Old Stone Fort Museum Complex

Summer Local History Lectures

July 14, 2011
Robert W. Arnold: “Let Loose the Dogs of War: New York in the American Civil War”

(This Speakers in the Humanities event is made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.)

New York supplied more men, money and material to the Civil War than any other state North or South, but New Yorkers responded to the war in diverse and often contradictory fashions. Concentrating mainly on the home front, this presentation examines some of those responses, put into the political, social and military contexts of the time. Learn about the social costs of the war in the farms and cities of the Empire State, in families, workplaces and neighborhoods, and in the transition of this state from an era of reform to the Gilded Age.

Robert W. Arnold III is a career public historian now retired from the New York State Archives. He was Albany County Historian and an historical archaeologist and serves as a Commissioner of Historic Resources for the City of Albany. Arnold teaches colonial and nineteenth century American, New York State, industrial revolution and preindustrial New York, and regional history at the College of Saint Rose. At Excelsior College Arnold teaches Colonial America, Revolutionary America, American Civil War and U.S. Immigration and Ethnic History.

July 28, 2011
Maxine Getty: “Mary Livermore: Memoirs of a Civil War Nurse”

Maxine Getty portrays Mary Ashton Rice Livermore, abolitionist, teacher, writer, nurse, and suffragette. This presentation concentrates on Mary Livermore during her time spent as a nurse in the Civil War and her affiliation with the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Maxine will dress in clothing appropriate to the nursing attire of the time and share with you, through Mary, the many things she experienced and participated in during the Civil War.

Mrs. Getty has been doing historical presentations for the past 18 years. She was inspired to learn about the women of the mid- nineteenth century while accompanying her husband to reenactments. Using accurate period clothing and objects appropriate for the individuals she portrays, Maxine brings to life several women from the Civil War. She gave a well-received portrayal at the Old Stone Fort last summer as “A Lady in Mourning, the Story of Rebecca Cameron, widow of the late Col. James Cameron, Commander of the 79th NYSMV or Highlanders.”

August 11, 2011
Charles Churchill: “General Freegift Patchin: My Sufferings in Indian Captivity”

Charles “Chip” Churchill of Sun City Center FL, will re-enact and tell the story of General Freegift Patchin, while Dorothy, his wife, takes part as Freegift's wife, Molly. Chip became interested in Freegift while researching his Patchin/Patchen family tree.

Freegift Patchin was born in Wilton CT, and enlisted in the Revolutionary War on June 21, 1776 at age 18, as a fifer in the Wadsworth Brigade, Connecticut Militia. When his enlistment expired he attached to the New York Company of Militia. Freegift was captured by Native Americans loyal to the Crown in 1780, forced to march 300 miles to Fort Niagara and held captive for two years. Following the war Patchin acquired property and established a home for his family in North Blenheim.

August 25, 2011
David Carlyon: “19th Century Circus: Sex, Violence & Politics”

(This Speakers in the Humanities event is made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.)

Traveling circuses frequented rural towns and villages all over America in the 1800’s – including Schoharie County. The Schoharie Republican reports on a visiting circus in the village of Schoharie on May 8, 1844 and claimed it was “the greatest and most talented company…” and sure to receive “a liberal patronage.” The Jefferson Courier for July 29, 1897 announced that the “Ringling Brothers Big Show will be in Cobleskill, August 26.” It seems only fitting then to explore the world of circuses under the guidance of Mr. David Carlyon in a lecture funded by a Speakers in the Humanities grant from the New York State Council for the Humanities. .

Highly educated and multi-talented, David Carlyon is an expert on the various traveling circuses that brought entertainment and excitement to towns and villages in rural America long ago. In addition to being a lecturer for the NYS Council on the Humanities, Carlyon also serves as a consultant to the Cincinnati Art Museum for their exhibit of circus posters. He has authored many articles and also researched and wrote a book, Dan Rice: the Most Important Man You’ve Never Heard Of, about the life and times of an amazing clown who was once a presidential candidate. Carlyon’s talents do not end here. He has also been an actor, playwright, director and producer of plays, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan- Flint, and, yes, a clown! He performed with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus for three years.