Blog » Archive: 2016

  • 2016 Year in Review

    December 30th, 2016
    Overview of 2016 in photos.
  • New: “Music in the Key of Geneva” Video and Podcast

    December 22nd, 2016
    Latest additions to our "Geneva Stories" video series and "Music in the Key of Geneva" podcasts.
  • A Mobe By Any Other Name . . .

    December 15th, 2016
    The debate on what to call automobiles as seen through local newspapers.
  • Give Back to Your Community

    December 8th, 2016
    Advocating the need for volunteers around the community.
  • Classical Music in Geneva, Part 1

    December 2nd, 2016
    The first in a series about classical music performances in Geneva.
  • New “Music in the Key of Geneva” Video and Podcast

    November 23rd, 2016
    Latest additions to our "Geneva Stories" video series and "Music in the Key of Geneva" podcasts.
  • Seasons Greetings

    November 23rd, 2016
    A brief history of Christmas cards.
  • Home Music: 19th Century Bands in Geneva

    November 18th, 2016
    Chronicling 19th Century bands in Geneva, New York through newspapers.
  • Founding of the Geneva School District

    November 4th, 2016
    The Geneva City School District can trace its birth to 1839, the year that the village’s Districts No. 1 and No. 19 merged to form the state’s first union school district. By the 1830s, the community had a College, dozens of private schools, and two public schools for the basic instruction of children of all classes. Yet schooling in the antebellum period here and throughout More »
  • A Hard Day’s Night: Nightlife Victorian Style

    October 27th, 2016
    Before electricity, what did Victorian families do in the evenings?
  • Autumn in the Finger Lakes

    October 19th, 2016
    An ode to autumn in the Finger Lakes
  • The Last Music Store

    October 14th, 2016
    Brief history of music stores in Geneva, New York
  • From Beyond: Washington Street Cemetery Stories

    October 6th, 2016
    While touring the Washington Street Cemetery, listen to stories from Geneva's past.
  • Ho! For California, Part 4

    September 29th, 2016
    The journey of a local group of men to the California gold fields chronicled through the newspaper
  • Modesty: Where Have You Gone?!

    September 16th, 2016
    When it comes to clothing and fashion, what does modesty mean.
  • Music in the Key of Geneva Podcasts

    September 9th, 2016
    The first in a series of podcasts for the Geneva Historical Society's Music in the Key of Geneva project.
  • Just a Piece of Wood?

    September 9th, 2016
    A piece from a piano provides a glimpse into Geneva's past.
  • Ho! for California, Part 3

    August 26th, 2016
    The Geneva Gazette chronicles the journey of a local group of men to the California gold fields.
  • Geneva 15 years ago

    August 19th, 2016
    Reflections on living in Geneva.
  • Geneva Stories: Music in Geneva, Part 1

    August 12th, 2016
    The first in a series about music in Geneva.
  • The Sounds of Music

    August 12th, 2016
    Through National Jukebox, sample sound recordings can be found of various musicians who performed in Geneva in the early 1900s.
  • Farm Heritage Day

    August 3rd, 2016
    Spend a day "on the farm" at our biennial Farm Heritage Day at the Johnston House.
  • The Perfect Purse

    July 29th, 2016
    A brief history of purses.
  • There’s Nothing Like A Model T

    July 22nd, 2016
    A visit to Rose Hill by the Model T Ford Club International provides insights into the Model T.
  • Model T Birthday Celebration

    July 15th, 2016
    Join the Geneva Historical Society for the 100th birthday of our 1916 Ford Model T Canopy Express Wagon!
  • Ho! for California, Part 2

    July 8th, 2016
    Part two of the Geneva Gazette's chronicle of a local group of men's journey to the California gold fields.
  • Famous 19th-Century Musicians in Geneva

    July 1st, 2016
    I have been researching music in Geneva for several years. If I found a newspaper article while searching for something else, I saved it. In this way I came across a number of unfamiliar names who performed in Geneva in the 19th century. The advertisements, previews, and reviews certainly made them sound important, but who were they?
  • Modern Medicine

    June 17th, 2016
    I recently had an opportunity to experience some hand surgery and thought what a different experience citizens of Geneva years ago must have had compared to mine.
  • 2016 Annual Meeting and Dinner

    June 10th, 2016
    During our Annual Meeting and Dinner Barbara Lamb will be honored as the Volunteer of the Year and Curator John Marks will discuss the new exhibit Music in the Key of Geneva.
  • Tour of Homes, Part Two

    June 6th, 2016
    Preview of the 2016 Tour of Homes
  • Hidden Music in Geneva

    May 27th, 2016
    Music is everywhere in Geneva for those with eyes to see. The digital marquee on Seneca Street, event flyers in many downtown store windows, and websites like www.thesmith.org.
  • Tour of Homes, Part One

    May 20th, 2016
    Preview of the 2016 Tour of Homes
  • Ho! for California, Part 1

    May 13th, 2016
    Reports of the California Gold Rush from the Geneva Gazette
  • Exhibits

    May 5th, 2016
    Many years ago, most museums did exhibitions using the time tested tool of the diorama. Dioramas, both life size and in miniature, were used to tell a story
  • Fiery Cross Burns

    April 29th, 2016
    While looking for information on Rose Hill (called the Boody Farm when Edgar Boody owned it) I found this account. I had heard a little about Klan activity in the 1920s, but had never pursued the subject. Now I wondered about the history of the Klan in Geneva and I started poking around in the local newspapers.
  • Banjos, Mandolins, and Glee

    April 21st, 2016
    I have many favorite historical photos of Geneva, but the 1893 Hobart College Banjo & Glee Club is in my Top Ten. Those clothes, those haircuts, those instruments! As a player and fan of banjos and mandolins, I am interested in their popularity at that time.
  • Yummy, Ice Cream!

    April 15th, 2016
    Let me start by saying that I LOVE Ice Cream! I guess I am not alone, either
  • Music In Geneva

    March 25th, 2016
    I have learned more as I work through the Historical Society archives, but there is much history not written down. We have an impressive list of village “firsts”: a hotel, a post office, a church, and a school. However, no one recorded the first person to bring a piano to town, or the name of the fiddler who played the first dance.
  • Geneva’s Stories: Urban Renewal in Geneva Part Two

    March 18th, 2016
    Second part of a two-part series on the impact of 1960s Urban Renewal on Geneva, NY.
  • Swingin’ Sixties Party!

    March 11th, 2016
    Be in the groove and join us for a 1960s themed party. It's gonna be out of sight!
  • Kids Today: The Generation Gap

    March 4th, 2016
    In the 1960s, a new phrase came into use: the generation gap. Genevans, like older Americans across the country worried about its young people, their clothes, their manners, and their attitude.
  • Geneva and the Civil Rights Movement

    February 26th, 2016
    As we at the Geneva Historical Society look back at the 1960s this year, we cannot ignore the protest movements that sprung out of that decade, particularly the Civil Rights Movement.
  • 45s, B-sides, and Albums

    February 19th, 2016
    Alice Askins wrote about live music in Geneva in the 1960s . As she pointed out, most groups played the hits of the day. If you wanted to hear the real thing, you bought the record.
  • Oh, those 1960s Cars!

    February 12th, 2016
    I am not a car buff. My vehicle doesn’t have to be sporty, exotic or sexy, but it just needs to get me from my home to my destination safely and comfortably.
  • Let’s Go to the Movies!

    February 5th, 2016
    When Genevans went to the Cinema Theatre, Seneca Drive-In Theatre or Geneva Theatre during the 1960s they could have seen a variety of movies.
  • Playing What They Loved: Geneva’s Music Scene in the 1960s

    January 29th, 2016
    Recently I talked with Geneva's Chuck Agonito about the rock and roll music scene in Geneva during in the 1960s. Since he was part of that scene, he is a wealth of information on the subject and has often written about it in his “Good Times” column for the Finger Lakes Times.
  • The 1960s at Hobart & William Smith Colleges

    January 22nd, 2016
    A quick view of Hobart & William Smith Colleges during the tumultuous 1960s.
  • Geneva’s Stories: Urban Renewal in Geneva

    January 15th, 2016
    The first video in a monthly series of short Geneva history stories, beginning with Urban Renewal.
  • Remembering the Days of the Neighborhood School

    January 8th, 2016
    In 1960 I was 8 years old. Back then everyone attended the neighborhood elementary school, either public or parochial.
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