Online Exhibits

Mary Deyo, Missionary to Japan (2021)

In 1888, Mary Deyo of Gardiner, NY joined a mission in Yokohama, Japan and taught in an all-girls school. This exhibit uses her collection of papers to explore and compare parts of life in the United States to life in Japan.

Emily DuBois Hoysradt, Painter (2021)

Emily DuBois Hoysradt (1893-1983) led an active life, devoted to art, learning, and participation in several community organizations in Ulster County. This exhibit highlights Hoysradt’s contributions and features several works of art from the Historic Huguenot Street Permanent Collection and area collections.

“We wish to live with you in peace,” Hendrick Aupaumut’s Letter to the New York State Legislature (2020)

Historic Huguenot Street is honored to present the online exhibit “We wish to live with you in peace,” Hendrick Aupaumut’s Letter to the New York State Legislature. Hendrick Aupaumut was a Mohican sachem, or leader, who served as Captain of the Stockbridge Mohican company fighting on behalf of colonial forces in the American Revolution. After the war, Aupaumut was instrumental to the Mohican community’s reconstruction in the wake of war and displacement. He was a fierce advocate for protecting the land and believed that securing clear title to the land, recognized by the colonial government, was the best route for Native people to ensure that their indigenous rights were protected.

“Never was a Slave”: Jacob Wynkoop, Free and Black in 19th-Century New Paltz (2020)

Jacob Wynkoop (1829-1912) was born in New Paltz two years after slavery was legally abolished in New York State. Jacob had an exceptional and varied life for any man of his time, black or white. Among the first African Americans to buy land in the community, he also served in the Union Army during the Civil War, organized politically on behalf of black citizens in town, and built a series of homes that today still define a neighborhood in the village of New Paltz. Unlike countless other Africans and African Americans from the dawn of European colonization through the 19th century and beyond, Jacob’s story is fairly well documented in the historical record. This exhibit, curated by Josephine Bloodgood, Director of Curatorial and Preservation Affairs, was originally installed in the DuBois Fort Visitor Center in 2019, but has been expanded online.

Image:  Jacob Wynkoop, ca. 1908. Detail from a photograph of Civil War veterans at the New Paltz Rural Cemetery. Courtesy of Shirley Anson and the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection, Elting Memorial Library.

• Educator’s Guide to “Never Was a Slave:” Jacob Wynkoop, Free and Black in 19th Century New Paltz

• Voter Suppression in the United States: A supplementary lesson to Historic Huguenot Street’s online exhibit “Never Was a Slave:” Jacob Wynkoop, Free and Black in 19th Century New Paltz

• Gradual Manumission and the Federal Abolition of Slavery: A supplementary lesson to Historic Huguenot Street’s online exhibit “Never Was a Slave:” Jacob Wynkoop, Free and Black in 19th Century New Paltz
  

Jane Deyo Wynkoop (2020)

Jane Deyo Wynkoop is one of the first African Americans to buy land in New Paltz, New York. Born to an enslaved woman in this rural Ulster County community, Jane has a remarkable story. Despite harsh beginnings, her diligence and determination resulted in a productive, inspiring life that included marriage and raising a family. As a result of her hard work and planning, Jane’s purchase of land was the first step toward opening the door for her sons’ acquiring the right to vote. Through original archival documents, the exhibit Jane Deyo Wynkoop explores her story from birth in 1803 to death in 1876, at age 73.

“Delicacy, Grace, & a Degree of Virtuosity,” Ruth Lynda Deyo (2020)

“Delicacy, Grace, & a Degree of Virtuosity,” Ruth Lynda Deyo highlights the story of this world-renowned concert pianist and composer, her life abroad, and historical impact based on Ruth’s personal correspondence and other items from the HHS Permanent Collection. After touring Europe in the first decade of the 20th century, Ruth made Cairo, Egypt her home in 1932 with husband Charles Dalton.

• Educator’s Guide to “Delicacy, Grace, & a Degree of Virtuosity,” Ruth Lynda Deyo

• The Life & Legacy of King Tutankhamun: A supplementary lesson to Historic Huguenot Street’s online exhibit “Delicacy, Grace, and a Degree of Virtuosity,” Ruth Lynda Deyo

Kasten from Mid-Hudson Valley Collections (2018)

Kasten from Mid-Hudson Valley Collections features over one dozen 18th-century American cupboards. Based on a furniture form popular in the Netherlands, kasten were adapted in the Hudson Valley for over a century. Although variations exist, the typical kast (plural kasten) is a large, free-standing cupboard with two paneled doors surmounted by an over-scaled cornice. The cupboard usually sits on a base with a single drawer or drawers and ball-shaped feet. Some simpler versions made by country craftsmen feature cut-out or stylized feet.

Object of the Week (Ongoing)

Our blog featuring objects from the Historic Huguenot Street Collections, curated by Collections interns.

Binary Visions: 19th-Century Woven Coverlets from the Collection of Historic Huguenot Street (2010, updated 2021)

Historic Huguenot Street presents Binary Visions: 19th-Century Woven Coverlets, highlighting a sampling of the dozens of such textiles in the Permanent Collection all of which were produced locally in Ulster, Dutchess, and Orange counties. This online exhibit draws on the collaborative exhibition presented at the Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz, January 26–March 18, 2011, as well as an online exhibit previously hosted on HRVH.

The Colonial Manuscript Collection (2006)

The archives at Historic Huguenot Street contain wills, legal papers, letters, receipts and additional documents dating back to the mid 1600s.  They are an excellent resource for those seeking to learn more about the earliest years of an immigrant community such as New Paltz. Viewed together, these documents also offer a window into colonial New York.

I Regret to Inform You: The Civil War Letters of Johannes Lefevre (2009)

This collection of letters reveals the story of young Civil War soldier Johannes Lefevre. While mustered in with the 156th New York Volunteer Army, Johannes fights in many battles including the famous Battle of Winchester. His letters cover many topics, from concern for girls to discussion of camp life and the horrors of war.

The Missing Chapter: Untold Stories of the African American Presence in the Mid-Hudson Valley (2007)

This online exhibit contains images of historic documents and descriptive text concerning the African American presence in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Images include historic photographs, bills of sale, last wills of testament, estate inventories, runaway slave notices, court cases, slave laws, journals, ledgers, and correspondences.

8000 years of Native American History and Culture (2009)

Long before Europeans arrived, groups of Native Americans occupied the area around what is now New Paltz. The Dutch settlers came to call these people “the Esopus.” The Esopus were a band of the Munsee Lenape people. In recent decades, Dr. Joseph Diamond, Professor of Anthropology the State University of New York at New Paltz, coordinated an annual summer archaeological field school at Historic Huguenot Street, uncovering thousands of artifacts relating to the Esopus people and their rich culture and history. This collection highlights some of the many stone tools, pottery fragments, trade beads, and other artifacts found.

Education in a Valley Fair (2008)

This exhibit explores the growth of education in the New Paltz area from the early Huguenot days through the twentieth century. It is a collaborate effort of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at Elting Library, Historic Huguenot Street and the Sojourner Truth Library at the State University of New York at New Paltz, and is based on materials from their respective collections.

The Hasbroucks of Locust Lawn (2008; expanded in 2019)

Formerly part of Historic Huguenot Street and transferred to the Locust Grove Estate in 2010, Locust Lawn is a large farm featuring the Federal-era mansion of Josiah Hasbrouck. Locust Lawn became the home of Josiah’s son, Levi and his wife, Hylah Bevier Hasbrouck, and their five children. Originally a physical and online exhibit in 2008 created by HHS staff entitled A Notion to Sew, the online exhibit has been expanded to The Hasbroucks of Locust Lawn by Locust Lawn volunteers. The exhibit includes images of documents, photographs, and drawings from the Historic Huguenot Street Permanent Collection.

Around the Table: Early Cooking in the Hudson Valley (2011)

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the kitchen was not only the physical center of the household, but also the social center of the home. The hearth was used for warmth, cooking and as a place for the older generation to teach skills to the younger generation. Food served as the bond between family, friends, and neighbors making it’s preparation very important.

As the Seasons Turn: A Greeting Card Collection (2009)

As the Seasons Turn is an exhibit of greeting cards from the late 19th to early 20th century, a collaboration between Historic Huguenot Street and Locust Lawn Farm, owned by Locust Grove. The collection contains Valentines, Easter, Christmas, New Years, and Birthday cards along with gift calendars, most of which were donated by Annette Innis Young. Several of the greeting cards are addressed to members of the Hasbrouck, Innis, and Young families, with their original envelops and personal notes from the sender. The exhibit also includes four handmade Valentines, from the Dingman family and from the personal collection of Hitchock-Kelley Family and Mary Etta Schneider. The HHS and Locust Lawn Farm greeting card collection contains over 400 cards – a selection has been chosen for this exhibit.