Editors’ Introduction

Abstract

New York History Winter 2014© 2014 by The New York State Historical Association 5 Editors’ Introduction F. Daniel Larkin, Thomas D. Beal, and William S. Walker One of the great things about editing a state historical journal is the range and diversity of articles we publish. Particularly in New York State, which has such a rich and variegated history, almost any topic is fair game. Yet, the Editors find that there are many resonances and overlaps among the topics our authors address. The journal is not a hodgepodge; rather, it is a quilt of individual pieces that together form New Yorkers’ collective history. One of our primary goals as Editors has been to increase the diversity of histories represented in these pages. Although this is still a work-in-progress, we have made substantial gains in this area. Since we began as Editors, the journal has featured a number of articles that address Native American history, African American history, women’s history , environmental history, and immigration history. Authors have woven these histories into broader state and national narratives, showing how New Yorkers’ many pasts are deeply interconnected. This is the work that a contemporary state historical journal can and should be doing. New York History is a meeting ground, a place to probe commonalities and intersections , as well as the particularities of individuals and groups. You never know what you will find in the journal’s pages, which is one of the joys of studying the history of one of the Earth’s most diverse places. Building on this idea, we offer a selection of pieces in this issue that feature themes of politics, the environment, culture, and gender. Bonnie Stepenoff’s article “Gender at the Barricades: Women and the Columbia University Uprising of 1968” brings multiple histories together in dramatic fashion with a compelling narrative of upheaval at two of New York’s flagship educational institutions—Columbia and Barnard. Although the uprising was a defining moment of the late 1960s, scholars have not examined in-depth the role women played in both the lead-up to the protests and the demonstrations themselves. Stepenoff deftly recounts the stories of individual women involved in the uprising and analyzes the broader effects it 6 ■ NEW YORK HISTORY had on the women’s movement. In “Winning Women’s Votes: Defending Animal Experimentation and Women’s Clubs in New York, 1920–1930,” Karen Ross takes us back several decades before the events at Columbia, demonstrating that women’s political involvement did not begin in the 1960s. Ross illuminates the forgotten intersections between the campaign for women’s suffrage and opposition to animal experimentation. She demonstrates convincingly that women’s organizations were fertile ground for debate and that their members were savvy political actors. Moreover, Ross offers an innovative reading of the connections between politics and animal rights activism. Si Sheppard also deepens our understanding of New York State politics in the interwar period. In “‘If it wasn’t for Roosevelt you wouldn’t have this job’: The Politics of Patronage and the 1936 Presidential Election in New York,” he offers a detailed narrative of FDR’s political operation in the state, illustrating how even a popular incumbent could not take for granted winning his home state. Examining New York in a critical moment as a swing state, Sheppard illuminates the state’s contested political landscape. Kevin Olsen explores the landscape of New York from a different angle. In “The Net Men and the Anglers: A Case Study in the Conflicts over Recreational and Commercial Fishing,” he argues that city and state politics shaped environmental issues related to fishing in Jamaica Bay. Blending social, environmental, and political history, Olsen shows how multiple stakeholders complicated the management of the state’s resources. In this issue’s “Documents and Interpretations” essay, Christian Feest offers a compelling story concerning a portrait of the famed Mohawk leader Joseph Brant. Brant was (and continues to be) a subject of great interest to historians and the general public, and the many portraits of him have found distinguished places in museums, including the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, which holds Gilbert Stuart’s widely reproduced image. Following a trail that begins in...