Month: May 2010

The Pember Library will present a lecture by Hallie Bond on “Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks”. Free and open to the general public, the event begins at 6:00 PM, Thursday, May 27 at the Pember Library in Granville.  This event is made possible through Speakers in the Humanities, a program of the New York Council for the Humanities.

Ms. Hallie Bond, Curator of the Adirondack Museum, has written extensively on regional history and material culture since joining the Adirondack Museum in 1983. Her books include Boats and Boating in the Adirondacks (1995) and “A Paradise for Boys and Girls:” Children’s Camps in the Adirondacks (2005). Ms. Bond has a B.A. in History (University of Colorado), an M.A. in Medieval Studies (University of York) and an M.A. in American History with a Certificate in Museum Studies (University of Delaware).

Ever since Ralph Waldo Emerson took a trip through the Adirondacks in a small boat, millions of Americans have seen an Adirondack vacation as the antidote to the stress and pollution of industrialized society. This illustrated lecture explores boatshops, liveries, and a way of life and leisure that has all but vanished.

The rich heritage of Adirondack small boats ranges from canoes of birchbark and cedar to sailing yachts; from humble fishing skiffs to motorboats powered by electricity or aircraft engines; and, the legendary Adirondack guideboat, called the finest traditional rowboat on the continent.

A century ago, the region was “that Venice of the woods, whose Highways are rivers, whose paths are streams, and whose carriages are boats.” Today, most travelers see the Adirondacks from the seat of a car. We have gained easy access to “the East’s last great wilderness;” by re-discovering the small boat heritage of the Adirondacks, we explore what may have been lost along the way.

Since its launch in 1983, the Council’s Speakers in the Humanities program has linked distinguished scholars with a diverse audience through the presentation of lectures on a broad range of topics.  All Speakers events are free and open to the general public.  Each year, hundreds of cultural organizations and community groups take advantage of this program, which offers the very best in humanities scholarship to thousands of citizens in every corner of New York State.

The New York Council for the Humanities is a not-for-profit, independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Through statewide collaborations, and programs and services that encourage imaginative thinking and critical inquiry, the Council works to ensure that the humanities are present in the intellectual and cultural life of every New Yorker.