscale/Kingston%20NY%20Daily%20Freeman%201942%20Grayscale%20-%200138.pdf

R.I.P. Bille Brown

Actor, playwright, teacher, director, and beloved friend

(11 January 1952-13 January 2013)

Caption

Aladdin by Bille Brown can be found in the special collections of the SUNY New Paltz Sojourner Truth Library. It is in the form of a “working manuscript.” Donated to the collection from Brown himself, Aladdin epitomizes the college’s involvement with the fine and performing arts on not only a local, but also international, level.

Physical Description of the Object

The volume residing in the Sojourner Truth Special Collections contains two parts within a sturdy binding folder. The working manuscript of Aladdin is between approximately 83 pages. Its content is in the classic play format, with Brown’s actively handwritten notes in the margins. In addition to these annotations, one also sees Brown’s editing notes of Aladdin, such as certain lines and words being changed or switched or extended. The play, in this manuscript, even includes Pantomime stage directions for the actors, such as “ad lib till AUDIENCE reply sufficiently.” The volume also includes the 2004 Old Vic Christmas Issue detailing that year’s Classic Family Panto, which was, of course, Aladdin. In this publication there lies information and articles about the 2004 production of Aladdin at the Old Vic Theatre, containing direct quotes from Brown, Ian McKellan, and even an anecdote as to how Elton John became involved with the score of the production.

Dates of Creation/Provenance

The first page of Aladdin says it was written on November 19th, 2004. However, this date is scratched out by Brown and written over it are the words: “JANUARY PERFORMANCE DRAFT,” meaning that although the printed text was written in November, the play became a working manuscript and was edited into January of the next year for performance purposes. This leaves the play being nearly ten years old. Brown gave Aladdin to the special collections in the Sojourner Truth Library as a gift. Such an action indicates that Brown loved New Paltz enough to contribute not a polished, perfect version of Aladdin, but instead a working manuscript. To think that such an accomplished actor would feel comfortable enough to give us an intimate view into his creative process, shows how Brown must have felt that those in the New Paltz community would understand and appreciate his work.

Narrative

The version of Aladdin existing in New Paltz is a work-in-progress of a play, and the fact that SUNY New Paltz accepted the gift into its special library collections tells us that the college values the performing arts in all forms, from an edited-by-hand manuscript to a full-blown production. The object kicks this notion up a notch when one learns that Bille Brown is a respected actor and also an Australian, in fact an AM (Member of the Order of Australia). Brown came to be affiliated with New Paltz under unusual circumstances. The current Assistant to the Dean of Fine & Performing Arts, David Cavallaro, ran into him as an undergraduate theatre student at the college. Cavallaro told his acting instructor that his roommate had someone staying with him that stated he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Quite quickly, Brown was invited to speak to Cavallaro’s acting class. Soon enough, the former College President Alice Chandler granted Brown Artist-in-Residence at New Paltz.

Brown’s time at New Paltz in the 1980s proved to be quite fruitful. He acted and directed for a number of productions, such as The Fantastiks and The Philanthropist, and even launched the American premier of his own work, including the musical Almost a Joke and an RSC pantomime called The Swan Down Gloves. He is also the man that founded New Paltz’s London Theatre Seminar!

Aladdin is not just any play; it is a traditional English pantomime that was performed at the Old Vic in London in 2004-2005. Pantomimes, usually performed around Christmas time, are defined as “theatrical performances played in the language of action.” Pantomimes usually provide audiences a spin of old fairy tales. With heavy emphasis on audience participation, pantomimes border on the slapstick, valuing heightened bodily expression during the depiction of emotions, events, and dialogs. A line often proclaimed by the audience is the famous “Behind you, behind you!” in relation to some intermittent trouble approaching an actor without them noticing, leaving audiences with the fun obligation of telling the actor themselves.

Another facet of Brown’s editing notes that illustrate a desire to maintain the pantomime ritual is the addition of certain words and actions to increase audience participation, such as changing the line from “Are you having us on?” to “Are they having us on,” in relation to the audience. Soon after this alteration follows the line, “Oh yes they are! (Routine with Audience and DIM).”

Children are indeed welcomed to pantomimes as participants and audience members just as much as adults, thanks to the tradition of double-entendres throughout such productions. Shakespearean cross-dressing is also a trait of the pantomime play. Dominant lady-wives are often depicted by older men, and princely male characters are played by youthful women. Brown’s Aladdin is no exception to this tradition with its all-star cast, with Ian McKellan (yes!) playing Widow Twankey (Aladdin’s mother), and Dim Sum, a male Chinese character, being played by Maureen Lipman. One can see these names written in the margins of the working manuscript of Aladdin, alongside their respective characters.

As mentioned earlier, Brown hosted a pantomime production at New Paltz entitled The Swan Down Gloves, and having Aladdin in the Sojourner Truth Library special collection just further specifies the amount of theatrical variety the college has delved into. Not only are we familiar with musicals, student black box productions, and official main stage shows, but we also do pantomimes, in the tradition of a foreign country. What an assortment! And Aladdin is just scratching the surface, us a peek into just one of the many art forms New Paltz is associated with. New Paltz has the reputation of being an artsy-fartsy kind of school, but it is objects like Aladdin and people like Bille Brown that refute this trivializing label. New Paltz is not artsy-fartsy – it is a cultured and well-rounded institution.

References

Aubert, Charles. The Art of Pantomime. New York: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1927. Print.

“In Memoriam.” Stagelight, The McKenna Productions Newsletter. Jan 2013: n. page. Web. 5 Apr. 2013.

And I just thought this was really cool: Brown’s handwritten ending to Aladdin, edited in silver pen. It states:

In a darkening world, do not give way to fear. Believe in laughter, believe in life, and true love will appear.

The wall outside of the studio in S.U.B.

(Click to enlarge images)

Caption: This collection of T-shirts from the SUNY New Paltz Radio Station demonstrates the development of the radio station across time, as well as providing insight into the history of the New Paltz radio station and how it has influenced the students on campus and the town of New Paltz.

Description: These are a collection of five T-Shirts from the New Paltz Radio Station. The earliest T-shirt is a light green, with an image outlined in black of a winged, hooved eyeball holding a sword and pointing downwards to the station’s call letters “WNPC”. There is a speech bubble above the eyeball with “640 AM, 91.9 FM” within it. This particular T-Shirt is a size large, and has been frayed around the edges with persistent wear. It is made of cotton and is soft to the touch.

The second T-shirt is a bit more simplistic. It is a mustard yellow color, with bright red lettering. There is a red outlined rectangle on the center chest area of the shirt, within it are the updated call letters “WRNP” to the right of an image of a red record. Below the call letters and within the box it says “Radio 64” also in red. This shirt is a size extra large, and has also been worn in excess. Its cotton material has been wrinkled, and is a bit crisp to the touch, as it has been sitting on a shelf for a very long time.

The third is a white cotton T-shirt of size extra large. The front displays an image of three pointed, star-like shapes, similar to those you might find in a comic book to express an explosion or onomatopoeia. The largest explosion shape in the center reads “Breaking The Sound Barrier” in black lettering. The mid-sized explosion shape on the right hand side says “WFNP!” in bolded black lettering, while the smallest pointed shape on the left side says “88.7 FM” in black lettering. There is a white cartoon airplane with sunglasses and headphones flying out of the pointed shapes. This shirt is wrinkled, and appears to have a few small coffee stains on the front, in addition to some yellowed sweat stains in the armpits.

The fourth is a white cotton T-shirt with a rather large, more intricate design on front. “WFNP 88.7 FM” is written in bright green lettering on the top of the design. The center has the shadow of a human head in black, with green and white images of a leaf, a city, and a galaxy on the area where the brain would be located. This shadow is over a background of a graph of radio frequencies and wavelengths. At the bottom of the design are knobs and meters to measure volume. Curved along the bottom of this design is the expression “open your mind to music outside the mainstream” in bright green lettering. This shirt is a size extra large, and is relatively soft, but still crisp with time.

The final shirt in this collection is a very simple, gray cotton T-shirt with “88.7 FM The EDGE” written in dark blue lettering on the front chest area of the shirt. Underneath “the edge” it names the website, “www.wfnp.org.” The back of the T-shirt says “Bringing You Cutting Edge Music Commercial Free!” with an image of a radio tower emitting a signal below it. The entirety of the design and lettering is in the same dark blue color used on the front of the T-shirt. This T-shirt is also a size extra large, and is soft to the touch. It does not appear to be worn as extensively as the other four shirts.

Provenance: This collection of T-shirts was donated by Dennis O’Keefe. Dennis graduated from New Paltz in 1973. He was the General Manager of the radio station when it was first established in 1971, and he was a key player in the efforts to get the station up and running and wiring the campus for the AM signal. Even after he graduated, he was still an active background member of the radio station and also worked at the campus library. He collected these T-shirts over many years, starting at the birth of the radio station, through its development, and up until his death in 2006. He donated this set of shirts to the Special Collections of the Sojourner Truth Library before he passed.

Date(s) of Creation: Shirts: 1975 to 2006
Radio Station: 1971

Narrative: Although the popularity of radio may be declining now that music of your choice can be accessed at the click of a button, forty years ago, this was not the case. In the 1970’s, turning on your radio was the easiest and most popular way to discover new music and hear classic favorites. So, in 1971, a group of students worked together to establish a college radio station at SUNY New Paltz. The basic foundation for the station began in 1970 when Bruce Blatchy donated a surplus of $40,000 to be put towards equipment for the radio station. From there, he held elections for members of the executive board, which was to consist of students. At this time, there were four student positions: General Manager (Dennis O’Keefe), News Director (Robert Sholinsky), Program Director (Donald Weinstein), and Chief Announcer (Marc Greenberg). A single faculty member, Phil Livingston, oversaw the entire operation; but it was his intention that the students be the primary leaders of the station.

Space was set aside for the new station studio in the soon-to-be Student Union Building, but while that was still being built, the station was temporarily housed in the basement of the College Union Building, were the Yearbook committee worked. To the discontent of the Paltzonian President, they would be moved to a smaller room so that the station could be set up. The president of the yearbook club adamantly rejected this, and in his anger, quit his duties as yearbook coordinator. To this day, there is still no 1973 yearbook.

Amidst setting up the studio, students on the executive board were also needed to wire the campus for the AM frequency. This entailed draining the sewers and crawling through manholes in order to run cable to each of the dorms and the health center. A dirty, but necessary job for the effectiveness and legitimacy of the station.

With the cables set up, and the studio equipment set up in the College Union Building, the signal was ready to be sent out. Being that they were a new station not yet regulated by the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC), they were assigned the AM frequency of 640 kHz. Their call letters were WNPC, standing for New Paltz College. As of February 1972, students could listen to their peers’ broadcasts on their radios in their dorms.  By 1973, they obtained permission to broadcast over cable television on an FM frequency of 91.9 kHz. This allowed those in the village of New Paltz to tune in, so long as they had cable television.

By the Fall of 1973, the Student Union Building had been completed, and the station moved to its new studio on the fourth floor of the S.U.B. With this new space, the staff expanded, adding on the positions of Music Director, Chief Engineer, Advertising Manager, Production Manager, and Public Relations. The budget granted to the station was growing rapidly each year from $7,300 in 1973 to $10,000 in 1975. The station was becoming more and more successful and professional. Plenty of students on campus could tune in to hear classic rock, jazz, blues, talk radio, news, and so much more. Schedules of various WNPC shows were ever present in the campus newspaper. It was a popular and accomplished college radio station.

A DJ hard at work in the studio.

The call letters for the station changed a few times over the next several years. In 1976, WNPC became WRSW. By 1981, it had changed again to WRNP, standing for Radio New Paltz, which it stayed for the next eleven years. In 1992, the call letters changed to WFNP, which it still remains today.

As of 1980, the station was actively seeking FCC certification so that it could broadcast over FM radio. After several years of hard work and sales pitches to the FCC, the station was finally granted certification in 1989. It has been on 88.7 FM since then, sharing the waves with the classical station WRHV. The New Paltz radio station has one of the tallest transmitter towers of any college radio station, broadcasting 65 miles out. By the early 2000’s, the station updated its daytime programming from AM radio waves to a webcast that can be accessed from anywhere in the world at www.wfnp.org.

This station is not a club, but is a professional radio station that is held in high regard. It has allowed students to discuss serious world issues, broadcast important events, and provide easy listening to the entire Hudson Valley. It is a place where students can come together and learn how to use valuable equipment as well as speak professionally on the air. This collection of T-shirts illustrates the growth and evolution of a small college radio station that became a professional, legitimate station accessible from around the world. WFNP The Edge is an example of how far this school has come and all that it is capable of.

Some signatures of the stations DJs since 1973.

References:

Calabrese, Bruce. “What’s Happening With WRNP Radio?” The Oracle [New Paltz, NY]. 9     Mar. 1988. Print.

Combier-Kapel, Elise. “SUNY New Paltz Radio Station: a compilation of articles reprinted    from the Oracle and other sources.” Sojourner Truth Special Collections. New Paltz: 2010. Print.

Lugo, Anthony. “FM For WRNP Radio Closer Than Ever.” The Oracle [New Paltz, NY]. 22 Oct. 1987. Print.

Caption & Description: A worn-out, short-sleeved T-shirt dating back to the 1980s that represents qualities ranging from pride, participation or simple appreciation for a good performance. This royal blue T-Shirt reveals a casual fit to its subject and is made up of cotton fibers. The thin white tag which depicts these details resting in back of the shirt is extremely fragile and displays almost no readable print. The material has a dry feel to it yet the detail in the middle of the tee ironically can be easily read and possesses very little fading. The text states: The Department of Theatre Arts at SUNY New Paltz Presents The American Premiere of The Swan Down Gloves. The character detailed under the writing most likely represents one of the main characters of the show known as Mazda, the Master of Shadows. But why was this production and t-shirt, among the dozens of musicals performed within the Theatre Arts department at New Paltz, cherished and seen as so significant in the eyes of all those involved? 

Provenance: Although no definite information has been confirmed, this t-shirt is believed to have been donated by the original director and writer of the show – Billie Brown – to the SUNY New Paltz memorabilia collection. Another assumption reveals someone within the theatre arts department saved and stored away the shirt. Surprisingly, as productions played a frequent part in the life of a theatre major, shirts representing each production were not always created. However because this was such a special show, the department made an exception so the shirt could serve as a way to remember the achievement of SUNY’s first American Premiere of London’s The Swan Down Gloves. Other items related to this show are also saved within SUNY New Paltz’s special collection such as the directorial notebook of the show with all the notes, stage directions and cast lines.

According to the New Paltz Oracle newspaper, the cast of the theatre art’s production of The Swan Down Gloves dates back to late March and early April of 1987. The exact show dates were March 26-29 and April 2-5. The performance was held in McKenna Theatre and the general admission ticket was $7. The oracle had frequent advertisements for college productions and even occasionally had reviews for certain shows for the public to read about. This production is just one of the examples of the richly talented contributions that the fine and performing arts departments within the college that is SUNY New Paltz. However, what makes this production particularly extraordinary is the fact that the theatre department at SUNY was the first group to stage an American version of this London production. Thus, the original director Billie Brown came to SUNY New Paltz to see the show and Nigel Heiss, the show’s original composer also came to New Paltz to assist with musical numbers.

Based off Billie Brown’s book, The Swan Down Gloves has the potential to captivates the minds of any audience with its imagination rendering mystical characteristics. The show debuted in London, 1981 with The Royal Shakespeare Company and through its distinctly pantomime way of being, proves to be a particularly unique show in itself. Generally, the show appears to be a spoof on William Shakespeare’s early life and includes several comedic characteristics that parallel with Shakespeare’s plays. The New Paltz Oracle describes in its description of the performance as: “A frolicking, rolicking romp through the joyous and sometimes bawdy realm of fable and fairy tale where boys play girls and vice versa, rats read Neitzsche and fairies guzzle gin”. This “bawdy realm” includes the simple plot of characters Kit (a glove maker) and his brother Will setting out on a journey to deliver a pair of special gloves to the court of London. The characters encounter many obstacles and throughout the show the audience becomes acquainted with vibrant characters such as Mazda – the Master of Shadows, Lumina – The Lady of Light and of course, Lady Alice – the sex kitten. (insert footnote). The characters’ outstanding experiences throughout the show seem of greater importance than the actual storyline as a review by John Barber states: “The script…….gives classical actors every chance for outrageous burlesque of panto people and conventions”. Clearly, the performance requires tremendous talent and ability which the theatre arts department could take grasp and re-create in the still very familiar McKenna Theatre.

Although little is still documented on the specific casting details and highlights of this show, the production of Billie Brown’s: The Swan Down Gloves was one to remember and appreciate during its current time and still today. This new type of performance composed of pantomime and Europe’s comedia dell’arte influences, introduced its audience to a different type of show.  This show displayed little similarities to popular musicals that were more commonly displayed in American playhouses. Thus, this show paved the way for a different type of audience and a different approach to theatre. SUNY New Paltz was gifted with this wonderful opportunity and so opened its doors to diversity within the theatrical performance world.

*sources to be continued 

This pin was donated to special collections by Richard Hasbrouck in 2006. It was presented to a member of his family back in 1891.

In a dainty plastic bag in Sojourner Truth Library lies a beautiful golden pin on a chain. It is not a white gold— it is a yellow gold, either due to what it is made from or because of over one hundred years of exposure to the sunshine and oily hands. The pin is small, measuring ½ inch tall by ¾ inch wide. It is shaped like an open, hardcover book. In delicate cursive script, “After Labour Reward 1891” is engraved onto its surface. “After” and “Labour” are on the left page, and “Reward 1891” is on the right page. The pin, although solid, is well designed like a book, and the “pages” are not flat- they have a slight curve to them which makes them more realistic. Twenty six small, golden loops attached together connect the book to its pin. The chain is four inches long, and the needle is about 1 ½ inches long. The needle section of the pin is not purely a pin plated in gold, in the middle it has a swirl to it, as though it was taffy that somebody had decided to twist. Like a sewing pin, this pin has a small golden ball at its top.

Along with the pin in the collection was a sheet saying that the pin was presented to either Charlotte E. Reeve or Laura Hasbrouck. However, in the Auld Lang Syne yearbook, the classes from several years around 1981 are listed. Each class has a “slogan.” The graduating class from June 1891’s slogan was “After Labour, Reward.” There are twenty five students in this graduating class. However, only Charlotte E. Reeve is listed in this graduating class, so it would make the most sense that she was the student who was presented with this pin, not Laura Hasbrouck, because this pin was presented to the graduating class, and Laura Hasbrouck is not one of the twenty five names on the list.

This is significant to New Paltz history because it represents the growth of our university. ***

CAPTION:

Hester Elting created this “marking sampler” in 1808, when she was about 9 years old. An embroidered sampler of this era was used to teach a young girl the alphabet and numbers, as well as how to spell her own name. It was necessary for a girl to learn how to stitch in order to mark linens, whether her own or her employer’s if she entered into domestic service.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:

The Hester Elting sampler is wrought in blue and red cotton thread on homespun linen, and is 7″ x 10 1/2″ in size. Secured to the top edge is a sample alphabet of letters A through E, on finer linen (perhaps imported from Europe) and probably made by Hester’s teacher, attached as a guide for her work. Hester stitched the alphabet in both upper and lower case letters, and included numbers one through ten. She added rows of decorative border stitches to separate the bands, and signed it “Hester Elting in the 10 year of life.”

DATE OF CREATION: c. 1808

NARRATIVE:

Hester Elting was born on November 8, 1798, in New Paltz, New York, the daughter of Johannes Elting and Jannetje Wurts. Although the Elting family was not one of the twelve original founding families of New Paltz, the family exerted a significant influence from an early date. The great-great-grandfather of Hester’s father Johannes was Jan Elting, who immigrated from the Netherlands in 1657 to Long Island; the family later settled in Hurley, New York, just across the river from the future New Paltz settlement. He was among the witnesses to the purchase of land by the French Huguenots from the native American Lenape people in 1677. In the early 1700’s, Jan’s eldest son Roelif moved to New Paltz, and married Sarah, daughter of Abraham DuBois, one of the original patentees of the settlement. Hester’s mother, Jannetije Wurts, was the daughter of Dr. George Wurts, the first resident doctor in New Paltz, and Esther Hasbrouck; Esther was the great-granddaughter of Jean Hasbrouck, another of the original New Paltz patentees.

It is uncertain what type of education was available in New Paltz prior to the founding of the first district school in 1812. At that time, it was typical for children to be taught to read at home because it was important that everyone be equipped to read the Bible. Once a child could read, boys and girls often attended classes in the home of a woman in the neighborhood; these schools became known as “Dame Schools.” Hester’s second cousin Rebecca, nine years older, established a “Select School” for girls on 111 Huguenot Street in 1840, which continued until l853. Hester’s may have attended such a school when she stitched her sampler in 1808, but since the sampler is quite basic, she most likely completed her sampler under the tutelage of her own mother or another relative.

The embroidery sampler has a long history in Europe. The earliest dated sampler is housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum in England with the date of 1598, but references in literature occur even earlier. Originally a sampler was long and narrow, and contained a variety of stitches and motifs which could be used for future embroidery work. These pieces were stitched by experienced needleworkers, rolled up and kept in a sewing basket for reference. An example of such a sampler wrought by Loara Standish, daughter of Mayflower passenger Myles Standish, is located in the Pilgrim Hall Museum of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The sampler is dated c. 1653 when Loara was age 21.

With the arrival of the printing press, stitching patterns became readily available and the function of the sampler gradually changed. Education for boys and girls differed in early America. After learning to read, boys would be taught to write, a skill called “penmanship,” followed by arithmetic, to be used in the professions and trade. Girls, however, had no need to learn those skills and were instead taught to read and sew. Reading was taught orally; it was not necessary to be able to write in order to read. The Hester Elting sampler is an example of the new function of needlework: a young girl would be taught her alphabet and numbers by way of embroidery, learning to stitch at the same time. Since household linens were precious, a wife would “mark” them with initials and numbers so that each item was indentifiable and could be rotated for even wear. This skill was also taught to girls for use in domestic service employment.

Hester Elting married Thomas W. Deyo on February 20, 1819; she was 20 years old. She gave birth to a son, baptized Mauritius Deyo, on December 24, 1819. Hester died a week after her son’s birth on December 31, 1819 — barely 21 years old. The risk of childbirth remained acute until the late 19th century. Women had many children because the rate of childhood mortality was high: nearly one-third of children would die before reaching the age of 21. Every woman could expect to lose one or more of her children. “Maternal mortality,” death from complications of childbirth, was very common. Bacterial infections and phlebitis contracted during childbirth caused death for as many as one-sixth of the women who died during childbearing years. As many as 1 in 8 women would die in childbirth!

PROVENANCE:

Hester Elting Deyo had only one child, Mauritius Deyo. Mauritius Deyo was married to Mary Jane Winfield. They had 4 sons as of the 1875 New York State Census, residing in Hyde Park, New York. The rudimentary homespun sampler stitched by nine-year-old Hester Elting in 1808 was significant enough to be saved and passed down through the generations. The sampler was passed from Mauritius, to his son Ernest, to his son Alfred, to his son John Winfield Deyo. In 1989, the piece was donated to the collection of Historic Huguenot Street by John Winfield Deyo, along with many other documents from family archives. Portraits of Mauritius Deyo and Mary Jane Winfield Deyo currently hang in the “Deyo House” on Huguenot Street.

REFERENCES:

Friedland, Anne. Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook, Vol. 79 (1994), 22-36. Poughkeepsie, NY: Dutchess County Historical Society. Print.

Heidgerd, William. A History of New Paltz, Bulletins No. 4 and 5. New Paltz, NY: Elting Memorial Library Haviland Collection. n.d. Print.

Larkin, Jack. “’No Force Can Death Resist‘: Reflections on Child and Infant Mortality in American History.” Sturbridge, MA: Olde Sturbridge Village, Inc. (2000). Web. 5 Apr. 2013.

Monaghan, E. Jennifer. “Literacy Instruction and Gender in Colonial New England.” American Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 1 (1988). Web. 30 Mar. 2013.

New York State Census, 1875 (image of original document). Familysearch.org. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.

Peck, Amerlia. “American Needlework in the Eighteenth Century.” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000 –. Web. 5 Mar. 2013.

The Deyo (Deyoe) Family. New Paltz, NY: The Deyo Family Association, Huguenot Historical Society (2003). Print.

Note: Most of this is very much a work-in-progress. Since I did not receive word back from the owner of the button in time, I could not provide images or fully research the item. I also need to look back for a few extra bits of information in the Oracle. I might even have to research Manny’s, if that is where the button was really made.

Pat & George’s Lapel Button
New Paltz, New York
On the button reads “Pat and George’s” and “Make Orgies, Not War.” From such clues, the item places New Paltz at the heart of the counterculture movements in the mid-twentieth century, where the sexual revolution combines with dominant anti-war sentiment.

Physical Description:Cannot be determined.

Provenance: To be determined. Likely was either created at P&G’s or Manny’s between 1947 and 1980s, when the restaurant was known as Pat & George’s due to changes in ownership. Ed and Mike Beck, previous and current owners of the establishment, have no clue about the button and the whereabouts of the owners beforehand. I am currently attempting to contact the current owner of Manny’s and the owner of the lapel button in question.

Date of Creation: Between 1947 and 1980.

Narrative:
The button pulls New Paltz into the grand narratives of the Vietnam War and the sexual revolutions from the 1960s to 1980s. On October 14th, 1969, in the same year Edwin Beck purchased P&G’s, the Oracle publishes an open letter “sent to all New Paltz merchants concerning their role in tomorrow’s Vietnam Moratorium.” To protest the war in Vietnam, at a point when thirty-five thousand Americans have died and after five years of demonstrations and outrage, students initiated a movement to stop all town activity on October 15th, 1969. “Students and other citizens are going to suspend their normal activities by not attending school or work,” so town merchants were similarly encouraged to “not conduct business” and join with Poughkeepsie and many American communities in protest. The open letter gets more serious in its urgency for action and repercussion:

“This is part of a continuing nationwide protest that will begin on the 15th of every month with an additional day of protest each month the war continues. Thus, in November it will be a two day protest, in December three days, etc. However, we are only asking our merchants to close the FIRST protest day of each month, beginning at 12:00 noon.
Any store remaining open the first day of protest each month will be boycotted for a period of one week this month followed by an additional week each succeeding month.”

Such efforts join country-wide sentiments and actions against the war. On November 15th, 1969, more than five-hundred thousand people marched on Washington to protest the war, remaining the largest political rally in history and eliciting no response from the government. The war continued on until April 30, 1975, but the Vietnam Moratorium at New Paltz did not. (insert info about last mention of Moratorium in Oracle)

Not long after mentions of the Moratorium, Oracle issues in 1970 and 1971 feature campus events and discussions about sex in their “This Week On Campus” column. Little other news about sexual revolution activities exist in SUNY New Paltz news until the 1990s, when the school hosted a sex conference which included a lecture panel on sadomasochists, and instructional workshop on sex toys. However, mention of sex talks in the Oracle already shed light on the socially-progressive nature of the campus in the late 1960s and early 1970s, influenced by popular sex-liberating literature such as The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan (1963) and nationally-recognized protests such as the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Such cultural exposure allowed the “Make Orgies, Not War” button to exist, as more prudent towns would never hold such items.

The lapel button finally offers the deeply rooted connection of SUNY New Paltz to its surrounding community. After Edwin Beck took ownership of Pat & George’s in 1969, he hosted a party on-campus to introduce students to the restaurant. Subsequently, issues of the Oracle featured advertisements for Pat & George’s nearly every other issue. Nick Wesley, a disgruntled student writing in the Oracle on October 14th, 1969, expresses his disapproval of the Moratorium because “P&G’s is closing for the afternoon” and such would anger many World Series fans and picketers. Prior to that academic year, there is no mention of the establishment in the campus newspaper, confirming claims on the P&G’s website that Edwin Beck’s party at SUNY New Paltz reached out “to a wider audience and gave the students… a new place to call home.”

This button explains why there is a party life at SUNY New Paltz, why students today flock to P&G’s, McGillicuddy’s, Cabaloosa, Oasis, Snugs, and many other local institutions on weekend nights for their party fixes. These restaurants and clubs can owe their late night business to Ed Beck, an ambitious business man who converted his neighborhood bar into a local institution shared by townspeople and students alike. Because of his keen interest to invite the college students off campus, demonstrated by the liberal-minded button evoking the sexual freedoms and anti-war sentiments of 1970s college students, Edwin Beck converted New Paltz into the college town it is today, flourishing due to active student involvement at off-campus institutions.

References:
“A History of P&G’s.” P&G’s. 2012. Web. 29 March 2013.
Oracle, 1967 to 1971. Microfilm.
Skarda, Erin. “Moratorium Against the Vietnam War, Nov. 15, 1969.” Time. 28 June 2011. Web. 04 April 2013.
Wishnick, Ken. “The “Hello New Paltz” Show #113- Mike Beck.” Vimeo. 2011. Web. 29 March 2013.

graphic translation of the stained glass window in Old Main

The Mountain and the tower

New Paltz Historical sign

Graphic Translation of one the projectile points from Professor Diamond’s  collection

sorry they are kind of small….it would let me post them any larger, you can see the larger image if you click on them! These are the headers for the top of each of the different sections of objects for the omeka sit thus far. Let me know what you think!