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Region celebrating State Humanities Month

By Andrew Amelinckx

HUDSON VALLEY — October is New York State Humanities month and two local organizations — the Hudson Area Association Library and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill — are having public events as part of the celebration.

Humanities Month is a statewide showcase of New York’s culture and history organized by the New York Council for the Humanities.

The Council was founded in 1975 and is supported by federal, state, and private sources. According to its Web site the Council “helps all New Yorkers lead vibrant intellectual lives by strengthening traditions of cultural literacy, critical inquiry, and civic participation.”

The Council funds cultural organizations across the state through a competitive grant program. This year there are more than 40 organizations participating in State Humanities Month using Council grant funds, including the Hudson library and the Cole House.

The library will be having a talk on author Jack London’s “Call of the Wild,” moderated by Jeanne Reesman, one of the foremost experts on London, according to library director Greta Boeringer.

“I found her research the most compelling and relevant for our community,” said Boeringer.

The talk will be based on Reesman’s book “Jack London’s Racial Lives,” which explores London’s novel as a slave narrative.

Boeringer said Reesman’s book opened her eyes to the idea that the story of a dog name Buck — who is kidnapped from a southern climate, taken north and eventually gains his freedom — could be interpreted as a slave story.

“As I became more intimate with the book...I was amazed at how completely [London] is exploring the concept,” she said.

According to Boeringer London had an African-American foster-mother, Virginia Prentiss, and was familiar with the story of her life as a slave and eventual freedom.

Reesman is a professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is the author of “American Designs: The Late Novels of James and Faulkner” and “Jack London: A Study in Short Fiction.”

The funds for the lecture are part of a $5,000 grant from the Council given to the library for the Big Read, a national reading event, which began Sept. 20 and runs through next June. Communities across America are reading selected books and getting together to discuss them.

The talk, which is free to the public, will be held at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24 at the library, 400 State St.

Boeringer said that an additional grant from the Council is helping fund the “Together — Book Talk for Kids and Parents” program.

“Together” brings 9- to 11-year-old children and their parents and guardians together to read and discuss books.

“We’re reading five mind-blowingly fun books,” said Boeringer. “It’s already started, but people are welcome to join us.”

Lisa Dolan is leading the program that meets from 10:30 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at the library.

The third Annual Raymond Beecher Lecture featuring Timothy Barringer will be taking place across the Hudson River at Cedar Grove, the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, at 4 p.m. Oct. 25.

Cole was a British-born artist who helped usher in one of the most important American art movement of the 19th century — the Hudson River School of painting. This art movement was the first to focus European attention on America.

“I think it’s going to be really fun,” said Cedar Grove’s executive director, Elizabeth B. Jacks. “He’s really funny and entertaining.”

Barringer, an Englishman, is the Paul Mellon Professor at the Yale University Art History Department. According to Jacks the lecture will revolve around England.

“He may say some things that are controversial,” said Jacks.

Barringer’s lecture will focus on his belief that Americans have misunderstood Cole’s greatness as a painter. Instead of seeing him as the creator of a new genre in painting, Barringer believes Cole’s importance lies in his ability to see the American landscape through British eyes, reinterpreting the English landscape tradition for America.

The lecture series is named after Greene County historian and author Raymond Beecher, who died Oct. 9 at age 91.

“He was a wonderful historian,” said Jacks.

The Council awarded Cedar Grove a $2,500 grant for the lecture. Other funding came from the Raymond Beecher Fund for Programming at Cedar Grove.

“We’re making it free to encourage as many people as possible to come,” said Jacks, adding that contributions are appreciated.

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site is located at 218 Spring St. in Catskill.

The Council has also given the Cole House a $7,000 grant that helped pay for a new brochure, now available at the site, which provides a self-guided landscape tour of the area surrounding Cedar Grove.

To reach reporter Andrew Amelinckx please call 518-828-1616, ext. 2267, or e-mail aamelinckx@registerstar.com.

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