Bound Volumes, Hometown History

May 7, 2026

160 YEARS AGO

A condemnation of the revealing nature of the fashionable tilting hoop skirt as observed in New York City—“The hoop skirts now worn by fashionable females are a burning shame to society, and the wearers ought to be indicted by the civil authorities for willfully and knowingly exposing their persons. There is an extreme in everything, but of all the extremes the hoop skirt surpasses, and is one that has its penalty, which the indulgers will have to pay sooner or later. How any female with any kind of pretension to modesty, can indulge in the scandalous exhibition, we do not see, and what is still more wicked, many young girls of twelve or fourteen years of age, are imitating to their destruction, those followers of fashion. On Sunday, walking home from church through many fashionable streets, we noticed women with tilting skirts walking from where they had been pretending to say their prayers, and on all the corners and hotel fronts we saw rows of well-dressed blackguards standing, observing and laughing, and commenting on what these women were exhibiting. Out on this indecency that would disgrace honest Pagans! Let every honest woman who has been tricked into getting the traps of the harlot as the latest fashion, pull them off, and burn them!”

May 1866

90 YEARS AGO

Sir Hubert Wilkins, a famous explorer, Father Paul Schulte a Roman Catholic priest, known as the “flying father,” Karl Ritter, a high German foreign office official, William B. Leeds, an American U.S. Naval airship commander, and Lord Mayor Fritz Krebs of Frankfort-on-Main will be among the 50 passengers aboard the new dirigible Hindenburg when it leaves Germany tomorrow on its first voyage to the United States. Seven newspapermen will also make the inaugural trip. Dr. Hugo Eckener will command the Hindenburg. Much interest has centered on Father Schulte because of his plan to say mass daily aboard the craft. He obtained permission from Pope Pius to do this during the voyage and for the first time in air history a church altar was installed. The Zeppelin Company declines to publish the full list of passengers until the airship has taken off. The craft is expected to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey, sometime Saturday.

May 1936

70 YEARS AGO

New York State civil defense officials have announced new air raid warning signals for the entire state, to go into effect on Thursday. Adm. Alan G. Kirk (Ret.), Chairman of the New York State Civil Defense Commission, said the changes in long-established signals were adopted reluctantly to conform to a national standard. The new “Alert” signal is a steady blast of three to five minutes duration. This signal will be sounded by sirens, whistles, horns or similar devices, signifying that emergency instructions or directions are about to be issued. A three-minute warbling or fluctuating tone of varying pitch will mean that an enemy attack is imminent and all should take cover in the best available shelter. The all-clear signal has been eliminated but may be given locally by radio announcement when an area has become safe from radioactive fallout.

May 1956

20 YEARS AGO

More than 300 volunteers, the majority of them students from the State University College at Oneonta, will take part in the annual “Into the Streets” volunteer day on Saturday. SUCO’s Center for Social Responsibility and Community is sponsoring the event for the 11th consecutive year. According to Linda Drake, the center’s director, the volunteers will take on half-day projects at more than 30 sites. The center will donate more than $17,000 in services this Saturday, and has donated more than $2 million in the center’s 11-year history. “Into the Streets” is a national student-led event founded in 1991.

May 2006