I'm giving a free online talk about the history of the Progressive Musical Benevolent Society of New York on June 2, along with Dave Levitt, son and grandson of members of this klezmer mutual aid society. Hosted by the Workers Circle.
https://www.circle.org/events/progressive-musical

#klezmer #MutualAidHistory #NewYorkHistory #MusicHistory

LI Herald: Oceanside/Island Park Herald archives go digital, ending microfilm era. “Library patrons once had to rely on microfilm to search past editions of the Oceanside/Island Park Herald, threading reels into bulky readers and scanning pages by hand to find specific articles. That process has been replaced by a searchable digital archive. The Herald is now available through the New York […]

New York State Library: Scanning with FamilySearch. “The NYS Library is working with Family Search International, a global nonprofit genealogy organization, to expand access to some of the New York’s most important ancestry records and historical collections. Since January 2026, Mark and Lynne Hamp, a retired couple from Utah, have been hard at work […]

New York Almanack: The New York State Historic Newspapers Project. “This week Kaatscast features Chuck Henry, the Project Lead of New York State Historic Newspapers, a digital archive containing over 1,200 newspaper titles, 1.5 million editions, and more than 15 million searchable pages spanning from 1725 to 2025.”

WXXI: Digitized issues of the weekly Brighton-Pittsford Post’s entire run now available online. “The entire production run of the Brighton-Pittsford Post has been digitized and is now available online. The Brighton Memorial Library and the Town Historian’s Office said they have completed a project to digitize the weekly paper’s entire run, which included more than 3,800 issues published from […]

New York State Archives: New York State Archives Awards $4.9 Million In Local Government Records Management Grants. “The New York State Archives today announced that $4.9 million has been awarded to 80 local governments, school districts, and educational institutions across the state to improve records management systems, better preserve documents, and serve the public. The Local Government […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/08/22/new-york-state-archives-new-york-state-archives-awards-4-9-million-in-local-government-records-management-grants/

New York Botanical Garden: Diving into the Data Behind The Welikia Map Explorer. “On Earth Day, the Urban Conservation team at the New York Botanical Garden launched the newly redesigned Welikia Map Explorer, a historical ecology mapping tool that reveals what the landscape, plants, animals, and people might have been like on your block in New York City, 400 years ago.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/06/05/new-york-botanical-garden-diving-into-the-data-behind-the-welikia-map-explorer/

🗺️ Historical context matters! In 17th Century Tottenville History Comes Alive, I explore how this community connects to broader historical movements.

This perspective transforms dates and facts into human experiences that readers can connect with emotionally.

Available here: https://www.amazon.com/Century-Tottenville-History-Comes-Alive/dp/B08WK2LD44

#Microhistory #HistoricalContext #LocalHistory #NewYorkHistory #TottenvilleHistory #CommunityStories #HistoricalNarrative