Talks of the Town Lecture Series
Admissions: $5 / free for members*
This program series explores topics that compliment exhibitions and education programs. The series hosts a diverse set of speakers, experts, and facilitators to bring in-depth insights and perspectives on various subjects related to Staten Island and Greater New York. This series focuses on published works related to Staten Island history, inviting published authors to connect with the community. Public Programs are held quarterly in the 3rd County Courthouse Courtroom on Wednesday or Thursday evenings at 6pm; and on weekend afternoons at 2pm.
*Visitors are encouraged to book online, cash at the door ($10 credit limit).
June 6, 2024 | 6:30pm
A New Book on Alice Austen with Bonnie Yochelson
Learn about new research and insights into the life and times of Staten Island’s famous Victorian era photographer.
Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen, is the forthcoming book on the life of Alice Austen (1866-1952). The book is co-authored by Bonnie Yochelson and Historic Richmond Town.
Austen was a prolific amateur photographer from a well-to-do family whose Victorian cottage, called Clear Comfort, overlooks New York harbor and is a National Historic Landmark and LGBTQ Historic Site. Today Austen is best known for a group of humorous photographs in which she and her friends challenged gender norms—dressing as prostitutes or in men’s clothing—and for “Street Types of New York,” a portfolio depicting people who worked on Manhattan’s streets. She took these photographs in the 1890s, and in 1899, she met Gertrude Tate, who became her life partner of more than 50 years. When in 1951 a young journalist asked her why she never married, the 84-year old Austen replied, "“I guess I was too good to get married.”
This book describes how a woman who grew up in the Gilded Age, when the term “lesbian” did not yet exist, challenged and conformed to the conservative ideals of Staten Island high society, and it deciphers the role photography played in her journey of self-discovery. Too Good to Get Married is the first in-depth study of Alice Austen since 1976. Historic Richmond Town is the steward of the Alice Austen Photograph Collection of 7,500 original prints and negatives.
Bonnie Yochelson is an art historian and independent curator. Formerly Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Museum of the City of New York, she has published books and organized exhibitions on Berenice Abbott, Alfred Stieglitz and Jacob Riis, among others. In 2025, her book, Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen, which is co-authored by Historic Richmond Town, will be published by Fordham University Press.
Glass-plate negative, ‘The Darned Club’, Alice Austen Photograph Collection, Collection of Historic Richmond Town
Alice Austen with bicycle, Clear Comfort, Staten Island, 1890s Collection of Historic Richmond Town
April 20, 2024 | 2pm
Fresh Kills: A History of Consuming and Discarding in New York City in conversation with Phillip Papas
Discover the discarded history of Fresh Kills, long-time New York City landfill -turned public park.
For decades, Staten Island was defined by Fresh Kills—a monumental 2,200-acre site—once the world’s largest landfill. From 1948 to 2001, it was the main receptacle for New York City’s refuse. After the 9/11 attacks, it reopened briefly to receive human remains and rubble from the destroyed Twin Towers, turning a notorious disposal site into a cemetery. Today, a mammoth reclamation project is transforming the landfill site, constructing an expansive park three times the size of Central Park. Martin Melosi provides a comprehensive chronicle of Fresh Kills that offers new insights into the growth and development of New York City and the relationship among consumption, waste, and disposal. He traces the metamorphoses of the landscape, following it from salt marsh to landfill to cemetery and looks ahead to the future park.
Martin Melosi is Cullen Professor Emeritus of History and founding director of the Center for Public History at the University of Houston. His most recent book is Fresh Kills: A History of Consuming and Discarding in New York City. Other books include The Sanitary City: Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial Times to the Present (2000) and Atomic Age America (2013).
