History & Mission

History & Mission

The Staten Island Historical Society was originally chartered in July, 1856 “to collect and preserve whatever may relate to the history of Staten Island.” The Society has been actively collecting artifacts, buildings, the library and documentary materials since 1922, when it merged with the Staten Island Antiquarian Society.

Today, the Historical Society’s mission is to create opportunities for the public to explore the diversity of the American experience, especially that of Staten Island and its neighboring communities from the colonial period to the present. To accomplish this mission the Society:

• Operates and interprets Historic Richmond Town, the largest and most complete historic village in the City of New York.
• Operates and interprets Decker Farm, the last privately-owned working farm in the city.
• Collects and preserves the materials of everyday life including artifacts, archives, and buildings that tell the story.
• Conducts and promotes research based on the museum’s collections.

Shares the collection and knowledge with the public through creative and engaging interpretative activities.

Historic Sites

The Staten Island Historical Society serves as the steward of four of Staten Island’s most historic properties: Historic Richmond Town, Decker Farm, the Billiou-Stillwell-Perine House, and the Judge Jacob Tysen House.

The best-known of these sites is Historic Richmond Town, a historic site and museum complex interpreting three centuries of daily life with museum educators/docents/staff dressed in period clothing. The historic village sits on about 25 acres of the 100-acre site and encompasses about two dozen buildings, including 15 restored homes, commercial and civic buildings, as well as the Historical Museum.  Many of the buildings are landmarks. All of the buildings on the site can be viewed from outside, while the restored buildings are those that are generally open to the public.

Unlike some of its better-known counterparts, such as Colonial Williamsburg and Old Sturbridge Village, Richmond Town was an actual place in history. Many of the buildings that make up Historic Richmond Town are standing on their original sites, representing the evolution of the area from when it was first established in the 1690s as a crossroads settlement among Staten Island’s scattered farms into the 20^th century. During the 1700s Richmond Town began to take shape as the Island’s government seat. By the mid 1800s, the town was a major government and commercial center. After Staten Island was incorporated into New York City in 1898, government functions moved to St. George and the town began to transform into a residential community.

Buildings reflecting this evolution at Historic Richmond Town include, the Voorlezer’s House (ca. 1695), built by the Dutch Reformed Church as a church, school and home for the lay minister (i.e. Voorlezer); the Treasure House (ca. 1700 with additions) was named after a tradition that a cache of Revolutionary era gold coins was discovered during a renovation around 1860; the Third County Courthouse (ca. 1837), a Greek Revival structure, was Staten Island's first monumental county building; P.S. 28 (ca. 1907), designed in a progressive Arts & Crafts style, this 20^th century schoolhouse serves as a counterpart to the 17^th century Voorlezer’s House.

 

The idea of preserving Richmond Town arose from the local community during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Volunteers from the Staten Island Historical Society, led by William T. Davis and Loring McMillen dedicated themselves to the belief that saving evidence of the past could connect current and future generations to the real people who lived before us.

 

The former County Clerk’s and Surrogate’s Office was transformed into the first museum facility at Richmond Town, with the help of government grants from the Works Progress Administration. Soon after, the Voorlezer’s House, after years of obscurity, was quickly restored and opened to the public.

In the 1950s the Historical Society signed a contract with the City of New York, promising to maintain and develop Historic Richmond Town as a museum village. The purpose was not to freeze a single moment in time, but to create a journey through time, so that we can witness the evolution of the town, meeting people along the way.

The Historical Society subsequently moved additional buildings to Richmond Town to help tell the story of Staten Island's past. These buildings would not have survived had they remained on their original sites.

 

The Staten Island Historical Society offers insights into to the borough’s agricultural roots through its operation and interpretation of Decker Farm (ca. 1815). Once a dominant feature on Staten Island’s landscape, privately owned farms all but disappeared by the late 20^th century. Decker Farm, located in New Springville less than a mile from the Staten Island Mall, is a rare and living record of the borough’s agricultural past. It also has the distinction of being the last privately owned working farm in New York City and has been continuously cultivated since 1810.

The farm’s documented history stretches back to 1809, when Japhet Alston and his wife, Sarah Decker Alston, obtained a mortgage from Jacob and Henry Crocheron for the property on Richmond Hill Road. Japhet Alston’s son-in-law, John M. Decker, rented the property in 1832. Although it is not known how long J.M. Decker remained as a tenant, Alston eventually sold the farm to Lorenzo Dow Decker in 1841. After L.D. Decker died in 1852, the farm remained in the family for several generations, until the death of Alberta Decker in 1955. Ms. Decker bequeathed the property to the Staten Island Historical Society.

Today, the Historical Society operates Decker Farm as a museum and education center complete with active cultivation of the fields and a fall living history program.

The Staten Island Historical Society also independently owns the Billiou-Stillwell-Perine House (ca. 1640), which is the oldest house on Staten Island. The oldest part of this fieldstone house was built by Pierre Billiou, a Huguenot settler in a style reminiscent to homes in the French and Belgian countryside. The first addition to the house was made about 1680, following the marriage of Billiou’s daughter to Thomas Stilwell. In the late 1800s the Perine family purchased the home, when the final additions were made, including two small upstairs rooms.

Often referred as the Perine House, this rare artifact of Dutch settlement is a designated New York City landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house also has the distinction of being the third oldest house in New York City. It was acquired by the Historical Society in 1922. The house is opened to the public by appointment.

Finally, the Staten Island Historical Society independently owns the Judge Jacob Tysen House (ca. 1834) at Snug Harbor. Built in the then-fashionable Greek Revival style, the house features an immense front portico set off by huge columns of the Corinthian order.

Its original owner, Judge Jacob Tysen, was a descendant of an old Staten Island family that settled on Staten Island in the mid 17^th century. The house was originally built along Richmond Terrace in the New Brighton section. It is opened to the public only on rare occasions.

Collections and Archival Holdings

The Staten Island Historical Society library is the main repository for historical records on Staten Island, and its collections relate to all aspect of the Island’s social and cultural history from the 17^th century to the present. The research library contains 15,000 volumes (books and periodicals), most of which are rare or out-of-print items, and 130 reels of microfilm. Historical records consist of 1,100 cu. ft. of manuscripts, including family papers, business records, civic and social organization records, and local government records; 60 cubic feet of institutional archives; 25 cubic feet of newspapers; 500 maps; 200 architectural drawings; 300 posters; 40 cubic feet of ephemera; 40 scrapbooks; 1,000 ledgers; 60 atlases; and 50,000 photographic prints and negatives. In addition to the archives value to historians, members of the public also find it a useful resource for all types of local research, notably family histories. The library is open to the public by appointment only.

The Historical Society also has under its care large and significant collections unique within the New York metropolitan area. These holdings include more than 70,000 artifacts (craftsmen’s tools, agricultural implements, household furnishing items, costumes and textiles, horse-drawn vehicles, paintings, prints, folk sculpture, industrial products and tools, and historic-archaeological specimens.

 

Collections items can be viewed in most of the restored buildings on the site as well as in the Historical Museum. The Society routinely creates exhibits around its collections items which are exhibited on a rotating basis in the museum. For example, a major exhibition based on the children’s furniture collection is slated to open in April 2008.

During a recent survey of the furniture collection by scholar Kenneth L. Ames noted that “the Staten Island Historical Society is rich in children’s furniture. The real cornerstone of this particular concentration is a remarkable cluster of early hooded cradles of late eighteenth-century or nineteenth-century origin.” He went on to observe that the Society’s holdings of children’s chairs, potty chairs, rockers, and convertible highchairs offer a survey of seating for children from the 19^th century.

Beyond their local significance, the Society’s archival materials and collections illuminate the American experience from the early Dutch settlement to the present day. For example, photographs from the Historical Society’s Alice Austen photographic collection have been used to explore women’s friendships, romances, and long-term relationships and the milieus in which they developed during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Photographs from this collection are regularly published and exhibited nationally and internationally. In 1994, three images from the collection were borrowed by the New York Public Library for a major exhibition, “Becoming Visible: the Legacy of Stonewall,” which documented the emergence of the lesbian and gay social and political community. Both the Amon Carter Museum in Forth Worth (“Photography in 19^th Century America”) and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta (“This Sporting Life, 1876-1991”) have borrowed photographs from the Austen collection.

The Historical Society owns the vast majority of Austen’s known work, and virtually all of the existing negatives. The collection contains 4,746 negatives: 2,071 vintage glass plate negatives, which were produced from 1884 - ca. 1915, and 2,675 flexible film sheets dating from ca. 1901 – ca. 1936. The collection also includes many of Austen’s original hand-annotated negative envelopes and film pack strips, 3,020 vintage prints, 11 albums of images assembled by the photographer, 1,100 feet of 16mm home movie film from the 1920s and 1930s, and a small number of family papers and documents, including several scrapbooks.

The Austen Collection is the most significant sub-portion of the Historical Society’s photographic holdings. Austen was an intensely dedicated and prolific amateur photographer who documented everyday life. Her work reflects her class, gender, and era, as seen in the images of her affluent circle, as well as her interest in prominent social concerns of the day: immigration, urbanization, and family life.

In recent years, the Historical Society has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to preserve and disseminate the collection.

Educational Services

The Staten Island Historical Society, founded in 1856, serves the community as an educational enrichment provider for Grades K-12 primarily through its operation of Historic Richmond Town. The Historical Society’s core audience for enrichment programs is Grades 3 through 8.

The Historical Society provides enrichment programs for about 37,000 schoolchildren annually. Students from Staten Island and Brooklyn make up the majority of those served from throughout the five boroughs of New York City, in part because of the proximity of Historic Richmond Town to teachers based in Staten Island and Brooklyn schools. All of our school enrichment programs are designed to meet New York State Department of Education Learning Standards. Each program gives students an in-depth and engaging educational experience. The Society emphasizes hands-on learinng and our programs offer a wide range of activities.

The Historical Society also has a track record of working with educators to develop customized educational enrichment programs that address teachers’ specific needs. In 2004, the Historical Society’s program “Our Community, Our House,” was recognized with a regional award at the History Channel’s “Save Our History National Awards” program. “Our Community, Our House,” developed by the Staten Island Historical Society’s director of research and interpretation, provides all fourth Graders attending P.S. 56 with the opportunity to intensively explore community, commerce and culture in the 19^th century by studying the life of one circa 1840 building: the Colon Store, now preserved at Historic Richmond Town. The project utilizes the grounds, historic buildings and records preserved at Historic Richmond Town to foster the students’ awareness of their local heritage and how their neighborhood has been transformed as a result of residential development.

The Historical Society has also participated in a hands-on restoration training program with the Brooklyn High School of the Arts. Summer interns in the high school’s restoration program worked along side museum professionals restoring or maintaining landmark buildings at Historic Richmond Town.

Public Programs

The Staten Island Historical Society provides a number of history-based programs including Independence Day Celebrations, Traditional Dinners, Old Home Day, Pumpkin Picking at Decker Farm, and winter Candlelight Tours.

Upcoming events include:

September 2007

28^th Richmond County Fair September 7, 8 & 9

Every year, the Staten Island Historical Society hosts Staten Island’s largest family event—the Richmond County Fair on the grounds of Historic Richmond Town. Over 30,000 visitors of all ages join in the festivities including entertainment, fabulous food, contests, crafts vendors, exhibitors, shopping, and living history demonstrations that have made us known all over the world.

 

This year’s Richmond County Fair will open on Friday night September 7^th with a free Family Movie at 8:30 p.m. and amusement rides until 11:00 p.m.  Opening day beings on Saturday, September 8 with a Kazoo Parade starting at 11:30 a.m.; the first 500 visitors will receive free kazoos!  Rides will remain open until 10:00 p.m.  Sunday the Fair will continue from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and rides will close at 8:00 p.m. Presented by Time Warner Cable, this year’s event will feature pie and hot dog eating contests, the largest chili cook-off contest, a mix of contemporary and retro entertainment, and so much more; we are committed to providing an authentic, down-home event with something for everyone.

Highlights include:

* American Idol Alumnae Kimberly Caldwell and Paris Bennett
* MILKSHAKE
* The Nashville Attitude 
* Yesterday’s Dream
* Tyrone and Uniqua from The Backyardigans - Time Warner cable Booth
* Puppet Rock
* Banjo Rascals
* Beatlemania
* Dondi the Performing Elephant
* The Native American Intertribal Dancers
* Vito Picone and the Elegants
* Robinson’s Racing Pigs
* Mad Science of Staten Island
* Phydeaux’s Flying Flea Circus and Wahoo Medicine Show

                                                                AND MORE !

$15 per person admission includes amusement rides, competitions, entertainment, attractions, contests and more. Children 5 and under are FREE.  (Does not include live animal rides.)

October 2007

Decker Farm - Take Historic Richmond Town’s shuttle bus from the parking lot to Decker Farm and enjoy pumpkin picking on October weekends.

Golf-A-Palooza – October 2, Shotgun at 9:00 a.m. at the South Shore Golf Course followed by a barbeque lunch at Nansen Park and sponsored by Allstate Insurance.  For information call (718) 351-1611, Ext. 236.

Flea Market – Sunday, October 7 (rain date October 14).

OHNY (Open House New York) – The Jacob Crocheron House c. 1819, the Boehm House, c. 1750 and the Guyon Lake Tysen House c. 1740, are opened for tours.  Seen together, the buildings tell the story of the restoration process.

Old Home Day – Sunday, October 21; 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Halloween in Richmond Town – Friday, October 26, 1:30 or 3:30 p.m. sessions; prepaid reservations required, please call (718) 351-1611, Ext. 280.

November 2007

Supper with Santa & Tree Lighting – Saturday, November 24.

December 2007

Christmas In Richmond Town – Sunday, December 2; come see the village bustling with holiday cheer, ornament making and caroling.  Holiday-themed gift baskets, baked goods, hand-made crafts and refreshments.

Candlelight Tours – Saturday, December 8 and Saturday, December 15.  See 300 years of holiday traditions come alive.  Come enjoy Historic Richmond Town at night, illuminated by candles, oil lamps and the warmth of a flickering hearth.  Tour is followed by a Wassail Reception in the 3^rd County Courthouse.

Doll & Teddy Bear Party – Friday, December 28.

Exhibits

TOYS!! (ongoing)

Made On Staten Island

“Journey to the Past” – NEW; photography exhibit by the students of the NYC Vocational Training Center is on display on the second floor of the Historical Museum.

“Bringing Up Baby:  Children’s Furniture & Family Life” - Opening scheduled for April 2008.