Rockland Room

Join the Genealogy Society and library staff on Saturday, May 19 starting at 10:30. First you will meet author and genealogist Greta Nettelton who talks about how she researched her family. She found Cora Keck was a piano prodigy from Davenport, Iowa whose coming-of-age story turns all our stereotypes about Victorian gender relationships upside down. Cora’s mother was a self-taught itinerant physician and the proprietor of Mrs. Dr. Keck’s Palatial Infirmary for All Chronic Diseases, and her father was a bankrupted farm mechanic who kept house for the couple’s six children. Mrs. Dr. Keck sent her daughter to Vassar’s School of Music in 1884 to keep out of trouble and find a proper Ivy League husband but Cora defied everyone’s plans, first enjoying a series of romantic affairs with her classmates and later eloping with one of her mother’s business partners, a 63-year old banker. Greta found Coras's diaries and papers and began piecing her family history.

After 10 long years, the 1940 federal census was released online in early April. For all those who need to find lost relatives and document findings, here is a chance to begin searching. By law, the federal census is withheld for 72 years so all who want to view the 1950 records will have to wait  another 10 years.

The Genealogy Society of Rockland will be meeting Tuesday, April 24 at 7 PM. At this meeting, members will be viewing the new census and making comments and observations. Should you have questions, plan to attend. Interested persons are always welcomed.

The wheels are heading for the Newark Museum on April 11. A bus trip is planned for the day as we depart at 9:30 AM in the lower parking lot. We'll head first for lunch at a restaurant in the Ironbound section. Then we go to New Jersey's largest museum where we will have a tour of Poetic Pastimes: Japan and the Art of Leisure. This special exhibit brings to life the Japanese passion for play and their long-held affinity with nature through more than 100 pieces of fine and decorative arts.There will be time to see other exhibits and of course, visit the gift shop!

Fee is $47.00 for the trip. Call today to reserve a seat at 634-4997 ext 139.

Quilts and bobbin lace abound in the exhibit areas at the New City Library. In the Meeting Room, there are hanging quilts that range from traditional patterns to very current designs. The bold and bright colors are most striking. In past centuries, castles had huge tapestries adorning the walls as a way to reduce drafts and cold temperatures. Though not drafty, the library is able to accomodate quilts that are ten feet in length. One special quilt is a tribute to the late Dr. MacGuffie and her fight to end AIDS in Africa. This fine exhibit was organized by Mary Jane Sexton and her fellow friends and members of the Heritage Quilters of the Hudson.

A second exhibit features bobbin lace on loan from the Manhattan Chapter of the International Old Lacers. These samples may be seen in the exhibit cases by the Meeting Room. Bobbin lace is a very old craft that uses fine thread that is wound on small finger bobbins. Using a pattern, the bobbins are moved within following the design pattern.

Take a look. You will walk away inspired.

Art work abounds this month in the Meeting Room and the exhibit cases. Check out the "Warm Up America" samples of crocheted and knitted items in the Meeting Room. There were too many to display as there were a total of 179 items made during July and August. All will be donated to local non-profit agencies. 

Two very talented artists fill the Meeting Room walls with paintings. Rosie Reilly amd Gay Lynette Morris offer a variety of subjects from botanicals to scenery to portraits. They use acrylics of bright, bold colors on canvas as well as on silks.

Finally, a talented sculptor, Lillian Alberti, fills the exhibit cases with whimsical dolls made of papier-mache and finished with detailed, hand-sewn costumes. Each of these one-of-a-kind dolls has unique expressive qualities and offers its own story.

There will be a reception, Saturday, September 17, from 2 - 4 PM to meet the three artists. Lillian Alberti will demonstrate the creation of her dolls beginning at 2:30 PM. The public is invited.