Holiday Market Fair

This year we are pleased to announce that we have reprinted the charming book “Sarah of Overlook Mountain” by Jean White. This beautifully illustrated book recounts stories told to Jean by her grandmother Sarah Cashdollar who grew up on Overlook Mountain. This book sells for $15.00 with all proceeds going to the Historical Society. Original artwork by several local artists as well as signed prints by Woodstock lithographer Clarence Bolton will also be available.

The best way to start the Holiday Season is by shopping local goods and treats at the Historical Society of Woodstock. Holiday cards, local history books, vintage gifts, beautiful hand knit items, note cards, and local art, crafts and products including maple syrup, jam, and baked treats. Wonderful products from local craftsmen will include hand woven items, jewelry, ornaments, honey based products, incense, cards, bluestone hearts, and much more. As always the HSW will provide fresh greens for our visitors as well as hot cider, coffee and tea.

Park in the lower Comeau Parking Lot and walk up the path through the woods to HSW. Limited parking as well as handicapped parking is available at the Historical Society.

Standing on Their Shoulders:

100 Years of Voting and Still Marching for Women’s Rights

September 18 – October 24, 2021, 1-5 pm

A series of programs highlighting Woodstock’s role in the women’s rights movement are made possible by a grant from Humanities New York with support from National Endowment for the Humanities and the Historical Society of Woodstock.

The Historical Society of Woodstock presents the live exhibit Standing on Their Shoulders: 101 Years of Voting and Still Marching for Women’s Rights, opening Saturday, September 18, 2021 at Eames House Museum, 20 Comeau Drive. An opening reception will be held Sunday, September 19 from 2-4 pm. (Social distancing and masks are required inside the building.)

Based on the campaigns of two early US. women’s rights workers as documented by their Woodstock-related descendants, the exhibit is the finale of the Historical Society’s yearlong women’s rights centennial series, Standing on Their Shoulders: 101 Years of Voting and Still Marching for Women’s Rights, a project made possible by a grant from Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The display of early 20th century photographs and artifacts, with interactive videos and music, will be open until October 24, 2021 on Saturdays and Sundays from 1-5 pm EST. Admission is free. The show highlights the social justice work of Elisabeth Freeman (1876-1942) and Edna Kearns (1882-1934), whose activism (and use of horse-drawn wagons as campaign platforms) has inspired generations.

“Edna Kearns and Elisabeth Freeman were activists working in 1913 and beyond. Kearns was a pacifist as well as a suffrage campaigner, a newspaper columnist and reporter. Freeman was an organizer for women’s suffrage, labor, civil rights, working women and pacifism. Both had descendants living in Woodstock,” said project director Olivia Twine. Press Release “Standing on their Shoulders”

Passing the Women’s Rights Torch to the Next Generation

Online Presentation and Video Debut

October 14, 2021, 4 – 5:30 pm

The Historical Society of Woodstock is pleased to announce an online presentation by author and women’s rights activist Marguerite Culp Kearns on October 14, 2021 from 4-5:30 pm EST. Kearns will discuss her richly illustrated memoir, An Unfinished Revolution: Edna Buckman Kearns and the Struggle for Women’s Rights, SUNY Press, 2021, in which she describes how social justice activism in one generation her family influenced four other generations. Her grandmother, Edna, used a horse drawn wagon to campaign for votes-for-women in New York State during the early years of the 20^th century.

“Many activists today can trace their roots to previous generations who set aside daily concerns to participate in the largest non-violent social revolution in US history,” said Culp-Kearns. “Marching has been very influential. Now it’s time to shift directions.”

This Zoom event, Passing the Women’s Rights Torch to the Next Generation, includes the premiere showing of a short video Culp-Kearns produced with filmmaker Barton Friedman. To register, email [email protected] and write “women’s rights” in the subject line. You will receive a Zoom link by email prior to the event.

A recording of the event and the video will be posted later on the Historical Society website. (The video includes “Standing on the Shoulders,” music by Joyce Johnson Rouse, copyright 1995 Rouse House Music (ASCAP) Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Earth Mama on HerStory and “Love Large.” CDs available at EarthMama.org.)

The event is part of the Historical Society of Woodstock’s yearlong celebration commemorating the ratification of the 19^th amendment to the US Constitution recognizing women’s right to vote in 1920. The celebration series, including the live exhibition Standing on Their Shoulders: 101 Years of Voting and Still Marching for Women’s Rights (open Fridays and Saturdays from 1-5 pm though Oct. 24, 2021 at 20 Comeau Drive) is funded by a grant from Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Opinions expressed in presentations do not necessarily reflect those of the granting organizations. 9/27/2021

“STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS” AND “PASSING THE TORCH”

ARE ESSENTIAL PARTS OF US HISTORY:

Program by Historical Society of Woodstock, NY raises questions about past, present, & future activism

“A world-wide pandemic has dramatically changed the way we view the past, present, and future,” according to author and activist Marguerite Kearns. “We’re still standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us. And we’re still passing a torch of inspiration to future generations. The content and approaches are often very different between now and then.”

“By contrasting the old and new, we’re sharpening our critical skills and can evaluate if we’re discovering dynamic solutions or simply playing musical chairs,” Kearns adds. She lived and worked in Woodstock, NY for 20 years and has now relocated to the Southwest. Her book, Unfinished Revolution: Edna Buckman Kearns and the Struggle for Women’s Rights, has just been published by SUNY Press in Albany, NY.

A four-minute video, in addition to a book reading and commentary, will be presented by Marguerite Kearns at a special zoom program of the Historical Society of Woodstock on Thursday, October 14, 2021, 4-5:30 p.m. EST. To register for the free session presented by Kearns, send an email to: [email protected] and write “women’s rights” in the subject line. The HSW will send a zoom link to participants before the event.

Marguerite Kearns’s book from SUNY Press (State University of New York) was published the summer of 2021—An Unfinished Revolution: Edna Buckman Kearns and the Struggle for Women’s Rights.

By documenting how voting rights activism played itself out in her own lifetime, Kearns presents activism through the lens of one New York State family—her own. She says complicated social movements are often better understood by reviewing the experiences of a limited number of people. The book from SUNY Press is an imaginative as well as a well-documented biography, according to a Kirkus book review.

The video edited by videographer Bart Friedman combines commentary by Kearns, footage from a Woodstock, NY women’s march by video producer and director Tobe Carey, and a song written and performed by Joyce Johnson Rouse, “Standing on the Shoulders.” The video is supported by a grant from Humanities New York, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Historical Society of Woodstock, NY.

“Many activists today can trace their roots to actual or spiritual ancestors who set aside daily concerns and were involved in the largest nonviolent social revolution in US history,” Kearns added. “The SUNY Press book features intergenerational activism and strategies essential to observable results. Many US families are documenting the past and changing times while still passing the torch.” The SUNY Press book is one example of the effort to document activism before the pandemic.++

music with Pat Lamanna

Opening reception:

Sunday, September 19 … 2 pm – 

Pat Lamanna is an award-winning singer-songwriter and community activist residing in Hyde Park, N.Y. She has presented numerous programs on women’s suffrage beginning in 2017, the centennial of women’s suffrage in New York State. She will perform songs that were popular during the struggle for women’s suffrage, as well as original and contemporary songs celebrating women’s accomplishments over the centuries.

Standing on Their Shoulders:

100 Years of Voting and Still Marching for Women’s Rights

September 18 – October 24, 2021,1-5 pm

A series of programs highlighting Woodstock’s role in the women’s rights movement are made possible by a grant from Humanities New York with support from National Endowment for the Humanities and the Historical Society of Woodstock.

Standing on Their Shoulders:

100 Years of Voting and Still Marching for Women’s Rights

This program was funded in part by Humanities New York with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

@humanitiesny and #NY4suffrage

A panel discussion celebrating the 2020 Centennial of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, 100 Years of Women Voting – Where Do We Go From Here? will happen via Zoom on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, 2-3 p.m. Woodstock Women’s March organizers Anula Courtis and Maria-Elena Conte, and Marguerite Culp-Kearns and Peg Johnston, direct descendants of early 1900’s activists are featured panelists. Culp-Kearns, a former Woodstock resident, is granddaughter of suffragist Edna Kearns. Johnston is great niece of Elisabeth Freeman and cousin to the late Jane Van De Bogart, a former Woodstock town board member. To register, send your name and email address to [email protected] and receive the Zoom link and login details before the event. Please respond by email a day before Oct. 10, 2020.

Two Important Videos

First –  October 3

Tune in to HistoricalSocietyofWoodstock.org starting Saturday, Oct. 3, 2021 and view two short videos that are part of the virtual votes-for-women centennial celebration by the Historical Society. First is a musical presentation, Standing on the Shoulders, a four-minute song by Joyce Rouse that honors the spirit of Edna Kearns and Elisabeth Freeman, NYS suffrage activists with Woodstock connections who helped lay the base for successive waves of women’s activism during the 20th century and into the 21st.

The second video

The second video, Women’s March on Woodstock 2019 by filmmaker Tobe Carey, features the estimated 800 diverse participants marching in the small town of Woodstock, located 90 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountain region. The community, founded in the 1700s, inspired the famous Woodstock music festival of 1969, but it didn’t host the pivotal cultural event that was held over 50 miles away in Bethel, NY. This colorful film, edited by Bart Friedman, will also be available at HistoricalSocietyofWoodstock.org starting October 3, 2020. HSW thanks Tobe Carey for granting permission to show his video and still photographs of the Women’s March.

Tobe Carey, an award-winning producer, director and cinematographer, has been documenting historical events in the Hudson Valley for many years. He operates Willow Mixed Media.

Barton (Bart) Friedman helped found the pioneering video production companies Media Bus, Videofreex, and Reelizations. He has a BA in psychology from Adelphi University and has been working in the field of videography for 50 years

To be announced: Standing on Their Shoulders: 100 years of Voting and Still Marching for Women’s Rights will include an exhibition of vintage photographs and a multi-media presentation in 2021 featuring the work of activists Edna Kearns and Elisabeth Freeman presented by their Woodstock-related descendants Marguerite (Culp) Kearns and Peg Johnston. (Culp) Kearns is a former reporter and editor of Woodstock Times and the granddaughter of Edna Kearns. Johnston is the great-niece of Elisabeth Freeman and the cousin of a former member of the Woodstock town board, the late Jane Van De Bogart.

The exhibit will appear at the HSW’s Eames House Museum and on-line. The mult-media presentation will take place at the Woodstock Community Center. Dates and times will be announced.

To be announced: The cutting of a 100th birthday cake will be celebrated at the Standing on Their Shoulders exhibit opening with a musical performance by folk singers and musicians Pat Lamanna, Sharleen Leahey and Richard Mattocks. They will present contemporary and original activists songs accompanied by guitar and banjo.

“Standing on Their Shoulders: 100 Years of Voting and Still Marching for Women’s Rights” is an exhibition and presentation highlighting the Woodstock, NY angle on the US early women’s rights movement. It features activists Edna Kearns (1882-1934) and Elisabeth Freeman (1876- 1942) with presentations by their descendants—Kearns’ granddaughter and Freeman’s grandniece.

Jane Van De Bogart and Marguerite (Culp) Kearns started a collaboration in 1986 to bring their respective relatives to public attention. A 1986 exhibit entitled “Edna and Elisabeth: Foot Soldiers for Women’s Voting Rights” in Kingston, NY featured both activists and their descendants. On display was the “Spirit of 1776” suffrage campaign wagon used in NYC and on Long Island. The campaign wagon is now in the permanent collection of the New York State Museum in Albany, NY. Edna Kearns used this horse-drawn wagon in NYS. The wagon is on display as part of the state museum’s suffrage centennial celebration for 2020 in Albany, NY that runs to the end of the summer season.

Suffrage activist Elisabeth Freeman was a paid activist. She organized for women’s voting rights as well as conducted a speaking tour against lynching in the South. She supported labor issues, as well as many other social causes.

Edna Kearns, a suffrage activist, was a writer, editor, and grassroots campaigner in New York City and on Long Island. She traveled with her horse-drawn wagon as part of a strategy to reach the men voters of the state in rural and urban areas.

Both activists Elisabeth Freeman and Edna Kearns worked extensively in New York State. They knew each other and were both considered “wagon women.” A votes for women state referendum failed in 1915. New York State women won the next suffrage referendum in 1917. Horse-drawn wagons were used as speakers’ platforms.

“The NYS suffrage victory in 1917 became a tipping point for the nation. It took until 1920 for the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution,” said Olivia Twine, secretary of the HSW and the project coordinator for the fall exhibition. “The 19th Amendment wrote into law that all American women could vote. Implementation of the amendment, however, took decades until all women could finally vote in the US. The town board of Woodstock in 2016 passed a resolution supporting suffrage centennials. There’s a strong constituency for our exhibit in the Hudson Valley.”

Votes for women centennial celebrations like this one in Woodstock are being held across the US during this centennial year of 2020. Interviews with the two suffrage descendants, Johnston and Kearns, as well as organizing campaign photographs, are available for media coverage about the HSW event, according to Olivia Twine, exhibition director.

The exhibition in Woodstock highlights how US women have been marching for their rights for well over 100 years.

Humanities Grant Received

On September 7 the HSW received a $3,000 grant award to partially pay for a part time archivist. This is funded in part by a Humanities New York SHARP Grant with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal American Rescue Plan Act. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed on this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment of the Humanities.

SEASONS: Catching Nature’s Cycle

Saturday June 12, 2021- Sunday September 5, 2021, 1-5 pm

Selected Works from the collection of the Historical Society

The exhibition SEASONS: Catching Nature’s Cycle gathers forty works by Woodstock artists, selected by Guest Curator Susana Torruella Leval from the collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock, co-curated by Letitia Smith. The works in the exhibition encompass a century. The earliest images, from 1914, a summer view of Overlook by Zulma Steele, and a winter landscape by Edmund Rolfe, lead a visual tour of the seasons in Woodstock’s landscape.

As early as 1903, the village’s lush meadows, gentle streams, wooded glens, and healthful climate attracted visionary artists, who chose the site for the Utopian arts and crafts colony of Byrdcliffe, and, later, the Maverick Colony, giving birth to Woodstock as an arts colony. Three years later, the Arts Students League of New York set up a summer school in the village, soon known as the “Woodstock School of Landscape Painting”, highlighting the tradition of painting out of doors. Over time, it lured ever larger numbers of artists from New York City. By 1920, the New York Times referred to Woodstock as “a place of pilgrimage in the art world.” Since the 19th century, landscape painters Thomas Cole and Frederic Church had pioneered the plein air tradition in the Hudson Valley. Their artistic descendants, Birge Harrison and John Carlson, subsequent directors of the Woodstock School of Landscape, must have smiled their approval at the successful continuation of their legacy into the “modern” era.

The works in the exhibition display a rich variety of styles: from traditionally precise, yet expansive, romantic views; to proto Cubist and modernist abstractions; to lucid depictions inspired by Realist, Impressionist, and post Impressionist models. The works also offer diverse media: paintings in oil and acrylic, on canvas, paper and board; drawings on paper with pen with brush, oil and charcoal; watercolors; prints: lithographs and etchings; and vintage and contemporary photographs.

A tour of SEASONS: Catching Nature’s Cycle invites you to explore Woodstock’s country lanes and roads, identifying farms, barns and homes; watch children play and trees dance; and allow the sun to blind you as it reflects on the snow. You can slosh through meadows of mud, snow, and ice, watch melting ice crystals drift downstream, or amble along sunlit grassy or ochre banks. You can choose bird’s eye views of village or valley, or close-ups of bugs, and flowers, shelter in the shadow of a huge, gentle tree, or admire the majestic shagbarks. You will experience Overlook Mountain’s different moods: in a chilly Autumn fog or a sunny Summer haze; listen for the deep twang of the bullfrogs, or the silence of the snow; and smell the oversweet wisteria, the pungency of cow dung, and the musky scent of fallen leaves. You can observe the slow approach of a praying mantis stalking a bumblebee. Mostly, you can be joyous that you have Woodstock. (Exhibition catalogue available $20)

“Portrait of Hervey White”, 1910