By 1774, 45-year-old Reverend Samuel Seabury (1729-1796) was a veteran of verbal combat. Assigned to a church in New Jersey from 1754 to 1757, he became embroiled in the debate over whether King’s College in New York (est. 1754) should be … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: April 2016
February 2016 Gore Vidal, Burr: A Novel. Read it for the second in my series of posts on Hamilton: An American Musical. Vidal is a great storyteller, and who tells your story really does matter a hell of a lot. Since Vidal is … Continue reading
New York is the greatest city in the world: no argument from me about that. But greatness has to start somewhere … Here’s the Dutch settlement at the southern end of Manhattan in 1642 – just before Peter Stuyvesant was sent … Continue reading
Sculpting the Sherman Monument Augustus Saint Gaudens, recognized since his Farragut, 1880, as one of America’s most skilled and innovative sculptors, was already ill in 1891, when he accepted the commission for an equestrian sculpture of William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891). Saint Gaudens was the … Continue reading
On the goal of advertising Advertising says to people, “Here’s what we’ve got. Here’s what it will do for you. Here’s how to get it.” —Leo Burnett So Kennedy said to me, “Do you know what advertising is?” I said, “I … Continue reading
In 1776, the “old money” families in New York – the ones that had been around in Dutch times and had continued to thrive for a century under the British – were the Van Rensselaers, the Van Cortlandts, and the Schuylers. Angelica’s … Continue reading
If I had a list of ten favorite portraits, this would be on it, and near the top. First of all, the subject looks intelligent and dignified; but that’s the way most sitters wanted themselves represented. So, second: in the … Continue reading
Did you ever wonder why the Tappan Zee Bridge was built at the Hudson River’s widest point? To be as close to New York City as possible, without being within 25 miles of the Statue of Liberty. All bridges and tunnels within … Continue reading
The pamphlet Common Sense, which Angelica mentions in “The Schuyler Sisters,” was published anonymously in Philadelphia, on January 10, 1776. Within a few months, British expatriate Thomas Paine was known to be the author. Although others had made many of the same … Continue reading
I’m happy that the there is now one figurative sculpture at the World Trade Center site: it honors the Americans who fought in the wake of 9/11. While construction on the WTC site continues, the sculpture is behind a cyclone fence. … Continue reading