Past Events 2025 - Present

“Viewing the Historic Rhonie and Grumman Murals”

At the Cradle of Aviation Museum

East Garden City, NY

Aline Rhonie (1909-1963) was a pioneering pilot who learned to fly in 1930.  More than a skilled pilot, Rhonie was a woman of extraordinary talents, including that of a fine artist who learned mural painting in the fresco style from the famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera.  Rhonie is best known for the fresco she painted between 1934-1938 on an interior wall of Hangar F at Long Island’s Roosevelt Field.  Rhonie’s enormous 110-foot mural depicted the history of flight on Long Island, from the Wright Brothers and Glenn Curtiss to Charles Lindbergh’s epic journey from Roosevelt Field to Paris in 1927.  In 1960, Rhonie learned that Hangar F and her mural were scheduled to be demolished.  She had the mural divided into panels and removed.  Rhonie’s estate donated the mural to the Long Island Early Flyers Club who stored it at the Sands Point Preserve for 40 years.  Most recently, it was at the Vaughn College of Aeronautics in Queens.

This fall the Rhonie Mural has been installed in its new home at the Cradle of Aviation Museum.  There it will be available to be seen by more people than ever before.  We welcome you to be among the first.  Another recently installed mural of Grumman workers, painted from life in 1945, will also be part of the program.  A Cradle of Aviation staff member will be our guide to the history of aviation depicted in the murals. In addition, you can see our Historical Society’s new exhibit panels commemorating the history of Nassau County.

Admission: Free to Historical Society members; be sure to bring the program meeting announcement card postal-mailed to your home street address.

Memberships will be available at the door for new members.

Directions: Take the Meadowbrook Parkway to Exit M4, then follow road signs to Museum Row; turn right at the figure in a space suit.

Go to the Nassau County Historical Society table inside.

“Revolutionary Long Island: The Crucible of Occupation, 1776-1783”

John Staudt, Historian and Author

During the Revolutionary War, the British occupied Long Island for seven years-longer than any other region.  Military occupation and partisan warfare completely transformed civilian life through forced loyalty oaths, military requisitions, and arbitrary arrests of suspected patriots.  The waters around Long Island became a battlefield of "whaleboat warfare," used for both military raids and extensive black market smuggling between New England and Long Island.  The occupation created widespread lawlessness, with British soldiers committing thefts and whaleboat outlaws terrorizing families.  Revolutionary warfare eliminated the distinction between military and civilian life, forcing Long Islanders to adapt their daily existence to survive under occupation.

Dr. John Staudt has taught early American history at Hofstra University and The Wheatley School for over 20 years.  He attended The George Washington University where he earned a Ph.D. in American history.  He served as interim director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association where he now serves on its Board of Advisors.  He has published a number of articles, reviews and book chapters and lectures on a variety of topics including the Revolution, Theodore Roosevelt, Long Island history and the history of baseball.  Before his academic career, he served as an NCO and paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.

We are partnering with the Jericho Public Library for this hybrid program.  It will be available in person or live on your computer at home.  Register for the Zoom webinar on JerichoLibrary.org (under Events, Program Registration).  Refreshments will follow program at the library.

Driving Directions: The Jericho Library is at 1 Merry Lane, Jericho 11753, just south of Rt. 25 (Jericho Turnpike).

From the Northern State Parkway, take exit 35 North or from the LIE/Rt. 495, take exit 41 North onto Rts. 106/107.  Stay in the right-hand lane and turn right onto Rt. 25 East.  Go a very short distance and turn right (south) onto Merry Lane.  The Library is on your left; parking is available on both sides of the building or on Merry Lane.

Guests are welcome to attend (no charge), either at the library or virtually on Zoom.

“Nelson Rockefeller & the LIRR’s Transition from Private Sector to the MTA”

Andrew Sparberg, Historian and Retired LIRR Manager

The privately-owned LIRR gained access to Manhattan’s core in 1910, fueling Nassau’s transformation into a metropolitan suburb.  In 1949, the LIRR entered bankruptcy, and in 1950, two terrible train accidents killed more than 100 people and led the state to intervene in LIRR affairs.  Bankruptcy ended in 1954 and the LIRR began a twelve-year period of stability under state supervision.  It was obvious that LIRR was an essential service requiring long-term preservation, prompting Governor Nelson Rockefeller to spearhead New York State’s 1966 purchase of the LIRR.  In 1968, the LIRR became the linchpin of a much larger Rockefeller scheme to unite most downstate transportation services under the MTA.  Our speaker will briefly describe LIRR’s overall history, focus on how Rockefeller successfully moved the LIRR to public ownership, and end with two

mega-projects initially proposed in the 1960s and completed in the 2020s.

“Long Island’s Legacy of Eugenics”

Mark Torres, Author and Historian

In the early twentieth century, eugenics was at the forefront of scientific discourse in the quest to understand human genetics.  On Long Island and throughout the nation, eugenicists were granted unfettered access to conduct experiments on prisoners, psychiatric patients, Coney Island circus performers, Native American reservations and more, all in an effort to legitimize a false science.  The origins of the eugenics movement can be found within the Eugenics Record Office, an otherwise nondescript two-and-a-half-story administrative building in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, under the direction of Charles Benedict Davenport from 1910-1939.  The work conducted there directly led to the forced sterilization of thousands of American citizens, the passage of anti-immigration laws, and sparked a deadly global movement that directly inspired the murderous Nazi regime to commit heinous acts under the banner of eugenics.  Author Mark Torres explores the local characters, influences, landmarks and ghastly consequences that emanated from this small Long Island facility for decades and spread throughout the world.