Some of you may know that I am working on my Master's of Science in Information Science (MSIS, formerly MLS) at the University at Albany, SUNY. I have one semester left & hope to graduate just one month after my 10 year anniversary as your Town Historian!
Today I had an interview at the New York State Archives in Albany, & it got me wondering if there were any collections relating to Greenwich. Well, The NYS Archives only deals with governmental records. So, unless the town or village governments sent records to the Archives it's unlikely they have any relating to Greenwich.
But, what about the New York State Library? They have a "archives" as well called Manuscripts and Special Collections. Running down their list of finding aids (documents that contain descriptive information regarding records in a collection) I came across the following listing...
Stevens, Mary J.
Letter. (1852). 1 item.
Collection Call Number: 20420
Letter of Mary J. Stevens to her mother, describing her new life as a teacher in Greenwich, New York. She complains about Greenwich as a place populated by "Old Bachelors and Old Maids".
I might have to request this item to take a look at what else Miss Stevens says about our fair town in 1852.
The NYS Library has some other interesting things. I recommend you take a look at their online finding aids. I found collections & records relating to suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Belva Lockwood, Amelia Bloomer, & an interesting collection of correspondence between one of my grandmother's favorite authors, Frances Parkinson Keyes & Eleanor Roosevelt.
I also found a collection of the New York State Association Opposed to Women Suffrage records. I will have to look at those & see if I can locate anything on Mary Arthur McElroy. The NYS Archives finding aids can be searched by clicking here.
& after my interview today, I took a look at the NYS Museum (in the same building). I highly recommend a new travelling exhibit from the Smithsonian being featured; 1934: A New Deal for Artists. Some of the paintings are of Upstate NY, & the labels are very descriptive.
Greenwich, NY
Showing posts with label Mary Arthur McElroy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mary Arthur McElroy. Show all posts
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Don't Put Words in the Mouth of an Historical Figure
The other day on Facebook, I came across a news story posted by WRGB, our local CBS station, & I nearly posted a comment. Why did I stop myself you may ask? I didn't post the comment because I stopped & thought about what I was in the process of writing. I re-evaluated what I was writing & realized that it was reactionary &, quite possibly, wrong.
No, this is not going to be an entry about how people need to think before they write something, whether on Facebook, or otherwise (though they should). It is more specifically about how we should not assume we know a person because we learned a few factoids about their life. If you are confused, I will start from the beginning...
The headline I saw on Tuesday (8/7/12) was "Union College snags a top spot as one of the best party schools in the country! Newsweek and The Daily Beast's annual 'Top Party Colleges' list ranks Union College at #5..." My pithy reply was going to be about how alum like 21st President of the USA Chester Arthur must be so proud (sarcasm, blah, blah, blah...). Then I thought about what I have read about Arthur & his family over the years, & stopped. Just because I am an historian, doesn't know I what a person from the past would think about something that happens in the present. I might be able to speculate, but I am not a presidential scholar. I'm not Thomas C. Reeves* or Zachary Karabell^. Even they might not even to presume Arthur"s opinion on whether Union College is deserving of the #5 Party School in the country, & they have written biographies on Arthur.
Here is what I do know, of the Top 25 Party School ranked by Newsweek, Union is one of only six schools with an undergrad population below 5,000. They are the ONLY college on this list without a single arrest for drugs or alcohol made on campus. On campus disciplinary action (DA) for drugs and alcohol was pretty high however. DA for drugs in 2011 was 129 out of 2,260 students (5.7%), which was more in league with the University of Colorado at Boulder (1,404 out of 26,530 or 5.3%). DA for alcohol was at 25.9% with 586 incidents. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/galleries/2012/08/05/college-rankings-2012-top-party-schools-photos.html#slide1
Arthur's opinion? Who knows. As a lawyer, he was sworn to uphold the law & underage purchase of alcohol is against the law. I will say that he & his sister Mary McElroy refused to bend to Frances Willard and the Temperance Movement by continuing to serve alcohol in the White House. Arthur was fond of a drink, though I have not read anything to suggest he was an alcoholic. Mary was a skilled hostess, & her parties during the season were well-received. I can only speculate, based on the time period, how Arthur would have felt about drug use...
For more information on Chester A. Arthur
* Reeves, T. Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. 1975.
^ Karabell, Z. Chester Alan Arthur. New York, NY: Times Books. 2004.
No, this is not going to be an entry about how people need to think before they write something, whether on Facebook, or otherwise (though they should). It is more specifically about how we should not assume we know a person because we learned a few factoids about their life. If you are confused, I will start from the beginning...
The headline I saw on Tuesday (8/7/12) was "Union College snags a top spot as one of the best party schools in the country! Newsweek and The Daily Beast's annual 'Top Party Colleges' list ranks Union College at #5..." My pithy reply was going to be about how alum like 21st President of the USA Chester Arthur must be so proud (sarcasm, blah, blah, blah...). Then I thought about what I have read about Arthur & his family over the years, & stopped. Just because I am an historian, doesn't know I what a person from the past would think about something that happens in the present. I might be able to speculate, but I am not a presidential scholar. I'm not Thomas C. Reeves* or Zachary Karabell^. Even they might not even to presume Arthur"s opinion on whether Union College is deserving of the #5 Party School in the country, & they have written biographies on Arthur.
Here is what I do know, of the Top 25 Party School ranked by Newsweek, Union is one of only six schools with an undergrad population below 5,000. They are the ONLY college on this list without a single arrest for drugs or alcohol made on campus. On campus disciplinary action (DA) for drugs and alcohol was pretty high however. DA for drugs in 2011 was 129 out of 2,260 students (5.7%), which was more in league with the University of Colorado at Boulder (1,404 out of 26,530 or 5.3%). DA for alcohol was at 25.9% with 586 incidents. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/galleries/2012/08/05/college-rankings-2012-top-party-schools-photos.html#slide1
Arthur's opinion? Who knows. As a lawyer, he was sworn to uphold the law & underage purchase of alcohol is against the law. I will say that he & his sister Mary McElroy refused to bend to Frances Willard and the Temperance Movement by continuing to serve alcohol in the White House. Arthur was fond of a drink, though I have not read anything to suggest he was an alcoholic. Mary was a skilled hostess, & her parties during the season were well-received. I can only speculate, based on the time period, how Arthur would have felt about drug use...
For more information on Chester A. Arthur
* Reeves, T. Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. 1975.
^ Karabell, Z. Chester Alan Arthur. New York, NY: Times Books. 2004.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
She was an Anti-WHAT?
If you haven't figured it out I am rather partial to the Woman's Suffrage Movement in the US. It is my favorite time period. I don't know which came first, my love of all things suffrage, or the knowledge that Susan B. Anthony (& her younger suffragist sister Mary) grew up in Greenwich, but I've been hooked for about 25 years.
In 8th grade, I wrote a paper on Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to graduate from medical school in the US. I could probably credit Mrs. Heighton, my social studies teacher, for laying the groundwork. I even took a history class in college (Western Civ) with her husband.
What I didn't know, until I started reading more about Chester A. Arthur, was that his sister, Mary was an ANTI-SUFFRAGIST! Can you believe it? & I'm going to write about her!
Mary Arthur was born in Union Village (Greenwich), NY on July 5, 1841. She was the ninth and final child of the Reverend William Arthur & his wife Malvina. She attended the Emma Willard Seminary in Troy, NY. http://www.emmawillard.org/
On July 16, 1861, Mary Arthur married Albany insurance man John McElroy. They had four children. They were married 54 years.
Vice President-elect Arthur's wife Ellen (Nell) died in January 1880, months before her husband was chosen as the running mate for James A. Garfield, the Republican nominee for president. With the assassination of President Garfield, Arthur became the reluctant president, on September 19, 1881, still grieving the loss of his beloved wife. As a widower, Arthur had no one to serve as hostess for the many dinner parties. His sister Mary agreed to travel from Albany, NY to Washington D.C. & stayed at the White House during the social season, to act as hostess. Her eldest daughter, May & Arthur's daughter Ellen assisted.
Mary died in Atlantic City, NJ on January 8, 1917 at the age of 75. She is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery.
& here is the shocker. Mary Arthur McElroy belonged to the Albany Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage.
* Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. First Ladies: The Saga of the President's Wives and Their Power 1789-1961. New York: William Morrow and Co. 1990. (pp 246)
^ Jewish Women's Archive, "Resource Information for Pamphlet distributed by the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage," (January 26, 2012).
In 8th grade, I wrote a paper on Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to graduate from medical school in the US. I could probably credit Mrs. Heighton, my social studies teacher, for laying the groundwork. I even took a history class in college (Western Civ) with her husband.
What I didn't know, until I started reading more about Chester A. Arthur, was that his sister, Mary was an ANTI-SUFFRAGIST! Can you believe it? & I'm going to write about her!
Mary Arthur was born in Union Village (Greenwich), NY on July 5, 1841. She was the ninth and final child of the Reverend William Arthur & his wife Malvina. She attended the Emma Willard Seminary in Troy, NY. http://www.emmawillard.org/
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| Mary Arthur McElroy as White House hostess |
Vice President-elect Arthur's wife Ellen (Nell) died in January 1880, months before her husband was chosen as the running mate for James A. Garfield, the Republican nominee for president. With the assassination of President Garfield, Arthur became the reluctant president, on September 19, 1881, still grieving the loss of his beloved wife. As a widower, Arthur had no one to serve as hostess for the many dinner parties. His sister Mary agreed to travel from Albany, NY to Washington D.C. & stayed at the White House during the social season, to act as hostess. Her eldest daughter, May & Arthur's daughter Ellen assisted.
Mary died in Atlantic City, NJ on January 8, 1917 at the age of 75. She is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery.
& here is the shocker. Mary Arthur McElroy belonged to the Albany Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage.
The organized antisuffrage movement had among its flock the sitting lady of the White House, Mary Arthur McElroy, member of the Albany Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage. A woman "of a decisive manner when giving orders... she knew exactly what she wanted, and how she wanted it done; and she never hesitated to express her wishes clearly."*It's mentioned in her obituary from the Albany Times Union as well.
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| Anti-Suffrage propaganda^ |
* Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. First Ladies: The Saga of the President's Wives and Their Power 1789-1961. New York: William Morrow and Co. 1990. (pp 246)
^ Jewish Women's Archive, "Resource Information for Pamphlet distributed by the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage,"
Friday, September 10, 2010
Chester Alan Arthur
Did you know... that Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the USA, lived in Greenwich?
Chester Alan Arthur died of natural causes on November 18, 1886 at the age of 57. He is buried in Albany Rural Cemetery. (http://www.presidentialgraves.com/graves/chester-a-arthur)
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| Statue of Arthur at Union College |
Arthur was born in North Fairfield, Vermont (http://www.historicvermont.org/sites/html/arthur.html) in 1829. After heading various congregations in VT and NY, his father, the baptist minister Rev. William Arthur, moved the family to Greenwich (then Union Village) in 1839. Rev. Arthur remained pastor of the Bottskill Baptist Church until 1844. By that time, young Chet had graduated from Union Village Academy and was attending Union College in Schenectady, NY.
Arthur became president on September 20, 1881, the day after the death of President James A. Garfield. Garfield was shot three months prior, by Charles Guiteau at a train station in Washington, D.C. Arthur was not elected president in his own right. The nomination went to James G. Blaine (R-ME), who lost to Grover Cleveland (D-NY) in 1884.
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| NY State marker |
Little is known of the future president's youthful days in our village. His sister Mary, who would serve as hostess during his presidency, was born here in 1841. The house the Arthur's lived in still stands, though it has been moved twice. The old parsonage now sits on Gray Avenue, just a few blocks from its original location. A NY State marker commemorates the site.
Books of Interest:
Adult-
Chester Alan Arthur by Zachary Karabell- ISBN 9780805069518
Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur by Thomas C. Reeves- ISBN 0394460952
The Complete State of the Union Address of Chester A. Arthur- ISBN 9781406589665
Continental Liar From the State of Maine: James G. Blaine by Neil Rolde- ISBN 9780884482864
Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of James A. Garfield by Kenneth D. Ackerman- ISBN 9780786711512
Children-
Chester A. Arthur: Twenty-First President: 1881 - 1885 by Mike Venezia ISBN 9780516254012
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