2011 Exhibitions and Events
The Annual Holiday Open House
With a musical program provided by the
Hempstead A Cappella Choir
Hood A.M.E. Zion Church
Reverend Kenneth Nelson, Minister
Saturday December 10, 2011
Concert 4:00 p.m.
Hood A.M.E. Zion Church
137 South St, Oyster Bay
Reception, 5-7 p,m.
Oyster Bay Historical Society
20 Summit St, Oyster Bay
Work in Progress
A Private Tour of the Adam-Derby House
On November 13th, 2011, at 2 p.m. Bill Dieffenbach will lead an intimate behind-the-scenes tour of the Adam-Derby House at 34 Derby Court in Oyster Bay. Built in 1878 by Sarah Adam and designed by Potter and Robertson, the Queen Anne style house was the home of Richard Derby and Ethel Roosevelt Derby from 1915 until Mrs Derby’s death in 1977. The house entered the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Mr Dieffenbach, the property’s owner since 1990, will discuss his ongoing restoration projects at the Adam-Derby House. Weather permitting, he will lead a brief visit to the nearby Sampson-Adam-Folger Cemetery.
Fee: $25 per person
Registration: This special tour is limited to a maximum of ten attendees.
Mr Dieffenbach, the property’s owner since 1990, will discuss his ongoing restoration projects at the Adam-Derby House. Weather permitting, he will lead a brief visit to the nearby Sampson-Adam-Folger Cemetery.
Fee: $25 per person
Registration: This special tour is limited to a maximum of ten attendees.
Harvest Moon Celebration November 5th, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
7-11 p.m. at The Koenig Center 20 Summit Street, Oyster Bay Live Music by John Schwartzberg Hors d'oeuvres and Cocktails Silent and Live Auctions featuring Auctioneer Philip Weiss as seen on Antiques Roadshow From the auction...
Patent Blue Pearline Compote on silver-plated dolphin base Davidson, British 1893 9 x 8 in. |
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Ghost Rides October 30, 2011
Women Wearing History: The Force Behind Fashion
Degas, After the Bath (Woman Drying Herself)
An exhibition of 19th and 20th century fashions
chosen from the collections of the Oyster Bay Historical Society
through 26 February 2012
Through the years women have been the driving force of fashion. Walk the streets of New York City in the 1890s and you would be captured by the sounds of rustling flowing fabrics, glistening hat pins on large brimmed feathered hats and beaded purses. Today skirts may be shorter, tops lower, heels higher, but we are still enamored with fashion and how it affects a women's persona. The Oyster Bay Historical Society's textile collection has exquisite examples of fashion through the ages. We have highlighted each piece from our collection for its unique contour, fabric and style. Fashion is a statement that has been worn by women as a work of art. In this exhibition the chosen textiles are showcased because of their good condition and their timeless style that is still wearable today.
Since 1960 the Oyster Bay Historical Society has collected over 200 individual items of textiles, costumes, and fashion accessories. Materials include apparel and shoes, hats and fans, flags and quilts, bibs, bonnets, and stockings, among many others. Much of the collection was first documented and photographed by Oyster Bay High school interns (including the daughter of current Society Trustee Steve Walker). Today, the Society is preparing a fully digital catalog of this growing collection.
The Oyster Bay Historical Society’s desire by exhibiting selected pieces from our extensive collection of textiles is to raise awareness and funds for the importance of conservation. We can count on the generosity of our members, patrons and sponsors for conservation funds to preserve this irreplaceable collection.
Women Wearing History October 20 Reception
Degas, After the Bath (Woman Drying Herself)
Women Wearing History:
The Force Behind Fashion
20 October 2011 through
26 February2012
Opening reception on Thursday October 20
7:00 to 9:00 pm
Koening Center
20 Summit St, Oyster Bay
An exhibition of 19th and 20th century fashions chosen from the collections of the Oyster Bay Historical Society
Current members are most welcome.
New members are invited to join at the door, beginning at $35
Fireboats of 9/11 October 13 Screening
Thursday October 13th, 2011
7:00-9:00 pm
Oyster Bay Community Center
Church Street, Oyster Bay
Free and open to the public
There will be a special free screening of Fireboats of 9/11, a 70-minute A&E video documenting the fireboat response to the World Trade center attacks in 2011, with archival footage of the general history of fireboat service in New York City’s harbor. Combining archival materials with contemporary footage and state-of-the-art animation, Fireboats of 9/11 takes viewers behind the scenes of the famed New York City Fire Department Marine Division, documenting their incredible courage and effectiveness on September 11, 2001, as well as their long and exemplary history of safeguarding lives and property along New York’s waterfront. Crew members of fireboat John J Harvey, visiting Oyster Bay for Oyster Festival 2011, will take questions from the audience.
Textile Preservation Seminar October 9th
Weekes Coatee Uniform, Loyal Queens Co. Militia
Textile Preservation: An Introduction
Based on the success of last April’s Preservation Workshop, the Oyster Bay Historical Society will hold a lecture of best practices for maintaining and storing personal textile collections. Topics to be discussed include environmental threats and signs of infestation, safe handling and storage, and disaster recovery techniques. Included in the lecture will be examples taken from the textile collection of the Society.
The seminar will be held Sunday, October 9th 2011 from 2:00 to 4:00p.m. on the lower level of the Koenig Research Center (Behind the Earle-Wightman House),
20 Summit Street, Oyster Bay, NY.
Free to members of the Oyster Bay Historical Society, non-members are $10.00 each. Light refreshments will be served. Attendees are encouraged to bring items that they feel need to be discussed specifically. No appraisals will be given as this is strictly regarding preservation practices.
Contact Nicole Menchise at 516-922-5032 or by email obhslibrary@optonline.net for details or to make a reservation.
Palette and Place: A Plein Air Exhibition
The Oyster Bay Historical Society collaborated with Teaching Studios of Art in Oyster Bay for the first annual Plein Air Competition, which took place at Sagamore Hill on Friday and Saturday, September 9 and 10, 2011. The competition’s art was taken straight from the easels to be exhibited at the Oyster Bay Historical Society’s Koenig Center, where it remained on view to the public through Tuesday October 4. An opening reception was on held Saturday September 10, 2011.
Plein air painting has a long tradition on Long Island, perhaps most notably practiced at William Merritt Chase’s Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art during the 1890s. Students included Joseph Stella, Katherine Budd, Lydia Field Emmet, Rockwell Kent, and Arthur B Frost, among others. Chase biographer Keith Bryant claims that “Chase’s summer program initiated the movement in art education to provide formal instruction in pleinairism in a structured environment.” At any rate, schools like it soon followed in Provincetown, Cos Cob, Old Lyme, Woodstock, and Avalon.
Special thanks to Utrecht Art Supplies and American Artist for their help with the plein air competition.
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COMPETITION COORDINATOR
Rob Zeller Teaching Studios of Art JURORS Bennet Vadnais and Jane McGraw Teubner Teaching Studios of Art |
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Artists
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Alexander Adell
Rose Ann Albanese Stephanie Amato Paul Bachem Carrie Ann Bracco Lawrence Chrapliwy Charlie Churchill Luis Colan Janet Cook Susan D'Alessio Noel Darvie Anthony Davis |
Sebastian Deregibus
Steve Dolan Warren Jacobson Robin Kappy Michael Klein Elizabeth Kolligs Kirk Larsen Lili Anne Laurin Emilie Lee David Lussier Brian MacNeil Keith Mantell |
Jeanean Martin
Walter Mosley David Paulsen Susie Gach Peelle Michael Piccolo Virginia Pierrepont Doug Reina Cesar Santos Boris Tyomkin Jessica Vendenburg Loraine Volz Patricia Watwood Larry Wechsler |
Annual Meeting
Thursday, June 9, 2011, 7 pm, The Koenig Center
Members are invited to attend the election of Society officers and trustees, followed by a screening of silent films starring the legendary Norma Talmadge. Refreshments provided. New members are encouraged to join in advance or at the door
June 4 through August 21, 2011
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces:
The Story of Commodore Blackton
James Stuart Blackton (1875-1941) was an American film producer of the silent era and founder of Vitagraph Studios. Blackton lived with his wife Paula and daughter Marion on the estate he called Harbourwood, a Federal-style farm complex in Cove Neck designed by the architectural firm Hoppin & Koen in 1911. The 80-acre estate, situated between Sagamore Hill and Louis Comfort Tiffany, spanned the width of Cove Neck. His grand boathouse, located on the shoreline of Cold Spring Harbor, had three guest bedrooms for the yacht-crew and a second-story ballroom. The boathouse was used for entertaining the Gold Coast society guests and the emerging stars of the motion picture industry. The Federal-style farm complex, the caretaker cottage, and greenhouse still exist, but the boathouse was torn down in 1963.
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An avid power boat racer who shared his relish for racing with his wife Paula, Blackton entered Baby Reliance II in the 1912 British International Harmsworth Trophy competition in Huntington Bay. He held a long-term membership in Brooklyn’s prestigious Atlantic Yacht Club, where he served for many years as Commodore (a term of address, in fact, that he preferred throughout his life).
Blackton's performing career actually started in vaudeville with Albert E. Smith (who would become his partner in Vitagraph) and Ronald A. Reader, but failing to earn enough money, the trio broke up. Blackton soon found a new career as a reporter and artist for the New York Evening World newspaper and was sent to interview Thomas Edison. Edison encouraged Blackton to get into the business of movie making, selling him film and a Vitascope (film projector). Thus the American Vitagraph Company was born. His work at Vitagraph Studios made his fortune and established him as a filmmaking pioneer who was among the first to use the techniques of stop motion and hand-drawn animation.
J. Stuart Blackton ran Vitagraph Studios, produced, directed, wrote and even starred in many of his films including Happy Hooligan. In 1906 he directed Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, which uses stop motion and stick puppetry to reproduce a series of animation. Blackton and Smith sold Vitagraph Studios in 1925 for a considerable profit. Despite financial success and setbacks Blackton considered himself an artist. Whether a young painter on the Battery or as a film producer in Hollywood he never lost sight of his artistic vision.
Blackton's performing career actually started in vaudeville with Albert E. Smith (who would become his partner in Vitagraph) and Ronald A. Reader, but failing to earn enough money, the trio broke up. Blackton soon found a new career as a reporter and artist for the New York Evening World newspaper and was sent to interview Thomas Edison. Edison encouraged Blackton to get into the business of movie making, selling him film and a Vitascope (film projector). Thus the American Vitagraph Company was born. His work at Vitagraph Studios made his fortune and established him as a filmmaking pioneer who was among the first to use the techniques of stop motion and hand-drawn animation.
J. Stuart Blackton ran Vitagraph Studios, produced, directed, wrote and even starred in many of his films including Happy Hooligan. In 1906 he directed Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, which uses stop motion and stick puppetry to reproduce a series of animation. Blackton and Smith sold Vitagraph Studios in 1925 for a considerable profit. Despite financial success and setbacks Blackton considered himself an artist. Whether a young painter on the Battery or as a film producer in Hollywood he never lost sight of his artistic vision.
Young America
James Stuart Blackton. Young America.
Oil on canvas, 1895.
40 x 55 in.
Signed and dated J. Stuart Blackton 1895
Courtesy of The Trustees of the Sailors' Snug Harbor in the City of New York
on exhibit through 2012
James Stuart Blackton (1875-1941), was an Anglo-American film producer of the silent era and founder of Vitagraph Studios. He lived briefly on his Harbourwood estate in Cove Neck, where he maintained a grand boathouse (no longer extant). In the 1890s, before establishing himself as a brilliant innovator in film and animation, he worked as a cartoonist, reporter, and an avocational marine painter.
Young America originally appeared at the Oyster Bay Historical Society as part of the exhibition The Story of Commodore Blackton, 4 June through 21 August 2011.
Oil on canvas, 1895.
40 x 55 in.
Signed and dated J. Stuart Blackton 1895
Courtesy of The Trustees of the Sailors' Snug Harbor in the City of New York
on exhibit through 2012
James Stuart Blackton (1875-1941), was an Anglo-American film producer of the silent era and founder of Vitagraph Studios. He lived briefly on his Harbourwood estate in Cove Neck, where he maintained a grand boathouse (no longer extant). In the 1890s, before establishing himself as a brilliant innovator in film and animation, he worked as a cartoonist, reporter, and an avocational marine painter.
Young America originally appeared at the Oyster Bay Historical Society as part of the exhibition The Story of Commodore Blackton, 4 June through 21 August 2011.
Preservation: Best Practices for Preserving Personal Collections
April 30, 2011
In celebration of Preservation Week, Nicole Menchise and Philip Blocklyn of the Society's professional staff will engage the Oyster Bay community in a discussion of best practices for maintaining and storing what we all hold most dear-- the unique family treasures that make up our personal collections. Topics include techniques for repairing and safely storing papers, books, textiles, photographs, and film. Those in attendance are encouraged to bring items for specific attention regarding best practices.
In celebration of Preservation Week, Nicole Menchise and Philip Blocklyn of the Society's professional staff will engage the Oyster Bay community in a discussion of best practices for maintaining and storing what we all hold most dear-- the unique family treasures that make up our personal collections. Topics include techniques for repairing and safely storing papers, books, textiles, photographs, and film. Those in attendance are encouraged to bring items for specific attention regarding best practices.
The Roosevelts Next Door
Portraits of Devotion
Tuesday through Thursday
February 15 through May 19, 2011
Noon to 4:00 pm
curated by Yvonne Noonan-Cifarelli
Angela Koenig Center
20 Summit Street
The Roosevelts Next Door...Portraits of Devotion, reveals the life of the other Oyster Bay Roosevelts who were not the politicians, but were a famous influential American family who contributed to the building of this great country. On exhibit for the first time will be the private family collection of James Alfred Roosevelt detailing their humanitarian support for the Union soldiers in the American War. Complementing the collection will be the dramatic portraits of Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln for sale by the internationally renowned artist Dan Christoffel.
February 15 through May 19, 2011
Noon to 4:00 pm
curated by Yvonne Noonan-Cifarelli
Angela Koenig Center
20 Summit Street
The Roosevelts Next Door...Portraits of Devotion, reveals the life of the other Oyster Bay Roosevelts who were not the politicians, but were a famous influential American family who contributed to the building of this great country. On exhibit for the first time will be the private family collection of James Alfred Roosevelt detailing their humanitarian support for the Union soldiers in the American War. Complementing the collection will be the dramatic portraits of Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln for sale by the internationally renowned artist Dan Christoffel.
The Roosevelts Next Door
In November 2010, the Oyster Bay Historical Society acquired a major new collection of Rooseveltiana, whose highlights form the basis of The Roosevelts Next Door: Portraits of Devotion. Elizabeth Roosevelt’s donation of her family’s letters, photographs, documents, books, and artifacts represents over 150 years of personal and public-service records, beginning with the correspondence of Wall Street banker James A. Roosevelt, an uncle of Theodore Roosevelt and a resident of Yellowbanks, the Cove Neck estate he built in 1881. James Roosevelt was instrumental in supporting the humanitarian efforts of the Sanitary Commission (precursor to the American Red Cross) during the Civil War. His papers include a significant letter from General William Tecumseh Sherman, written on the eve of his Carolinas campaign near the close of the war. But the wide-ranging collection holds more personal remembrances as well: an informal letter from Theodore Roosevelt describing pillow fights with Archie and Quentin, or fragile sprigs of evergreen from Abraham Lincoln’s funeral bier, tucked neatly into small envelopes for distribution among various Roosevelts.
The Roosevelts Next Door: Portraits of Devotion serves as the inaugural exhibition in the Oyster Bay Historical Society’s newly-built Koenig Center. It presents the life of another branch of the Roosevelt family—not political but influential nonetheless in their service to their country, and in their devotion to one another.
The Roosevelts Next Door: Portraits of Devotion serves as the inaugural exhibition in the Oyster Bay Historical Society’s newly-built Koenig Center. It presents the life of another branch of the Roosevelt family—not political but influential nonetheless in their service to their country, and in their devotion to one another.
Portraits of Devotion
Dan Christoffel (photograph by Peter Kane)
Both Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt understood that the American people treasure and preserve their democracy as the very heart of the American experiment. These two great Presidents each recognized the individual as the essential face of the nation. Their own faces, expressive and profound, have become the vehicles by which, through different media and techniques, I interpret my understanding of the American character.
—Dan Christoffel
Dan Christoffel’s portraits of Lincoln and Roosevelt are on exhibit at the Koenig Center in conjunction with The Roosevelt’s Next Door. Revenue from their sale goes in support of the Oyster Bay Historical Society and its mission to preserve and make accessible the history of Oyster Bay.
—Dan Christoffel
Dan Christoffel’s portraits of Lincoln and Roosevelt are on exhibit at the Koenig Center in conjunction with The Roosevelt’s Next Door. Revenue from their sale goes in support of the Oyster Bay Historical Society and its mission to preserve and make accessible the history of Oyster Bay.
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Elizabeth Roosevelt (photograph by Art Koch)
The Oyster Bay Historical Society is grateful to longtime Trustee Elizabeth Roosevelt for the generous donation in November 2010 of her family’s papers, which form the basis of the inaugural exhibition in the Angela P. Koenig Research and Collection Center.
The Society wishes to thank the Dolan Family Foundation and all Society members, friends, and supporters, whose generosity and hard work have made this exciting new step possible.
The Society wishes to thank the Dolan Family Foundation and all Society members, friends, and supporters, whose generosity and hard work have made this exciting new step possible.