RIGHT THIS WAY: A HISTORY OF THE AUDIENCE – ROBERT VIAGAS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2025 @ 2 - 3:30 P.M.

When you sit down at a play or a movie or a concert—or even in front of the TV in your own home—you are taking part in one of the oldest and most mysterious forms of group human behavior. Right This Way: A History of the Audience is longtime Playbill editor Robert Viagas’ pop history of audiences through the ages, packed with popular culture references. The lecture sheds light on fascinating stories from the past and issues that shape our lives today—everything from the ancient Greeks, the audience that saw Abraham Lincoln assassinated, the history of booing, the appeal of horror movies, the group reaction at sports events, right up to binge-watching Netflix.

YOU’RE INVITED TO AN OSCAR PARTY – 1950 STYLE!

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2025 @ 7:30 PM - 9:00 P.M.

Walk the Red Carpet (Babylon edition) and enjoy the very best of a vintage year. You’ll get to cast your ballot for your favorite films and performances of 1950. Speaking of vintage, there will be bubbly and more. Oscar attire is optional.

Hosted by Marsha Collock

$10 at door

MARITIME SMUGGLING ON LONG ISLAND: FROM PIRATES TO RUMRUNNERS – BILL BLEYER

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2025 @ 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL

Listen to a PowerPoint lecture by historian, author and former Newsday reporter Bill Bleyer to learn why pirates like Captain Kidd were attracted to Long Island at the turn of the 18th century and how a visit by Kidd to Gardiners Island led to him dying on the gallows in London. And learn why Long Island was so attractive to bootleggers during Prohibition that the Atlantic Ocean off the South Shore became known as Rum Row and was frequented by bootleggers like William “The Real McCoy” McCoy who supplied gangsters like Al Capone and Dutch Schultz.

PILGRIM STATE MUSEUM TOUR

FRIDAY, MARCH 21 - 10 AM - 11 AM

Check back for details!

“MY BETSEY”: THE REMARKABLE WIFE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON – ELIZABETH KAHN KAPLAN

APRIL 27, 2025 @ 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL

Elizabeth Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton came from widely different family backgrounds, yet their marriage was a great success. Included in this talk are their eight children; her reaction to his affair with Maria Reynolds; his fatal duel with Aaron Burr in 1804. She lived for 50 more years as a widow salvaging the reputation of her distinguished husband and working on behalf of orphans and public education in New York.

THE DRAFTING OF A RADICAL IDEA – THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – TARA RIDER

MAY 18, 2025 @ 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL

When the “shot heard round the world” occurred in April of 1775, few colonists desired complete independence from Great Britain, and those who did were considered radical. However, over the course of the next year as Britain attempted to crush the colonists’ rebellion and the arguments of Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” were read by many, the cry for independence would grow. By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed in the summer of 1776, the Continental Congress would declare that independence was “necessary.” Together, we will explore how this 18th century document would become a significant landmark in the history of democracy, exerting influence not only over the United States, but globally.