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Each year the Hudson River Maritime Museum schedules an array of lectures and films on local and regional history topics. Lectures occur once a month on Saturdays during the winter months or for special lectures and twice a month on Wednesdays during the fall and spring.
For more information about upcoming lectures, please visit our events calendar or see the list below. If you would like to give a lecture as a visiting speaker, please contact Sarah Wassberg Johnson at education@hrmm.org or call 845-338-0071 ext. 16. |
Upcoming Lectures, 2020
All lectures are $5 for the general public, and FREE for Hudson River Maritime Museum members. Join today!
Lecture: "What Is A Waterway Anyway?"
Saturday, January 18 | 2 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom
Waterways have played a major role in shaping the history of New York State, but what is a waterway exactly? Looking at a handful of examples of ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural,’ or built, waterways, Daniel Rinn invites the audience to consider the myriad ways nature shapes, and is shaped by human culture. This program supports the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibit, Water/Ways.
Lecture: "Idylls of the Imagination: American Landscape Painting and the Shape of Memory"
Saturday, February 22 | 2 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom
Author Raymond Friswell traces the history of landscape painting as it slowly evolved in the United States—arising first as a decorative art, to then become the central defining element in our growing sense of national identity. Touching on the Hudson River School to the Modern era, Friswell charts the changes in perceptions of landscape painting, the influence of historical events, and how landscape paintings ultimately came to influence our national consciousness.
Lecture: “Workers, Riders, Owners: African Americans on the Hudson River in the Nineteenth Century”
Saturday, March 14 | 2 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom
Dr. Myra Young Armstead presents an overview of the direct connection of African Americans to the river as laborers on Hudson River docks and on vessels that plied the waters between Manhattan and the Albany area. Charting the experiences of blacks as passengers on the steamboats that operated after 1807, Dr. Armstead will focus on Samuel Schuyler and his descendants, highlighting an African American family of entrepreneurs who established an independent Hudson River steamboat line.
Lecture: "Exploring the Worlds of Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott"
Wednesday, April 15 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Over one hundred and ninety-three years ago on August 2, 1826, a young Canadian traveler by the name of Alexander Stewart Scott departed his home in Quebec City, to journey into New York State. Keeping a daily travel journal, he jotted down the incidents of his extended trip across the state. This heretofore little-known journal, part of the manuscript collections of the New York State Library, has now been published by SUNY Press as Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott. Join Independent Historian Paul G. Schneider, Jr., who transcribed and edited Scott’s unique journal, as he discusses the world this young traveler encountered and some of the remarkable historical coincidences linking this story to the present.
Lecture: Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson
Wednesday, April 29 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Members of the Hudson River Maritime Museum exhibits team will talk about the 2020 Exhibit “Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson”. From the Civil War to World War I, the steamboat Mary Powell plied the waters of the Hudson River. Overseeing a period of enormous social, political, and economic change, this famous steamboat came to represent the Hudson River at home and abroad and evoked fondness and nostalgia from Hudson Valley residents and tourists alike as they coped with the societal changes that marked her 60 year career.
Lecture: "Enterprising Waters: New York’s Erie Canal"
Wednesday, May 13 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Brad Utter, Senior Historian and Curator at the New York State Museum will discuss the museum’s exhibit, “Enterprising Waters: New York’s Erie Canal” and forthcoming exhibit catalog. Utter will give an overview canal history, the exhibit itself, and highlight some of the special artifacts and stories included in the show.
Lecture: "The Lost Tugboat Family: The Russells of New York Harbor, 1844-1943"
Wednesday, May 27 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Hilary Russell, Jr. will discuss his book Tugboats and Shipyards: the Russells of New York Harbor: 1844-1962, bringing to life the extended Russell Family, who have worked in New York shipping and shipbuilding since 1844. The talk will highlight the Russell 1, the last wooden-hulled tug built in NYC, now named the W.O. Decker and docked at the South Street Seaport Maritime Museum in Manhattan.
Lecture: "Beer and Buttermilk for Breakfast and other Fun Facts from New York’s History"
Wednesday, June 10 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Local Hudson Valley publisher Gavin Caruthers will present entertaining and enlightening material from recent and upcoming books published by his company HVA Press. He'll discuss the real story behind Benedict Arnold’s treason, the dramatic life of Alexander Hamilton’s mother-in-law Catherine Schuyler, the Iroquois Nation’s contribution to the founding of the United States, Willa Cather’s secret book, and many other intriguing and often surprising facts about New York's past. Most of the books from HVA Press were first published over a century ago and have not been available in bookstores until now. Books will be available for sale at a special price for attendees.
Lecture: "From Caulker to Sewing Machine Operator: The Workers Who Lived at 101 Broadway"
Wednesday, June 24 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Dr. Sarah Litvin, executive director of the Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History, documents the changing twentieth century occupational landscape of working-class Kingstonians through the lens of the former tenants of 101 Broadway. This building, which housed Reher's Bakery from 1908 until 1980 and the Reher family's apartment from 1907-2004, was also home to at least nine additional families, most of whom rented an apartment on the third floor between 1880 and 1940 and worked elsewhere in Kingston.This lecture will accompany Sewing in Kingston: Factory, Home and Tradition, an exhibit and program series at the Reher Center in Spring/Summer 2020.
Lecture: "From Candles to LEDs: A History of Lighthouses and Their Lights"
Wednesday, September 16 | 7 PM | VIRTUAL via Zoom
Local lighthouse historian and longtime Rondout Lighthouse docent Frank Almquist discusses the history of lighthouse lighting, including the Fresnel lens, its impact on mariner safety and the US reluctance to install them. Included is a list of where first order lenses can be seen in operation. Register Now >>>
Lecture: "Hudson River Bridges of the New York State Bridge Authority"
Wednesday, September 30 | 7 PM | CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Kathryn Burke, director of Historic Bridges of the Hudson Valley, will speak on the five iconic Hudson River Bridges of the New York State Bridge Authority. Ranging in age from 40 to almost 100 years old, these bridges continue to serve as community connections across the Hudson River.
Lecture: "Women and the Revival of the Hudson River"
Wednesday, October 14 | 7 PM | VIRTUAL via Zoom
The Hudson River has had a remarkable revival in the last sixty years. Cara Lee, conservation advocate for 40 years, will discuss the roles that many women have played in this epic story, and ways they created important narratives about the river against the backdrop of societal change. Register Now >>>
Lecture: "Hudson Valley Freshets and Floods"
Wednesday, October 28 | 7 PM | CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Director of Education Sarah Wassberg Johnson discusses the impacts of historic freshets and flooding on Kingston, Albany, and other Hudson River towns with special emphasis on the flood of 1936 in Kingston. Tracking the efforts to control these floods through dams, dikes, and Army Corps of Engineers work, Wassberg Johnson includes numerous historical photos and personal stories, including from Rondout Lighthouse keeper Catherine Murdock.
Lecture: "Restoring Vintage Hudson River Ice Yachts: Linking the Past and Present"
Wednesday, November 11 | 7 PM | CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Hudson River Ice Yacht Club Historian Brian Reid will look at the history of ice yachting on the Hudson River, through restoration efforts of three historic ice yachts, Jack Frost (1893), Whiff (1876) and Manhassett (1906). Through their restoration work, Brian will explore the origins of ice yachting in the Hudson Valley, ice yacht races, design improvements and stories of colorful ice yachting figures. Hudson River Ice Yacht Club was established in 1885 and re-organized in 1964. Club members maintain, restore, and sail the beautiful antique, stern steering ice yachts, most well over 100 years old. Brian owns several vintage ice yachts, including Cyclone, built in 1901 for Herman Livingston Rogers of Hyde Park.
Lecture: "What Is A Waterway Anyway?"
Saturday, January 18 | 2 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom
Waterways have played a major role in shaping the history of New York State, but what is a waterway exactly? Looking at a handful of examples of ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural,’ or built, waterways, Daniel Rinn invites the audience to consider the myriad ways nature shapes, and is shaped by human culture. This program supports the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibit, Water/Ways.
Lecture: "Idylls of the Imagination: American Landscape Painting and the Shape of Memory"
Saturday, February 22 | 2 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom
Author Raymond Friswell traces the history of landscape painting as it slowly evolved in the United States—arising first as a decorative art, to then become the central defining element in our growing sense of national identity. Touching on the Hudson River School to the Modern era, Friswell charts the changes in perceptions of landscape painting, the influence of historical events, and how landscape paintings ultimately came to influence our national consciousness.
Lecture: “Workers, Riders, Owners: African Americans on the Hudson River in the Nineteenth Century”
Saturday, March 14 | 2 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom
Dr. Myra Young Armstead presents an overview of the direct connection of African Americans to the river as laborers on Hudson River docks and on vessels that plied the waters between Manhattan and the Albany area. Charting the experiences of blacks as passengers on the steamboats that operated after 1807, Dr. Armstead will focus on Samuel Schuyler and his descendants, highlighting an African American family of entrepreneurs who established an independent Hudson River steamboat line.
Lecture: "Exploring the Worlds of Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott"
Wednesday, April 15 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Over one hundred and ninety-three years ago on August 2, 1826, a young Canadian traveler by the name of Alexander Stewart Scott departed his home in Quebec City, to journey into New York State. Keeping a daily travel journal, he jotted down the incidents of his extended trip across the state. This heretofore little-known journal, part of the manuscript collections of the New York State Library, has now been published by SUNY Press as Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott. Join Independent Historian Paul G. Schneider, Jr., who transcribed and edited Scott’s unique journal, as he discusses the world this young traveler encountered and some of the remarkable historical coincidences linking this story to the present.
Lecture: Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson
Wednesday, April 29 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Members of the Hudson River Maritime Museum exhibits team will talk about the 2020 Exhibit “Mary Powell: Queen of the Hudson”. From the Civil War to World War I, the steamboat Mary Powell plied the waters of the Hudson River. Overseeing a period of enormous social, political, and economic change, this famous steamboat came to represent the Hudson River at home and abroad and evoked fondness and nostalgia from Hudson Valley residents and tourists alike as they coped with the societal changes that marked her 60 year career.
Lecture: "Enterprising Waters: New York’s Erie Canal"
Wednesday, May 13 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Brad Utter, Senior Historian and Curator at the New York State Museum will discuss the museum’s exhibit, “Enterprising Waters: New York’s Erie Canal” and forthcoming exhibit catalog. Utter will give an overview canal history, the exhibit itself, and highlight some of the special artifacts and stories included in the show.
Lecture: "The Lost Tugboat Family: The Russells of New York Harbor, 1844-1943"
Wednesday, May 27 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Hilary Russell, Jr. will discuss his book Tugboats and Shipyards: the Russells of New York Harbor: 1844-1962, bringing to life the extended Russell Family, who have worked in New York shipping and shipbuilding since 1844. The talk will highlight the Russell 1, the last wooden-hulled tug built in NYC, now named the W.O. Decker and docked at the South Street Seaport Maritime Museum in Manhattan.
Lecture: "Beer and Buttermilk for Breakfast and other Fun Facts from New York’s History"
Wednesday, June 10 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Local Hudson Valley publisher Gavin Caruthers will present entertaining and enlightening material from recent and upcoming books published by his company HVA Press. He'll discuss the real story behind Benedict Arnold’s treason, the dramatic life of Alexander Hamilton’s mother-in-law Catherine Schuyler, the Iroquois Nation’s contribution to the founding of the United States, Willa Cather’s secret book, and many other intriguing and often surprising facts about New York's past. Most of the books from HVA Press were first published over a century ago and have not been available in bookstores until now. Books will be available for sale at a special price for attendees.
Lecture: "From Caulker to Sewing Machine Operator: The Workers Who Lived at 101 Broadway"
Wednesday, June 24 | 7 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Dr. Sarah Litvin, executive director of the Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History, documents the changing twentieth century occupational landscape of working-class Kingstonians through the lens of the former tenants of 101 Broadway. This building, which housed Reher's Bakery from 1908 until 1980 and the Reher family's apartment from 1907-2004, was also home to at least nine additional families, most of whom rented an apartment on the third floor between 1880 and 1940 and worked elsewhere in Kingston.This lecture will accompany Sewing in Kingston: Factory, Home and Tradition, an exhibit and program series at the Reher Center in Spring/Summer 2020.
Lecture: "From Candles to LEDs: A History of Lighthouses and Their Lights"
Wednesday, September 16 | 7 PM | VIRTUAL via Zoom
Local lighthouse historian and longtime Rondout Lighthouse docent Frank Almquist discusses the history of lighthouse lighting, including the Fresnel lens, its impact on mariner safety and the US reluctance to install them. Included is a list of where first order lenses can be seen in operation. Register Now >>>
Lecture: "Hudson River Bridges of the New York State Bridge Authority"
Wednesday, September 30 | 7 PM | CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Kathryn Burke, director of Historic Bridges of the Hudson Valley, will speak on the five iconic Hudson River Bridges of the New York State Bridge Authority. Ranging in age from 40 to almost 100 years old, these bridges continue to serve as community connections across the Hudson River.
Lecture: "Women and the Revival of the Hudson River"
Wednesday, October 14 | 7 PM | VIRTUAL via Zoom
The Hudson River has had a remarkable revival in the last sixty years. Cara Lee, conservation advocate for 40 years, will discuss the roles that many women have played in this epic story, and ways they created important narratives about the river against the backdrop of societal change. Register Now >>>
Lecture: "Hudson Valley Freshets and Floods"
Wednesday, October 28 | 7 PM | CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Director of Education Sarah Wassberg Johnson discusses the impacts of historic freshets and flooding on Kingston, Albany, and other Hudson River towns with special emphasis on the flood of 1936 in Kingston. Tracking the efforts to control these floods through dams, dikes, and Army Corps of Engineers work, Wassberg Johnson includes numerous historical photos and personal stories, including from Rondout Lighthouse keeper Catherine Murdock.
Lecture: "Restoring Vintage Hudson River Ice Yachts: Linking the Past and Present"
Wednesday, November 11 | 7 PM | CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19
Hudson River Ice Yacht Club Historian Brian Reid will look at the history of ice yachting on the Hudson River, through restoration efforts of three historic ice yachts, Jack Frost (1893), Whiff (1876) and Manhassett (1906). Through their restoration work, Brian will explore the origins of ice yachting in the Hudson Valley, ice yacht races, design improvements and stories of colorful ice yachting figures. Hudson River Ice Yacht Club was established in 1885 and re-organized in 1964. Club members maintain, restore, and sail the beautiful antique, stern steering ice yachts, most well over 100 years old. Brian owns several vintage ice yachts, including Cyclone, built in 1901 for Herman Livingston Rogers of Hyde Park.
Past Lectures, 2019
Saturday, January 26 - "Wharfed Out: The Promises, Pitfalls, and Public Historical Consequences of Early-American Waterfront Development" Come learn about the merchants, laborers, and property-owners who built and oversaw the waterfront landscapes of east coast cities in the late 1700s and early 1800s. See how their efforts shaped the waterfront landscapes of today, which are now sites of modern development and change. From Manhattan’s East River, to Boston’s harbor, to Philadelphia’s riverfront, Americans filled in acres of shoreline to create urban land where there had once been water. This lecture explores the social, economic, and architectural ramifications of urban waterfront development from 1760 to 1820 through massive construction projects. It follows the stories of men and women, including New York’s Theophylact Bache, Boston’s Hannah Rowe, and Philadelphia’s William Taylor, whose lives were entangled in efforts to replace colonial-era ports with state-of-the-art infrastructure in the early years of the new republic. The lecture will conclude with an exploration of present-day waterfront development and its ties to these early-American precedents.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
RESCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2019! - "Embattled River: The Hudson and Modern American Environmentalism" In his book, Embattled River, David Schuyler describes the efforts to reverse the pollution and bleak future of the Hudson River that became evident in the 1950s. Through his investigative narrative, Schuyler uncovers the critical role of this iconic American waterway in the emergence of modern environmentalism in the United States. Writing fifty-five years after Consolidated Edison announced plans to construct a pumped storage power plant at Storm King Mountain, Schuyler recounts how a loose coalition of activists took on corporate capitalism and defended the river. Led by Scenic Hudson, later joined by groups such as Riverkeeper, Clearwater, the Hudson River Valley Greenway, and the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, the coalition won the first of many legal and publicity battles that would halt pollution of the river, slowly reverse the damage of years of discharge into the river, and protect hundreds of thousands of acres of undeveloped land in the river valley. Book signing to follow.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Saturday, March 23, 2019 - "Lost Lighthouses of the Hudson River" Stuyvesant, Coxsackie, Rockland Lake, Danskammer Point, Esopus Island, Crossover Dike - these are just a few of the “lost” lighthouses and lights of the Hudson River. Just eight Hudson River lighthouses now remain, but dozens once dotted the shores of the Hudson between Troy and New York City. Using primary sources like maps, newspaper articles, and historic photos, Sarah Wassberg Johnson will share her research and that of many Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteers on these often unknown lights, their keepers, and what ultimately happened to the structures themselves.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019 - "Life and Death of the Kingston Post Office" The demolition of the architecturally unique 1907 Kingston Post Office in 1970 was a turning point for historic preservation in Kingston. In this discussion of the history of both the post office itself and its subsequent destruction, filmmaker Stephen Blauweiss and artist Karen Berelowitz will present rare photographs and historic postcards about the “life” and “death” of this iconic building. Book signing to follow.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - "50 Years Later: A History of the Building of the Sloop Clearwater" The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater was launched in South Bristol, Maine on May 17, 1969. The dream began in 1964 with folksinger and activist Pete Seeger, who longed to recreate the iconic Hudson River sloop and get it sailing on the Hudson again. In this talk, Betsy Garthwaite, past President of the Board of Directors for Clearwater and a former captain, will recount the story of the construction of the sloop, from the laying of the keel in October of 1968 to her launching in May of '69. Designed by naval architect Cyrus Hamlin and brought to life by the Harvey Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol - one of the last remaining wooden boatbuilding shipyards at that time - the replica sloop that would come to be called Clearwater was born.
7:00 PM | Kingston Homeport ("The Barn") | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019 - "Fish & Ships: The Hudson-Raritan Estuary in Photographs"
“It is a place that can make nature-worshippers out of non-believers.” New York Harbor is one of the most documented and least well-known of our beautiful and productive estuaries. Andrew Willner, former Baykeeper (1989-2008) for the Hudson-Raritan (NY-NJ) estuary shares his knowledge and love of this beautiful waterscape through photographs. Featuring stunning color photographs of the working waterfront, wildlife, and wetlands that border the harbor, Willner will explain the ecological and human uses of this confluence of the Hackensack, Hudson, Passaic, Rahway, Shrewbury, Navesink, and Raritan rivers.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Rescheduled for August 10, 2019! Saturday, May 18, 2019 - "Boom and Bust: America's Journey on the Erie Canal"
Folklorist and filmmaker Daniel Franklin Ward will present his short documentary film, “Boom and Bust: America’s Journey on the Erie Canal,” with commentary. Featuring oral histories, the film examines the volatile economic cycles experienced by communities along the Erie Canal from when they first entered the global economy to the present day.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - "Maurice Hinchey & New Consciousness in Environmental Thinking in New York"
Author and historian Vernon Benjamin got to know then-Assemblyman Maurice D. Hinchey by serving as a legislative aide in his office from 1982-92. The final chapter of Benjamin’s book, The History of the Hudson River Valley: From the Civil War to Modern Times, “The New Consciousness,” places Maurice Hinchey’s 18-year tenure as a New York State Assemblyman as a seminal part in the rise of environmentalism in New York. Hinchey would go on to become the Congressional Representative for District 19 for another 20 years. Governor Mario Cuomo once hailed him as the “environmental conscience of New York State.” Hinchey was a major sponsor of environmental legislation including the State Environmental Quality Review Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Although Hinchey passed away in 2017, his environmental legacy lives on. Book signing to follow.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 - "The Underground Railroad: A New Approach to Interpretation"
Paul and Mary Liz Stewart have been exploring the Underground Railroad for the past 20 years and their journey has included scores of walking tours, 18 years of organizing underground railroad conferences, and restoring a UGRR site. Their award winning work has been featured on radio, TV and national publications. They will tell the story of the UGRR through 8 principals they developed through their work which they feel tells a different story than the version usually told. Their version is document based and shows a connection to present day events. They will use powerpoint slides showing documents, photographs and people related to the story.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019 - "Rescuing the River: The Story of Storm King"
PLEASE NOTE: The original speaker, David Schulyer, author of "Embattled River: the Hudson and Modern American Environmentalism" has cancelled his appearance due to health issues.
Director of Education Sarah Wassberg Johnson recounts the role of the Hudson River in forming the modern environmental movement in the United States, with special emphasis on the story of the proposed, and ultimately defeated, Consolidated Edison pumped storage hydroelectric power plant at Storm King Mountain and how it galvanized a generation of environmental activists to protect the Hudson River. Groups influenced by the proposed power plant include Scenic Hudson, the Hudson River Fishermen's Association (later Riverkeeper), and Clearwater. Wassberg Johnson was a lead staff member in the creation of the new temporary exhibit, "Rescuing the River: 50 Years of Environmental Activism on the Hudson," on view at the Hudson River Maritime Museum now through December, 2021.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Saturday, July 27, 2019 - "Lighthouses of the Hudson River" Join HRMM Director of Education Sarah Wassberg Johnson for an engaging talk about all of the Hudson River Lighthouses. Revealing new information about lost lighthouses and women lighthouse keepers, this engaging lecture is not to be missed by lighthouse enthusiasts. The newly published book Hudson River Lighthouses will also be available for purchase and signing. All proceeds benefit the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Saturday, August 10, 2019 - "Boom and Bust: America's Journey on the Erie Canal"
Folklorist and filmmaker Daniel Franklin Ward will present his short documentary film, “Boom and Bust: America’s Journey on the Erie Canal,” with commentary. Featuring oral histories, the film examines the volatile economic cycles experienced by communities along the Erie Canal from when they first entered the global economy to the present day.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 - "Protecting the Olana Viewshed"
Dr. Harvy Flad will give an overview of the fight to protect the viewshed of the Olana State Historic Site (home of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church) from industrial development. His overview of the important of the viewshed includes the 2005 fight to prevent the construction of a new St. Lawrence Cement Plant within the viewshed.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019 - "Tracing the Tannery Brook"
Emily Vail shares her research in tracing the history of Tannery Brook, a small stream with a long history that runs through the City of Kingston. From the Dutch Colonial period to the present, Vail examines the use and misuse of this waterway over the centuries.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - "The Golden Age of Hudson River Steamboats"
Join HRMM Curator Emerita Allynne Lange for an illustrated journey through the golden age of passenger steamboats on the Hudson River. Covering from the late 19th to early 20th century, Lange will discuss the various excursions these often famous steamboats took up and down the Hudson.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019 - "Pond Yachts"
HRMM Board Member and maritime artist Mark Peckham discusses the history of pond yachts – floatable toy sailboats – and their construction through the ages.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
RESCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2019! - "Embattled River: The Hudson and Modern American Environmentalism" In his book, Embattled River, David Schuyler describes the efforts to reverse the pollution and bleak future of the Hudson River that became evident in the 1950s. Through his investigative narrative, Schuyler uncovers the critical role of this iconic American waterway in the emergence of modern environmentalism in the United States. Writing fifty-five years after Consolidated Edison announced plans to construct a pumped storage power plant at Storm King Mountain, Schuyler recounts how a loose coalition of activists took on corporate capitalism and defended the river. Led by Scenic Hudson, later joined by groups such as Riverkeeper, Clearwater, the Hudson River Valley Greenway, and the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, the coalition won the first of many legal and publicity battles that would halt pollution of the river, slowly reverse the damage of years of discharge into the river, and protect hundreds of thousands of acres of undeveloped land in the river valley. Book signing to follow.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Saturday, March 23, 2019 - "Lost Lighthouses of the Hudson River" Stuyvesant, Coxsackie, Rockland Lake, Danskammer Point, Esopus Island, Crossover Dike - these are just a few of the “lost” lighthouses and lights of the Hudson River. Just eight Hudson River lighthouses now remain, but dozens once dotted the shores of the Hudson between Troy and New York City. Using primary sources like maps, newspaper articles, and historic photos, Sarah Wassberg Johnson will share her research and that of many Hudson River Maritime Museum volunteers on these often unknown lights, their keepers, and what ultimately happened to the structures themselves.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019 - "Life and Death of the Kingston Post Office" The demolition of the architecturally unique 1907 Kingston Post Office in 1970 was a turning point for historic preservation in Kingston. In this discussion of the history of both the post office itself and its subsequent destruction, filmmaker Stephen Blauweiss and artist Karen Berelowitz will present rare photographs and historic postcards about the “life” and “death” of this iconic building. Book signing to follow.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - "50 Years Later: A History of the Building of the Sloop Clearwater" The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater was launched in South Bristol, Maine on May 17, 1969. The dream began in 1964 with folksinger and activist Pete Seeger, who longed to recreate the iconic Hudson River sloop and get it sailing on the Hudson again. In this talk, Betsy Garthwaite, past President of the Board of Directors for Clearwater and a former captain, will recount the story of the construction of the sloop, from the laying of the keel in October of 1968 to her launching in May of '69. Designed by naval architect Cyrus Hamlin and brought to life by the Harvey Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol - one of the last remaining wooden boatbuilding shipyards at that time - the replica sloop that would come to be called Clearwater was born.
7:00 PM | Kingston Homeport ("The Barn") | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019 - "Fish & Ships: The Hudson-Raritan Estuary in Photographs"
“It is a place that can make nature-worshippers out of non-believers.” New York Harbor is one of the most documented and least well-known of our beautiful and productive estuaries. Andrew Willner, former Baykeeper (1989-2008) for the Hudson-Raritan (NY-NJ) estuary shares his knowledge and love of this beautiful waterscape through photographs. Featuring stunning color photographs of the working waterfront, wildlife, and wetlands that border the harbor, Willner will explain the ecological and human uses of this confluence of the Hackensack, Hudson, Passaic, Rahway, Shrewbury, Navesink, and Raritan rivers.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Rescheduled for August 10, 2019! Saturday, May 18, 2019 - "Boom and Bust: America's Journey on the Erie Canal"
Folklorist and filmmaker Daniel Franklin Ward will present his short documentary film, “Boom and Bust: America’s Journey on the Erie Canal,” with commentary. Featuring oral histories, the film examines the volatile economic cycles experienced by communities along the Erie Canal from when they first entered the global economy to the present day.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - "Maurice Hinchey & New Consciousness in Environmental Thinking in New York"
Author and historian Vernon Benjamin got to know then-Assemblyman Maurice D. Hinchey by serving as a legislative aide in his office from 1982-92. The final chapter of Benjamin’s book, The History of the Hudson River Valley: From the Civil War to Modern Times, “The New Consciousness,” places Maurice Hinchey’s 18-year tenure as a New York State Assemblyman as a seminal part in the rise of environmentalism in New York. Hinchey would go on to become the Congressional Representative for District 19 for another 20 years. Governor Mario Cuomo once hailed him as the “environmental conscience of New York State.” Hinchey was a major sponsor of environmental legislation including the State Environmental Quality Review Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Although Hinchey passed away in 2017, his environmental legacy lives on. Book signing to follow.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 - "The Underground Railroad: A New Approach to Interpretation"
Paul and Mary Liz Stewart have been exploring the Underground Railroad for the past 20 years and their journey has included scores of walking tours, 18 years of organizing underground railroad conferences, and restoring a UGRR site. Their award winning work has been featured on radio, TV and national publications. They will tell the story of the UGRR through 8 principals they developed through their work which they feel tells a different story than the version usually told. Their version is document based and shows a connection to present day events. They will use powerpoint slides showing documents, photographs and people related to the story.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019 - "Rescuing the River: The Story of Storm King"
PLEASE NOTE: The original speaker, David Schulyer, author of "Embattled River: the Hudson and Modern American Environmentalism" has cancelled his appearance due to health issues.
Director of Education Sarah Wassberg Johnson recounts the role of the Hudson River in forming the modern environmental movement in the United States, with special emphasis on the story of the proposed, and ultimately defeated, Consolidated Edison pumped storage hydroelectric power plant at Storm King Mountain and how it galvanized a generation of environmental activists to protect the Hudson River. Groups influenced by the proposed power plant include Scenic Hudson, the Hudson River Fishermen's Association (later Riverkeeper), and Clearwater. Wassberg Johnson was a lead staff member in the creation of the new temporary exhibit, "Rescuing the River: 50 Years of Environmental Activism on the Hudson," on view at the Hudson River Maritime Museum now through December, 2021.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Saturday, July 27, 2019 - "Lighthouses of the Hudson River" Join HRMM Director of Education Sarah Wassberg Johnson for an engaging talk about all of the Hudson River Lighthouses. Revealing new information about lost lighthouses and women lighthouse keepers, this engaging lecture is not to be missed by lighthouse enthusiasts. The newly published book Hudson River Lighthouses will also be available for purchase and signing. All proceeds benefit the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Saturday, August 10, 2019 - "Boom and Bust: America's Journey on the Erie Canal"
Folklorist and filmmaker Daniel Franklin Ward will present his short documentary film, “Boom and Bust: America’s Journey on the Erie Canal,” with commentary. Featuring oral histories, the film examines the volatile economic cycles experienced by communities along the Erie Canal from when they first entered the global economy to the present day.
2:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019 - "Protecting the Olana Viewshed"
Dr. Harvy Flad will give an overview of the fight to protect the viewshed of the Olana State Historic Site (home of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church) from industrial development. His overview of the important of the viewshed includes the 2005 fight to prevent the construction of a new St. Lawrence Cement Plant within the viewshed.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019 - "Tracing the Tannery Brook"
Emily Vail shares her research in tracing the history of Tannery Brook, a small stream with a long history that runs through the City of Kingston. From the Dutch Colonial period to the present, Vail examines the use and misuse of this waterway over the centuries.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - "The Golden Age of Hudson River Steamboats"
Join HRMM Curator Emerita Allynne Lange for an illustrated journey through the golden age of passenger steamboats on the Hudson River. Covering from the late 19th to early 20th century, Lange will discuss the various excursions these often famous steamboats took up and down the Hudson.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019 - "Pond Yachts"
HRMM Board Member and maritime artist Mark Peckham discusses the history of pond yachts – floatable toy sailboats – and their construction through the ages.
7:00 PM | Wooden Boat School Classroom | $5/person, HRMM Members FREE.
Did You Miss A Lecture?
With permission from our speakers we are now able to film some of our lectures, so you can catch up on ones you missed! Due to restrictions, not all lectures may be available on video or in full. Click on the blue links to watch the videos on YouTube.
Saturday, February 4, 2017 - "Black Maritime Workers in Early America" with Dr. Craig Marin.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017 - "The History of the Hudson River Valley: From the Civil War to Modern Times" with Vernon Benjamin.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017 - "So Many Models, So Little Time" with Charlie Potter.
Saturday, August 12, 2017 - "Fish Tales: An Afternoon with John Mylod, Thomas Lake, and Christopher Letts".
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - "Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape" with Thomas Rinaldi and Robert J. Yasinsac.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017 - "The Ships of the Newburgh Shipyards" with New Windsor Town Historian Glenn Marshall.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017 - "Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson River" with Sarah Wassberg Johnson.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - "My House is Your House - 'Mi Casa es Su Casa' Sharing Food and Cultural Memories of Immigrant Kingston". Roundtable discussion led by Geoffrey Miller.
Saturday, January 27, 2018 - "When Freedom Calls: The Alsdorf Family and the Underground Railroad" with Tashae Smith.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - "Lighting the Lighthouse" with Frank Almquist.
Saturday, February 4, 2017 - "Black Maritime Workers in Early America" with Dr. Craig Marin.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017 - "The History of the Hudson River Valley: From the Civil War to Modern Times" with Vernon Benjamin.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017 - "So Many Models, So Little Time" with Charlie Potter.
Saturday, August 12, 2017 - "Fish Tales: An Afternoon with John Mylod, Thomas Lake, and Christopher Letts".
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - "Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape" with Thomas Rinaldi and Robert J. Yasinsac.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017 - "The Ships of the Newburgh Shipyards" with New Windsor Town Historian Glenn Marshall.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017 - "Keepers of the Light: Women Lighthouse Keepers of the Hudson River" with Sarah Wassberg Johnson.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - "My House is Your House - 'Mi Casa es Su Casa' Sharing Food and Cultural Memories of Immigrant Kingston". Roundtable discussion led by Geoffrey Miller.
Saturday, January 27, 2018 - "When Freedom Calls: The Alsdorf Family and the Underground Railroad" with Tashae Smith.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - "Lighting the Lighthouse" with Frank Almquist.
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Hudson River Maritime Museum
50 Rondout Landing Kingston, NY 12401 845-338-0071 fax: 845-338-0583 info@hrmm.org The Hudson River Maritime Museum is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the maritime history of the Hudson River, its tributaries, and related industries. |
Members Matter!Become a member and receive benefits like unlimited free museum admission, discounts on classes, programs, and in the museum store, plus invitations to members-only events.
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Support EducationThe Hudson River Maritime Museum receives no federal, state, or municipal funding except through competitive, project-based grants. Your donation helps support our mission of education and preservation.
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