We wade once again into the cool stream of the digital past to fish for items from the Suffolk County News of 1920. Today is Friday, May 14th in the last century and we find glimpses of lost silent films, more automobile accidents, and the dismantling of one of the great estates of the South Shore.

Welcome back to our exploration of the Suffolk County News, bringing tales of life from a century ago. This week, there is some bad hooch going around, the hometown team wins their opener, and Will Rogers has a new movie out.

We return today to the sea to consider the whale. More specifically, we talk with Brenna McCormick-Thompson of the Whaling Museum and Education Center in Cold Spring Harbor. Brenna is the Curator of Education at the museum and helps tell the story of Long Island whaling to visitors of all ages.

Our discussion covers the important role Long Island played in the development of the whaling industry in America, the important role that museums play in educating us about the past, and the appeal of historic bathrooms.

Further Research

• The Whaling Museum & Education Center
• @CSHWhaling on Twitter
• How to Dissect a Whale
• Sag Harbor Whaling Tales
• Whaling (On This Site)
• Royal Museums Greenwich
• Audio Footnotes
  • Episode 88 with Erin Elizabeth Becker
  • Episode 82 with John Strong

If it's Friday and we're still in self-isolation, then this is another edition of the Suffolk County News, give or take one hundred years. We're reading through the newspaper as it appeared in 1920 and pulling out the highlights, the miscellany, and the unjustly forgotten.

In today's paper we find a case of suspended animation, high sugar prices, and the birth of a new highway.

Further Research

• NYS Historic Newspapers
• The Best Scenic Stops Along Montauk Highway

The latest edition of last century's Suffolk County News is here, for April 23rd, 1920. We continue easing our home isolation by reading what was going on in our region all those years ago.

This week: a strange burglary, more coffee, and hints of an eighties superband.

Two museum directors, one public librarian, an artist, a researcher and a journalist. We're spending time today catching up with past guests to see how they're faring. The result is a small glimpse into the lives of six people from the region and how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted them and their jobs.

Also - the return of Connie Currie!

Thanks to all of our guests and we hope that everyone gets through this safely.

Further Research

• Jeremy Dennis
  • Episode 51
  • On This Site
  • @Jeremynative
• Melanie Cardone-Leathers
  • Episode 58
  • Longwood Public Library Bayles Local History Room
  • Longwood Collective: Preserving Yesterday & Today for Tomorrow
• Chris Vacarro
  • Episode 72
  • Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame
  • @ChrisVaccaro
• Tom Edmonds
  • Episode 86
  • Southampton History Museum
  • Southampton and the Devastating Influenza Epidemic of 1918 (Mary Cummings)
• Alexandra Wolfe
  • Episode 91 
  • Preservation Long Island
  • @PreservationLI
• Kate Robbins
  • Episode 87
  • Kate Robbins Research
  • Tod Robbins

We continue our trek through the local news of a century gone by. Today we read the Suffolk County News from Arpil 16, 1920. We find stories of bootleggers, war-torn France and two spinster sisters freed from an insane asylum after a decade of confinement. 

Further Research

• Hal B. Fullerton Photo Exhibit (Heckscher Museum of Art)
• Audio Footnotes
  • On Mile a Minute Murphy
  • Long Island and Prohibition

The Freemasons have been with us since the beginning of our country. And no, they do not have secret repositories of hidden gold. They do have a long history of service, community-building and camaraderie that persists to the present. Today we welcome Ron Seifried to the podcast to explore the history and development of Freemasonry in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Further Research

• Long Island Freemasons by Ron Seifried (Arcadia Press)
• Masons of Jephtha No. 494
• Suffolk Masonic District
• Freemasonry - George Washington (Mount Vernon)
• Audio Footnote:
  • Being Teddy Roosevelt

We're continuing our look at the news from 1920. Today, the Suffolk County News from Friday, April 9th. Animosity between Sayville and Patchogue on a number of levels, a case of the mumps going around, and warrior musicians returning to life during peacetime.

Further Research

• NYS Historic Newspapers
• Mumps (CDC)
• "From Horse Power to Horsepower" by Eric Morris. Access Magazine, 2007.

We're using our home isolation to look back - reading issues of the Suffolk County News of 1920 week by week. For April 2, 1920: Al Smith, Fatty Arbuckle, and a cow with no tail lights.

Stay tuned for more news of 1920 next week!

Further Research

• NYS Historic Newspapers
• Enrico Caruso
• Audio footnote:  Episode 60: The Soldier City of Suffolk County