Haudenosaunee Days of Sharing at Explore & More
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Spring–Summer and Fall –Winter 2018 Volume 44:1–4 The Journal of New York Folklore Haudenosaunee Days of Sharing at Explore & Special More Children’s Double Issue Museum St. Joseph’s Tables in Buffalo and Western NY Western New York Music and Food in Multicultural Syracuse Bridging Folk and Fine Art at the Castellani Art Museum Telescope Houses in Buffalo Hog-Rassle Old-Time Square Dancing From the Director From the Editor This October, the led by Harold Thompson and Louis Jones, To celebrate our 25th New York Folklore who held initial joint appointments as both anniversary, we’ve creat- Society welcomes Presidents of the New York Folklore Society ed a logo for the Folklife our colleagues in the and of the New York State Historical As- Center in Glens Falls. American Folklore sociation (NYSHA), which has been known It’s a simple design— Society (AFS) to Buf- as the Fenimore Art Museum since 2017. At our name linked with falo. Held each year, one point, the membership of the New York Crandall Public Library the American Folklore Folklore Society eclipsed that of the Ameri- and a five-pointed star, Society’s conference draws hundreds of can Folklore Society (founded in 1888) and tipped to soar. Yet, at closer look, it reflects folklorists and allied scholars from through- included many former students of Harold a larger community heritage. out the world. This year’s conference will Thompson and Louis Jones. The Society draw scholars from Australia, Canada, China, was founded with a social justice focus, and Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, India, its founding members were active with early Korea, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Norway, civil rights, progressive education, and leftist Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the politics. They were collectors and popular- United States, Zambia, and nations of the izers of folklore; they used folklore and This year is also the 125th anniversary Iroquois Confederacy. The folklore, folk folk arts to inform theater, literature, music, of our parent organization, Crandall Public arts, and folk culture of New York State and other expressions of American culture Library, its birth occurring in 1892–1893, will be highlighted through performances, and arts. A roster of early New York Folk- thanks to the combined efforts of a minis- presentations by community scholars, and lore Society members reads like a “Who’s ter, an educator, a historian, and a wealthy artists’ demonstrations; and Buffalo and Who” of folklore, including Charles and businessman. Western New York State will provide field Ruth Crawford Seeger, Pete Seeger, Moritz The idea for a community library was trip experiences. New York was the host Jagendorf of the Ferrar School, Ben promoted well before its inception by Rev. for the 2002 meeting (Rochester), and a Botkin of the Archive of Folk Culture at George B. Gow (1832–1913). He was a number of that year’s planning committee the Library of Congress, Edith Cutting, Baptist minister and founder of the Glens members are working to craft an interesting Alan Lomax, Ruth Rubin, Carl Carmer, and Falls Lyceum, where local questions were and engaging meeting this year. The “New Norman Studer and Norman Cazden of discussed before large audiences, and later, York committee” has created a dynamic Camp Woodland. The Society supported in the local newspapers. Gow planted the schedule of presentations and papers. If you a Yorker prize for student writing, and its seed, which would be sown as Crandall are not currently a member of the American biannual meeting discussed folklore in edu- Free Library, in a paper read before the Folklore Society, please plan to attend at cation, folk music and the folk revival, civil Lyceum several years before its inception. least part of the Buffalo AFS meeting. The rights, and the inclusion of immigrant and Rev. Gow would become the first president schedule can be found at https://www.afsnet. ethnic expressions. 2019 will be a great year of the Library Trustees. org/page/2018AM. to reflect upon the Society’s successes and The educator Sherman Williams (1846– The staff and board of the New York to lay the foundation for the next 75 years! 1923) came to Glens Falls as the school Folklore Society are laying plans for the superintendent, who built the community’s Society’s 75th anniversary in 2019. Founded Ellen McHale, PhD, Executive Director modern school system and developed a in 1944, the New York Folklore Society was New York Folklore Society summer school for teachers from around created by folklore scholars who wished [email protected] the country—both models for the state. to create a vehicle to encourage folklore www.nyfolklore.org His interest in the development and influ- documentation and preservation in New ence of libraries drove him to find a bene- York State. Those early visionaries were factor in Henry Crandall and to the creation continued on page 2 “If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food. It’s a plus for everybody.” —Anthony Bourdain (1956–2018) VOICES: The Journal of New York Folklore Contents Spring-Summer & Fall-Winter 2018 Features 3 Haudenosaunee Days of Sharing at Explore & More Children’s Museum in Buffalo, New York by Christine F. Zinni 28 Evviva San Giuseppe! St. Joseph’s Table Celebrations in Rural Western New York 3 by Karen P. Canning and Christine F. Zinni 46 Music and Food in Multicultural Syracuse: Project Report by Sydney Hutchinson 60 Hog-Rassle: Impromptu Behavior at Old-Time Square Dances by James Kimball 66 A Telling Image: Bridging Folk and Fine Art Visitor Repertoires in Exhibit Design through Contemporary Murals in Folk Arts Contexts by Edward Y. Millar 74 Telescope Houses in Buffalo by David Schalliol 78 Spiedies, Grape Pies, and Garbage Plates (Oh My!): A Serious 60 Look at Upstate New York’s Silly-Sounding Foods by Hannah Davis 84 Upstate New York’s Irish Music Archive by Ted McGraw 87 Explore Buffalo by Todd DeGarmo and Tom van Buren Departments and Columns 78 25 Upstate by Dan Berggren 26 Downstate 87 by Molly Garfinkel 44 From the Waterfront by Nancy Solomon 58 Poetry of Everyday Life by Steve Zeitlin Cover: Randy Greene (Tuscarora), 86 Good Read by Chris Linendoll center, and Niagara River Dancers. Courtesy of Greene family archives. Read more in Christine Zinni’s “Haudenosaunee Days of Sharing at Explore & More Children’s Museum in Buffalo, New York” on p. 3. Spring–SummerSpring–Summer && Fall–WinterFall–Winter 2018,2018, VolumeVolume 44:44:1–4 1–4 1 1 From the Editor (continued) of the Crandall Trust. Dr. Williams became logs in the Adirondack woods. With this Chief of the Schools Libraries Division in money he began a lumbering business on the State Department of Education and the Hudson River, moved to Glens Falls in Spring–Summer & Fall–Winter 2018 · Volume 44: 1–4 was an officer of the Library Trustees for 1850, and invested heavily in real estate to Editor Todd DeGarmo some 30 years. make a fortune. About 1880, Crandall re- Associate Editor Patricia Mason The historian James A. Holden (1861– tired from active business life and devoted Administrative Manager Laurie Longfield 1918) was a prolific writer on historical his attention to public matters and philan- Design Mary Beth Malmsheimer Printer Eastwood Litho topics and a charter member of the New thropy, including a Boys Savings Club, two Editorial Board Todd DeGarmo, Chair. York State Historical Association. He was parks, and a library. Gabrielle Berlinger, Sydney Hutchinson, also a newspaper editor, manager of the The five-pointed star of our logo is the Maria Kennedy, David Puglia, Puja Sahney, Empire Theatre, author of the charter for same star atop the monument in Cran- Joseph Sciorra, Emily Socolov, Nancy Solomon the City of Glens Falls, and an officer in dall Park where Henry and his wife Betsy Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore is published twice a year by the many local organizations. He deposited his Crandall are buried. It was the logging mark New York Folklore Society, Inc. books and papers at Crandall Free Library used by Crandall in his lumbering business 129 Jay Street, Schenectady, NY 12305 as the Holden Collection for public use. to identify the logs that he floated down the New York Folklore Society, Inc. Holden became State Historian and was Hudson to the mills here in Glens Falls. Executive Director Ellen McHale Administration and Gallery Laurie Longfield the secretary of the Library Trustees for The Board of Trustees at Crandall cre- Web Administrator Patti Mason some 25 years. ated the Folklife Center on July 23, 1993, Upstate Regional Representative The library, however, bears the name of as its own department within the Library, Hannah Davis Media & Marketing Interns Kira Born and Henry Crandall (1821–1913), the wealthy charged with the mission to preserve and Chibuikem Ajulu-Okeke (with support from the businessman who bankrolled the library present the cultural traditions of the upper Regional Economic Development Initiative of NYSCA, a program of Andrew Cuomo and the almost entirely in its first 25 years. Even Hudson Valley and southern Adirondacks NYS Legislature) today, the resting place for his fortune, the of upstate New York. Voice (518) 346-7008 / Fax (518) 346-6617 Crandall Trust, contributes to the library’s Crandall’s five-pointed star reminds Website www.nyfolklore.org budget. He also provided the original li- us of those who supported the need for Board of Directors President Tom van Buren brary space in a building he owned in the free access to the world of ideas that pub- Vice President Julie Tay current City Park, opposite the Soldiers’ lic libraries embody.