Summer 2013 - The Album by The Buffalo History Museum

Summer is the season for making memories. Many of my fondest childhood memories conjure thoughts of my grandmothers and their homes.

Melissa Brown Constance Caldwell Jennifer LaBella Robie Carmina, Cynthia Conides, Erin Fisher, Rebecca Justinger, Tara Lyons, Katherine Somerville, Cynthia Van Ness Closed Mondays. Tuesday 10:00 a.m. - 5 p.m. Wednesday 10:00 a.m. - 8 p.m. Thursday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sunday - 12:00 Noon - 5:00 p.m. Wednesday - Saturday 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

My mom’s mother, Gramma Bert, lived in the Ganshaw family homestead dating from the late 19th century. Gramma Bert ALWAYS had Uncle Walt’s pickles in the fridge, hard candies in the candy dish, Golden Grahams cereal in the pantry, served supper in the early afternoon, stored vanilla ice cream away in beige

Members: FREE Children Under 7: FREE Veterans: FREE Children (7-12): $2.50 Adults: $7 Students & Seniors : $5 Henry J. Nowak - President Joan Bukowski - Vice President Ken Friedman - Vice President John L. Hurley, Jr. - Vice President Alisa A. Lukasiewicz - Vice President Steven McCarville - Vice President Catherine Schweitzer - Secretary Philip C. Kadet - Treasurer Peter Ahrens Scott Fisher Carley Jean Hill Allan Jamieson

Cheryl Lyles Vincent Mancuso Heidi A. Raphael Kristin Saperston

Mark Severson Mark V. Taylor Greg D. Tranter

Cover: Canadian Crystal Beach, 1960’s. Photo from the collection of The Buffalo History Museum. The Buffalo History Museum is a private not-for-profit organization tax exempt under Sec. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It receives operating support from the County of Erie, the City of Buffalo, the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA, a state agency), and from members and friends. The Buffalo History Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

My dad’s mother, Gramma Rose, lived in a post-war home she and my grandfather built on Cherry Street in Lockport. Gramma Rose ALWAYS had chicken soup in the freezer, homemade strawberry jam in the fridge, nonpareil melt-away mints in the candy jar, Skippy no-salt added peanut butter in the pantry (yuck!), vanilla ice cream in the freezer and stock of ginger ale set for entertaining on her cobalt blue, enamel-top table. She ALWAYS had placemats on her table (my favorites were of Washington DC in bloom), freshlypressed 100% cotton sheets topped with white chenille bedspreads on each of the twin beds, her statue of Mary circled with petunias and a shiny, new car in the driveway. The garage of her home featured two doors, one in the front and one in the back. In the summer, screen panels were set in place and the garage became the center of our activities. Summer entertainment features included: dining countless times at the enormous oak table, playing fort in the folding chairs and dancing to the albums dropped in the record player console.

Coming Fall 2013 War of 1812 Exhibit By Fire and Sword: The War in the Niagara Theatre, 1812- 1814 New! Native American Gallery Community Gallery Openings

Tupperware and had a seemingly endless Tupperware pitcher of the most sugary lemonade. She ALWAYS had a seasonal tablecloth on the table, line-dried sheets on the beds, her flag pole circled with flowers for each season and what seemed-to-me a hotrod in the driveway. The garage of her home once served as the summer kitchen, broken linoleum tiles and rickety cabinets remained. In the summer, my Uncle Walt farmed the land and the garage became the center of our activities. Summer entertainment features included: organizing parades around the circular drive, “playing cars” while bouncing in the vintage stamped metal lawn chairs and manning the market. My passion for the past takes root in these memories. Working at the History Museum has strengthened my mindfulness of the presence of the past and each of our connections to it. Whatever the memory isthe stories we cherish make us feel, offer up character and return us to a place in our lives to which we physically cannot return. . .yesterday. So begins a new invincible summer of memory making. While the History Museum doesn’t have a garage for entertaining, we do possess the most fantastic “porch” in Buffalo. Party on the Portico returns for an eighth season as part of our M&T sponsored Third Friday programming. The view, the music, our friends and our mission will combine to entertain more than 1,000 guests. Other summer entertainment features include: Segway tours with Buffalo Touring Company, Pan-Am walking tours, Food Truck Rodeo every third Wednesday and our first ever antique auto show on August 4th. I’ll meet you on the porch. All my best, Melissa

Congrats to our “People’s Choice” Winery winner:

Leonard Oakes Estates Winery A close second went to:

Black Willow Winery

The Research Library at the Buffalo History Museum is collecting pictures & papers from same-sex couples wed under New York State’s equal marriage law. This may be the first library in the US to collect wedding memorabilia from legally-married same-sex couples. Buffalo Gay Men Chorus alumni Delwyn Milander and Mark Meyer were the first couple to donate their wedding pictures & papers. Questions? Email: library@buffalohistory.org

Bathing Suit “Neptune’s Daughter” Niagara Knitting Mills Corporation Wool 1920s-1930s

Bathing Suit Rose Marie Reid of California Acetate 1960s-1970s

Rebecca Justinger Registrar The swimsuit has a long and varied history. In the early 1900s, women wore long gowns with bloomers underneath. These bathing gowns were weighted down by several heavy layers of material, occasionally with weights sewn into the hem so the material would not float. Fabrics were chosen for bathing suits that would not become transparent when wet. By the 1920s, swimsuits were mostly made out of wool for that very reason. Being so absorbent, swimsuits tended to become heavy and uncomfortable, not to mention itchy in the summer sun. This black wool swimsuit from our collection dates from the 1920s to the 1930s. Labeled “Neptune’s Daughter,” this one-piece swimming suit with attached knickers was made by the Niagara Knitting Mills Corporation of New York, NY. By the 1930s and 40s, bathing suits were rapidly changing. Hemlines were shorter and more bare skin was showing. It was not until the late 40s and early 50s that one-piece bathing suits, or maillots, started to be produced in a variety of fabrics, moving away from wool. For comparison, we have a patterned swimsuit, from the 1960s to the 1970s. This brown, yellow, and black stripped acetate bathing suit, donated by Angela Georgi, was created by Rose Marie Reid of California. Made from a light-weight, stretchy fabric, one would imagine that this would have been much more comfortable to wear to the beach.

For our first annual fundraiser “Something Old, Something New,” The Buffalo History Museum ran a Wedding Dress Story contest. Among the delightful stories and beautiful images we received, Michele Scott’s entry was chosen for its connection to WWII. The dress and story were featured at our event and are now part of our permanent collection. Next year, we will present some of the bridal stories received in a staged reading by local actors.

“My mom [Mary Nigro] and dad were engaged back in 1946. My dad lived on the Westside of Buffalo and my mom grew up in a small town in Forestville, NY. They were to marry on September 20, 1947. Because my mom had been working and going to nursing school at Deaconess Hospital; she did not have money to buy a wedding dress. Her younger brother [Henry Valvo] had been in World War II and still had his old parachute. Mom took the parachute to a lady that knew how to sew and they designed a beautiful dress with small colored rosebuds on the front and a very long train.” - Michele Scott

Cynthia Van Ness, MLS Director of Library & Archives When Janet Reiff began volunteering in 2009, she was recently retired from the Darwin R. Barker Library in Fredonia, bringing needed and appreciated professional skills and experience to the research library. (We are always eager to hear from retired archivists & librarians who are considering volunteering.) Serving two mornings a week ever since, we estimate that Janet has contributed about 1200 hours to this organization.

Photo: Daniel Reiff

Those 1200 hours accomplished major projects that would not have been completed otherwise. It seems like the demand for vintage buffalo images is almost bottomless, so Janet worked on major picture collections. Her projects include identifying, sorting, rehousing, inventorying, and/or labeling: • 10 folders of black and white photographs of the Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna. • 88 glass lantern slides by an unknown photographer, donated by Anna Liaros, depicting members of the Seneca Nation in Salamanca and Buffalo • 1 box of portraits from the William Westphal photographic studio on Broadway • 12 boxes of color photographs of Museum exhibits and events taken ca. 1990-2005 • And most notably, 8,000 negatives from the Hare Studio, plus a couple thousand prints. George Hare was a prominent commercial photographer in the 20th century. Janet also wrote catalog worksheets for these pictures, enabling us to list them in FRANK, our searchable online catalog. Janet now ranks as the world export on Mr. Hare. For these reasons, we named Janet volunteer of the year at our annual volunteer appreciation dinner in April. Congratulations, Janet!

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Melissa Brown and Ali Eagan Lucille Gavin Guy Boleri Carol Ann Rice Raffery & Kara Rice Rafferty Baiocco Barry Lillis & Connie Caldwell Doris Jones & Jim Corbran Janet Reiff & Cynthia Van Ness

Photos by Susan Eck, Daniel Reiff, Buffalo Music Hall of Fame, and BHM staff members

8. Rick Mathews, Tara Lyons, Greg Hennessey 9. Heidi Raphael & Van Taylor 10. Tom Lorentz & Karen Gallagher 11. Dave Gillen 12. BHM Staffers 13. Mary Fisher & Erin Fisher 14. Naomi Reden 15. Susannah White 16. Joe Miller

Katherine Somerville Front Desk Receptionist Dianne Graves, an author and historian in her own right, began feeding a growing interest in the War of 1812, by reading books and documents from the comprehensive collection of her husband, a preeminent author on the topic. The volumes she read addressed military, naval, diplomatic, and political aspects of the war, but she noticed there was precious little information included about women of that time period. Taking matters into her own hands, Dianne Graves brings us In the Midst of Alarms: The Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812. Graves’ work is thoroughly researched, with sources attributable to archives from Belfast to Baltimore, including a stop in Buffalo as Buffalo History Museum documents are listed in the footnotes. The Buffalo-Niagara region is mentioned in many stories in the book, although it by no means takes center stage as the geographical boundaries of the conflict were quite extensive.

Alarms started off a little textbook-y, but quickly redeemed itself. Graves brings her women back to life through vivid stories and quotes in sometimes-quaint and sometimes-elegant period language. Diary entries, correspondence, newspaper advertisements, and articles open a window for us onto a range of experiences from Dolly Madison’s society life in Washington DC to intrepid Eliza Romley who disguised herself as a man to fight with the US Navy. A prologue, chronology of events, and maps arm readers with a basic knowledge of the war and the opening chapter “The Woman’s World in 1812” sets the scene for the rest of the book. Those readers who like to be able to put a face with a name will be pleased by the ample illustrations, and an epilogue succinctly brings the stories of many featured women to a close so as to not leave readers questioning what happened after the war.   Though the women in Alarms supposedly represent a cross-section of society, the stories are predominately told from the educated, white perspective. Unfortunately, accounts of native (or aboriginal) and African-American women are few and far between. Graves admits this shortcoming in her introduction and, as someone who has spent some time researching women’s history, I don’t hold it against her. Literacy was a luxury afforded to few women in the early 1800’s and those with free time to read and write were even fewer in numbers. This book is a lengthy 400+ pages, but, because the chapters are comprised of shorter snippets about individual women, is not one that can’t be put down and picked up again. It will appeal to anyone interested in women’s history or game for looking at the War of 1812 through a different lens, contributing to a more complete retelling of the events of that period.

Cynthia Conides, Ph.D BHM Curator for Special Projects Buffalo State Director of Museum Studies A giant “Bengal Roar!” could be heard reverberating through the Pan Am building’s marble halls as the collaboration with Buffalo State’s new Museum Studies Graduate Program picked up steam. In addition to fulfilling its mission to preserve and present the region’s history, the BHM is committed to preparing emerging museum professionals for 21st century challenges. Our graduate students have enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to put their knowledge to practice and also serve the community. The museum/college formal partnership is now in its third year. In addition to the long-standing internships that provide our students with the one-on-one mentoring with museum staff, the BHM also serves as a “learning laboratory” for our program’s new Exhibits Design class. Students learned principles of exhibit research, interpretation, and installation and contributed ideas to the newly refurbished Native American Gallery. Thanks to museum studies faculty member Sonia Penaranda and BHM’s director of exhibits and interpretive planning Anthony Greco (both Buffalo State Museum Studies alums) for guiding student participation in this important project. And thanks to the generous support of the John R. Oishei Foundation for making the gallery transformation possible! The BHM and Buffalo State have shown their commitment to long-term collaboration. Another demonstration of this sustained partnership is the new Buffalo State Museum Studies Gallery, located on the second floor near the Native American Gallery. Our energetic and dedicated students have put their talents to work with prepping, painting and planning the gallery, transforming ideas into practice. The gallery will now serve the museum studies program as an exhibition training space. Over time, the gallery will present a series of student designed installations for community enjoyment. The premier exhibit, entitled Lost and Found and opening in June celebrates and supports Buffalo State’s Year of the City theme. Keep an eye out for future exhibits to be announced on the BHM Event Calendar.

New this summer! presents FREE workshops in art, kite making, and dance. June 21 • July 19 • Aug 16 Visit buffalohistory.org for all details.

Not all of our collaborative efforts are public however. There are many activities brewing behind the scenes. One premier, long-term project that I am privileged to direct is the Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Glass Plate Negative Collection Preservation Project. This historic collection of glass plate negatives comprises over 50,000 individual plates in varying states of preservation and was a gift to the museum by the Giallombardo family. It came from the last extant early photography studio in the city of Buffalo. The studio operated as a commercial photography studio from the late 19th through the mid20th century. This collection is a rare, fragile, and irreplaceable record, a visual narrative of Buffalo’s citizenry and scenes representing the heyday of the city’s existence. Once cleaned, rehoused, catalogued and digitized, it will become available for research. But we have a long road ahead. The project will require years of careful preservation and digitization work; the college’s museum studies, archives, and technical specialists, along with the museum’s library staff, are currently involved in strategizing to prepare a plan of action and raise the money to support this joint effort. Buffalo State’s Research Foundation has provided the seed money to make this possible. My thanks to graduate assistant Noelle Weidemer for utilizing her chemistry and photography skills in researching aspects of this collection in preparation for collaborative grant funding. Thanks also to the Baird Foundation, especially Baird’s executive director and BHM board member Catherine Schweitzer, for providing the initial funding to prepare a conservation assessment report on the collection. I am grateful to the BHM staff for physically moving the fragile collection from challenged storage space to the museum workspace. This exciting collections project supports both the mission of the BHM to preserve the region’s history, and the mission of Buffalo State’s museum studies program to provide real world training that prepares our students to enter the museum profession armed with the skills and expertise that supports their long-term success.

Antique & Classic Car Show Sun day, August 4, 2013 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

(Registration 9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m) Call 818-8143 for more information. Held in The Buffalo History Museum Parking Lot One Museum Court, Buffalo 14216

1 Saturday Hotel Lafayette Tour & Lunch, Noon $35 general; $30 members. Limited to 40 people. Pre-registration required. Meet at the main lobby of the historic Hotel @ the Lafayette for a guided tour of the building giving insight to the first American female architect, Louise Bethune. Lunch is included.

2 Tuesday

Toddler Story Time, 4th of July Fun!, 10-11a.m Museum admission; Free for members. Storytelling, crafts, and a museum tour for families all celebrating Independence Day.

6 Saturday

3 Saturday

Hotel Lafayette Tour & Lunch, Noon $35 general public, $30 members. Limited to 40 people. Preregistration. Meet at the main lobby of the historic Hotel for a guided tour of the building. Lunch is included.

2 Sunday

Hotel Lafayette Tour & Lunch, Noon $35 general public, $30 members. Limited to 40 people. Preregistration; Meet at the main lobby of the historic Hotel for a guided tour of the building. Lunch is included.

4 Tuesday

Pan Am Walking Tour, Noon $10 Pre-registration. Meet at the History Museum for an hour walking tour of the historic Pan Am grounds. Please call to make a reservation. Map with vintage photos is included.

Pan Am Walking Tour, Noon $10; Pre-registration. Meet at the History Museum for an hour walking tour of the historic Pan Am grounds. Map included.

10 Wednesday

Toddler Story Time: Museum Magic, 10-11a.m. Museum admission, free for members. Storytelling, crafts, and a museum tour for families. Kids learn how the museum collects artifacts.

Pan Am Walking Tour, Noon $10 w/ Pre-registration. Meet at the History Museum for an hour walking tour of the historic Pan Am grounds. Please call to make a reservation. Map with vintage photos is included. Toddler Story Time: Peace Gardens, 10-11 a.m Museum admission; Free for members. Storytelling, craft, walking tour of the Japanese Gardens behind the Buffalo History Museum.

5 Wednesday

Boots of Leather: The History of a Lesbian Community, 6 p.m. Museum admission; free for members. Madeline Davis is gay rights activist & pioneer in collecting the LGBT history of WNY. This lecture will focus on her publication “Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold.”

8 Saturday

Family History Club: The Pan Am, Buffalo in 1901, 10 a.m. - Noon $10 general; $5 members; adults are free, pre-registration required. This meeting will take place at the Museum’s Resource Center at 459 Forest Ave. Families can enjoy crafts and tours.

12 Wednesday

The History of Drag in Buffalo, 6 p.m. Museum admission; Free for members. Celebrate Gay Pride Month. Lecture highlights drag performance in Buffalo. Artifacts from the Madeline Davis LGBT Collection of Buffalo State College on display.

15 Saturday

21 Friday

*M&T Third Friday Family Events, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Free. Japanese kite making. *Party on the Portico, 5:30-8:30 General $10; Members $5. After Hours & The David Kane Quartet - the hippest happy hour in town!

26 Wednesday

Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus, 6:30 p.m. Museum admission; Free for members. The Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus will perform on the outdoor Portico at the Buffalo History Museum in honor of Gay Pride Month.

29 Saturday

Secrets from the Stacks: LGBT History in Buffalo, 10a.m.-Noon General museum admission; Free for members. “Open House” style program. Artifacts related to LGBT history will be on display in the Research Library, interpretation by Cynthia Van Ness.

7 Sunday

Salsa on the Portico: A Night of Latin Dance, Music & History, 6-8 p.m. Museum admission; Free for members. Instructor Sarah Haykle gives salsa dancing lesson. Basic dance instruction will take place from 6-7pm. A live Latin band will than perform on the Portico 7-8 p.m. Cash bar.

13 Saturday

Family History Club: The Civil War, 10am-Noon $10 general public; $5 members; adults are free, pre-registration required. Historic crafts, museum exhibit tours, and artifact scavenger hunts. Discuss the Civil War and how it affected WNY.

17 Wedenesday

War of 1812: “Capture of Fort Niagara & the Burning of Lewiston”, 6 p.m. Museum admission; Free for members. Guest speaker, Lee Simonson, Director of Lewiston War 1812 Anniversary.

19 Friday

*M&T Third Friday Family Events, 11:30 a.m -12:30 p.m. Free Family craft workshop. *Party on the Portico, 5:30-8:30 p.m. General $10; Members $5. Doug Yeomans with Lo Blu Flame & The Informers – The most popular bands play the happiest hour in town!

4 Sunday

Antique & Classic Car Show, 12-4 p.m. General and members free. Old fashioned family fun - antique car show, self- guided tours, raffles, and more.

4 Sunday

6 Tuesday

7 Wednesday

Salsa on the Portico: A Night of Latin Dance, Music & History, 6-8 p.m. Museum admission; Free for members. Join instructor Sarah Haykle for a salsa lessons from 6-7p.m. Try out your new moves to live Latin music on the Portico from 7-8pm. Cash bar.

14 Wednesday

After Hours Tour @ The Richardson Olmsted Complex with The Buffalo History Museum, 6-8 p.m. Limit 50 people, $60 museum members, $65 general public, preregistration required. Tour spotlights the renowned past and rising future of The Richardson Olmsted Complex and Buffalo stories.

16 Friday

20 Saturday

*M&T Third Friday Family Events, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Free. Sounds of 1812 dance performance workshop. *Party on the Portico, 5:30-8:30p.m. $5. Members; $10. General. Outdoor happy hour with live music, idyllic views, exhibit tours, and more. Ron Hawkins of “Lowest Of The Low” solo acoustic performance.

24 Wednesday

17 Saturday

Civil War Day, 1-4 p.m. $10/child general, $5/child member; gen. admission, adult members free. Experience a speech from Abraham Lincoln, Re-enactors, a live gun salute, blacksmith demonstrations, crafts, tours, scavenger hunts, and face painting.

*M&T THIRD FRIDAY event

War of 1812: “Capture of Fort George & the Burning of Newark,” 6 p.m. Museum admission; Free for members. Ron Dale is the Special Project Officer for the 1812 Bicentennial at Parks, Canada.

18 Sunday

21 Wednesday

On the third Friday of every month, admission to the Buffalo History Museum, Resource Center, and select events are free for everyone from 10 a.m. – 5p.m.

24 Saturday

Research Your War of 1812 Ancestors, Research Library Workshop, 11am-Noon Part I: 10-11am, Part II (w/ reservation) $10 for Part I only, $20 for both I and II. Pre-registration required. Part I will include a “how to” begin you research workshop. Part II is limited to 15 people who will join Cynthia Van Ness to begin the researching their War of 1812 ancestors. Dates subject to change

Uniquely Buffalo Gifts Books. Posters. Jewelry. Toys. Local Artists Members receive 10% discount on many items. Evening Shopping Hours on Wednesday until 8 p.m. Free & Plentiful Parking.

NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

BUFFALO, NY PERMIT No. 3626