Bound Volumes, Hometown History

November 30, 2023

135 YEARS AGO

The women of our land are daily gaining a firmer foothold in all the business of the country, and winning more of public recognition of their ability and genius. For some time past, many of the higher grades of social and literary events, in some of our large cities, have been in their hands, and in situations and vocations where a few years ago there was no thought of competition, women are acknowledged to be equally competent as men. All this is as it should be, and may God speed the day when recognition of their equal fitness for these situations may bring a corresponding recognition of their need of equal remuneration. But, mothers and sisters, in the grand struggle into this another field of labor where, I doubt not, you can do a vast amount of good, do not neglect the work that is all around you – that grand, God-given home work. There, sisters, is a field wherein your influence is all-potent, and whether for weal or woe, is measureless.

November 1888

110 YEARS AGO

John Kendrick Bangs lectured to the students of the Oneonta Normal and High School course. The title of his talk was “Salubrities I Have Met.” By “Salubrities” Mr. Bangs explained that he meant the pleasant, whole-souled, genial men and women whose humor, tact, and gentle courtesy make life worth living. The lecture was incomparable as a genial, wholesome, overflowing of humor out of the very heart of the speaker’s personal experiences. To say that his audience was pleased is but a trite expression, for an emotion which followed with keenest interest every statement and expression, laughing heartily at quip and jest, smiling at the gentle touches of a rarer humor and betimes saddening at the pathos of his word. He began with a description of a reception in New York City and of Winston Spencer Churchill, English statesman, as a striking example of what a salubrity is not. Mr. Bangs spoke in pleasant vein of Richard Harding Davis, George Ade, Rudyard Kipling, Mrs. Henry M. Stanley, Conan Doyle, Andrew Carnegie, Robert Grant and Mark Twain.

November 1913

40 YEARS AGO

Local Young Volunteers in Action have given more than 3,141 hours of volunteer service in 1982-1983 according to Nancy Kroll Y.V.A. coordinator. She expects the program, started in December, 1982, to generate 5,000 volunteer hours over the next twelve months. Y.V.A. gives youth, 14 to 22 years of age, a chance to get involved in their communities while exploring their career interests. One of the volunteers in the program is Erin Sheehan, a sophomore at Oneonta high school, who became involved with Y.V.A. during the summer. She has given more than 100 hours of volunteer service at the TLC Day Care Center on Main Street, Oneonta, and as a volunteer at Fox Memorial Hospital. At TLC Miss Sheehan is an aide to the teachers. She supervises groups of small children and helps them play games. She enjoys working with children and would like to follow a career in that field.

November 1983

30 YEARS AGO

More than 80 children from the Oneonta area begin their school day every morning by going to an office complex, filing past architectural and software firms and into their classroom—a converted optometrist’s office. It’s quite a change from the last six school years, when the non-denominational Oneonta Community Christian School was located in Baptist churches. School officials made the move into their new site at 3200 Chestnut Street, formerly known as the Trade Mart, in September. The move followed two months of renovation work done almost entirely by volunteers. The school began with 19 students in 1986 at the Main Street Baptist Church.

November 1993