Albany Historical Society

06/21/2020

New email: [email protected]

03/26/2020

One more time, you CAN NOT GET COVID19 from your pets!!! Do not abandon them in this time of crisis. There is only so much space in shelters and they are already at capacity.

03/02/2019

11/24/2018

Display cases in the historical section of the Albany Library currently have photos of Edith Stone, a former Albany resident who was so influential in the creation of the library. There is also a display of photos and information about Albany residents who were killed in WWII along with the plaque honoring them which previously hung in the old high school

11/03/2018

02/10/2018

Albany Historical Society
Annual Business Meeting & Election of Officers



Saturday February 17
Meeting 1-1:30pm
Book talk at 1:30
Albany Library
1247 Marin Avenue

Book talk with Richard Schwartz

In his latest endeavor, The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty: The Extraordinary Rise and Fall of Actor M.B. Curtis, author and historian Richard Schwartz delivers the fascinating life story of immigrant actor M.B. Curtis.

As the Statue of Liberty stood unlit and unloved by American politicians in 1886, one of her saviors was creating a theatrical sensation at New York’s Fourteenth Street Theatre. Actor M. B. Curtis, who had achieved overnight success in Sam’l of Posen, a groundbreaking play that transcended the common stereotypes of Jewish characters at the time, was basking in public accolades at every curtain call when he came to Lady Liberty’s aid. Curtis, the immigrant, jumped up to become the only private citizen in our nation’s history to pay for lighting the Statue of Liberty’s torch while Congress dodged the funding issue and international embarrassment.

The Man Who Lit Lady Liberty rescues M. B. Curtis’s story from the silent archives of forgotten history and reexamines an actor whose creativity and cultural influence still resonate invisibly today.

02/01/2016

01/21/2016

The Albany Historical Society Newsletter for October - December 2015 is available on our web site.

http://albanycahistory.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/ahsnewsletteroctdec2015pdf.pdf

01/21/2016

The Annual Meeting of the Albany Historical Society will be on Sunday, January 31 from 1:00 - 3:00 in the Edith Stone Room of the Albany Library. After a brief business meeting and election of the board of directors there will be a recognition and thank you to local Veterans. Light refreshments will be served.