* sightseeing sundays: the gorgeous williamsburg savings bank

Known today as "One Hanson Place", the iconic Brooklyn clock tower completed in 1929 for the Williamsburg Savings Bank has gone through many reinventions while maintaining it's historic charm. It was landmarked by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee in 1977. In pursuit of history and good food I visited the Brooklyn Flea held at One Handson Place.

Click to read more ...

* archives.com announces new grant program to fund family history projects!

Just this week archives.com announced their NEW Grant program for family and cultural history projects. I am very excited about this fantastic opportunity, here is the press release from Archives.com: Archives.com Announces Grant to Fund Family and Cultural History Projects Program to Assist Groups and Individuals with Historical Preservation "PALO ALTO, CA — January 13, 2011 – Archives.com, an Inflection brand, today announces its Grant Program, a major initiative to assist individuals and communities with family, communal, and cultural research and preservation projects. The Archives.com Grant will help people and organizations take on historically significant projects that positively impact their family or community.

Click to read more ...

* Utopian ancestors: the oneida community

Updated on Sun, January 16, 2011 at 11:40 PM by abbyb

You are bound to find some juicy facts the deeper you dig into your family roots. One of my ancestors was supposedly a member of the Oneida Community, researching the history of was quite enlightening. A random handwritten family tree from the box of stuff mentioned my gggg grandfather Josiah J Franks as a member of the Oneida Community. After some digging I found a cousin of my grandmother. He is in his nineties and as luck would have it he was an avid family historian! He sent me a wealth of information and also noted Josiah as a "member of oneida community". In addition he sent a letter dated 1856 between 2 of Josiah's sons: “You ask how do I feel about going to Oneida to live, I can tell you that I would not live among such a set of people for anything at all. Every letter that Father [Josiah] writes to me he says more or less about me going to Oneida to live. He says he is going to send me money for me to come home but on the condition that I must spend a week at Oneida.“ Intrigued I did some research.

Click to read more ...

* a definite snow day: the NYC Blizzard of 1888

I LOVE snow storms, but for those living in New York city the recent snow has proven to be quite challenging. There are issues with snow & garbage removal, getting to work, and the worst by far the slush puddles on every street corner, they are impossible to gauge and then your entire foot is soaked. After reading about the great Blizzard of 1888 and it's impact on NYC I thought I would share some pictures and interesting first hand accounts to give us all a little perspective.

Click to read more ...