Meet Charles Dickens and His Friends: A Literary Holiday

On Sunday December 9, from 2 until 4 pm, the Onondaga Historical Association Museum & Research Center is offering a special treat for the holiday season. Stop in to the OHA Museum and enjoy the opportunity to meet a special visitor from the past, Charles Dickens, whose presentation will help get patrons in the traditional holiday spirit. At the same time, over half a dozen more contemporary authors will be present to sign recent books focusing on Upstate New York history. Copies will be available through the OHA Museum Gift Shop that day with a special one-day discount. Refreshments will also be served, by none other than Mrs. Bob Cratchit, herself. And there will be a chance to buy a raffle ticket to win a basket of special holiday surprises.

Charles Dickens, portrayed by professional actor Scott Peal, is not unknown in Syracuse, although he last visited almost 140 years ago. In 1868, the famous English author stopped in the Salt City to tender readings from his Pickwick Papers and The Christmas Carol. He performed on the stage of Clinton Square’s Wieting Hall, a space that predated the famous opera house. Local reviewers were surprised by his small stature, but generally complimentary of his “power of expression.”

Dickens, however, had the misfortune of arriving in Syracuse in early March. He reported that Syracuse was, “a very grim place in a heavy thaw.” Nevertheless, he was pleased with the attendance and ticket sales, which encouraged him for a possible return engagement. It has taken him quite a long time but Mr. Dickens has finally been able to work Syracuse back into his busy lecturing schedule.

At the OHA Museum, he will offer amusing anecdotes from his life and participants will enjoy his wit and wisdom as he offers a glimpse of Victorian life and its customs. He will also offer a few lessons and activities in use of one’s faculties of observation and imagination, important talents for a successful writer. And finally, participants will enjoy listening to Mr. Dickens read excerpts from A Christmas Carol.

Following his presentations, Mr. Dickens will invite everyone to visit with several other authors who will have gathered at the OHA Museum for a Historical Book Signing, a wonderful opportunity for picking up some final holiday gifts, ones made most personal and unique by the author’s signatures. Books by those authors present can be purchased that day at the OHA Museum Gift Shop and then brought to the authors for signing.

Scheduled to be at the OHA Museum that afternoon will be the following Syracuse University Press authors, listed with the books that will be available.

Dennis Connors:

A Crossroads in Time: An Illustrated History of Syracuse

Robert Bogdan:

Real Photo Postcard Guide: The People’s Photography

Adirondack Vernacular: The Photography of Henry M. Beach

Milton Sernett:

Abolition’s Axe: Beriah Green, Oneida Institute and the Black Freedom Struggle

North Star Country: Upstate New York & The Crusade for African American Freedom

Paul Malo:

Fool’s Paradise: Remembering The Thousand Islands

Boldt Castle: In Search of the Lost Story

A Floating World: More People, Places and Pastimes of the Thousand Islands

Jim Pula:

Ethnic Utica

New York Mills: The Evolution of a Village

Anthony Wonderley:

Oneida Iroquois: Folklore, Myth and History

Christopher Vecsey:

The Iroquois and Their Neighbors

Iroquois Land Claims

John Robert Greene:

The Hill: An Illustrated Biography of Syracuse University 1870-Present

Syracuse University: The Tolley Years

Syracuse University: The Eggers years

The OHA Museum is located downtown at 321 Montgomery Street. Free, on street parking is available on Sundays. This event is open to the public and admission to the museum is free. All exhibit areas will be open and the museum will be decorated for the holidays. For more information, please visit the OHA web site at www.cnyhistory.org or contact the OHA Education Department at 428-1864 ext 313 and by e-mail at ohamail2002@yahoo.com

Anheuser-Busch Sponsors Our Glorious Workplaces Fundraising Dinner for OHA Museum & Research Center

 

Perennial Gala Supports

Onondaga Historical Association Museum & Research Center 

 

Baldwinsville, N.Y.– The Onondaga Historical Association Museum & Research Center (OHA) begins its second decade of celebrating Syracuse’s notable workplaces with a tour and dinner at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Baldwinsville, N.Y.  The 11^th Annual “Our Glorious Workplaces” black tie optional gala takes place from 6-10:00 p.m., Friday, Nov. 2 and is the signature fundraising event supporting operations, as well as school-age and adult programming at OHA’s Museum & Research Center.

Anheuser-Busch brewmaster David Baynes and his brewing staff will offer guests a behind-the-scenes look at how Anheuser-Busch in Baldwinsville produces more than 30 beer brands, including the world’s best-selling Budweiser and Bud Light.

“Anheuser-Busch has been a productive member of this community for almost a quarter of a century and we are proud to accept this recognition from OHA.” said Steve McCormick, plant manager, Anheuser-Busch Baldwinsville brewery.  “We welcome the opportunity to open the doors so our neighbors can get a first-hand view of how our most popular beers are brewed.”

The event begins with a welcome reception at 6 p.m. followed by tours of Anheuser-Busch’s brewhouse, production lines and packaging areas. Visitors who are at least 21 years old may sample some of Anheuser-Busch’s beers and learn how well those beers pair with certain delicious foods.

Dennis Connors, OHA Curator of History, will present an historical overview of beer making in Syracuse, including the Anheuser-Busch Baldwinsville brewery’s significance in that rich tradition. Each guest will receive a commemorative dinner plate, which this year will include images of the people of Anheuser-Busch and the many brands brewed at the Baldwinsville facility.  Syracuse China (a Libbey company) has provided the commemorative plate annually since the inception of the event.  

Due to limited seating, event reservations must be made by Friday, October 26. Event tickets are $195 per person. To make reservations or to receive an event invitation, please call 428-1864, ext 321, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays.

Local companies serving as underwriting sponsors of “Our Glorious Workplaces” this year are:  National Grid; The Post-Standard; Bottar Leone, PLLC; Cathedral Candle; King & King Architects; M&T Bank; Mackenzie Hughes LLP; Time Warner Cable; and VIP Structures. Event sponsorship opportunities remain available. For more information please call Gary Melchiorre at 428-1864, ext 314.

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser‑Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 48.4 percent share of U.S. beer sales.  The company brews the world’s largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light.  Anheuser‑Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer, and a 27 percent share in China brewer Tsingtao, whose namesake beer brand is the country’s best-selling premium beer.  Anheuser-Busch ranked No. 1 among beverage companies in FORTUNE Magazine’s Most Admired U.S. and Global Companies lists in 2007.  Anheuser‑Busch is one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and one of the world’s largest recyclers of aluminum cans.  For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

TALESPIN: STORIES FROM THE LONGHOUSE

Onondaga Historical Association Museum & Research Center (OHA)

Presents

 

TALESPIN: STORIES FROM

THE LONGHOUSE

 

Gossiping Dogs! Naked Birds!

Mosquito Monsters!

 

Join She Who Tells Stories with her friend, fur trader Ephraim Webster as they bring to life Haudenosaunee traditional stories of nature and lessons in which the audience can take part. Come and shake your booty with Bear, shop for clothes that are for the Birds, “spin tall tail” with the Dogs and get the “buzz” from a monstrous Mosquito! Staff educators Tonawanda Seneca Karen Crow and Scott Peal share the wisdom of the People of the Longhouse in this interactive presentation.

 

TAILSPIN: STORIES FROM THE LONGHOUSE

will be held at the OHA Museum on Sunday,

October 28^th at 2pm.

 

The program is FREE!

OHA Research Center Displays Documents from the American Revolution for New York State Archives Month

In celebration of New York State Archives month, OHA’s  Research Center has organized a special display of five original Revolutionary War era documents from the George G. Fryer Papers.  These will augment an ongoing exhibition at the OHA Museum that tells the mysterious story of a May 26, 1775 manuscript that was long thought to have been destroyed in 1911.  The General Association for the Rights and Liberties of America was signed by the delegates to New York’s First Provincial Congress and is considered a seminal document in the story of New York’s march toward signing the Declaration of Independence the following year.  It also is from the Fryer Papers, which were donated to OHA several decades ago. 

 

Included in this new, temporary display is an August 1777 letter from the president of the Massachusetts Executive Council, Artemas Ward, to New York Lt. Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt concerning a request for troop reinforcements.  At this time, British General John Burgoyne was advancing toward Albany.  Within weeks, Burgoyne would be stopped at the decisive Battle of Saratoga.

 

Other documents include a 1780 list of officers serving in New York regiments, a 1776 letter of resignation from one of New York’s delegates to the Continental Congress who was disappointed with the Declaration of Independence, and a 1770 letter penned by Sir Guy Carleton, British governor of Quebec.

 

Born in 1854, George Gross Fryer was a man of many talents and interests. As well as being a collector of rare documents, he was an inventor, engineer and president of the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, predecessor to the Everson Museum.  He also served as president of the Onondaga Historical Association board until his death in 1936.

 

Archives Month is a collaborative effort by professional organizations and repositories around the nation to highlight the importance of records of enduring value. Archivists are professionals who assess, collect, organize, preserve, maintain control of, and provide access to information that has lasting value, and they help people find and understand the information they need in those records.