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Westchester County is a primarily suburban county located in the U.S. state of New York with about 950,000 residents. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. It was named after Chester, in England, and the county seat is White Plains. According to 2006 HUD data, the median income for a household of one person in the county was $67,555 and the median income for a family of four was $96,500.[1]
[edit] History
The first Europeans to explore Westchester were Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 and Henry Hudson in 1609. The first European settlers were sponsored by the Dutch West India Company in the 1620s and 1630s. English settlers arrived from New England in the 1640s. Westchester County was an original county of the Province of New York, one of twelve created in 1683. At the time, it also included the present Bronx County, which constituted the Town of Westchester and portions of three other towns: Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. In 1846 a new town, West Farms, was created by secession from Westchester; in turn, in 1855, the Town of Morrisania seceded from West Farms. In 1873, the Town of Kingsbridge seceded from Yonkers.
In 1874, the western portion of the present Bronx County, consisting of the then towns of Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania, was transferred to New York County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County, consisting of the Town of Westchester and portions of the towns of Eastchester and Pelham, was transferred to New York County. By that time, the portion of the town of Eastchester immediately north of the transferred portion had seceded from the town of Eastchester (1892) to become the City of Mount Vernon so that the Town of Eastchester had no border with New York City. In 1914, those parts of the then New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County were constituted the new Bronx county.[citation needed]
Today it is one of the most affluent counties in the country, home to many of New York City's most desirable suburban communities. It is a haven for commuters, whether traveling by car or by the Metro-North Commuter Railroad.
[edit] Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 500 square miles (1,295 km²), of which, 433 square miles (1,121 km²) of it is land and 67 square miles (174 km²) of it (13.45%) is water.
Westchester County is in the southeastern part of New York State.
The highest elevation in the county is a U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey benchmark known as "Bailey" at 300 m (985 feet) above sea level in Mountain Lakes Park near the Connecticut state line. The lowest elevation is sea level, along both the Hudson and Long Island Sound.
Officially, the Westchester County Department of Planning divides the county into North, Central and South sub regions. [2]
The closest point on the southern border of Westchester is a little under 11 miles from Columbus Circle in Manhattan (which is a customary point at which distances from New York City are measured), where Pelham Manor meets Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. At over 2,700 acres, Pelham Bay Park is the largest of New York City's Parks and forms a substantial 'buffer' between suburban Westchester and urban Bronx County. The closest point on the northern border is a little over 38 miles by air (51 miles by road).
[edit] Cities, towns and villages
-
Westchester County has 6 cities, 19 towns and 20 villages. Any land area in the county that is not contained in one of the cities is in a town. A town may contain zero, one or multiple villages. A village can be located in more than one town, as two of Westchester's villages are.
[edit] Adjacent counties
[edit] Government
The county executive is Andrew J. Spano (D). The district attorney is Janet DiFiore (D, switched from GOP in Aug. 2007). The county clerk is Timothy C. Idoni (D).[3]
Board of Legislators-
-
The Westchester County Board of Legislators is the legislative, policy-making branch of Westchester County. The County Board has seventeen members. The current board chair is William J. Ryan (D).[4]
[edit] Politics
Presidential elections results
| Year |
Republican |
Democrat |
| 2004 |
40.3% 159,628 |
58.1% 229,849 |
| 2000 |
37.5% 139,278 |
58.6% 218,010 |
| 1996 |
35.9% 123,719 |
56.9% 196,310 |
| 1992 |
40.1% 151,990 |
48.6% 184,300 |
| 1988 |
53.4% 197,956 |
45.8% 169,860 |
| 1984 |
58.7% 160,225 |
41.1% 229,005 |
| 1980 |
54.4% 198,552 |
35.6% 130,136 |
| 1976 |
54.3% 208,527 |
45.1% 173,153 |
| 1972 |
62.8% 262,901 |
36.9% 154,412 |
| 1968 |
50.3% 201,652 |
43.4% 173,954 |
| 1964 |
37.9% 149,052 |
62.0% 243,723 |
| 1960 |
56.6% 224,562 |
43.2% 171,410 |
Although the county historically leaned towards Republican, it swung Democratic in the early 1990s - much like other New York City suburbs, and in the most recent national elections, Westchester voters tend to be far more Democratic than the rest of the nation. In fact, Westchester, after New York City and Albany, has produced the biggest margins for statewide Democrats in recent years. Democratic voters are mainly in the southern and central parts of the county. 58% of Westchester County voters chose John Kerry in the U.S. presidential election of November 2004, the highest total of any New York county outside New York City, Albany, or Tompkins (Ithaca, New York). Currently all U.S. congressional representatives from Westchester County are Democrats.
Despite its leanings in national elections, Westchester County is less Democratic in state and local elections, as well as in the northern part of the county. Hence, it voted for George Pataki with a margin of 23.07% against Carl McCall in the gubernatorial race of 2002, and of 26.22% in 1998. Governor Pataki hails from Westchester, where he previously served as mayor of Peekskill prior to being elected governor. Nita Lowey and Eliot Engel, both of whom are Democrats, represent most of the rest of the county (Engel's district also includes parts of the The Bronx, and Lowey's reaches into Rockland County). Westchester's third US Representative is Democrat John Hall, who was elected in 2006, defeating Republican incumbent Sue Kelly. Hall's district includes most of Northern Westchester County. Additionally, Jeanine Pirro, a prominent New York Republican who ran a short-lived campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate in 2006 served as district attorney of Westchester County. County Executive Spano is just the second Democrat to hold the post in at least a half-century. It also in 2006 sent county legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins to the New York State Senate defeating 20 year incumbent Nicholas Spano in a rematch of the 2004 race in whence she lost by only 18 votes. Assembly Member Mike Spano switched parties in July of 2007 to become a Democrat. Current DA Janet DiFiore also switched parties from Republican to Democratic in August of 2007.
Westchester County was the home of former vice-president Nelson Rockefeller, who occupied the Kykuit mansion of the Rockefeller family 3,400-acre estate after the death of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; it is situated near the town of Pocantico Hills.
The County is also home to the former president Bill Clinton and New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who live in Chappaqua, New York; as is it the childhood home of former First Lady Barbara Bush in Rye, New York, where she attended the Rye Country Day School.
[edit] Emergency services
-
Westchester County has a wide array of Emergency services and serves as the home to 58 fire departments, 42 ambulance services, a Haz-Mat team, a fire academy and a fire investigations unit. Each department is comprised of career, volunteer or a combination of career and volunteer personnel who serve and protect the county.
[edit] Law enforcement
-
There are currently 46 local police agencies located in Westchester County. As well as other County, State, Private, and Federal Law Enforcement agencies responsible for protecting Westchester County, these agencies frequently work with one another and other agencies located in the surrounding counties and states as well as the NYPD.
[edit] Demographics
| Historical populations |
| Census |
Pop. |
|
%± |
| 1900 |
184,257 |
|
— |
| 1910 |
283,055 |
|
53.6% |
| 1920 |
344,436 |
|
21.7% |
| 1930 |
520,947 |
|
51.2% |
| 1940 |
573,558 |
|
10.1% |
| 1950 |
625,816 |
|
9.1% |
| 1960 |
808,891 |
|
29.3% |
| 1970 |
894,104 |
|
10.5% |
| 1980 |
866,599 |
|
-3.1% |
| 1990 |
874,866 |
|
1.0% |
| 2000 |
923,459 |
|
5.6% |
| Est. 2006 |
949,355 |
|
2.8% |
As of 2000, there were 349,445 housing units at an average density of 807 per square mile (312/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 71.35% White, 14.20% African American, 0.25% Native American, 4.48% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 6.63% from other races, and 3.05% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.61% of the population. 64.1% were Whites of non-Hispanic origin. 21.3% were of Italian and 11.4% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000. 71.7 spoke English, 14.4% Spanish, 3.5% Italian, 1.1% Portuguese and 1.1% French as their first language.
By 2006 the population was 61.1% non-Hispanic white. 14.8% of the population was African-Americans. Asians were 5.7% of the county population. 18.5% was Latino or Hispanic.[5] The Census Bureau estimates 2006 population at 949,355.[6]
There were 337,142 households out of which 34.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.90% were married couples living together, 12.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.20% were non-families. 25.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.21.
In the county the population was spread out with 25.00% under the age of 18, 7.20% from 18 to 24, 30.40% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.30 males.
According to 2006 HUD data, the median income for a household of one person in the county was $67,555 and the median income for a family of four was $96,500.
According to Census data, the per capita income for the county in 1999 was $36,726. The Bureau of Economic Analysis lists Westchester in 2004 with the per capita income of $58,952, the eighth highest in the country.[1] The Census Bureau reports that 6.40% of families and 8.7% (2003) of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.53% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.
The largest census reviewed area in Westchester County is the City of Yonkers, New York's fourth-largest city, with a population of almost 200,000. The smallest is the community of Scotts Corners in the town of Pound Ridge with a population of 624.
[edit] Westchester County Department of Planning-Tomorrow's Communistructure
The Westchester County Department of Planning serves as the repository for all Westchester related census data. Under County Executive Andrew J. Spano's directive, the department recently launched Westchester 2025,[1] a web-based update of its county-wide comprehensive planning policies. This interactive planning resource seamlessly integrates the Plan’s elements with new sections on three-dimensional visualization, community overviews, regional partnerships, as well as planning tools and interactive forums for public comment.
Part of Westchester 2025 focuses on the need to improve regional connectivity, including both physical infrastructure (roads, trains, sewers, etc.) and communication capabilities (wider bandwidths, GIS technology, etc.) to keep pace with the global economy and reduce environmental impacts. This new infrastructure model for the 21st century, Tomorrow's Communistructure, will require a complete paradigm shift in the way the community views and defines its critical infrastructure in the future.
Tomorrow’s Communistructure is defined as "A concept of civic infrastructure that seamlessly integrates traditional public infrastructure with communication networks to permit dynamic community interaction and connectivity." Tomorrow’s Communistructure will enhance opportunities for compact physical redevelopment and reinvestment in our traditional downtowns, reduce the need for energy-consuming trips and provide the basis for livable communities.[7]
[edit] Transportation
Tappan Zee Bridge From Tarrytown, NY
Westchester County is served by Interstate 87 (the New York State Thruway), Interstate 95, Interstate 287 and Interstate 684. Parkways in the county include the Bronx River Parkway, the Cross County Parkway, the Hutchinson River Parkway, the Saw Mill River Parkway, the Sprain Brook Parkway and the Taconic State Parkway. The Tappan Zee Bridge connects Tarrytown to Rockland County across the Hudson River. The Bear Mountain Bridge crosses the Hudson from Cortlandt to Orange County. The combination of these numerous highways, proximity to New York City, and the county's large population all lead to substantial traffic enforcement and very busy local courts.
The development corridors in the county have defined sections and follow transportation corridors. The main north-south corridors are, from west to east, the U.S. Route 9/Albany Post Rd/Broadway Corridor along the Hudson River from Yonkers in the South to Peekskill/Cortlandt in the North. The Saw Mill River Parkway Corridor traverses the county in a north-eastern path, beginning in Yonkers, and terminating at I-684 in Bedford, mostly following the path of the Putnam Branch of the New York Central Railroad, which was abandoned in March 1970 (and which has largely been replaced by a paved path known as the South County and North County Trailways). The Sprain Brook Parkway traverses the county's midsection from a point in Yonkers where it breaks off from the Bronx River Parkway until Hawthorne about 15 miles north where it merges with the Taconic State Parkway and continues until I-90 near Albany. The Hutchinson River Parkway lines the eastern county, from the Bronx (terminating at the Long Island crossing - the Whitestone Bridge) until the Connecticut state line in Greenwich, where it becomes the Merritt Parkway. I-684 begins at a junction with the Hutchinson River Parkway and I-287 in Harrison, and continues north into Putnam County (with a brief stretch in Greenwich, Connecticut) through Bedford and North Salem. The eastern most corridor is the I-95/New England Thruway which traverses the county on the Long Island Sound, from the Pelhams through the Town of Rye and into Connecticut. The East-West corridors are the Cross County Parkway, which traverses the southern county from Yonkers in the west through New Rochelle in the east, terminating at the Hutchinson River Parkway. The Cross Westchester Expressway/I-287 is the mid-county corridor spanning from the Tappan-Zee Bridge in Tarrytown to the west to I-95/New England Thruway in the east. The northern-most corridor is that approximating the US-202 route from Cortlandt, and the Bear Mountain Bridge, to Lewisboro and the Connecticut border. But unlike the more southerly corridors, US-202 is for the most part not a limited-access highway and has frequent traffic lights.
Robert Moses and others once proposed a bridge connecting Westchester with Nassau County, most likely using I-287 to do so. Public opposition was fierce, and the New York state government abandoned the plan.
Metro North Commuter Trains Scheduled To Westchester County - Grand Central Terminal
Commuter train service in Westchester is provided by Metro-North Railroad (operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority). Metro-North operates three lines in the county; west to east, they are the Hudson, the Harlem and the New Haven lines, each of which stops in the Bronx between Westchester and Manhattan. Amtrak serves Croton-Harmon, New Rochelle and Yonkers. There are plans for a cross-county rail line to connect all three lines and provide easier access to Stamford, Connecticut.
Metro-North also operates a ferry service between Haverstraw, in Rockland County and Ossining. Plans are currently underway to operate a ferry between Haverstraw and Yonkers with a direct route to New York City's Financial District.
Bus service is provided by the Bee-Line Bus System (operated by the Westchester County Department of Transportation) both within Westchester and to Manhattan (BxM4C). The MTA Bus Company also runs the BxM3 to and from Getty Square in Yonkers to Midtown Manhattan.
Westchester County Airport is adjacent to White Plains.
[edit] Media In Westchester
There are quite a few county-wide media outlets, including:
- Westchester Magazine, an upscale lifestyle magazine focusing on Westchester County and its environs.
- The Journal News, a daily newspaper, owned by Gannett Company, Inc.. WCBS-TV operates a news-bureau in conjunction with The Journal News.
- The Hudson Independent, a monthly news paper serving Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow & Irvington.
- InTown Westchester, a monthly lifestyle magazine published by The Journal News and Gannett.
- The Westchester County Business Journal, a weekly newspaper published by Westfair Communications Inc..
- The Westchester WAG a magazine of local people, events, and lifestyles.
- News 12 Westchester, a cable news station owned by Cablevision.
- WFAS (103.9 FM), a radio station focusing on Westchester.
- WXPK (107.1 FM), or The Peak, owned by Pamal Broadcasting.
- WRTN (93.5 FM), a radio station broadcasting from New Rochelle. Varied programming includes news, education, and music.
- RNN, a news station
- Pluma Libre News, a Hispanic newspaper serving Westchester County and part of Rockland County.
- WHUD (100.7 FM), located in Peekskill, focuses on the Hudson Valley and bills itself as "The Hudson Valley's news and information station".
- Westchester.com, a community newspaper covering Westchester County news and events.
- Elsolnews.com, a community Spanish newspaper covering Westchester County news and events.
[edit] Education
-
Westchester County contains 48 public schools districts[8], 118 private, college-preparatory and parochial schools, and 14 colleges/universities.
[edit] Libraries
-
Westchester County is served by the Westchester Library System which was established in 1958 and today comprises 38 public libraries.
[edit] Historic and cultural attractions
Scenic spillway at the New Croton Reservoir, in Croton-on-Hudson
- Culture ablaze in the Berkshires of Massachusetts - Area Realty Listings
- Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts
- Croton Gorge Park
- Elephant Hotel in Somers, New York
- Emelin Theatre, Mamaroneck, New York
- Ever Rest, historic home of painter Jasper Francis Cropsey, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
- Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York
- Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York
- Irvington Town Hall Theater, Irvington, New York
- Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville, New York
- Jacob Purdy House, White Plains, New York
- Jay Heritage Center, historic homestead of John Jay, Rye, New York
- Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York
- Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens, PepsiCo, Inc. World Headquarters, Purchase, New York
- Kykuit, historic home that is part of the Rockefeller family estate founded by John D. Rockefeller, Pocantico Hills, New York
- Lyndhurst, historic Gothic Revival home, Tarrytown, New York
- Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, Purchase, New York
- Old Croton Aqueduct and the Old Croton Trail
- Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill, New York
- Philipsburg Manor, historic site, Sleepy Hollow, New York
- Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, Yonkers, New York
- Playland, America's only government owned and operated amusement park, Rye, New York
- The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, Purchase, New York
- The Square House Museum, Rye
- Sunnyside, historic home of author Washington Irving, Tarrytown, New York
- Tarrytown Music Hall, Tarrytown
- Thomas Paine National Historical Association, New Rochelle
- The Timothy Knapp House, Rye
- Union Church, Pocantico Hills
- Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Mount Kisco
- Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra, White Plains
- Yonkers Raceway, Yonkers
[edit] Miscellaneous facts
- The publisher of the New York Journal in 1733, John Peter Zenger, covered the account of an election held at St. Paul's Church in the town of Eastchester (now Mount Vernon) and was arrested and tried for seditious libel. He was acquitted and thereby established the legal precedent for "freedom of the press." This later was incorporated as a basic freedom in the U.S. Bill of Rights.
- Westchester County is often referred to as the "Golden Apple"
- Westchester is profiled in the 1979 book by the Vanity Fair journalist Alex Shoumatoff, Westchester, Portrait of a County
- The origin of the fictional town Bedford Falls, where Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" is set, is a combination of the hamlet of Bedford Hills in Westchester County (a small suburban town about 45 minutes away from New York City), and Seneca Falls in Seneca County (a small town midway between Rochester and Syracuse).
- Westchester appears in the popular series for young teen girls, The Clique, by Lisi Harrison.
- Painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell lived in New Rochelle, using the community as inspiration for the many 'every-day life' scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post.
- Radio talk-show host Howard Stern started his professional DJ career at WRNW-FM radio in 1977, a low-power station located in Briarcliff Manor, the central part of the county.
- Westchester has many famous residents, including talk show host David Letterman (North Salem), Ruby Dee (New Rochelle) and Martha Stewart (Bedford). Others include presidential-hopeful Hillary Clinton as well as Former President Bill Clinton, both of Chappaqua, New York.
- Artist Alton Tobey resided for most of his life in the Larchmont section of the town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County.
- In the popular U.S. sitcom, Friends, the center couple Monica Geller and Chandler Bing move to Westchester after living in New York City. The describe the house they buy as "perfect."
- The fictional Xavier Institute for Higher Learning in the X-men comic book series is located in Westchester.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- This page was last modified on 24 May 2008, at 21:32.
- All text is available
State University of New York at Purchase
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from SUNY Purchase)
The State University of New York at Purchase, also known as Purchase College and SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal, visual, and performing arts college in Purchase, New York, United States, a part of the State University of New York system. It was founded in 1967 and was designed as a school that would combine conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with liberal arts and sciences programs. It has conservatory programs in Theater Arts & Film, Music, and Dance, and its School of Art + Design is well-respected.[citation needed] It has an enrollment of approximately 4,000 students, and is one of the Princeton Review's top 361 American Universities.
[edit] Academics
The programs of the School of Humanities are designed to help students develop the critical skills and substantive knowledge needed to participate fully and effectively in today's complex world. Humanities programs aim to help students in conceptualizing, interpreting, and imagining the worlds of human experience in words, in images, and through historical time are the central activities of students and scholars in the humanities. These activities define the core of our intellectual and moral selves.
Programs in the School of Natural and Social Sciences give students an appreciation for the complex relationships that exist among scientific systems of inquiry (economic, mathematical, physical, political, psychological, and social). The School also offers distinctive majors that explore the interfaces of media and the arts. Students learn to think independently, communicate effectively, do serious research, and use community resources. Our faculty members encourage learning by doing in both the lab and the field. This hands-on philosophy culminates in the senior year, when each student completes a year-long research project under the close supervision of a faculty mentor.
The Programs in Humanities, Natural and Social Sciences are increasingly selective, making up 60% of the College's student body.
The Purchase College School of the Arts contains four professional conservatory programs for those looking for a career in the performing or visual arts.
The buildings and open spaces of the campus are visually distinctive models of late modernist architecture. The plans and a scale model of the campus were exhibited at MOMA, New York's Museum of Modern Art.
The Visual Arts Building has 160,000 square feet (15,000 m²) of studios, exhibition spaces, workshops and labs.
The Dance Building was the first in America created specifically for the training of dancers.
The Music Building has two recital halls, 75 practice rooms, 80 Steinway pianos, and professional recording studios. The Studio Composition program was one of the first in the country, and the faculty and student showcase Purchase Records has earned 3 Grammy nominations for its 5 releases. The Film Conservatory is housed within the lower level of the Music Building.
The Conservatory of Theatre Arts & Film comprises four departments: Acting, Dramatic Writing, Film, and Theatre Design/Technology. Purchase College is one of four schools in the Consortium of Professional Theatre Training Programs, along with Carnegie Mellon, North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School. Purchase is one of a handful of colleges capable of training theatre and film students at this level and primarily as undergraduates. The programs are very selective: annually the film program receives 700 applications, Design/Technology 500, Dramatic Writing 200 and the Acting Program sees 1,200 auditions each year in nine cities across the country. Each year the Conservatory of Theatre Arts & Film accepts 20 filmmakers, 20 Dramatic Writing students, 40 Design/Technology students and 18-22 Acting majors. Collaboration among the four programs distinguish this unique training setting- at Purchase: Actors, filmmakers, writers and designers get to work together in faculty led curriculum as well as independently on student generated creative work. The four programs draw a faculty from the highest ranks of professional theatre and film.
Each conservatory program is highly selective and requires a portfolio and/or audition for admission. Outside of the conservatory programs, the Lily Lieb School of Creative Writing within the Humanities and Liberal Arts program is the only one to require the submission of a portfolio from students for acceptance.
Purchase students in the humanities and sciences make up about 60% of the college's student body. The college emphasizes creativity and independent study that culminates in a senior project featuring the student's original research or creative project. Many Purchase grads use their senior project as a spring board to a job or to professional or graduate school.[citation needed]
In addition, the campus offers outstanding athletic facilities and cultural opportunities.
The Neuberger Museum of Art, the eighth largest university museum in the nation, houses a permanent collection of 6,000 works of art and features a full schedule of exhibitions, lectures, films and inter-media events.
The Performing Arts Center, a five-theater complex presents more than 100 professional and student performances each year.
[edit] Culture
Purchase College, with its proximity to the cultural mecca of Manhattan and the variety of arts programs offered to its students, is a well-spring of cultural and counter-cultural movements. Social activism plays a healthy part in shaping the scene at Purchase, and many students choose to participate in Student Government, and various clubs and organizations.
Dance, Music, Theater, Film, and the Visual Arts dominate Purchase culture. The Purchase Student Government and the college have provided spaces around campus for the display of student murals and a cornucopia of music can be heard bellowing from the campus' dormitory windows. Dance and theater productions are always an option for a "night out". The school is home to various performance venues, where Purchase bands and well-known touring artists take stage.
The student-funded and operated Student Center was opened in 2003 by the PSGA. Since its grand opening, the Student Center has featured free-use billiards tables, ping pong tables, a growing videogame arcade, air hockey, foosball, various board games, two concert venues (the main Student Center stage, and Whitson's Memorial Greeting Hall), and a film screening area. In later updates computers with wireless access and a student art gallery space were added. The school's devotion to the Student Center project was solidified by a major renovation done on the exterior of the building. It is known affectionately to many of its patrons as "The Stood" (sounds like "dude")[citation needed].
The students' musical tastes are celebrated at the school's annual Culture Shock festival, the most well-attended program at the school. The weekend festival, typically held in April (4/20 this year) showcases the talents of Purchase students as well as world renowned musical acts and performance artists. Recent Culture Shock headline performers include Ween, GWAR(rained out), Kool Keith, Animal Collective, GZA, Girl Talk, Man Man, Cat Power, Blonde Redhead, Bouncing Souls, Ghostface Killah, Saul Williams, Ted Leo, Biz Markie, Slick Rick and Dead Prez. Culture Shock is funded by the student's mandatory activity fee and put together by the Major Events Coordinator (MEC).
Purchase is known for its GLBT culture, which is celebrated during the annual "Fall Ball" - where Drag Queens and Kings compete on stage for the year's crown. Counter Culture and DIY sensibilities are very prominent as evidenced by the school's food co-op and student-run Student Center.
Students voice their opinions through a variety of campus media sources. Currently, there are two major student-run publications; The Independent (weekly news source), and The Submission (interdisciplinary journal of creativity).
Purchase has its own television station known as "PTV" (Purchase Television) which is cablecast on channel 69 on campus. The station is entirely funded and run by students. In addition to the TV station, the school also has a student-run radio station, WPSR, which broadcasts on 1610 am, and is simulcast on the internet.
Skateboarding has a unique presence at Purchase College due to its brick covered campus. The underground tunnels that connect the campus have smooth concrete and ramps. The campus has banned skateboarding on the mall and access to the tunnels is for the most part prohibited, making things difficult for the campus' skateboarding community. Previous classes have contributed to Purchase's skateboarding culture by publishing 5-0 Skate Zine and Thrash Compactor.
In 1992, Rama regularly held private meetings for his computer company "monks" at Purchase's Performing Arts Center. Christopher Beach, director of the Performing Arts Center at the time, told The New York Times ("Mentor to Some, Cult Leader to Others", Westchester edition, 6/20/93) that Rama was "no more than a Dale Carnegie of the 90's." Dr. Sheldon N. Grebstein, then-president of SUNY Purchase, also defended Rama in The Times article: "At SUNY Purchase we have directly witnessed none of the alleged cult activity."
[edit] Campus
The site chosen for the campus was a 500 acre (2 km²) estate, Strathglass Farm, in the middle of Westchester County, 40 minutes from Manhattan by car and about an hour by public transportation. It was originally the property of Thomas Thomas, a Revolutionary war soldier, whose family and slave cemetery still remains on the campus. In order to transform the former cattle farm into a college for thousands of students, SUNY engaged some of the most prominent American architects to design the campus. Edward Larrabee Barnes created the master plan, and nine distinguished architectural firms designed specific buildings. Buildings on the campus are located in the center of the property, and are isolated from the surrounding community by wooded areas around the perimeter of the property. The college is adjacent to the Westchester County Airport, and is across the street from PepsiCo's world headquarters. The campus is not within walking distance to any commercial area.
Various parts of the Campus are currently undergoing renovation. The new Student Services building opened in 2006, providing one-stop-shopping for most administrative services. The 'mall', or main campus plaza, is currently undergoing renovations to improve its aesthetics, create communal spaces, and to reduce flooding when it rains.
[edit] Notable alumni
Some of these and other alumni compose what has been called "The Purchase Mafia" by several different sources[who?], including Edie Falco and Hal Hartley [3], [4], [5]. The term originated in multiple biographical listings of Purchase alumni on The Internet Movie Database. It was later picked up by the press when actress and Purchase alumnae, Edie Falco, came to national attention as a result of her role on HBO's mob drama, The Sopranos.
Notable alumni and former students of Purchase include:
[edit] Actors
[edit] Theatrical Designers/Technicians
[edit] Playwrights and Screenwriters
[edit] Producers
[edit] Screenwriters
[edit] Directors
[edit] Editors
[edit] Musicians
[edit] Artists
[edit] Photojournalists
[edit] Journalists
[edit] Women's Rights activists
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Westchester Library System
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Westchester Library System (WLS) is the library system for the citizens of Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1958. The system is made up of 38 libraries across the county and its headquarters are located in Tarrytown, New York.

The Westchester Library System (WLS) is a state-chartered, cooperative library system serving all 38 Westchester member public libraries and the county's citizens. As one of the 23 public library systems serving New York State's public libraries, the Westchester Library System was established in 1958.
The mission of the Westchester Library System is to enhance and improve the County's libraries, and to ensure that all residents have excellent library service regardless of their location.
A 15-member board of trustees, elected by the trustees of the member libraries, is the governing body of the System. Regular Board Meetings are generally held the last Tuesday of each month, excluding July & August, at 6 pm at the WLS Headquarters. The exact dates of the meetings can be obtained by inquiring the System at 914-674-3600. Listed below are some of the important services offered:
[edit] Cataloging and processing
Books, videos, recordings, and other Library materials acquired by member Libraries are catalogued and entered in the online "card catalog" and are made available to all cardholders .
[edit] Information Technology (IT)
Information Technology (IT) operates the circulation system and maintains the network, providing access to collections, as well as various databases and the Internet.
[edit] Delivery
A delivery service provides transportation of Library materials to each member Library.
[edit] InterLibrary loan
InterLibrary Loan service enables patrons to borrow materials which are not owned by any WLS Library.
[edit] Outreach services
The WLS Adult and Outreach Services Department seeks to improve access to public Library services for all residents of Westchester County. Activities include:
Creation of an easy to use online Library that provides a wide range of topics at firstfind.info.
Provide access to community resources on a bilingual directory of services for immigrants.
Developing online resources for Westchester's Spanish speaking population. Support for adult literacy through the Westchester Literacy and Learning Alliance.
Service to State and County correctional facility inmates. Access to assistive technology for residents with vision, hearing, physical or learning conditions which are barriers to full Library use. WLS and member Libraries participate in partnerships that serve Westchester's aging population through such activities as programs and provision of Library-based Caregiver Resource Centers. WEBS - Career & Educational Counseling Service WEBS offers free group and individual career counseling programs in libraries for adults in career transition as well as access to career and educational information.
[edit] Youth services
WLS supports member Library service to children, youth and parents through a wide range of programs, activities, training and collection development.
[edit] External relations
Develops and maintains contact with community organizations, press and media. Also coordinates special events such as the Book and Author Luncheon and the African-American Literary Tea.
[edit] Continuing education and consulting services
WLS arranges and conducts workshops and other training opportunities for professional development of member librarians and the advancement of Library trustees. Professional advice is available to member Libraries on services, programs, planning, budgeting, administration, and management.
Education in Westchester County
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Westchester County contains 48 public school districts[1], 118 private schools and 14 colleges/universities.
[edit] Public School Districts
Most school districts do not adhere to municipal boundaries, although the six city school districts do have the same boundaries as their cities.
- Ardsley Union Free School District
- Bedford Central School District
- Blind Brook-Rye School District
- Briarcliff Manor Union Free Sschool District
- Bronxville Union Free School District
- Byram Hills Central School
- Chappaqua Central School
- Croton Harmon Union Free School District
- Dobbs Ferry UFS
- Eastchester Union Free School District
- Edgemont Union Free School District - Greenburgh
- Elmsford Union Free School District
- Greenburgh Central School
- Harrison Central School
- Hastings Central School
- Hendrick Hudson Central School
- Irvington Union Free School District
- Katonah Lewisboro Union Free School District
- Lakeland Cent. Sch. Shrub Oak
- Mamaroneck Union Free School District
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- Mount Pleasant Central School
- Mount Vernon City School
- New Rochelle City Schools
- North Salem Central School
- Ossining Union Free School
- Peekskill City School
- Pelham Union Free School
- Pleasantville UFS
- Pocantico Hills
- Port Chester - Rye UFS
- Rye City Schools
- Rye Neck UFS
- Scarsdale UFS
- Somers Central School District
- Tarrytown Union Free School District
- Tuckahoe UFS
- Valhalla UFS
- White Plains City Schools
- Yonkers Public Schools
- Yorktown Central School
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This list excludes Special Act Grade Organization districts, which overlap the districts listed above.
[edit] Private Schools
High Schools
- Academy of Our Lady of Good Counsel, White Plains
- Archbishop Stepinac HS, White Plains
- Blessed Sacrament - St. Gabriel HS, New Rochelle
- Cathedral Prep Seminary, Rye
- Daytop Village Secondary School, Hartsdale
- German School of New York, White Plains
- Hackley School, Tarrytown
- Hallen Center, New Rochelle
- The Harvey School, Katonah
- Iona Preparatory School, New Rochelle
- John F. Kennedy Catholic HS, Somers
- The Karafin School, Inc., Somers
- Keio Academy of New York, Purchase
- Maria Regina HS, Hartsdale
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- The Masters School, Dobbs Ferry
- NY School of the Deaf, White Plains
- Our Lady of Victory Academy, Dobbs Ferry
- Rye Country Day School, Rye
- Sacred Heart HS, Yonkers
- Salesian HS, New Rochelle
- School of the Holy Child HS, Rye
- Solomon Schecter School of Westchester, Hartsdale
- Soundview Prep School, Mount Kisco
- Thornton Donovan School, New Rochelle
- Ursuline School, New Rochelle
- Westchester Hebrew, HS Mamaroneck
- Yeshiva Farm Settlement School, Mount Kisco
- Yeshivath Ohr Hameir, Peekskill
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Elementary, Junior High and Special Schools
- Academy of Our Lady of Good Counsel, White Plains
- Annunciation School, Crestwood
- Bedford Christian School, Bedford
- Bereshith Cultural School, Mount Vernon
- Berjan School, Mamaroneck
- Cardinal McCloskey School, Ossining
- The Caring Place, New Rochelle
- The Chapel School, Bronxville
- Christ the King School, Yonkers
- The Clearview School, Scarborough
- Corpus Christi School, Port Chester
- Early Childhood - Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville
- Eyes & Ears World, Inc., Yonkers
- Ferncliff Manor, Yonkers
- French-American School of New York
- Hallen Center, New Rochelle
- Holy Family School, New Rochelle
- Holy Innocents School, Brewster
- Holy Name of Jesus School, Valhalla
- Holy Name of Jesus School, New Rochelle
- Holy Rosary ES, Hawthorne
- Holy Rosary School, Port Chester
- Hudson Country Montessori School, New Rochelle
- Immaculate Conception School, Irvington
- Immaculate Conception School, Tuckahoe
- Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Scarsdale
- Immanuel Lutheran School, Mount Vernon
- Iona Grammar School, New Rochelle
- Leake & Watts Children’s Home School, Yonkers
- Margaret Chapman School, Hawthorne
- Martin Luther King Child Development Ctr., New Rochelle
- Milestone School, Fleetwood
- Mohawk Country Home School, White Plains
- Montessori Children’s Room, Armonk
- Mount Pleasant Blythedale UFSD
- Mount Tom Day School, New Rochelle
- Mt. Carmel St. Anthony School, Yonkers
- New Rochelle Catholic ES, New Rochelle
- The Northern Westchester Chinese School, Yorktown
- Oakview Prep of SDA, Yonkers
- Orchard School - Andrus Child Home, Yonkers
- Our Lady of Assumption School, Peekskill
- Our Lady of Fatima School, Scarsdale
- Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, Elmsford
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Pelham Manor
- Our Lady of Sorrows School, White Plains
- Our Lady of Victory School, Mount Vernon
- Our Montessori School Yorktown, Heights
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- Resurrection School, Rye
- Ridgeway Nursery School & Kindergarten, White Plains
- Rippowam Cisqua School, Bedford
- Sacred Heart, Yonkers
- Sacred Heart School, Hartsdale
- Sacred Heart / Mt. Carmel School - Arts, Mount Vernon
- The Seed Day Care Center, Yorktown Heights
- Solomon Schechter School of Westchester, White Plains
- SS John & Paul School, Larchmont
- SS Peter & Paul School, Mount Vernon
- St. Agnes Hospital - Early Childhood, White Plains
- St. Ann School, Yonkers
- St. Ann School, Ossining
- St. Anthony School W., Harrison
- St. Anthony School, Yonkers
- St. Augustine School, Cortlandt Manor
- St. Bartholomew School, Yonkers
- St. Casimir School, Yonkers
- St. Columbanus School, Cortlandt Manor
- St. Elizabeth Ann School, Shrub Oak
- St. Eugene School, Yonkers
- St. Gregory the Great School, Harrison
- St. John the Baptist School, Yonkers
- St. Joseph School, Bronxville
- St. Joseph's School, Croton Falls
- St. Jude Habilitation Institute, Tarrytown
- St. Mark Lutheran School, Yonkers
- St. Mary School, Yonkers
- St. Patrick School, Bedford Village
- St. Patrick School, Yorktown Heights
- St. Paul the Apostle, Yonkers
- St. Peter School, Yonkers
- St. Theresa School, Briarcliff Manor
- St. Ursula’s Learning Center, Mount Vernon
- Transfiguration School, Tarrytown
- Transitional Learning Center, New Rochelle
- UCP of Westchester, New Rochelle
- Westchester Area School, New Rochelle
- Westchester Day School, Mamaroneck
- Westchester Exceptional Children Center, Purdys
- Westchester School for Special Children, Yonkers
- Yeshiva Day School of Lincoln Park, Yonkers
- Yonkers Christian Academy, Yonkers
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[edit] Colleges, Universities and Vocational Schools
- Berkeley College, White Plains, New York
- Concordia College, Bronxville, New York
- College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York
- Fordham University, Marymount Campus, Tarrytown, New York
- Iona College, New Rochelle, New York
- Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York
- Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, New York
- Monroe College, New Rochelle, New York
- New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York
- Pace University, Pleasantville, Briarcliff Manor, and White Plains, New York
- Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, New York
- Sarah Lawrence College, Yonkers, New York
- Westchester Community College, Valhalla, New York
- Long Island University, Westchester Graduate Campus, Purchase, New York
- American Beauty School, Parkchester, New York
Legends Of Westchester County
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820. With Irving's companion piece "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is among the earliest examples of American fiction still read today.
[edit] Plot summary
The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane (1858) by John Quidor
The story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town, New York, in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky,and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head". Ichabod mysteriously disappears from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related".
[edit] Inspiration
The dénouement of the fictional tale is set at the bridge over the Pocantico River in the real location of the Old Dutch Burying Ground in Sleepy Hollow. The characters of Ichabod Crane and Katrina Van Tassel may have been based on local residents known to the author. The character of Katrina is thought to have been based upon Eleanor Van Tassel Brush, in which case her name is derived from that of Eleanor's aunt Catriena Ecker Van Tessel.
Although Irving knew an army colonel named Ichabod Crane from Staten Island, New York (who was also once the Commanding Officer of Lieutenant Stonewall Jackson), the character in "The Legend" may have been patterned after Jesse Merwin, who taught at the local schoolhouse in Kinderhook, further north along the Hudson River, where Irving spent several months in 1809.[1].
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" follows a tradition of folk tales and poems involving a supernatural wild chase, including Robert Burns's Tam O' Shanter (1790), and Bürger's Der wilde Jäger, translated as The Wild Huntsman (1796).
[edit] Film adaptations
Notable film adaptations include:
Will Rogers in The Headless Horseman (1922)
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- The Headless Horseman (1922), a silent version directed by Edward Venturini, and starring Will Rogers as Ichabod Crane. It was filmed on location in New York's Hudson River Valley.
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949), directed by James Algar, Clyde Geronimi and Jack Kinney, produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is an animated cartoon adaptation of the story, paired with a similar treatment of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. The climactic ride is more extended than in the original story, and the possibility is stressed that the visually impressive Horseman is in fact a ghost rather than a human in disguise. Later the Sleepy Hollow portion of the film was separated from the companion film, and shown separately as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in 1958.
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1980), directed by Henning Schellerup. A made-for-television movie filmed in Utah, starring Jeff Goldblum as Ichabod Crane and Dick Butkus as Brom Bones.
- In the Nickelodeon television series Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1992), the episode "The Tale of the Midnight Ride" serves as a sequel to the classic story. In this episode a boy moves to Sleepy Hollow where he develops a crush on a girl. One night after the Halloween dance, they see the ghost of Ichabod Crane and send him over the bridge that the Headless Horseman cannot cross, prompting the Headless Horseman to then come after them.
- Sleepy Hollow (1999), directed by Tim Burton. A movie adaptation which takes many liberties with the plot and characters. Johnny Depp starred as Ichabod Crane while Christopher Walken plays the Headless Horseman.
- The Hollow (2004) a TV movie that premiered on the ABC Family channel starring Kaley Cuoco. about a teenaged descendant of Ichabod Crane.
- The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell (2004), an episode of the TV show Charmed. A headless horseman murders the teachers at Magic School by beheading them.
[edit] Stage adaptations
- Sleepy Hollow (1948), a Broadway musical, with music by George Lessner and book and lyrics by Russell Maloney and Miriam Battista. It lasted 12 performances.[2]
[edit] Audio Books on CD
Notable audio adaptations include:
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (2005). Produced by The Colonial Radio Theatre on the Air and released by Blackstone Audio. Faithfully adapted from the book by Washington Irving, this production has an elaborate music score by Jeffrey Gage, sound effects, and a full cast. Originally released as a "Halloween Pick" by Barnes & Noble bookstores, the production went on to win the Ogle Award for "Best Fantasy Production of 2005." The cast includes Lincoln Clark as Ichabod Crane, Joseph Zamparelli Jr. as Brom Bones, and Diane Capen as Katrina Van Tassel. The book was dramatized, produced and directed by Jerry Robbins. On Halloween 2005, the production was broadcast coast to coast on XM Radio's Sonic Theater, and repeated the following year. It continues to be one of Colonial's most popular titles in release.
- Sleepy Hollow (2007), produced and directed by Dave Johnson. This version is voiced by Alan Zain, who plays all the parts. [1]. ISBN 978-1-4276-2425-3.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was founded in 1849, and is adjacent to the Old Dutch Burying Ground. They are separately owned and administered.
[edit] Further reading
- Thomas S. Wermuth (2001). Rip Van Winkle's Neighbors: The Transformation of Rural Society in the Hudson River Valley. State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-5084-8
Rip Van Winkle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection of stories entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. Although the story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains, Irving later admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills."[1]
[edit] Plot summary
The young Rip Van Winkle has another drink.
The story of Rip Van Winkle is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. Rip Van Winkle, a villager of Dutch descent, lives in a nice village at the foot of New York's Catskill Mountains. An amiable man whose home and farm suffer from his lazy neglect, he is loved by all but his wife. One autumn day he escapes his nagging wife by wandering up the mountains. After encountering strangely dressed men, rumored to be the ghosts of Henry Hudson's crew, who are playing nine-pins, and after drinking some of their liquor, he settles down under a shady tree and falls asleep. He wakes up twenty years later and returns to his village. He finds out that his wife is dead and his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else. He immediately gets into trouble when he hails himself a loyal subject of King George III, not knowing that in the meantime the American Revolution has taken place. An old local recognizes him, however, and Rip's now grown daughter eventually puts him up. As Rip resumes his habit of idleness in the village, and his tale is solemnly believed by the old Dutch settlers, certain hen-pecked husbands especially wish they shared Rip's luck.
[edit] Characters
- Rip Van Winkle - a henpecked husband who loathes 'profitable labor'.
- Dame Van Winkle - Rip Van Winkle's cantankerous wife.
- Rip - Rip Van Winkle's son.
- Judith Gardenier - Rip Van Winkle's daughter.
- Derrick Van Bummel - the local schoolmaster and later a member of Congress.
- Nicholas Vedder - landlord of the local inn.
- Mr. Doolittle - a hotel owner.
[edit] Literary origins
The story is a close adaptation of Peter Klaus the Goatherd by J.C.C. Nachtigal, which is a shorter story set in a German village.
It is also close to Karl Katz, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. This story is almost identical. One difference is when he sees dwarfs playing a game of ninepins in a mountain meadow, he joins the game. The dwarfs give him a magic drink that makes him fall asleep for one hundred years.[2] It is implied that the dwarfs are teaching him a lesson about laziness.
The story is also similar to the ancient Jewish story about Honi M'agel who falls asleep after asking a man why he is planting a carob tree which traditionally takes 70 years to mature, making it virtually impossible to ever benefit from the tree's fruit. After this exchange, he falls aleep on the ground and is miraculously covered by a rock and remains out of sight for 70 years. When he awakens, he finds a fully mature tree and that he has a grandson. When nobody believes that he is Honi, he prays to God and God takes him from this world. Note also that the family name of Honi is also a term of geometry ('M'agel' is Hebrew for 'circle maker'), as well as the family name of Rip ('Winkel' is German for 'angle').
The story is also similar to a 3rd century AD Chinese tale of Ranka, as retold in Lionel Giles in A Gallery of Chinese Immortals.
In Orkney there is a similar and ancient folklore tale linked to the Burial mound of Salt Knowe adjacent to the Ring of Brodgar. A drunken fiddler on his way home hears music from the mound. He finds a way in and finds the trowes (Trolls) having a party. He stays and plays for two hours, then makes his way home to Stenness, where he discovers fifty years have passed. The Orkney Rangers believe this may be one source for Washington Irving's tale, because his father was an Orcadian from the island of Shapinsay, and would almost certainly have often told his son the tale.
The original story was by Diogenes Laertius, an Epicurean philosopher circa early half third century, in his book On the Lives, Opinions, and Sayings of Famous Philosophers. The story is in Chapter ten in his section on the Seven Sages, who were the precursors to the first philosophers. The sage was Epimenides. Apparently Epimenides went to sleep in a cave for fifty-seven years. But unfortunately, "he became old in as many days as he had slept years." Although according to the different sources that Diogenes relates, Epimenides lived to be one hundred and fifty-seven years, two hundred and ninety-nine years, or one hundred and fifty-four years.[3]
A similar story is told of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, Christian saints who fall asleep in a cave while avoiding Roman persecution, and awake more than a century later to find that Christianity has become the religion of the Empire.
[edit] Adaptations
The story has been adapted for other media for the last two centuries, from stage plays to an operetta to cartoons to films. Actor Joseph Jefferson was most associated with the character on the 19th century stage and made a series of short films in 1896 recreating scenes from his stage adaptation, and which are collectively in the US National Film Registry. Jefferson's son Thomas followed in his father's footsteps and also played the character in a number of early 20th century films. The story was also adapted for the show "Twilight Zone" in the 1961 episode "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" starring Oscar Beregi.
[edit] Allusions
David Bromberg's song "Kaatskill Serenade" tells the story of Rip Van Winkle from the first-person perspective.[4] The chorus is:
- Where are the men that I used to sport with?
- What has become of my beautiful town?
- Wolf, my old friend, you don't even know me.
- This must be the end; my house has tumbled down.
Lionel Richie's "Hello" makes reference to Rip Van Winkle in the opening scene of the video when Laura, a blind subject of Ritchie's affection and student of his, acts out a scene in which she describes the character Tony Billy Boy as "a regular Rip Van Winkle". Billy Boy, just out of prison, had suggested taking Laura on a date to the Brooklyn Paramount, not knowing that in the meantime it had closed, just as Eisenhower was no longer President. He was also mentioned in the Alabama song "Mountain Music" in 1982.
The Belle & Sebastian song "I Could Be Dreaming" features band member Isobel Campbell reading a passage from "Rip Van Winkle" towards the end of the song.
American composer Ferde Grofé tells the story of Rip Van Winkle through orchestral music in his Hudson River Suite (1955) — the third movement is entitled "Rip Van Winkle."
Richard Dawkins' book Unweaving the Rainbow has a short reference to Rip Van Winkle:
The passengers, Rip van Winkles, wake stumbling into the light. After a million years of sleep, here is a whole new fertile globe, a lush planet of warm pastures, sparkling streams and waterfalls, a world bountiful with creatures, darting through alien green felicity. Our travellers walk entranced, stupefied, unable to believe their unaccustomed senses or their luck.
– [5]
Camp Chi, a Jewish faith summer camp in Lake Delton, Wisconsin, has an ongoing tradition where a version of Rip Van Winkle called Chi Winkle comes out from the woods each year at the session's end to wish the campers goodbye. His appearance is strikingly similar to that of the original Rip Van Winkle.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Pierre M. Irving, The Life and Letters of Washington Irving, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1883, vol. 2, p. 176.
- ^ North American Bigfoot Legends. Retrieved on 2007-11-16.
- ^ Laertius, Diogenes: Lives of Eminent Philosophers: Books I-V, RD Hicks, trans., Cambridge: Harvard, 1972. p. 115
- ^ Kaatskill Serenade
- ^ Richard Dawkins. Unweaving_the_Rainbow, Chapter 1.
7. In Cowboy Bebop. episode 10, jet is being called a rip van winkle by an old friend
Washington Irving
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Washington Irving |

Washington Irving |
| Born |
April 3, 1783(1783-04-03)
New York, New York, United States |
| Died |
November 28, 1859 (aged 76)
Sunnyside, New York, United States |
| Occupation |
Short story writer, essayist, biographer, magazine editor, diplomat |
| Literary movement |
Romanticism |
|
| Signature |
 |
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra. Irving also served as the U.S. minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.
He made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. After moving to England for the family business in 1815, he achieved international fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. in 1819. He continued to publish regularly — and almost always successfully — throughout his life, and completed a five-volume biography of George Washington just eight months before his death, at age 76, in Tarrytown, New York.
Irving, along with James Fenimore Cooper, was the first American writer to earn acclaim in Europe, and Irving encouraged American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edgar Allan Poe. Irving was also admired by some European writers, including Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, Francis Jeffrey, and Charles Dickens. As America's first genuine internationally best-selling author, Irving advocated for writing as a legitimate profession, and argued for stronger laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement.
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
Washington Irving's parents were William Irving, Sr., originally of Shapinsay, Orkney, and Sarah (née Sanders), Scottish-English immigrants. They married in 1761 while William was serving as a petty officer in the British Navy. They had eleven children, eight of which survived to adulthood. Their first two sons, each named William, died in infancy, as did their fourth child, John. Their surviving children were: William, Jr. (1766), Ann (1770), Peter (1772), Catherine (1774), Ebenezer (1776), John Treat (1778), and Sarah (1780).[1]
The Irving family was settled in Manhattan, New York City as part of the city's small vibrant merchant class when Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783[1] the same week city residents learned of the British ceasefire that ended the American Revolution. Consequently, Irving’s mother named him after the hero of the revolution, George Washington.[2] At age six, with the help of a nanny, Irving met his namesake, who was then living in New York after his inauguration as president in 1789. The president blessed young Irving,[3] an encounter Irving later commemorated in a small watercolor painting, which still hangs in his home today.[4] Several of Washington Irving's older brothers became active New York merchants, and they encouraged their younger brother's literary aspirations, often supporting him financially as he pursued his writing career.
An uninterested student, Irving preferred adventure stories and drama and, by age fourteen, was regularly sneaking out of class in the evenings to attend the theater.[5] The 1798 outbreak of yellow fever in Manhattan prompted his family to send him to healthier climes upriver, and Irving was dispatched to stay with his friend James Kirke Paulding in Tarrytown, New York. It was in Tarrytown that Irving became familiar with the nearby town of Sleepy Hollow, with its quaint Dutch customs and local ghost stories.[6] Irving made several other trips up the Hudson as a teenager, including an extended visit to Johnstown, New York, where he passed through the Catskill mountain region, the setting for "Rip Van Winkle". "[O]f all the scenery of the Hudson," Irving wrote later, "the Kaatskill Mountains had the most witching effect on my boyish imagination."[7]
The nineteen year old Irving began writing letters to The Morning Chronicle in 1802, submitting commentaries on New York's social and theater scene under the name of Jonathan Oldstyle. The name, which purposely evoked the writer's Federalist leanings,[8] was the first of many pseudonyms Irving would employ throughout his career. The letters brought Irving some early fame and moderate notoriety. Aaron Burr, a co-publisher of the Chronicle, was impressed enough to send clippings of the Oldstyle pieces to his daughter, Theodosia, while writer Charles Brockden Brown made a trip to New York to recruit Oldstyle for a literary magazine he was editing in Philadelphia.[9]
Concerned for his health, Irving's brothers financed an extended tour of Europe from 1804 to 1806. Irving bypassed most of the sites and locations considered essential for the development of an upwardly-mobile young man, to the dismay of his brother William. William wrote that, though he was pleased his brother's health was improving, he did not like the choice to "gallop through Italy... leaving Florence on your left and Venice on your right".[10] Instead, Irving honed the social and conversational skills that would later make him one of the world's most in-demand guests.[11] "I endeavor to take things as they come with cheerfulness," Irving wrote, "and when I cannot get a dinner to suit my taste, I endeavor to get a taste to suit my dinner."[12] While visiting Rome in 1805, Irving struck up a friendship with the American painter Washington Allston,[10] and nearly allowed himself to be persuaded into following Allston into a career as a painter. "My lot in life, however," Irving said later, "was differently cast."[13]
[edit] First major writings
A younger Washington Irving
Irving returned from Europe to study law with his legal mentor, Judge Josiah Ogden Hoffman, in New York City. By his own admission, he was not a good student, and barely passed the bar in 1806.[14] Irving began actively socializing with a group of literate young men he dubbed "The Lads of Kilkenny".[15] Collaborating with his brother William and fellow Lad James Kirke Paulding, Irving created the literary magazine Salmagundi in January 1807. Writing under various pseudonyms, such as William Wizard and Launcelot Langstaff, Irving lampooned New York culture and politics in a manner similar to today's Mad magazine.[16] Salmagundi was a moderate success, spreading Irving's name and reputation beyond New York. In its seventeenth issue, dated November 11, 1807, Irving affixed the nickname "Gotham" — an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "Goat's Town" — to New York City.[17]
In late 1809, while mourning the death of his seventeen year old fiancée Matilda Hoffman, Irving completed work on his first major book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809), a satire on self-important local history and contemporary politics. Prior to its publication, Irving started a hoax akin to today's viral marketing campaigns; he placed a series of missing person adverts in New York newspapers seeking information on Diedrich Knickerbocker, a crusty Dutch historian who had allegedly gone missing from his hotel in New York City. As part of the ruse, Irving placed a notice — allegedly from the hotel's proprietor — informing readers that if Mr. Knickerbocker failed to return to the hotel to pay his bill, he would publish a manuscript Knickerbocker had left behind.[18]
Unsuspecting readers followed the story of Knickerbocker and his manuscript with interest, and some New York city officials were concerned enough about the missing historian that they considered offering a reward for his safe return. Riding the wave of public interest he had created with his hoax, Irving — adopting the pseudonym of his Dutch historian — published A History of New York on December 6, 1809, to immediate critical and popular success.[19] "It took with the public," Irving remarked, "and gave me celebrity, as an original work was something remarkable and uncommon in America."[20] Today, the surname of Diedrich Knickerbocker, the fictional narrator of this and other Irving works, has become a nickname for Manhattan residents in general.[21]
After the success of A History of New York, Irving searched for a job and eventually became an editor of Analectic magazine, where he wrote biographies of naval heroes like James Lawrence and Oliver Perry.[22] He was also among the first magazine editors to reprint Francis Scott Key's poem "Defense of Fort McHenry", which would later be immortalized as "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States.[23]
Like many merchants and New Yorkers, Irving originally opposed the War of 1812, but the British attack on Washington, D.C. in 1814 convinced him to enlist.[24] He served on the staff of Daniel Tompkins, governor of New York and commander of the New York State Militia. Apart from a reconnaissance mission in the Great Lakes region, he saw no real action.[25] The war was disastrous for many American merchants, including Irving's family, and in mid-1815 he left for England to attempt to salvage the family trading company. He remained in Europe for the next seventeen years.[26]
[edit] Life in Europe
[edit] The Sketch Book
The front page of The Sketch Book (1819)
Irving spent the next two years trying to bail out the family firm financially but was eventually forced to declare bankruptcy.[27] With no job prospects, Irving continued writing throughout 1817 and 1818. In the summer of 1817, he visited the home of novelist Walter Scott, marking the beginning of a lifelong personal and professional friendship for both men.[28] Irving continued writing prolifically — the short story "Rip Van Winkle" was written overnight while staying with his sister Sarah and her husband, Henry van Wart in Birmingham, England, a place that also inspired some of his other works.[29] In October 1818, Irving's brother William secured for Irving a post as chief clerk to the United States navy, and urged him to return home.[30] Irving, however, turned the offer down, opting to stay in England to pursue a writing career.[31]
In the spring of 1819, Irving sent to his brother Ebenezer in New York a set of essays that he asked be published as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. The first installment, containing "Rip Van Winkle," was an enormous success, and the rest of the work, published in seven installments in the United States and England throughout 1819 and 1820 ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" would appear in the sixth issue), would be equally as successful.[32]
Like many successful authors of this era, Irving struggled against literary bootleggers.[33] While in England, his sketches were published in book form by British publishers without his permission, an entirely legal practice as there were no clear international copyright laws. Seeking an English publisher to protect his copyright, Irving appealed to Walter Scott for help. Scott referred Irving to his own publisher, London powerhouse John Murray, who agreed to take on The Sketch Book.[34] From then on, Irving would publish concurrently in the United States and England to protect his copyright, with Murray being his English publisher of choice.[35]
Irving's reputation soared, and for the next two years, he led an active social life in Paris and England, where he was often feted as an anomaly of literature: an upstart American who dared to write English well.[36]
[edit] Bracebridge Hall and Tales of a Traveller
Irving was anxious to follow up on the success of The Sketch Book, and traveled to the continent in search of new material, reading widely in Dutch and German folk tales. His next book, Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley (the location was based loosely on Aston Hall near his sister's home in Birmingham) was published in 1822, and was well-received by readers and critics.[37]
Struggling with writer's block, Irving traveled to Germany, settling in Dresden in the winter of 1822. Here he dazzled the royal family and attached himself to Mrs. Amelia Foster, an American living in Dresden with her five children.[38] Irving was particularly attracted to Mrs. Foster's 18-year-old daughter Emily, and vied in frustration for her hand. Emily finally refused his offer of marriage in the spring of 1823.[39]
He returned to Paris and began collaborating with playwright John Howard Payne on translations of French plays for the English stage, with little success. He also learned through Payne that the novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was romantically interested in him, though Irving never pursued the relationship.[40]
In August 1824, Irving published the collection of essays Tales of a Traveller — including the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker" — under his Geoffrey Crayon persona. While the book sold respectably, Traveller bombed with critics.[41] Hurt and depressed by the book's reception, Irving retreated to Paris where he spent the next year worrying about finances and scribbling down ideas for projects that never materialized.[42]
[edit] Spanish books
While in Paris, Irving received a letter from Alexander Hill Everett on January 30, 1826. Everett, recently the American Minister to Spain, urged Irving to join him in Madrid,[43] noting that a number of manuscripts dealing with the Spanish conquest of the Americas had recently been made public. Irving left for Madrid and enthusiastically began scouring the Spanish archives for colorful material.[44]
The palace Alhambra, where Irving briefly resided in 1829, inspired one of his most colorful books.
With full access to the American consul's massive library of Spanish history, Irving began working on several books at once. The first offspring of this hard work, The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, was published in January 1828. The book was popular in the United States and in Europe and would have 175 editions published before the end of the century.[45] It was also the first project of Irving's to be published with his own name, instead of a pseudonym, on the title page.[46] The Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada was published a year later,[47] followed by Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus in 1831.[48]
Irving's writings on Columbus are a mixture of history and fiction, a genre now called romantic history. Irving based them on extensive research in the Spanish archives, but also added imaginative elements aimed at sharpening the story. The first of these works is the source of the durable myth that medieval Europeans believed the Earth was flat.[49]
In 1829, Irving moved into Granada's ancient palace Alhambra, "determined to linger here," he said, "until I get some writings under way connected with the place."[50] Before he could get any significant writing underway, however, he was notified of his appointment as Secretary to the American Legation in London. Worried he would disappoint friends and family if he refused the position, Irving left Spain for England in July 1829.[51]
[edit] Secretary to the American legation in London
Arriving in London, Irving joined the staff of American Minister Louis McLane. McLane immediately assigned the daily secretary work to another man and tapped Irving to fill the role of aide-de-camp. The two worked over the next year to negotiate a trade agreement between the United States and the British West Indies, finally reaching a deal in August 1830. That same year, Irving was awarded a medal by the Royal Society of Literature, followed by an honorary doctorate of civil law from Oxford in 1831.[52]
Following McLane's recall to the United States in 1831 to serve as Secretary of Treasury, Irving stayed on as the legation's chargé d'affaires until the arrival of Martin Van Buren, President Jackson's nominee for British Minister. With Van Buren in place, Irving resigned his post to concentrate on writing, eventually completing Tales of the Alhambra, which would be published concurrently in the United States and England in 1832.[53]
Irving was still in London when Van Buren received word that the United States Senate had refused to confirm him as the new Minister. Consoling Van Buren, Irving predicted that the Senate's partisan move would backfire. "I should not be surprised," Irving said, "if this vote of the Senate goes far toward elevating him to the presidential chair."[54]
[edit] Return to America
Washington Irving arrived in New York, after seventeen years abroad on May 21, 1832. That September, he accompanied the U.S. Commissioner on Indian Affairs, Henry Ellsworth, along with companions Charles La Trobe[55] and Count Albert-Alexandre de Pourtales, on a surveying mission deep in Indian Territory.[56] At the completion of his western tour, Irving traveled through Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, where he became acquainted with the politician and novelist John Pendleton Kennedy.[57]
Frustrated by bad investments, Irving turned to writing to generate additional income, beginning with A Tour on the Prairies, a work which related his recent travels on the frontier. The book was another popular success and also the first book written and published by Irving in the United States since A History of New York in 1809.[58] In 1834, he was approached by fur magnate John Jacob Astor, who convinced Irving to write a history of his fur trading colony in the American Northwest, now known as Astoria, Oregon. Irving made quick work of Astor's project, shipping the fawning biographical account titled Astoria in February 1836.[59]
During an extended stay at Astor's, Irving met the explorer Benjamin Bonneville, who intrigued Irving with his maps and stories of the territories beyond the Rocky Mountains.[60] When the two met in Washington, D.C. several months later, Bonneville opted to sell his maps and rough notes to Irving for $1,000.[61] Irving used these materials as the basis for his 1837 book The Adventures of Captain Bonneville.[62]
These three works made up Irving's "western" series of books and were written partly as a response to criticism that his time in England and Spain had made him more European than American.[63] In the minds of some critics, especially James Fenimore Cooper, Irving had turned his back on his American heritage in favor of English aristocracy.[64] Irving's western books, particularly A Tour on the Prairies, were well-received in the United States,[65] though British critics accused Irving of "book-making".[66]
In 1835, Irving purchased a "neglected cottage" and its surrounding riverfront property in Tarrytown, New York. The house, which Irving named Sunnyside in 1841,[67] would require constant repair and renovation over the next twenty years. With costs of Sunnyside escalating, Irving reluctantly agreed in 1839 to become a regular contributor to Knickerbocker magazine, writing new essays and short stories under the Knickerbocker and Crayon pseudonyms.[68]
Irving was regularly approached by aspiring young authors for advice or endorsement, including Edgar Allan Poe, who sought Irving's comments "on William Wilson" and "The Fall of the House of Usher".[69] Irving also championed America's maturing literature, advocating for stronger copyright laws to protect writers from the kind of piracy that had initially plagued The Sketch Book. Writing in the January 1840 issue of Knickerbocker, he openly endorsed copyright legislation pending in the U.S. Congress. "We have a young literature", Irving wrote, "springing up and daily unfolding itself with wonderful energy and luxuriance, which... deserves all its fostering care." The legislation did not pass.[70]
Irving at this time also began a friendly correspondence with the English writer Charles Dickens, and hosted the author and his wife at Sunnyside during Dickens's American tour in 1842.[71]
[edit] Minister to Spain
In 1842, after an endorsement from Secretary of State Daniel Webster, President John Tyler appointed Irving as Minister to Spain.[72] Irving was surprised and honored, writing, "It will be a severe trial to absent myself for a time from my dear little Sunnyside, but I shall return to it better enabled to carry it on comfortably."[73]
While Irving hoped his position as Minister would allow him plenty of time to write, Spain was in a state of perpetual political upheaval during most of his tenure, with a number of warring factions vying for control of the twelve-year-old Queen Isabella II.[74] Irving maintained good relations with the various generals and politicians, as control of Spain rotated through Espartero, Bravo, then Narvaez. However, the politics and warfare were exhausting, and Irving — homesick and suffering from a crippling skin condition — grew quickly disheartened:
| “ |
I am wearied and at times heartsick of the wretched politics of this country. . . . The last ten or twelve years of my life, passed among sordid speculators in the United States, and political adventurers in Spain, has shewn me so much of the dark side of human nature, that I begin to have painful doubts of my fellow man; and look back with regret to the confiding period of my literary career, when, poor as a rat, but rich in dreams, I beheld the world through the medium of my imagination and was apt to believe men as good as I wished them to be.[75] |
” |
With the political situation in Spain relatively settled, Irving continued to closely monitor the development of the new government and the fate of Isabella. His official duties as Spanish Minister also involved negotiating American trade interests with Cuba and following the Spanish parliament's debates over slave trade. He was also pressed into service by the American Minister to the Court of St. James's in London, Louis McLane, to assist in negotiating the Anglo-American disagreement over the Oregon border that newly-elected president James K. Polk had vowed to resolve.[76]
[edit] Final years and death
Returning from Spain in 1846, Irving took up permanent residence at Sunnyside and began work on an "Author's Revised Edition" of his works for publisher George Palmer Putnam. For its publication, Irving had made a deal that guaranteed him 12 percent of the retail price of all copies sold. Such an agreement was unprecedented at that time.[77] On the death of John Jacob Astor in 1848, Irving was hired as an executor of Astor's estate and appointed, by Astor's will, as first chairman of the Astor library, a forerunner to the New York Public Library.[78]
As he revised his older works for Putnam, Irving continued to write regularly, publishing biographies of the writer and poet Oliver Goldsmith in 1849 and the prophet Muhammad in 1850. In 1855, he produced Wolfert's Roost, a collection of stories and essays he had originally written for Knickerbocker and other publications,[79] and began publishing at intervals a biography of his namesake, George Washington, a work which he expected to be his masterpiece. Five volumes of the biography were published between 1855 and 1859.[80] Irving traveled regularly to Mount Vernon and Washington, D.C. for his research, and struck up friendships with Presidents Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce.[79]
He continued to socialize and keep up with his correspondence well into his seventies, and his fame and popularity continued to soar. "I don’t believe that any man, in any country, has ever had a more affectionate admiration for him than that given to you in America", wrote Senator William C. Preston in a letter to Irving. "I believe that we have had but one man who is so much in the popular heart."[81]
On the evening of November 28, 1859, only eight months after completing the final volume of his Washington biography, Washington Irving died of a heart attack in his bedroom at Sunnyside at the age of 76. Legend has it that his last words were: "Well, I must arrange my pillows for another night. When will this end?"[82] He was buried under a simple headstone at Sleepy Hollow cemetery on December 1, 1859.[83]
Irving and his grave were commemorated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his 1876 poem, "In The Churchyard at Tarrytown", which concludes with:
How sweet a life was his; how sweet a death!
Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours,
Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer;
Dying, to leave a memory like the breath
Of summers full of sunshine and of showers,
A grief and gladness in the atmosphere.[84]
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Literary reputation
Irving is largely credited as the first American Man of Letters, and the first to earn his living solely by his pen. Eulogizing Irving before the Massachusetts Historical Society in December 1859, his friend, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, acknowledged Irving's role in promoting American literature: "We feel a just pride in his renown as an author, not forgetting that, to his other claims upon our gratitude, he adds also that of having been the first to win for our country an honourable name and position in the History of Letters."[85]
Irving perfected the American short story,[86] and was the first American writer to place his stories firmly in the United States, even as he poached from German or Dutch folklore. He is also generally credited as one of the first to write both in the vernacular, and without an obligation to the moral or didactic in his short stories, writing stories simply to entertain rather to enlighten.[87]
Some critics, however — including Edgar Allan Poe — felt that while Irving should be given credit for being an innovator, the writing itself was often unsophisticated. "Irving is much over-rated," Poe wrote in 1838, "and a nice distinction might be drawn between his just and his surreptitious and adventitious reputation—between what is due to the pioneer solely, and what to the writer."[88]
Other critics were inclined to be more forgiving of Irving's style. Henry Makepeace Thakeray was the first to refer to Irving as the "ambassador whom the New World of Letters sent to the Old,"[89] a banner picked up by writers and critics throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. "He is the first of the American humorists, as he is almost the first of the American writers," wrote critic H.R. Hawless in 1881, "yet belonging to the New World, there is a quaint Old World flavor about him."[90]
Early critics often had difficulty separating Irving the man from Irving the writer — "The life of Washington Irving was one of the brightest ever led by an author," wrote Richard Henry Stoddard, an early Irving biographer[91] — but as years passed and Irving's celebrity personality faded into the background, critics often began to review his writings as all style, no substance. "The man had no message," said critic Barrett Wendell.[92] Yet, critics conceded that despite Irving's lack of sophisticated themes — Irving biographer Stanley T. Williams could be scathing in his assessment of Irving's work[93] — most agreed he wrote elegantly.
[edit] Impact on American culture
Irving popularized the nickname "Gotham" for New York City, later used in Batman comics and movies, and is credited with inventing the expression "the almighty dollar".
The surname of his Dutch historian, Diedrich Knickerbocker, is generally associated with New York and New Yorkers, and can still be seen across the jerseys of New York's professional basketball team, albeit in its more familiar, abbreviated form, reading simply Knicks.
One of Irving's most lasting contributions to American culture is in the way Americans perceive and celebrate Christmas. In his 1812 revisions to A History of New York, Irving inserted a dream sequence featuring St. Nicholas soaring over treetops in a flying wagon — a creation others would later dress up as Santa Claus. Later, in his five Christmas stories in The Sketch Book, Irving portrayed an idealized celebration of old-fashioned Christmas customs at a quaint English manor, which directly contributed to the revival and reinterpretation of the Christmas holiday in the United States.[94] Charles Dickens later credited Irving as a strong influence on his own Christmas writings, including the classic A Christmas Carol.
Washington Irving's home — Sunnyside — is still standing, just south of the Tappan Zee Bridge in Tarrytown, New York. The original house and the surrounding property were once owned by 18th-century colonialist Wolfert Acker, about whom Irving wrote his sketch Wolfert's Roost (the name of the house). The house is now owned and operated as an historic site by Historic Hudson Valley and is open to the public for tours.
[edit] List of works
[edit] References
- Burstein, Andrew. The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving. (Basic Books, 2007). ISBN 978-0-465-00853-7
- Bowers, Claude G. The Spanish Adventures of Washington Irving. (Riverside Press, 1940).
- Hellman, George S. Washington Irving, Esquire. (Alfred A. Knopf, 1925).
- Irving, Pierre M. Life and Letters of Washington Irving. 4 vols. (G.P. Putnam, 1862). Cited herein as PMI.
- Irving, Washington. The Complete Works of Washington Irving. (Rust, et al, editors). 30 vols. (University of Wisconsin/Twayne, 1969-1986). Cited herein as Works.
- Jones, Brian Jay. Washington Irving: An American Original. (Arcade, 2008). ISBN 978-1-55970-836-4
- Warner, Charles Dudley. Washington Irving. (Riverside Press, 1881).
- Williams, Stanley T. The Life of Washington Irving. 2 vols. (Oxford University Press, 1935). ISBN 0781252911
- ^ a b Burstein, 7.
- ^ PMI, 1:26, et al.
- ^ PMI, 1:27.
- ^ Jones, 5.
- ^ Warner, 27; PMI, 1:36.
- ^ Jones, 11.
- ^ PMI, 1:42-43.
- ^ Burstein, 19.
- ^ Jones, 36.
- ^ a b Burstein, 43.
- ^ See Jones, 44-70
- ^ Washington Irving to William Irving Jr., September 20, 1804, Works 23:90.
- ^ Washington Irving, "Memoir of Washington Allston," Works 2:175.
- ^ Washington Irving to Mrs. Amelia Foster, [April–May 1823], Works, 23:740-41. See also PMI, 1:173, Williams, 1:77, et al.
- ^ Burstein, 47.
- ^ Jones, 82.
- ^ Burrows, Edwin G. and Mike Wallace. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. (Oxford University Press, 1999), 417. See Jones, 74-75.
- ^ Jones, 118-27.
- ^ Burstein, 72.
- ^ Washington Irving to Mrs. Amelia Foster, [April-May, 1823], Works, 23:741.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary.
- ^ Hellman, 82.
- ^ Jones, 121–22.
- ^ Jones, 121.
- ^ Jones, 122.
- ^ Hellman, 87.
- ^ Hellman, 97.
- ^ Jones, 154-60.
- ^ Jones, 169.
- ^ William Irving Jr. to Washington Irving, New York, 14 October 1818, Williams, 1:170-71.
- ^ Washington Irving to Ebenezer Irving, {London, late November 1818], Works, 23:536.
- ^ See reviews from Quarterly Review and others, in The Sketch Book, xxv–xxviii; PMI 1:418–19.
- ^ Burstein, 114
- ^ Washington Irving, "Preface to the Revised Edition," The Sketch Book, Works, 8:7; Jones, 188-89.
- ^ McClary, Ben Harris, ed. Washington Irving and the House of Murray. (University of Tennessee Press, 1969).
- ^ See comments of William Godwin, cited in PMI, 1:422; Lady Littleton, cited in PMI 2:20.
- ^ Aderman, Ralph M., ed. Critical Essays on Washington Irving. (G. K. Hall, 1990), 55–57, 58–62; STW 1:209.
- ^ See Reichart, Walter A. Washington Irving and Germany. (University of Michigan Press, 1957).
- ^ Jones, 207-14.
- ^ See Sanborn, F.B., ed. The Romance of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, John Howard Payne and Washington Irving. Boston: Bibliophile Society, 1907.
- ^ See reviews in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Westminster Review, et al., 1824. Cited in Jones, 222.
- ^ Hellman, 170–89.
- ^ Burstein, 191.
- ^ Bowers, 22–48.
- ^ Burstein, 196.
- ^ Jones, 248.
- ^ Burstein, 212.
- ^ Burstein, 225.
- ^ Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians. Praeger Paperback, 1997. ISBN 027595904X
- ^ Washington Irving to Peter Irving, Alhambra, 13 June 1829. Works, 23:436
- ^ Hellman, 208.
- ^ PMI, 2:429, 430, 431–32
- ^ PMI, 3:17–21.
- ^ Washington Irving to Peter Irving, London, 6 March 1832, Works, 23:696
- ^ Jill Eastwood (1967). La Trobe, Charles Joseph (1801 - 1875). Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2 89-93. MUP. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ^ See Irving, "A Tour on the Prairies," Works 22.
- ^ Williams, 2:48–49
- ^ Jones, 318.
- ^ Jones, 324.
- ^ Williams, 2:76–77.
- ^ Jones, 323.
- ^ Burstein, 288.
- ^ Williams, 2:36.
- ^ Jones, 316.
- ^ Jones, 318-28.
- ^ Monthly Review, New and Improved, ser. 2 (June 1837): 279–90. See Aderman, Ralph M., ed. Critical Essays on Washington Irving. (G. K. Hall, 1990), 110–11.
- ^ Burstein, 295.
- ^ Jones, 333.
- ^ Edgar Allan Poe to N. C. Brooks, Philadelphia, 4 September, 1838. Cited in Williams, 2:101-02.
- ^ Washington Irving to Lewis G. Clark, (before January 10, 1840), Works, 25:32-33.
- ^ Jones, 341.
- ^ Hellman, 257.
- ^ Washington Irving to Ebenezer Irving, New York, 10 February 1842, Works, 25:180.
- ^ Bowers, 127–275.
- ^ Irving to Thomas Wentworth Storrow, Madrid, 18 May 1844, Works, 25:751
- ^ Jones, 415-56.
- ^ Jones, 464.
- ^ Hellman, 235.
- ^ a b Williams, 2:208–209.
- ^ Bryan, William Alfred. George Washington in American Literature 1775–1865. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952: 103.
- ^ William C. Preston to Washington Irving, Charlottesville, May 11, 1859, PMI, 4:286.
- ^ Nelson, Randy F. The Almanac of American Letters. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 179. ISBN 086576008X
- ^ PMI, 4:328.
- ^ Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "In The Churchyard at Tarrytown," quoted in Burstein, 330.
- ^ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Address on the Death of Washington Irving," Poems and Other Writings, J.D. McClatchy, editor. (Library of America, 2000).
- ^ Leon H. Vincent, American Literary Masters, 1906.
- ^ Fred Lewis Pattee, The First Century of American Literature, 1935.
- ^ Poe to N.C. Brooks, Philadelphia, 4 September 1838. Cited in Williams 2:101-02.
- ^ Thackeray, Roundabout Papers, 1860.
- ^ Hawless, American Humorists, 1881.
- ^ Stoddard, The Life of Washington Irving, 1883.
- ^ Wendell, A Literary History of America, 1901.
- ^ See Williams, 2:Appendix III.
- ^ See Stephen Nissebaum, The Battle for Christmas (Vintage, 1997)
- ^ Irving's publisher, John Murray, overrode Irving's decision to use this pseudonym and published the book under Irving's name — much to the annoyance of its author. See Jones 258-59.
- ^ Comprised of the three short stories "A Tour on the Prairies," "Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey," and "Legends of the Conquest of Spain."
Van Cortlandt Manor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Van Cortlandt Manor is a house and property located by the confluence of the Croton and Hudson Rivers located in the village of Croton-On-Hudson in Westchester County, New York. The stone and brick manor house is now a National Historic Landmark. It is on Riverside Avenue.
Originally, it was an 86,000-acre (350 km²) tract granted as a Patent to Stephanus Van Cortlandt in 1697 by King William III. The manor house was built sometime before 1732 but was not any owner's principal residence until a grandson, Pierre Van Cortlandt, moved there in 1749. At that time the manor house was on a thousand-acre portion of the original tract. The house remained in Van Cortlandt family ownership until 1945. In 1953, John D. Rockefeller purchased it and began a restoration. The restored manor house was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1961.[1],[3],[4]
The house is not included in the area of Cortlandt Manor, New York.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Van Cortlandt Manor. National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service (2007-09-21).
- ^ National Register Information System. National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
- ^ ["Van Cortlandt Manor", January, 1975, by James DillonPDF (454 KiB) National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination]. National Park Service (1975-01).
- ^ [Van Cortlandt Manor--Accompanying photos, exterior, from 1967 and 1974.PDF (2.27 MiB) National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination]. National Park Service (1975-2008)
-
Lyndhurst (Jay Gould Estate)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Lyndhurst (house))
Lyndhurst, also known as Jay Gould Estate, is a Gothic Revival country house within its own 67-acre park beside the Hudson River, located in Tarrytown, New York approximately one-half mile south of the Tappan Zee Bridge on US 9. The house was designed in 1838 by Alexander Jackson Davis, and has been the home of former New York City mayor William Paulding, Jr., merchant George Merritt, and railroad tycoon Jay Gould, whose daughter Anna Gould, Duchess of Talleyrand-Perigord, donated it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1961. It is now open to the public.
When first built, the house was named "Knoll"; but critics immediately dubbed it "Paulding's Folly" because its extremely unusual design, including fanciful turrets and asymmetrical outline. Its limestone exterior was quarried at Sing Sing (now known as Ossining). The second owner, Merritt, doubled the house's size in 1864-65 and renamed it "Lyndenhurst" for the estate's linden trees. His new north wing added an imposing four-story tower, new porte-cochere (the old one was reworked as a glass walled vestibule) and a new dining room, two bedrooms, and servants quarters. Jay Gould purchased the home in 1880 for use as a country house until his death in 1892. It was Gould who shortened the house's name to today's Lyndhurst.
Lyndhurst's interior is strikingly unusual. Unlike later mansions along the Hudson River, rooms are few and of more modest scale, and strongly Gothic in character. Hallways are narrow, windows small and sharply arched, and ceilings are fantastically peaked, vaulted, and ornamented. The effect is at once gloomy, somber, and highly romantic; the large, double-height art gallery provides a welcome contrast of light and space.
A view in the front park.
The house sits within a very fine park, designed by Ferdinand Mangold in the English naturalistic style. Mangold was hired by Merritt. He drained the surrounding swamps, created lawns, planted specimen trees, and built the conservatory. His resultant landscape was the first such park along the Hudson River. It provides an outstanding example of 19th century landscape design, with rolling lawns accented with shrubs and specimen trees, a curving entrance drive that reveals "surprise" views, and a remarkably large (390 foot long) steel-framed conservatory (the first in the United States).
The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.[1][2]
The house is also well known for being the set for the 1970 movie House of Dark Shadows, and the 1971 movie Night of Dark Shadows, both based on the famous gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.
American Broadcasting Company's holiday telefilm The Halloween That Almost Wasn't was shot here.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Photos of Lyndhurst at Historic American Buildings Survey: Main house, 98 photos, Greenhouse 38 photos,
- Outbuildings, 8 photos,
- Stables, 5 photos,
- Swimming pool, 4 photos,
- Boat landing, 3 photos.
Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, also known as Dutch Reformed Church (Sleepy Hollow), is a 17th century church located in Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States. The church and its three acre (12 ha) churchyard feature prominently in Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". The churchyard is often confused with the contiguous but separate Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
[edit] History
Frederick Philipse I, Lord of Philipse Manor, owned the vast stretch of land spanning from Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx to the Croton River. After swearing allegiance and later being granted his Manorship from the English, he began construction of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. Although financing this project, work likely progressed slowly and was completed in 1685.
The church's walls are about two-feet thick and are composed of local fieldstone.
Cast in Holland in 1685, the tiny church bell still hangs in the open-air steeple. Engraved on the bell is a verse from Romans 8:31, “Si Deus Pro Nobis, Quis Contras Nos?,” as well as Frederick Philipse’s monogram, “VF.” This monogram also appears on the weathervane above the steeple.
The early history of the church and its members was recorded by Dirck Storm, in his book "Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh," one of the nation's most valuable historical documents.
[edit] Renovations
Restoration in the 1960s revealed that several timbers in the roof were original. The roof's gambrel design is common to the Friesland area of the Netherlands, the area from which Frederick Philipse emigrated. Philipse and members of his family are buried in the church crypt, while others of the congregation are buried in the churchyard.
When Rt. 9 shifted from the east to the west of the church, the main entrance was moved from the south side to the west end.[3]
The church was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.[1][4]
The church and its burial ground are owned by Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns.
[edit] Notable Burials
- Frederick Philipse (1626-1702) - formerly held 52,000 acres (210 km²) of land along the Hudson River, Philipsburg Manor; builder of the church of Sleepy Hollow
- Eleanor Van Tassel Brush (1763-1861) - one of several possible models for Katrina in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
- Catriena Ecker Van Tessel - a possible model for Katrina in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and her Revolutionary War hero husband Petrus Van Tessel
- Wolfert Acker (1667–1753), former deacon of the church, Collector of Philipsburg, and subject of Washington Irving's "Wofert's Roost." His wife Maretje Sibouts and his brother Jan Acker, the church's first deacon, was also buried here (supposedly in the church).
- Wolfert's son Syboat Acker (gravestone was one of 36 restored by the Rockefeller Family).
- Susanna Requa, first wife of Revolutionary War hero and founder of Newburgh Ferry, NY, Wolfert Ecker. Wofert is buried with his second wife in Marlborough, New York.
- Joseph Youngs (1722-1789) and Susannah Youngs, (1732-1783) - the parents of Samuel Youngs, one of several possible models for Ichabod Crane. Samuel Youngs was originally buried here but his remains were removed to Ossining's Dale Cemetery
- Abraham Martling (1743-1830) - a possible inspiration for the character of Brom Bones in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
- Dirck Storm (1630-1715) - author of "Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh," a book about the early years of the Old Dutch Church. He also served as Town Clerk in the early years of many New Amsterdam communities, including New Lots, Flatbush and Bedford, as well as Tax Collector for Frederick Philipse.
- Samuel Young (Sleepy Hollow) (1760-1839) - Friend of Washington Irving and supposed inspiration for the character of Ichabod Crane of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
[edit] References
Jeff Canning and Wally Buxton, History of the Tarrytowns. Harrison, NJ: Harbor Hill Books, 1975. 27-28
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main entrance to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York is the resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent Old Dutch Burying Ground. Incorporated in 1849 as Tarrytown Cemetery, it posthumously honored Irving's request that it change its name to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
[edit] History
The cemetery is a non-profit, non-sectarian burying ground of approximately 90 acres. It is contiguous with, but separate from, the church yard of the colonial-era church that was a setting for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". The Rockefeller family estate (see Kykuit), whose grounds abut Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, contains the private Rockefeller cemetery.
Several outdoor scenes from the 1970 feature film House of Dark Shadows were filmed at the cemetery's receiving vault.
[edit] Interred
- John Dustin Archbold (1848–1916), a director of the Standard Oil Company
- Brooke Astor (1902–2007), philanthropist and socialite
- Viola Allen (1869-1948), actress
- Elizabeth Arden (1878-1966), businesswoman who built a cosmetics empire
- Vincent Astor (1891–1959), philanthropist; member of the Astor family
- Leo Baekeland (1863–1944), the father of plastic; Bakelite is named for him. The murder of his grandson's wife Barbara by his great-grandson, Tony, is told in the book Savage Grace
- Holbrook Blinn (1872–1928), American actor
- Henry E. Bliss (1870–1955), devised the Bliss library classification system
- Major Edward Bowes (1874–1946), early radio star, he hosted Major Bowes' Amateur Hour
- Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919), businessman and philanthropist. In 1918 the Carnegie Foundation established the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, now TIAA-CREF
- Louise Whitfield Carnegie (1857-1946), wife of Andrew Carnegie
- Walter Chrysler (1875–1940), businessman, commissioned the Chrysler Building
- Francis Pharcellus Church (1839–1906), editor at the New York Sun who penned the editorial "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus"
- Kent Cooper (1880–1965), influential head of the Associated Press from 1925 to 1948
- Jasper Francis Cropsey (1823–1900), landscape painter and architect; designed the now-demolished New York City Sixth Avenue elevated railroad stations
- Maud Earl (1864–1943), British-American painter of canines
- Parker Fennelly (1891-1988), American actor
- Malcolm Webster Ford (1862–1902), champion amateur athlete and journalist; brother of Paul, he took his own life after slaying his brother.
- Paul Leicester Ford (1865–1902), editor, bibliographer, novelist, and biographer; brother of Malcolm Webster Ford by whose hand he died
- Samuel Gompers (1850–1924), founder of the American Federation of Labor
- Walter S. Gurnee (1805–1903), a mayor of Chicago
- Mark Hellinger (1903–1947), primarily known as a journalist of New York theatre. The Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City is named for him; produced The Naked City, a 1948 black-and-white film noir
- Harry Helmsley (1909–1997), real estate mogul who built a company that became one of the biggest property holders in the United States, and his wife Leona Helmsley (1920-2007), in a mausoleum with a stained-glass panorama of the Manhattan skyline. Leona famously bequeathed $12 million to her dog.
- Raymond Mathewson Hood (1881–1934), architect
- Washington Irving (1783–1859), author of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle"
- George Jones (1811–1891), one of the founders of the New York Times
- Ann Lohman (1812–1878) a.k.a. Madame Restell, 19th century purveyor of patent medicine and abortions
- Darius Ogden Mills (1825–1910), made a fortune during California's gold rush and expanded his wealth further through New York City real estate
- Whitelaw Reid (1837–1912), journalist and editor of the New York Tribune, Vice Presidential candidate with Benjamin Harrison in 1892, defeated by Adlai E. Stevenson I; son-in-law of D.O. Mills
- William Rockefeller (1841–1922), New York head of the Standard Oil Company
- Francis Saltus Saltus (1849-1889), American decadent poet & bohemian
- Carl Schurz (1820–1906), senator, secretary of the interior under Rutherford B. Hayes. Carl Schurz Park in New York City bears his name.
- Joseph Urban (1872–1933), architect and theatre set designer
- Henry Villard (1835–1900), railroad baron
- Oswald Garrison Villard (1872–1949), son of Henry Villard and grandson of William Lloyd Garrison; one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- Worcester Reed Warner (1846–1929), mechanical engineer and manufacturer of telescopes
- Thomas J. Watson (1870–1955), transformed a small manufacturer of adding machines into IBM
- Hans Zinsser (1878–1940), microbiologist and a prolific author
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Historic Hudson Valley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Historic Hudson Valley logo
Historic Hudson Valley is a not-for-profit educational and historic preservation organization headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, in Westchester County. Its mission is "to celebrate the region’s history, architecture, landscape, and material culture, advancing its importance and thereby assuring its preservation." [1]
Historic Hudson Valley is Westchester County’s largest cultural and arts organization measured by size of audience, number of employees, operating budget, and endowment.
The organization owns or is connected to six historic sites open to the public, five of which are located in Westchester County and one in Dutchess County:
[edit] History of Historic Hudson Valley
Historic Hudson Valley was formally founded in 1951 as Sleepy Hollow Restorations by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. That year, the state of New York chartered SHR as a non-profit educational institution; HHV continues to operate under this same charter.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was deeply interested in preserving places of historic importance and provided the funding for the establishment of Colonial Williamsburg, among other projects. Close to his Hudson Valley country house were Sunnyside, the home of the celebrated writer Washington Irving, Philipsburg Manor, and Van Cortlandt Manor. He saw in all three the potential to educate the public about the history and culture of the Hudson River Valley and wished to assure their preservation and public access.
Rockefeller purchased Sunnyside in 1945 from the collateral descendants of Washington Irving and underwrote its restoration. In 1950, Rockefeller arranged for the transfer of title to Philipsburg Manor, which had been operated by the Historic Society of the Tarrytowns, to SHR, and in 1953, he acquired Van Cortlandt Manor and brought a team of historians and architects from Williamsburg to restore and refurnish it.
In 1984 the Rockefeller family arranged for Sleepy Hollow Restorations to acquire title to the Union Church of Pocantico Hills. (The church contains stained glass windows by Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall, given to it by members of the Rockefeller family.) In 1986, SHR acquired Montgomery Place in Dutchess County.
The purchase of Montgomery Place in 1986 was part of a strategy to expand the organization’s influence beyond Westchester County. This change in strategy was accompanied by a name change the following year to Historic Hudson Valley.
Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills, had been left to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the will of Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, who died in 1979. The property was leased from the National Trust by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In 1991, the RBF entered into a partnership with Historic Hudson Valley to operate a program of public tours, which started in 1994.
In 1992, Sleepy Hollow Restoration's IRS status changed from a private foundation to a public, not-for-profit organization.
[edit] Governing board
The organization is governed by a volunteer board of trustees and funds its operation through visitor admission and membership fees, annual fundraising, and an annual draw from its largely unrestricted endowment.
[edit] Educational mission
Historic Hudson Valley focuses its work on three key areas:
- Guided Tours
Tours at Van Cortlandt Manor, Philipsburg Manor, and Sunnyside use the third-person “living history” approach by interpreters in historic clothing supplemented by hands-on demonstrations of period work and leisure activities. The Union Church and Kykuit use a more traditional lecture/discussion approach. Montgomery Place is largely self-guided. At Van Cortlandt Manor, the themed-tours concentrate on interpreting lifestyles and history of the New Nation Period that immediately followed the American Revolution. Philipsburg Manor concentrates on telling the story of slavery in the colonial north. Sunnyside focuses on Washington Irving and the Romantic Movement in 19th-century literature, landscape, and architecture.
- Special Events
Special events focus on issues and ideas that are season-specific or that require a fuller programmatic rendering than is possible on the standard tour. Pinkster, for example, is a re-creation of the 18th-century African-Colonial festival of Pentecost through which visitors can explore African music, dance, foodways, and storytelling. The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze and Legend Weekend explore traditions linked to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and contemporary ways of observing the traditions of Halloween.
- School Programs
HHV offers a varied menu of school workshops developed with teachers and based on state curriculum requirements.
[edit] External links
Categories: Tarrytown, New York | History of New York
Philipsburg Manor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Philipsburg Manor is a historic house, water mill, and trading site located on US 9 in Sleepy Hollow, New York. It is now operated as a non-profit museum by Historic Hudson Valley; an admission fee is charged.
The manor dates from 1693 when Frederick Philipse of Yonkers was granted a charter for 52,000 acres (210 km²) along the Hudson River by William and Mary of England. He built Philipsburg Manor at the confluence of the Pocantico and Hudson Rivers, creating it as a provisioning plantation for the Atlantic sea trade and as headquarters for a world-wide shipping operation. For more than thirty years, Frederick and his son Adolph shipped hundreds of African men, women, and children as slaves across the Atlantic.
By the mid 18th century, the Philipse family had one of the largest slave-holdings in the colonial North. The manor was owned by an Anglo-Dutch family of merchants, tenanted by farmers of various European backgrounds, and operated by enslaved Africans. (In 1750, twenty-three enslaved men, women, and children lived and worked at the manor.)
Now a National Historic Landmark (as of 1961) [1][3][4], the farm features a stone manor house filled with a good collection of 17th-and 18th century period furnishings, a working water-powered grist mill and millpond, an 18th century barn, a slave garden, and a reconstructed tenant farm house. Costumed interpreters re-enact life in pre-Revolutionary times, doing chores, milking the cows, and grinding grain in the grist mill.
Although an English-deeded tract, some sources list Philipsburg Manor with the patroonships of New Netherland.
[edit] References
Van Cortlandt Manor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Van Cortlandt Manor is a house and property located by the confluence of the Croton and Hudson Rivers located in the village of Croton-On-Hudson in Westchester County, New York. The stone and brick manor house is now a National Historic Landmark. It is on Riverside Avenue.
Originally, it was an 86,000-acre (350 km²) tract granted as a Patent to Stephanus Van Cortlandt in 1697 by King William III. The manor house was built sometime before 1732 but was not any owner's principal residence until a grandson, Pierre Van Cortlandt, moved there in 1749. At that time the manor house was on a thousand-acre portion of the original tract. The house remained in Van Cortlandt family ownership until 1945. In 1953, John D. Rockefeller purchased it and began a restoration. The restored manor house was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1961.[1],[3],[4]
The house is not included in the area of Cortlandt Manor, New York.
[edit] References
Our County Seat - White Plains - Boom Town!
White Plains, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
City of White Plains is the county seat of Westchester County, New York. It is located in the south-central of Westchester, about 4 miles (6 km) east of the Hudson River and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northwest of Long Island Sound. It is bordered to the north by the town of North Castle, to the north and east by the town/village of Harrison, to the south by the town/village of Scarsdale and to the west by the town of Greenburgh. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,077, but a 2002 census estimate put the city's population at nearly 60,000 and subsequent residential development has raised this figure even higher. White Plains is one of the edge cities that have developed outside of New York City. The daytime weekday population is estimated at over 200,000[citation needed].
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
At the time of the Dutch settlement of Manhattan in the early 17th century, the region had been used as farmland by the Weckquaeskeck tribe, members of the Mohican nation and was called "Quarropas".[citation needed] To early traders it was known as "the White Plains", either from the groves of white balsam which are said to have covered it,[3] or from the heavy mist that local tradition suggests hovered over the swamplands near the Bronx River.[4] The first non-native settlement came in November, 1683, when a party of Connecticut Puritans moved westward from an earlier settlement in Rye and bought about 4,400 acres (17.8 km²), presumably from the Weckquaeskeck[citation needed]. However, one John Richbell of Mamaroneck, NY, claimed to have earlier title to much of the territory, he also having purchased a far larger plot extending 20 miles (32 km) inland, perhaps from a different tribe[citation needed]. The matter wasn't settled until 1721, when a Royal Patent for White Plains was granted by King George II[citation needed].
In 1758, White Plains became the seat of Westchester County when the colonial government for the county left West Chester, which was located in what is now the northern part of the borough of the Bronx, in New York City. The unincorporated village remained part of the Town of Rye until 1788, when the Town of White Plains was created.[4]
On July 9, 1776, a copy of the Declaration of Independence was delivered to the New York Provincial Congress, which was meeting in the county courthouse. The delegates quickly adopted a resolution approving the Declaration, thus declaring both the colony's independence and the formation of the State of New York. The Declaration itself was first publicly read from the steps of the courthouse on July 11.[4]
During September and October 1776, troops led by George Washington took up positions in the hills of the village, hotly pursued by the British under General Sir William Howe, who attacked on October 28[citation needed]. The Battle of White Plains took place primarily on Chatterton Hill, (later known as "Battle Hill," and located just west of what was then a swamp but which is now the downtown area) and the Bronx River. Howe's force of 4,000-6,000 British and Hessian soldiers required three attacks before the Continentals, numbering about 1,600 under the command of Generals Alexander McDougall and Israel Putnam, retreated, joining Washington's main force, which did not take part in the battle. Howe's forces had suffered 250 casualties, a severe loss, and he made no attempt to pursue the Continentals, whose casualties were about 125 dead and wounded. Three days after the battle Washington withdrew north of the village, which was then occupied by Howe's forces. But after several inconclusive skirmishes over the next week Howe withdrew on November 5, leaving White Plains to the Continentals.[4] Ironically, one of Washington's subordinates, Major John Austin, who was probably drunk after having celebrated the enemy's withdrawal, reentered the village with his detachment and proceeded to burn it down. Although he was court-martialed and convicted for this action he escaped punishment.[4]
The first United States Census, in 1790, listed the White Plains population at 505, of whom 46 were slaves[citation needed]. (New York City's population at that time was about 33,000.) By 1800, the population stood at 575 and in 1830, 830[citation needed]. By 1870, 26 years after the arrival of the New York Central Railroad, it had swelled to 2,630[4] and by 1890 to 4,508. In the decades that followed the count grew to 7,899 (1900) and 26,425 (1910).[3] White Plains was incorporated as a village in 1866 and as a city in 1916.
[edit] Modern history
Main Street in White Plains
The brand new Ritz Carlton
Early in the 20th century, White Plains' downtown area developed into a dominant suburban shopping district and featured branch stores of many famous New York-based department and specialty stores. Some of these retail locations were the first large scale suburban stores built in America, and ushered in the eventual post-World War II building boom[citation needed]. With the construction of the parkways and expressways in the 1940s and 1960s, White Plains' role as a destination retail location was only enhanced. Among some of these early stores were such storied names as B. Altman & Co., Rogers Peet, Saks Fifth Avenue, Alexander's, Macy's, Wallach's and a short-lived branch of Bergdorf Goodman, which was later converted to sister chain, Neiman Marcus, in 1981.
During the late 1960s, the city of White Plains developed an extensive urban renewal plan for residential, commercial and mixed-use redevelopment that effectively called for the demolition of its entire central business district from the Bronx River Parkway east to Mamaroneck Avenue. By 1978, the urban renewal program centered around the construction of the Westchester County Courthouse (1974), the Westchester One office building (1975), the Galleria at White Plains mall (1978), and a number of other office towers, retail centers and smaller commercial buildings[citation needed].
At the time of its construction, the Westchester One building was the largest office building between New York City and Albany, and east to Hartford[citation needed].
Beginning in the 1950s, many major corporations based in New York City relocated operations to White Plains and other nearby locations. These included General Foods, PepsiCo, Hitachi USA, IBM, Nestle, Snapple and Heineken USA. At the height of the 1980s at least 50 Fortune 500 corporations called Westchester County and nearby Fairfield County, CT home, but with the corporate mergers and downsizing of the 1990s many of these companies either reduced their operations in White Plains or left the area completely[citation needed].
Arts Exchange Building in the Downtown
At the Arts Exchange Building, the headquarters of the Westchester Arts Council, artists, emerging cultural organizations and new creative businesses are developing. Since March 1999, this community resource, which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has served as an artist's venue for exhibition and performance.
The construction of the Galleria at White Plains mall in the 1970s ushered in a new era of downtown retail and office development, but by the early 1990s, economic development had stagnated, hampered by a deep recession and the overbuilding of the commercial real estate markets. For a time, White Plains had the dubious distinction of having one of the highest office vacancy rates in the Northeast. Consolidation within the retail industry led to the closing of many of downtown's original department and specialty stores as well. After its bankruptcy, the B. Altman store closed in 1989 and was eventually demolished to make way for the massive upscale retail mall, The Westchester, which opened in 1995 with anchors Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. A freestanding branch of Macy's, one of downtown's original retail anchor stores, was relocated two blocks away to The Galleria mall by its parent company, Federated Department Stores, replacing the location of sister retailer, Abraham & Straus when these two store divisions were merged in 1995. In early 2002, the Saks Fifth Avenue location was also closed and demolished; it was replaced in 2004 with the large retail complex called The Source at White Plains, featuring the high-end jewelry and home goods store Fortunoff's, and local outlets of the upscale restaurants Morton's of Chicago, The Cheesecake Factory, and the gourmet supermarket chain Whole Foods Markets.
The City Center on Mamaroneck Ave.
Other major projects were completed in the late 1990s and early 2000s that have further altered the urban character of downtown White Plains. A new courthouse for the Southern District of New York was opened in 1998 and several large scale office properties in and near downtown, including the former General Foods headquarters building, were retrofitted and leased to accommodate smaller businesses[citation needed]. The Macy's store on Main Street remained vacant for several years until it was also later demolished to make way for the massive City Center White Plains complex[citation needed]. This large mixed-use development features two 35-story apartment and condominium towers, 600,000-square-foot (60,000 m²) of retail, restaurant and entertainment space and new parking facilities. Aside from the Arts Exchange building (which used to be a bank), another bank next to the City Center was renovated to become Zanaro's, a Westchester-award-winning Italian restaurant. City Center's opening in 2003 marked the beginning of a new downtown development renaissance, and with the improving economy and healthy office leasing activity, White Plains entered the new millennium as the leading retail and office center in Westchester County.
In 2005, construction began on a second large parcel in the downtown area. The project, dubbed Renaissance Square, will feature two residential and hotel towers, each 40 stories tall, featuring a luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel and more than 400 condominium units. The expected opening date of the first tower is early 2008.
Beginning in 2000, the city's permanent population experienced a growth spurt as additional apartment buildings were constructed. An infusion of urban professionals, drawn by the city's relatively moderate housing costs and close commuting distance to midtown Manhattan (35 minutes by express train) gave the city a cosmopolitan atmosphere. However, in large part because of its proximity to New York, the cost of living in White Plains, although lower than that of New York City itself, is by some measures among the highest in the world.[5]
[edit] Education
[edit] Public schools
The White Plains Public School System, [1] with a 2006 enrollment of over 6,000 pupils, maintains 5 elementary schools (grades K-5), 2 middle schools (6-8) and 1 high school (9-12), as well as auxiliary facilities including a pre-kindergarten program,[2] a community school (grades 7-12),[3] adult and continuing education,[4] and a program[5] for school-age patients at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, [6] which campus is located in the city.
Since 1988 the district has operated under a Controlled Parents' Choice Program[7] whereby the parents of elementary and middle school children can select the school which their child attends based on factors other than proximity to the school. (All public school children have the option of being bussed to the school that they attend.)
The five elementary schools, and to a lesser extent, the two middle schools, in addition to teaching core competencies, have different educational focuses including science & technology, communication arts and global understanding. The primary distinction between the two middle schools is the number of pupils enrolled. The smaller "Eastview" Campus has about 1/3 the amount of students as the "Highlands" campus. Also, in the smaller middle school, foreign language education begins in the sixth grade rather than in the eighth. This enables Eastview students to acquire a High School credit for their 3 years of study[citation needed].
White Plains High School located on a 72 acre campus and serves all public school students in grades 9-12.
The district is governed by a seven-member Board of Education, elected at-large for staggered three-year terms. A schools superintendent reports to the Board.
White Plains is also the home of the German School New York (GSNY), one of the only six German schools in the United States. With some 350 students the school provides education from kindergarten until 12th grade and makes it possible for German students to reach their Abitur (German High School Diploma) away from home.
[edit] Parochial schools
White Plains is home to a number of primary and secondary parochial schools, including:
[edit] Colleges and universities with locations in White Plains
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 53,077 people, 20,921 households, and 12,699 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,415.5 people per square mile (2,091.1/km²). There were 21,576 housing units at an average density of 2,201.4/sq mi (850.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 64.93% White, 15.91% African American, 4.50% Asian, 0.34% Native American, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 10.37% from other races, and 3.88% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.51% of the population.
There were 20,921 households out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.3% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 32.5% from 25 to 44, 23.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $58,545, and the median income for a family was $71,891. Males had a median income of $47,742 versus $36,917 for females. The per capita income for the city was $33,825. About 6.5% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.2% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Transportation
Westchester County Airport serves the city.
Two Metro-North Railroad stations serve the city; the North White Plains (Metro-North station) and the White Plains (Metro-North station) downtown at Main Street and the Bronx River. The Bronx River Parkway is the main north-south highway, and has a bikeway running south to Bronxville.
Interstate Highway 287 is the main east-west highway through White Plains. Current highway works include pedestrian walkways over the highway, an extra lane on either side, and on/off ramps to help motor traffic and pedestrians. Vegetation removals have upset some of the community and it is reported that the area will be fixed and trees will be replanted when work on the highway comes to an end.
[edit] Historic sites
- White Plains Armory [9] (1910), erected on the site of the first Westchester County Courthouse. A monument in front of the building commemorates the first public reading in New York of the Declaration of Independence, on July 11, 1776.
- White Plains Rural Cemetery [10] (incorporated 1854, although in use as a cemetery from 1797). The cemetery office occupies the structure that was the first Methodist Church in White Plains (1795, rebuilt in 1797 after a fire on the day of its original dedication).
- Percy Grainger Home, [11] occupied by the composer from 1921 until his death in 1961, and by his widow, Ella Ström-Brandelius, until her death in 1979. It is now maintained as a museum by the International Percy Grainger Society. [12]
[edit] Jacob Purdy House
It was used as General George Washington's headquarters in 1778 and possibly in 1776 during the Battle of White Plains of the American Revolutionary War. Constructed prior to 1730, in the 1960s it was repaired and restored, and in 1973 the structure was moved to its present location. It is now the headquarters of the White Plains Historical Society[6].
A National Register Historic Places plaque commemorates the dates of George Washington's occupancy.[7] The house came into the possession of Jacob Purdy about 1785[6].
See also Washington's Headquarters for other locations used by George Washington as headquarters.
[edit] White Plains Historical Society
[edit] History
The White Plains Historical Society traces its genesis to the Battle of White Plains Monument Committee[8]. Beginning in the fall of 1959, this committee began working to erect a 300 foot high stone obelisk on Chatterton Hill to commemorate the battle which took place there between British and American armies on October 28, 1776. Due to the $400,000-$600,000 price tag, the monument was never built, however the Monument Committee found another mission in 1963 when it purchased the historic Jacob Purdy House, set to be demolished by the City of White Plains Urban Renewal Agency. This 1721 wood frame structure had been documented as George Washington’s Headquarters both during the Battle of White Plains in 1776 and later in 1778. The Monument Committee repaired the house, which was moved in 1973 to its current location on Park Avenue, at the top of Purdy Hill. On April 31, 1979, the House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1985, the Battle of White Plains Monument Committee officially changed its name and incorporated as the White Plains Historical Society. The purpose of the Society is the discovery, preservation and dissemination of knowledge about the history, past and present, of the City of White Plains, New York.
[edit] Present
Society membership is open to the public upon the paying of annual dues, and Trustee Meetings are held on the second Monday of every month at the Jacob Purdy House (except August). An annual dinner is hosted in early May and regularly features prominent historical authors, as well as the annual awarding of the Society’s "Citizen Extraordinaire". The Society also holds annual commemorations for the Battle of White Plains and Washington’s Birthday at the Jacob Purdy House[9].
It also gets involucrated on housing decisions on White Plains[10].
[edit] Notable residents
- John Jay (1745-1829), 1st Chief Justice of the United States, 2nd Governor of New York, buried in Rye.
- Percy Grainger (1882-1961), Australian-born U.S. composer, pianist and conductor.
- Garrick Ohlsson, the internationally acclaimed concert pianist, was raised in White Plains.
- Jonathan Larson (1960-1996), the writer of the musical Rent, attended White Plains High School.
- Danger Mouse, a DJ and one half of Gnarls Barkley, was born in White Plains.
- Tupac Shakur, briefly attended White Plains High School
- Alan Alda (born Alfonso Joseph D'Abruzzo) attended Archbishop Stepinac High School.
- Andrew S. Tanenbaum, computer scientist and professor, was raised in White Plains[11].
- Matisyahu, American Jewish reggae artist, was raised in White Plains.
- Ralph Waite, actor who played John Walton in "The Waltons" television series, born in White Plains.
- Art Monk, NFL wide receiver, was raised in White Plains and graduated from White Plains High School.
- Dan Duryea (1907-1968), actor, was born in White Plains
- Bob Hyland, NFL lineman, born and raised in White Plains and graduated from Archbishop Stepinac High Schoolin 1963.
- Channing Frye, NBA forward, was born in White Plains.
- Joseph Campbell, Author and expert on myth and legend, born and raised in White Plains.
- J.C. Penney, the department-store magnate, lived in White Plains from the 1920s until the mid-1950s.
- Leon Davidson, engineer, lived in White Plains and is buried there.
- A.J. Hammer (born Andrew Goldberg), TV personality, is a 1984 graduate of White Plains High School.
- Vanessa Rousso, a professional poker player, was born in White Plains.
- Jackson Davis, founder of charity organization, Protect A Paw.
- Gordon Parks, Jr., African-American film director best known for directing the film Super Fly, and son of famous photographer Gordon Parks Sr. attended White Plains High School.
- David Sanger, New York Times White House correspondent and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Graduated White Plains High School in 1978.
- Julianna Rose Mauriello, actress known for portraying the character Stephanie on the children's TV show LazyTown.
- Eddy Curry, NBA Player, for the New York Knicks.
- David Lee (basketball), NBA Player, for the New York Knicks.
- Sir Lorenz Oberhauser, Famous business person and knighted by the king of his home country[citation needed]
- Artem, National Junior Honors Society Member, Post Road School student and Eastview Student[citation needed]
- ^ a b American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ US Board on Geographic Names. United States Geological Survey (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ a b Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition (1911), Volume XXVIII, p. 607.
- ^ a b c d e f Hoffman, Redona. Yesterday in White Plains, a Picture History of a Vanished Era, Second Edition, Privately Published, 1984. Available from the White Plains, NY Public Library and other sources.
- ^ Top 50 cities - World - smh.com.au
- ^ a b Jacob Purdy House web site
- ^ whiteplainshistory.org
- ^ White Plains CitizeNetReporter: "City Recognizes Passing of Its Historian, Renoda Hoffman", January 6, 2005, retrieved on March 20, 2008
- ^ White Plains Times: City Celebrates Washington's Birthday And Its Own Role in Nation's Birth, February 21, 2008, retrieved March 20, 2008
- ^ White Plains CitizeNetReporter: Legislator Ryan asks for and gets postponement of consideration of County purchase of Woodcrest Heights forest, March 1, 2000, retrieved March 20, 2008
- ^ Andrew S. Tanenbaum's FAQ, hosted at Vrije_Universiteit
[edit] External links
Harrison, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harrison is a town/village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 24,154 at the 2000 census. The village is coterminous with the town of the same name, and has a consolidated town/village government.
[edit] Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 17.4 square miles (45.0 km²), of which, 16.8 square miles (43.6 km²) of it is land and 0.6 square miles (1.5 km²) of it (3.22%) is water.
The distance from Harrison Station to Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan is about 27 miles.
Harrison is bordered by White Plains, Rye, and Mamaroneck. The New England Thruway (I-95) runs through the town (without any interchanges) as well as the Cross Westchester Expressway (I-287) and the Hutchinson River Parkway. In addition, I-684 passes through Harrison and ends at the Cross Westchester Expressway and the Hutchinson River Parkway.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 24,154 people, 8,394 households, and 6,186 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,435.2 people per square mile (554.1/km²). There were 8,680 housing units at an average density of 515.8/sq mi (199.1/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 89.78% White, 1.43% Black or African American, 0.09% Native American, 5.44% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.59% from other races, and 1.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.70% of the population.
There were 8,394 households out of which 35.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.4% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.3% were non-families. 22.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.20.
In the village the population was spread out with 24.5% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.2 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $80,738, and the median income for a family was $98,167. Males had a median income of $63,871 versus $41,581 for females. The per capita income for the village was $49,652. About 4.2% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.3% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.
Harrison is also known for its larger Italian American population in the area, at around 40%.[citation needed]
The first European inhabitants of Harrison were most likely Quakers who settled in Purchase. Since then various religious communities have come to call Harrison home. Catholics worship either at St. Gregory the Great Church [1] in Harrison or St. Anthony of Padua Church in West Harrison; Orthodox Christians at the Greek Orthodox Church of Our Savior[2]; and Episcopalians at All Saints Church in Harrison. Presbyterians also have a church in Harrison; as well as Jews who gather at the Young Israel of Harrison or Harrison Jewish Community Center.
[edit] History
- According to a local legend, in 1695 John Harrison was given 24 hours to ride his horse around an area which would become his. Though this is up for debate, the town gets its name from him.
- The Horton Grist Mill was built, off today's Lake St. in West Harrison, sometime before the Revolutionary War.
- Merritt's Hill (on Lake St.) in West Harrison was the site of a battle during the Revolutionary War.
- On March 7, 1788, by an act of the New York State government, Harrison's Purchase became the Town of Harrison.
- In 1848, the railroad began to carry passengers from Manhattan to Connecticut passing through what is downtown Harrison. Harrisonites had to flag down the train to get a ride. The station was built in 1870.
- In 1867 Benjamin Holladay purchased the land that is now Manhattanville College in Purchase. On the property is a Norman style Roman Catholic chapel built for his wife. There is also Reid castle, once called the Ophir House, before renamed for a later purchaser. The castle would host the King and Queen of Siam in the early 1930s.
[edit] Villages and areas within the town of Harrison
- West Harrison is the more village section of Harrison. It contains the Passidomo Veterans Memorial Park and Pool and the Leo Mintzer Center. West Harrison also contains the battle ground from Battle of White Plains from the Revolutionary War[2]. Silver Lake is also the home of the notorious haunted road Buckout Road, where it is said to have been a home of witches, albinos and slaughters.[3]
[edit] Notable people, past and present
- Peter Chernin, president of News Corporation
- Kenneth Cole, fashion designer; resides in the Purchase sub-section of Harrison.
- Amelia Earhardt, pioneer aviatrix; lived in Harrison near Rye border.
- Ralph Friedgen, head coach of the University of Maryland football team, is a native of Harrison.
- Larry Johnson, retired professional basketball player.
- Bobby Jordan, Dead End Kids actor; born and spent early childhood in Harrison.
- Nita Lowey, U.S. Representative from New York; resides in Harrison.
- John Mara, CEO and co-owner of the NFL New York Giants.
- Stephon Marbury, professional basketball player.
- Mariano Rivera, relief pitcher for the New York Yankees lives in Harrison during the baseball season.
- Babe Ruth, hall of fame baseball player, owned a house on Westchester Country Club grounds and frequently played golf there.
- Latrell Sprewell, former professional basketball player.
- John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch.
- Isiah Thomas, head coach and general manager for the NBA's New York Knicks.
- Joe Torre, former manager of the New York Yankees; resides in Harrison.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Hudson Valley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the magazine, see Hudson Valley (magazine).
Historically a cradle of European settlement in the northeastern United States and a strategic battleground in colonial wars, it now consists of suburbs of the metropolitan area of New York City at its southern end, shading into rural territory, including "exurbs," farther north.
Geographically, the Hudson Valley could refer to all areas along the Hudson River, including Bergen County, New Jersey. However, this definition is not commonly used and the Tappan Zee Bridge is often considered the southern limit of the area. Though Westchester County is often classified as part of the region, Westchester residents who live at the southern end of the county (and especially the parts closer to the Long Island Sound than the Hudson River) generally do not associate themselves with the region. Including all of Westchester County in the definition of the region would seem unusual to many and seem like something one might only read in a travel guide. In fact, there is a road sign on the New York State Thruway in Yonkers that suggests that the "Hudson Valley region" is located somewhere further to the north and west along the Thruway.
[edit] History
At the time of the arrival of the first Europeans in the 17th century, the area of Hudson Valley was inhabited primarily by the Algonquian-speaking Mahican Native American people.
The first Dutch settlement was in the 1610s with the establishment of Fort Nassau, a trading post (factorij) south of modern-day Albany, with the purpose of exchanging European goods for beaver pelts. Fort Nassau was later replaced by Fort Orange. During the rest of the 1600s, the Hudson Valley formed the heart of the New Netherland colony operations, with the New Amsterdam settlement on Manhattan serving as a post for supplies and defense of the upriver operations.
During the French and Indian War in the 1750s, the northern end of the valley became the bulwark of the British defense against French invasion from Canada via Lake Champlain.
The valley became one of the major regions of conflict during the American Revolution. Part of the early strategy of the British was to sever the colonies in two by maintaining control of the river.
In the early 1800s, popularized by the stories of Washington Irving, the Hudson Valley gained a reputation as a somewhat gothic region inhabited by the remnants of the early days of the Dutch colonization of New York (see, e.g., The Legend of Sleepy Hollow).
Following the building of the Erie Canal, the area became an important industrial center and remained so until the mid 20th century, when many of the industrial towns went into decline.
The Catskills seen from across the river.
It also was the location of the estates of many wealthy New York industrialists, such as John D. Rockefeller and Frederick William Vanderbilt, and of old-moneyed tycoons such as Franklin Roosevelt, who was a descendant of one the early Dutch families in the region.
The area is associated with the Hudson River School, a group of American Romantic painters who worked from about 1830 to 1870.
The natural beauty of the Hudson Valley earned the Hudson River the nickname America's Rhine, the natural beauty of the Hudson Valley being compared to that of the famous 40 mile (65 km) stretch of Germany's Rhine River valley between the cities of Bingen and Koblenz. Similarly, a 30-mile (48 km) stretch of the east bank in Dutchess and Columbia counties has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
[edit] Geology and physiography
The Hudson Valley is a physiographic section of the larger Valley And Ridge province, which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian physiographic division.[1]
[edit] Pollution and urban sprawl
Due to the decrease in industry within New York State over the past 40 to 50 years, parts of the Hudson Valley have seen economic decline and unemployment to a greater degree than other areas in the state. Still seen in the Valley today are abandoned factories and old buildings that are remnants of a once thriving region that included upscale theaters, lavish homes, resort-hotels, and health spas. The numerous factories that at one time lined the Hudson River poured garbage and industrial waste directly into the river. This pollution was not assessed in a comprehensive fashion until the 1970s. By that time, the largest company still operating factories in the area was General Electric, which became primarily responsible for cleaning the Hudson River. As of 2006, after decades of litigation, GE was still in the process of complying with government cleanup directives. Though swimming was banned in parts of the river in the early 1960s, the pollution has been steadily declining and, as a result, some municipalities have begun to allow people to swim in it again.
The crowding and high cost of living associated with the New York metropolitan area and its adjacent suburbs has led increasing numbers of people to move from these densely populated areas to the Hudson Valley, including parts as far north as greater Poughkeepsie, and commute into New York City to work. This demand for housing has resulted in increased residential development, and a significant increase in housing costs in the lower- and mid-Hudson Valley regions. Along with this residential development has come commercial development such as shopping malls, and other landmarks of suburbia and urban sprawl. Many long-time residents have reacted to this by forming environmental and preservationist groups dedicated to stopping further development.
While parts of the Valley today struggle with crime and poverty, other parts contain some of the wealthiest and safest communities in the nation (see, e.g., communities discussed in articles on Westchester and Putnam Counties). The overall effect of decreased industrialization and increased residential development has been a transformation of the region, especially in the lower- and mid-Hudson Valley, to an exurb struggling to balance the competing demands of maintaining the area's rural character with the conveniences and services of suburban living.

[edit] Sports
The Hudson Valley Renegades are a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Tampa Bay Rays. The team is a member of the New York - Penn League, a league that is of Class A-short season. The Renegades play at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls.
The Hudson Valley Hawks is a team in the newly formed National Professional Basketball League (NPBL). The team's home court is at Beacon High School, in Beacon.
[edit] Regions
The Hudson Valley is divided into three regions: Lower, Middle and Upper. The following is a list of the counties within the Hudson Valley sorted by region.
Lower Hudson
Mid-Hudson
Upper Hudson
[edit] Cities and Towns
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Yorktown, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yorktown is a town in Westchester County, New York, in the suburbs of New York City about 38 miles north of midtown Manhattan. The town lies on the north border of Westchester county. The population was 36,318 at the 2000 census.
[edit] History
The Town of Yorktown has a rich historical heritage beginning with the earliest known inhabitants — Mohegan, Osceola, Amawalk, Kitchawan and Mohansic — all familiar names of local places. The Mohegans of the Algonquin Nation lived within the present-day boundary of Yorktown.
In 1788, the township was officially incorporated as Yorktown, commemorating the decisive Revolutionary War Battle of Yorktown near Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781.
Returning from the battle of Yorktown, the French Army camped at the current site of Yorktown's French Hill Elementary School, where cannonballs and other materials have been found. Although rumors hold that George Washington passed through Yorktown, no factual records confirm this.
During the town's bicentennial in 1988, Yorktowners took stock of their historic heritage including that of the 19th and 20th centuries and commemorated their community's participation in events that led up to the birth and growth of the United States. A Bicentennial Committee reviewed the Town's still remaining historic sites and determined which were to be preserved as a reminder of that past and a link between the Yorktown of yesterday and the Yorktown of tomorrow.
[edit] Geography
The north town line is the border of Putnam County, New York. The town of Somers borders Yorktown on the east and Cortlandt borders Yorktown on the west. New Castle borders Yorktown on the south.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 39.3 square miles (101.7 km²), of which, 36.7 square miles (95.1 km²) of it is land and 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²) of it (6.57%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 36,318 people, 12,556 households, and 9,831 families residing in the town. The population density was 989.7 people per square mile (382.1/km²). There were 12,852 housing units at an average density of 350.2/sq mi (135.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 90.64% White, 3.04% African American, 0.14% Native American, 3.44% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.30% from other races, and 1.43% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.82% of the population.
There were 12,556 households out of which 40.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.1% were married couples living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.7% were non-families. 19.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.83 and the average family size was 3.26.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.9 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $83,819, and the median income for a family was $94,984. Males had a median income of $62,071 versus $43,899 for females. The per capita income for the town was $33,570. About 1.9% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.3% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Additional facts about Yorktown
The Jefferson Valley Mall, in the hamlet of Jefferson Valley, is home to approximately 90 stores, including Sears, Macy*s, H&M, Aeropostale, Hollister, Gamestop and Foot Locker. The food court includes Burger King and Subway. The mall opened in 1987.
Yorktown Heights is home to the Guiding Eyes For The Blind headquarters, located on Granite Springs Road. Yorktown is also the home of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, designed by the well-known Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen. It hosts the yearly Greasestock festival at the 18th century history landmark Peter Pratt's Inn, a showcase of alternative fuel vehicles.[3][4][5][6] [7]
Yorktown once had five stations along the New York and Putnam Railroad — Kitchawan, Croton Lake, Croton Heights, Yorktown Heights and Amawalk. The railroad failed, was purchased by the New York Central, and finally abandoned. The old right of way is now part of North County Trailway which runs North as far as Carmel, NY. (see original station.) There is currently no rail service in Yorktown, but the stations of Croton-Harmon, Mount Kisco, Pleasantville or Cortlandt are 15-20 minutes away.
[edit] Notable residents of Yorktown
[edit] Communities and locations in Yorktown
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Corporations Based in Westchester County
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Combe Incorporated
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Combe Incorporated, based in White Plains, New York, is a privately owned personal-care company founded in 1949 by Ivan Combe. It is best known for its Odor Eaters line of foot-care products. Combe also owns the brands Just for Men, Lanacane, Scalpicin, Vagisil, and Grecian Formula.
Combe was the originator of the Clearasil brand but sold the rights to it in 1961.
In October 2002, Combe acquired J.B. Williams, thereby adding such longtime names as Brylcreem and Cepacol to its brand stable.
Local Government Information Site
IBM
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| International Business Machines Corporation |
|
| Type |
Public (NYSE: IBM) |
| Founded |
1889, incorporated 1911 |
| Headquarters |
Armonk, New York, USA |
| Key people |
Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman & CEO
Mark Loughridge SVP & CFO
Dan Fortin, President (Canada)
Frank Kern, President (Asia Pacific)
Nick Donofrio, EVP (Innovation & Technology)
Bruno Di Leo, President IOT Northeast Europe
Dominique Cerutti, President IOT Southwest Europe |
| Industry |
Computer hardware
Computer software
Consulting
IT Services |
| Products |
See products listing |
| Revenue |
? $98.8 billion USD (+4% FY '07 to '08) |
| Net income |
? $10.8 billion USD (+18% FY '07 to '08) |
| Employees |
386,558 (2007) |
| Subsidiaries |
ADSTAR
FileNet
Informix
Iris Associates
Lotus Software
Rational Software
Sequent Computer Systems
Tivoli Systems, Inc. |
| Website |
www.ibm.com |
Entrance to IBM's secure headquarters complex in Armonk
International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue," NYSE: IBM, is a multinational computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.[1]
IBM has been known through most of its recent history as the world's largest computer company; with over 388,000 employees worldwide, IBM is the largest information technology employer in the world. Despite falling behind Hewlett-Packard in total revenue since 2006, it remains the most profitable. IBM holds more patents than any other U.S. based technology company.[2] It has engineers and consultants in over 170 countries and IBM Research has eight laboratories worldwide.[3] IBM employees have earned three Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, five National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science.[4] As a chip maker, IBM has been among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders in past years, and in 2007 IBM ranked second in the list of largest software companies in the world.[5]
[edit] History
-
Main article: History of IBM
- See also: Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) and Herman Hollerith
- See also: List of IBM products
The company which became IBM was founded in 1896 as the Tabulating Machine Company[6] by Herman Hollerith, in Broome County, New York (Endicott, New York, Where it still maintains very limited operations). It was incorporated as Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) on June 16, 1911, and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916. IBM adopted its current name in 1924, when it became a Fortune 500 company.
The author Edwin Black has alleged that, during World War II, IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson used overseas subsidiaries to provide the Third Reich with unit record data processing machines, supplies and services that helped the Nazis to efficiently track down European Jews, with sizable profits for the company. IBM denies that they had control over these subsidiaries after the Nazis took control of them. A lawsuit against IBM based on these allegations was dismissed. It should also be noted that in support of the War effort in WWII from 1943 to the end of the War IBM produced approximately 346,500 M1 Carbine (Caliber .30 carbine) light rifles for the U.S. Military[7]
In the 1950s, IBM became the dominant vendor in the emerging computer industry with the release of the IBM 701 and other models in the IBM 700/7000 series of mainframes. The company's dominance became even more pronounced in the 1960s and 1970s with the IBM System/360 and IBM System/370 mainframes, however antitrust actions by the United States Department of Justice, the rise of minicomputer companies like Digital Equipment Corporation and Data General, and the introduction of the microprocessor all contributed to dilution of IBM's position in the industry, eventually leading the company to diversify into other areas including personal computers, software, and services.
In 1981 IBM introduced the IBM Personal Computer which is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. Descendants of the IBM PC compatibles make up the majority of microcomputers on the market today, though IBM sold its PC division to the Chinese company Lenovo on May 1, 2005 for $655 million in cash and $600 million in Lenovo stock.
On January 25, 2007, Ricoh announced purchase of IBM Printing Systems Division for $725 million and investment in 3-year joint venture to form a new Ricoh subsidiary, InfoPrint Solutions Company; Ricoh will own a 51% share, and IBM will own a 49% share in InfoPrint.
[edit] Current projects
[edit] Eclipse
-
Eclipse is a platform-independent, Java-based software framework. Eclipse was originally a proprietary product developed by IBM as a successor of the VisualAge family of tools. Eclipse has subsequently been released as free/open source software under the Eclipse Public License.
[edit] developerWorks
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Main article: developerWorks
developerWorks is a website run by IBM for software developers and IT professionals. It contains a large number of how-to articles and tutorials, as well as software downloads and code samples, discussion forums, podcasts, blogs, wikis, and other resources for developers and technical professionals. Subjects range from open, industry-standard technologies like Java, Linux, SOA and web services, web development, Ajax, PHP, and XML to IBM's products (WebSphere, Rational, Lotus, Tivoli and DB2). In 2007 developerWorks was inducted into the Jolt Hall of Fame.[8]
[edit] alphaWorks
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alphaWorks is IBM's source for emerging software technologies. These technologies include:
- Flexible Internet Evaluation Report Architecture - A highly flexible architecture for the design, display, and reporting of Internet surveys.
- IBM History Flow Visualization Application - A tool for visualizing dynamic, evolving documents and the interactions of multiple collaborating authors.
- IBM Linux on POWER Performance Simulator - A tool that provides users of Linux on Power a set of performance models for IBM's POWER processors.
- Database File Archive And Restoration Management - An application for archiving and restoring hard disk files using file references stored in a database.
- Policy Management for Autonomic Computing - A policy-based autonomic management infrastructure that simplifies the automation of IT and business processes.
- FairUCE - A spam filter that verifies sender identity instead of filtering content.
- Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) SDK - A Java SDK that supports the implementation, composition, and deployment of applications working with unstructured information.
- Accessibility Browser - A web-browser specifically designed to assist people with visual impairments, to be released as open-source software. Also known as the "A-Browser," the technology will aim to eliminate the need for a mouse, relying instead completely on voice-controls, buttons and predefined shortcut keys.
[edit] Semiconductor design and manufacturing
Virtually all modern console gaming systems use microprocessors developed by IBM. The Xbox 360 contains the Xenon tri-core processor, which was designed and produced by IBM in less than 24 months.[9] Sony's PlayStation 3 features the Cell BE microprocessor designed jointly by IBM, Toshiba, and Sony. Nintendo's seventh-generation console, Wii, features an IBM chip codenamed Broadway. The older Nintendo GameCube also utilizes the Gekko processor, designed by IBM.
In May 2002, IBM and Butterfly.net, Inc. announced the Butterfly Grid, a commercial grid for the online video gaming market.[10] In March 2006, IBM announced separate agreements with Hoplon Infotainment, Online Game Services Incorporated (OGSI), and RenderRocket to provide on-demand content management and blade server computing resources.[11]
[edit] Open Client Offering
IBM announced it will launch its new software, called "Open Client Offering" which is to run on Microsoft's Windows, Linux and Apple's Macintosh. The company states that its new product allows businesses to offer employees a choice of using the same software on Windows and its alternatives. This means that "Open Client Offering" is to cut costs of managing whether Linux or Apple relative to Windows. There will be no necessity for companies to pay Microsoft for its licenses for operations since the operations will no longer rely on software which is Windows-based. One of Microsoft's office alternatives is the Open Document Format software, whose development IBM supports. It is going to be used for several tasks like: word processing, presentations, along with collaboration with Lotus Notes, instant messaging and blog tools as well as an Internet Explorer competitor – the Firefox web browser. IBM plans to install Open Client on 5 percent of its desktop PCs.
[edit] UC2: Unified Communications and Collaboration
UC2 (Unified Communications and Collaboration) is an IBM and Cisco joint project based on Eclipse and OSGi. It will offer the numerous Eclipse application developers a unified platform for an easier work environment.
The software based on UC2 platform will provide major enterprises with easy-to-use communication solutions, such as the Lotus based Sametime. In the future the Sametime users will benefit from such additional functions as click-to-call and voice mailing.[12]
[edit] Internal programs
Extreme Blue is a company initiative that uses experienced IBM engineers, talented interns, and business managers to develop high-value technology. The project is designed to analyze emerging business needs and the technologies that can solve them. These projects mostly involve rapid-prototyping of high-profile software and hardware projects.
In May 2007, IBM unveiled Project Big Green -- a re-direction of $1 billion per year across its businesses to increase energy efficiency.
[edit] IBM Software Group
This group is one of the major divisions of IBM. The various brands include:
- Information Management Software — database servers and tools, text analytics, content management, business process management and business intelligence.
- Lotus Software — Groupware, collaboration and business software. Acquired in 1995.
- Rational Software — Software development and application lifecycle management. Acquired in 2002.
- Tivoli Software — Systems management. Acquired in 1996.
- WebSphere — Integration and application infrastructure software.
[edit] Environmental Record
IBM has a long history of dealing with its environmental problems. It established a corporate policy on environmental protection in 1971, with the support of a comprehensive global environmental management system. According to IBM’s stats, its total hazardous waste decreased by 44 percent over the past five years, and has decreased by 94.6 percent since 1987. IBM's total hazardous waste calculation consists of waste from both non-manufacturing and manufacturing operations. Waste from manufacturing operations includes waste recycled in closed-loop systems where process chemicals are recovered and for subsequent reuse, rather than just disposing and using new chemical materials. Over the years, IBM has redesigned processes to eliminate almost all closed loop recycling and now uses more environmental-friendly materials in their place.[13]
IBM was recognized as one of the "Top 20 Best Workplaces for Commuters" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2005. This was to recognize the Fortune 500 companies that provided their employees with excellent commuter benefits that helped reduce traffic and air pollution.[14]
However, the birthplace of IBM, Endicott, suffered IBM's pollution for decades. IBM used liquid cleaning agents in its circuit board assembly operation for more than two decades, and six spills and leaks incidents were recorded, including one recorded 1979 leak of 4,100 gallons from an underground tank. These left behind volatile organic compounds in the town's soil and aquifer. Trace elements of volatile organic compounds have been identified in the Endicott’s drinking water, but the levels are within regulatory limits. Also, from 1980, IBM has pumped out 78,000 gallons of chemicals, including trichloroethane, Freon, benzene and perchloroethene to the air and allegedly caused several cancer cases among the villagers. IBM Endicott has been identified by the Department of Environmental Conservation as the major source of pollution, though traces of contaminants from a local dry cleaner and other polluters were also found. Despite the amount of pollutant, state health officials cannot say whether air or water pollution in Endicott has actually caused any health problems. Village officials say tests show that the water is safe to drink.[15]
[edit] Corporate culture of IBM
Big Blue is a nickname for IBM; several theories exist regarding its origin. One theory, substantiated by people who worked for IBM at the time, is that IBM field reps coined the term in the 1960s, referring to the color of the mainframes IBM installed in the 1960s and early 1970s. "All blue" was a term used to describe a loyal IBM customer, and business writers later picked up the term.[16][17] Another theory suggests that Big Blue simply refers to the Company's logo. A third theory suggests that Big Blue refers to a former company dress code that required many IBM employees to wear only white shirts and many wore blue suits.[18][16] In any event, IBM keyboards, typewriters, and some other manufactured devices, have played on the "Big Blue" concept, using the color for enter keys and carriage returns.
IBM has often been described as having a sales-centric or a sales-oriented business culture. Traditionally, many IBM executives and general managers are chosen from the sales force. The current CEO, Sam Palmisano, for example, joined the company as a salesman and, unusually for CEOs of major corporations, has no MBA or postgraduate qualification. Middle and top management are often enlisted to give direct support to salesmen when pitching sales to important customers.
[edit] The uniform
A dark (or gray) suit, white shirt, and a "sincere" tie[19] was the public uniform for IBM employees for most of the 20th Century. During IBM's management transformation in the 1990s, CEO Lou Gerstner relaxed these codes, normalizing the dress and behavior of IBM employees to resemble their counterparts in other large technology companies.
[edit] IBM company values and "Jam"
In 2003, IBM embarked on an ambitious project to rewrite company values. Using its Jam technology, the company hosted Intranet-based online discussions on key business issues with 50,000 employees over 3 days. The discussions were analyzed by sophisticated text analysis software (eClassifier) to mine online comments for themes. As a result of the 2003 Jam, the company values were updated to reflect three modern business, marketplace and employee views: "Dedication to every client's success", "Innovation that matters - for our company and for the world", "Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships".[20]
In 2004, another Jam was conducted during which 52,000 employees exchanged best practices for 72 hours. They focused on finding actionable ideas to support implementation of the values previously identified. A new post-Jam Ratings event was developed to allow IBMers to select key ideas that support the values. The board of directors cited this Jam when awarding Palmisano a pay rise in the spring of 2005.[21]
In July and September 2006, Palmisano launched another jam called InnovationJam. InnovationJam was the largest online brainstorming session ever with more than 150,000 participants from 104 countries. The participants were IBM employees, members of IBM employees' families, universities, partners, and customers. InnovationJam was divided in two sessions (one in July and one in September) for 72 hours each and generated more than 46,000 ideas. In November 2006, IBM declared that they will invest $US 100 million in the 10 best ideas from InnovationJam.[22]
[edit] Open source
IBM has been influenced by the Open Source Initiative, and began supporting Linux in 1998.[23] The company invests billions of dollars in services and software based on Linux through the IBM Linux Technology Center, which includes over 300 Linux kernel developers.[24] IBM has also released code under different open-source licenses, such as the platform-independent software framework Eclipse (worth approximately US$40 million at the time of the donation)[25] and the Java-based relational database management system (RDBMS) Apache Derby. IBM's open source involvement has not been trouble-free, however (see SCO v. IBM).
[edit] Project Management Center of Excellence
The IBM Project Management Center of Excellence (PM COE) is a program dedicated to defining and executing the steps IBM must take to strengthen its project management capabilities. Functioning as IBM's think tank, the PM COE combines external industry trends and directions with IBM business, organizational, and geographic requirements and insight. Upon this foundation deliverables (such as project management policy, practices, methods, and tools) are developed.
All IBM Project Managers (PMs) on the Project Management track (dimension) must complete either accreditation or IBM certification. Junior PMs (Associate PM and Advisory PM) are accredited after self-assessment and authorization from supervisors. Senior PMs (Senior PM and Executive PM) must go through a stringent IBM certification process. By validating project managers' expertise and skills against consistent worldwide standards, certification helps maintain customer confidence in the high quality of IBM professionals and it recognizes IBM professionals for their skills and experience.
Becoming certified is public recognition of achieving a significant career milestone and demonstrating expertise in the profession. Prior to applying for IBM certification each individual must have:
- successfully passed PMI exam (i.e. be a certified PMP).
- verifiable documentation and approval for mastery/expertise in a well-defined set of PM skills.
- several years of PM experience spanning at least 3 verifiable projects within the immediate 5 years (including specific role, team size, and budget requirements).
- verifiable documentation and proof of at least one area of specialty.
- demonstrated the use of IBM's Worldwide Project Management Method (WWPMM).
- completed extensive classroom and online education and testing.
IBM PM Certification is a well-defined review and verification process with many intricate details. In its most simplified form, it broadly involves:
- Candidate preparing a detailed package with proof of above requirements.
- Package review, approval, and support by at least two levels of Senior Management.
- Package review and re-verification by PM COE expert.
- Personal interviews with the PM COE Certification board.
- Candidates whose experience, skills, knowledge and education are deemed valid, verifiable and accurate, are certified by the board as either Certified Senior Project Manager (CSPM) or Certified Executive Project Manager (CEPM).
IBM PM Certification is a significant achievement for any IBMer. It is a deliberately long process with multiple checkpoints designed to ensure the integrity, fairness and validity of the certification.
[edit] Corporate affairs
[edit] Diversity and workforce issues
IBM's efforts to promote workforce diversity and equal opportunity date back at least to World War I, when the company hired disabled veterans. IBM was the only technology company ranked in Working Mother magazine's Top 10 for 2004, and one of two technology companies in 2005 (the other company being Hewlett-Packard).[26][27]
On September 21, 1953, Thomas J. Watson, the CEO at the time, sent out a very controversial letter to all IBM employees stating that IBM needed to hire the best people, regardless of their race, ethnic origin, or gender. In 1984, IBM added sexual preference. He stated that this would give IBM a competitive advantage because IBM would then be able to hire talented people its competitors would turn down.[28]
The company has traditionally resisted labor union organizing, although unions represent some IBM workers outside the United States.
In the 1990s, two major pension program changes, including a conversion to a cash balance plan, resulted in an employee class action lawsuit alleging age discrimination. IBM employees won the lawsuit and arrived at a partial settlement, although appeals are still underway. IBM also settled a major overtime class-action lawsuit in 2006.[29]
Historically IBM has had a good reputation of long-term staff retention with few large scale layoffs. In more recent years there have been a number of broad sweeping cuts to the workforce as IBM attempts to adapt to changing market conditions and a declining profit base. After posting weaker than expected revenues in the first quarter of 2005, IBM eliminated 14,500 positions from its workforce, predominantly in Europe. In May 2005, IBM Ireland said to staff that the MD(Micro-electronics Division) facility was closing down by the end of 2005 and offered a settlement to staff. However, all staff that wished to stay with the Company were redeployed within IBM Ireland. The production moved to a company called Amkor in Singapore who purchased IBM's Microelectronics business in Singapore and is widely agreed that IBM promised this Company a full load capacity in return for the purchase of the facility. On June 8, 2005, IBM Canada Ltd. eliminated approximately 700 positions. IBM projects these as part of a strategy to "rebalance" its portfolio of professional skills & businesses. IBM India and other IBM offices in China, the Philippines and Costa Rica have been witnessing a recruitment boom and steady growth in number of employees due to lower wages.
On October 10, 2005, IBM became the first major company in the world to formally commit to not using genetic information in its employment decisions. This came just a few months after IBM announced its support of the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project.
[edit] Gay rights
IBM provides employees' same-sex partners with benefits and provides an anti-discrimination clause. The Human Rights Campaign has consistently rated IBM 100% on its index of gay-friendliness since 2003 (in 2002, the year it began compiling its report on major companies, IBM scored 86%).[30]
The logo that was used from 1924 to 1946. The logo is in a form intended to suggest a globe, girdled by the word "International".[31]
|
The logo that was used from 1947 to 1956. The familiar "globe" was replaced with the simple letters "IBM" in a typeface called "Beton Bold."[32]
|
The logo that was used from 1956 to 1972. The letters "IBM" took on a more solid, grounded and balanced appearance.[33]
|
In 1972, the horizontal stripes now replaced the solid letters to suggest "speed and dynamism." This logo (in two versions, 8-bar and 13-bar), as well as the previous one, was designed by graphic designer Paul Rand.[34]
|
Logos designed in the 1970s tended to be sensitive to the technical limitations of photocopiers, which were then being widely deployed. A logo with large solid areas tended to be poorly copied by copiers in the 1970s, so companies preferred logos that avoided large solid areas. The 1972 IBM logos are an example of this tendency. With the advent of digital copiers in the mid-1980s this technical restriction had largely disappeared; at roughly the same time, the 13-bar logo was abandoned for almost the opposite reason – it was difficult to render accurately on the low-resolution digital printers (240 dots per inch) of the time.
[edit] Board of directors
Current members of the board of directors of IBM are:
- Cathleen Black President, Hearst Magazines
- William Brody President, Johns Hopkins University
- Ken Chenault Chairman and CEO, American Express Company
- Juergen Dormann Chairman of the Board, ABB Ltd
- Michael Eskew Chairman and CEO, United Parcel Service, Inc.
- Shirley Ann Jackson President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Minoru Makihara Senior Corporate Advisor and former Chairman, Mitsubishi Corporation
- Lucio Noto Managing Partner, Midstream Partners LLC
- James W. Owens Chairman and CEO, Caterpillar Inc.
- Samuel J. Palmisano Chairman, President and CEO, IBM
- Joan Spero President, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
- Sidney Taurell, Chairman and CEO, Eli Lilly and Company
- Lorenzo Zambrano Chairman and CEO, Cemex SAB de CV
[edit] See also
[edit] References and footnotes
- ^ Nanotechnology & Nanoscience.
- ^ IBM maintains patent lead, moves to increase patent quality (2006-01-10).
- ^ Worldwide IBM Research Locations. IBM. Retrieved on 2006-06-21.
- ^ Awards & Achievements. IBM. Retrieved on 2006-07-01.
- ^ Software Top 100: the world's largest software companies (2008-04-28).
- ^ Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray, "Computer a History of the Information Machine - Second Edition", Westview Press, page 37 2004
- ^ Addendum to IBM Statement on Nazi-era Book and Lawsuit.
- ^ developerWorks blogs : Michael O'Connell : dW wins Jolt Hall of Fame award; Booch, Ambler, dW authors also honored. IBM (2007-03-27). Retrieved on 2007-04-23.
- ^ IBM delivers Power-based chip for Microsoft Xbox 360 worldwide launch. IBM (2005-10-25).
- ^ Butterfly and IBM introduce first video game industry computing grid. IBM (2002-05-09).
- ^ IBM joins forces with game companies around the world to accelerate innovation. IBM (2006-03-21).
- ^ IBM and Cisco: Attempt to Unite the Communication Software Developers
- ^ http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/world/environmental/pollution.shtml ibm.com. "Environmental Protection" May 3, 2008
- ^ http://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/world/environmental/index.shtml "Environmental Protection", May 3, 2008
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E4DF1631F936A25750C0A9629C8B63&fta=y "In an I.B.M. Village, Pollution Fears Taint Relations With Neighbors". Mar 15, 2004. New York Times Online. May 1, 2008
- ^ a b (2006) Postphenomenology: A Critical Companion to Ihde. State University of New York Press, 228. ISBN 0-7914-6787-2.
- ^ (2004) Logos, Letterheads & Business Cards: Design for Profit. Rotovision, 15. ISBN 2-88046-750-0.
- ^ The Essential Guide to Computing: The Story of Information Technology. Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR, 55. ISBN 0-13-019469-7.
- ^ Smith, Paul Russell (1999). Strategic Marketing Communications: New Ways to Build and Integrate Communications. Kogan Page, 24. ISBN 0749429186.
- ^ Samuel J. Palmisano (2004-04-27). Speeches. IBM.
- ^ "Leading Change When Business Is Good: The HBR Interview--Samuel J. Palmisano" (December 2004). Harvard Business Review. Harvard University Press.
- ^ IBM to invest $100M in new business areas (2006-11-14).
- ^ IBM launches biggest Linux lineup ever. IBM (1999-03-02). Archived from the original on 1999-11-10.
- ^ Farrah Hamid (2006-05-24). IBM invests in Brazil Linux Tech Center. LWN.net.
- ^ Interview: The Eclipse code donation. IBM (2001-11-01).
- ^ 100 best companies for working mothers 2004. Working Mother Media, Inc.. Archived from the original on 2004-10-17.
- ^ 100 best companies 2005. Working Mother Media, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
- ^ IBM's EO Policy letter is IBM's foundation for diversity. IBM.
- ^ IBM settles overtime lawsuit for $65 million.
- ^ HRC Corporate Equality Index Score International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) profile
- ^ "IBM Archives: International Business Machines (1924-1946)." Accessed January 16, 2007.
- ^ "IBM Archives: IBM in transition (1947-1956)." Accessed January 16, 2007.
- ^ "IBM Archives: IBM continuity (1956-1972)." Accessed January 16, 2007.
- ^ "IBM Archives: IBM international recognition (1972- )." Accessed January 16, 2007.
[edit] Further reading
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|
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| Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. |
2002 |
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? HarperCollins. |
ISBN 0-00-715448-8 |
| Robert Slater |
1999 |
Saving Big Blue: IBM's Lou Gerstner |
McGraw Hill |
| Emerson W. Pugh |
1996 |
Building IBM: Shaping an Industry |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Robert Heller |
1994 |
The Fate of IBM |
Little Brown |
| Paul Carroll |
1993 |
Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM |
Crown Publishers |
| Roy A Bauer et al |
1992 |
The Silverlake Project: Transformation at IBM (AS/400) |
Oxford University Press |
| Thomas J Watson Jr. |
1990 |
Father, Son & Co: My Life at IBM and Beyond |
Bantam |
| Robert Sobel |
1988 |
IBM vs. Japan: The Struggle for the Future |
| David Mercer |
1987 |
IBM: How the World's Most Successful Corporation is Managed [1] |
Kogan Page |
| Richard Thomas DeLamarter |
1986 |
Big Blue: IBM's Use and Abuse of Power |
Macmillan |
| Buck Rodgers |
1986 |
The IBM Way |
Harper & Row |
| Robert Sobel |
1981 |
IBM: Colossus in Transition |
ISBN 0-8129-1000-1 |
| Samme Chittum |
2004 |
In an I.B.M. Village, Pollution Fears Taint Relations With Neighbors |
New York Times |
| Robert Sobel |
|
1981 |
|
Thomas Watson, Sr.: IBM and the Computer Revolution (biography of Thomas J. Watson) |
|
ISBN 1-893122-82-4 |
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- Business data
| [show]
International Business Machines Corporation |
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| Corporate Directors |
Cathleen Black, Kenneth I. Chenault, Juergen Dormann, Michael L. Eskew, Shirley Ann Jackson, Minoru Makihara, Lucio A. Noto, James W. Owens, Samuel J. Palmisano, Joan E. Spero, Sidney Taurel, Lorenzo H. Zambrano
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| Hardware Products |
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| Software Brands |
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| Consulting and IT Services |
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| See also |
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| Annual Revenue: ?$98.8 billion USD (FY 2007) · Employees: 386,558 (2007) · Stock Symbol: NYSE: IBM · Website: www.ibm.com |
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MasterCard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Master Card)
MasterCard Worldwide (NYSE: MA) is a multinational corporation based in Purchase, New York, USA. Throughout the world, its principal business is to process payments between the banks of merchants and the banks of purchasers that use its "MasterCard" brand debit and credit cards to make purchases. MasterCard Worldwide has been a publicly traded company since 2006. Prior to its initial public offering, MasterCard Worldwide was a membership organization owned by the 25,000+ financial institutions that issue its card.
It was originally created by United California Bank (later First Interstate Bank, subsequently merged into Wells Fargo Bank), Wells Fargo, Crocker National Bank (also subsequently merged into Wells Fargo), and the Bank of California (subsequently merged into the Union Bank of California) as a competitor to the BankAmericard issued by Bank of America. BankAmericard is now the VISA credit card, issued by Visa International.
[edit] History
1970s-era MasterCharge card Credit Card
In 1966 a number of banks formed the Interbank Card Association. The name Master Charge was licensed by the above mentioned California banks from the First National Bank of Louisville, Kentucky in 1967. With the help of New York's Marine Midland Bank, now HSBC Bank USA, these banks joined with the Interbank Card Association (ICA) to create "Master Charge: The Interbank Card".
In 1979, "Master Charge: The Interbank Card" was renamed simply "MasterCard". In the early 1990s MasterCard bought the British Access card and the Access name was dropped. In 2002, MasterCard International merged with Europay International SA, another large credit-card issuer association, which for many years issued cards under the name Eurocard.
In 2006, MasterCard International underwent another name change to MasterCard Worldwide. This was done in order to suggest a more global scale of operations. In addition, the company introduced a new corporate logo adding a third circle to the two that had been used in the past (the familiar card logo, resembling a Venn diagram, remains unchanged). A new corporate tagline was introduced at the same time: "The Heart of Commerce".[1]
[edit] Features
Many issuing institutions include various features with credit card accounts, such as extended warranties on items bought with the card, damage waiver on cars rented with the card, and accident insurance during travel bought with the card.
[edit] Shareholders
Based on an SEC filing in early 2005, MasterCard's largest current shareholders are:[citation needed]
- 11.8% - JPMorgan Chase
- 6.2% - Citigroup
- 6.0% - Bank of America
- 5.2% - Euro Kartensysteme
- 5.0% - Europay France
The company, which had been organized as a cooperative of banks, had an initial public offering on May 25, 2006 at $39.00 USD. The stock is traded on the NYSE under the symbol MA.
[edit] Litigation
Both MasterCard and Visa have paid approximately $3 billion in damages resulting from a class-action lawsuit filed by Hagens Berman in January 1996.[2] The litigation cites several retail giants as plaintiffs, including Wal-Mart, Sears Roebuck & Company, and Safeway.[3]
[edit] Advertising
The original Master Charge logo displayed in store windows from 1967-1979.
First MasterCard logo used from 1980-1991
MasterCard logo used on cards since 1991
MasterCard's current advertising campaign is "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard."
The first of these Priceless ads was run during the World Series in 1997 and there are numerous different TV, radio and print ads.[4] It was created by McCann-Erickson. MasterCard actually registered Priceless as a trademark.[5] Actor Billy Crudup has been the voice in the US market; in the UK, actor Jack Davenport is the voice.
This campaign attempts to position MasterCard as the friendly credit card company with a sense of humor. They are designed to respond to the public's worry that everything is being commodified, and that people are becoming too materialistic.[6] Many parodies have been made using this same pattern, especially on Comedy Central, though MasterCard has threatened legal action,[7] contending that MasterCard views such parodies as a violation of its rights under the federal and state trademark and unfair competition laws, under the federal and state anti-dilution laws, and under the Copyright Act. Despite these claims, however, noted US consumer advocate and presidential candidate Ralph Nader emerged victorious (after a four-year battle) in the suit MasterCard brought against him after he produced his own "Priceless" political commercials.[8]
During Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005, a MasterCard commercial was introduced featuring 10 legendary advertising characters from various foods and household products. The characters included Chef Boyardee, Charlie the Tuna, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Count Chocula, the Vlasic pickle stork, the Morton Salt girl, the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Peanut from Planters, the Gorton's fisherman, and Mr. Clean.
[edit] Sports sponsorships
MasterCard currently sponsors the New Zealand All Blacks, the country's rugby union team.[9] MasterCard also sponsors the UEFA Champions League. For many years, it also sponsored FIFA World Cup but withdrew its contract after a court settlement and its rival Visa took up the contract in 2007.[10] It is currently the sponsor of the Memorial Cup Tournament of the Canadian Hockey League. MasterCard has just announced new sponsorship deal with Australian Cricket team and is also the founding sponsor of IPL cricket team Mumbai Indians.[11] It is the official credit card of UEFA Euro 2008.
In 1997, MasterCard was the main sponsor of the aborted MasterCard Lola Formula One team.
On October 12, 2007 MasterCard offered $160,000 to the municipal government of Toronto so that the city could keep its ice rinks open, as the city is facing a budget shortfall.[12]
[edit] Management and Board of Directors
Key executives include:[13]
As of December 2004, the following banks are represented on MasterCard's board of directors:
In January 2005, Washington Mutual Bank, the third largest issuer of debit cards in the United States, announced that it was changing its debit-card branding from VISA to MasterCard. The change will make Washington Mutual MasterCard's largest bank customer.
[edit] MasterMoney
MasterMoney is the branding of a MasterCard debit card distributed in North America. Like many debit cards, the brand has capabilities of being used as an ATM card as well as a credit card, providing sufficient funds are in one's bank account (usually a checking account) in order to complete a transaction.
[edit] PayPass
PayPass RFID chip removed from a MasterCard.
MasterCard PayPass is a "contactless" payment feature based on the ISO 14443 standard that provides cardholders with a simpler way to pay by tapping a payment card or other payment device, such as a phone or key fob, on a point-of-sale terminal reader rather than swiping or inserting a card.
In 2003, MasterCard concluded a nine-month PayPass market trial in Orlando, Florida, with JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and MBNA. More than 16,000 cardholders and more than 60 retailer locations participated in the market trial. In addition, MasterCard worked with Nokia, AT&T Wireless, and JPMorgan Chase to incorporate MasterCard PayPass into mobile phones using Near Field Communication technology, in Dallas, Texas.
In 2005, MasterCard began to roll out PayPass in certain markets. As of May 2008, the following financial institutions have issued the MasterCard PayPass:
- Bank of America
- JPMorgan Chase (available through its "blink" contactless feature in the United States)
- Citibank (both MasterCard credit and debit cards)
- HSBC Bank USA (debit card only)
- Washington Mutual (WaMu Debit MasterCard with PayPass) "Gold & Platinum Debit Cards"
- Key Bank (debit card only)
- Citizens Bank and Charter One Bank (both MasterCard credit and debit cards)
- Commonwealth Bank (Australia)
- Garanti Bank (Turkey, available through its Bonus Trink Card)
- Banco de Oro Universal Bank (Philippines, available through its BDO International ATM Card)
- Bank of Montreal (Canada, available on most Mosaik cards issued after November 1, 2007[14])
- President's Choice Financial (Canada)
- Tim Hortons (Canada/United States)
- CIMB Bank (Malaysia)
- Bank Zachodni WBK SA (Poland)
- Deutsche Kreditbank AG (Germany, issuer of Lufthansa Miles & More credit cards)
- Natwest (United Kingdom), on Maestro cards; limited use in the London Docklands and City of London)
- HSBC (United Kingdom), on credit cards; limited use in selected areas of London
- Canadian Tire Options Mastercard (Canada)[15]
- Capital One (Canada)[16]
[edit] Banknet
MasterCard operates Banknet, a global telecommunications network linking all MasterCard card issuers, acquirers and data processing centers into a single financial network. The operations hub is located in St. Louis, Missouri.
MasterCard's network is significantly different from Visa's. Visa's is a star based system where all endpoints terminate at one of several main data centers, where all transactions are processed centrally. MasterCard's network is an edge based, peer-to-peer network where transactions travel a meshed network directly to other endpoints, without the need to travel to a single point. This allows MasterCard's network to be much more resilient, in that a single failure cannot isolate a large number of endpoints.[citation needed]
[edit] EPS-Net
MasterCard Europe operates a Network known as EPS-Net - this interfaces Banknet but is up for replacement in 2009. EPS-Net is used to link Issuers and Acquirers for Online POS/ATM Transaction Processing.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ MasterCard changing name, Jay Loomis, The Journal News, June 28, 2006
- ^ Visa/MasterCard Litigation, January 1st 1996
- ^ VISA CHECK/MASTERMONEY ANTITRUST LITIGATION WEBSITE
- ^ Priceless Film Festival
- ^ Priceless, Trademark Electronic Search System, Retreieved July 5th 2006
- ^ Priceless, Jim Farrell, New American Dream, Retrieved July 5th 2006
- ^ Threats of legal action: MasterCard International (April 9, 2001). Re: MasterCard/Infringement by NETFUNNY.COM web site. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
- ^ George B. Daniels, District Judge (March 9, 2004). Decision of the US District Court in the case of MasterCard International Incorporated v. Ralph Nader (PDF). US District Court, Southern District of New York. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
- ^ Promotion All Blacks
- ^ Visa signs $170m deal with Fifa Visa signs $170m deal with Fifa
- ^ Mastercard is founding sponsor of Mumbai Indians. IndianTelevision.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
- ^ MasterCard Canada Wants to Keep Torontonians Skating – Offers City $160,000 to Open Rinks in December
- ^ MasterCard Investor Relations, accessed 4 November 2006
- ^ BMO Adds ‘Tap & Go’ Convenience to Mosaik MasterCard. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
- ^ Canadian Tire Financial Services - Options MasterCard - PayPass. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
- ^ Tap & Go with Capital One Canada. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
[edit] External links
PepsiCo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| PepsiCo, Inc. |
|
| Type |
Public (NYSE: PEP) |
| Founded |
New York City, U.S. 1965 |
| Headquarters |
Purchase, New York, U.S. |
| Key people |
Indra Nooyi - Chairwoman, President & CEO, John Compton - CEO PepsiCo Americas, Michael White - CEO PepsiCo International, Richard Goodman PhD - CFO |
| Industry |
Food and beverage |
| Products |
Pepsi
Diet Pepsi
Mountain Dew
Sierra Mist
Starbucks Frappuccino
Lipton Iced Tea
Izze
Tropicana Products
Naked Juice
Gatorade
Propel Fitness Water
Quaker Oats
Lay's
Doritos
Tostitos
Fritos |
| Revenue |
? $39.5 billion USD (2007)[1] |
| Net income |
? $5.6 billion USD (2007)
16.06% profit margin |
| Employees |
168,000(2006) |
| Divisions |
PepsiCo Americas (PepsiCo Americas Food, PepsiCo Americas Beverages), PepsiCo International |
| Website |
PepsiCo.com |
PepsiCo, Incorporated (Short for Pepsi Company) (NYSE: PEP) is a large conglomerate with interests in manufacturing, marketing and selling a wide variety of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, as well as salty, sweet and grain-based snacks, and other foods. Besides the Pepsi-Cola brands (including Mountain Dew), the company owns the brands Quaker Oats, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, SoBe, Naked, and Tropicana.
Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo since 2006, has focused on maintaining the company's leadership in the snack food industry by being on the forefront of marketing healthier snacks and striving for a net-zero impact on the environment. [1]. This focus on healthier foods and lifestyles is part of Nooyi's "Performance With Purpose" philosophy.
The company formed for distribution and bottling is The Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG). PepsiCo is a SIC 2080 (beverage) company.
[edit] History
Headquartered in Purchase, New York, with Research and Development Headquarters in Valhalla, NY, The Pepsi Cola Company began in 1898, but it only became known as PepsiCo when it merged with Frito Lay in 1965. Until 1997, it also owned KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, but these fast-food restaurants were spun off into Tricon Global Restaurants, now Yum! Brands, Inc. PepsiCo purchased Tropicana in 1998, and Quaker Oats in 2001.
[edit] Corporate governance
Current members of the board of directors of PepsiCo are Indra Nooyi C.E.O., Robert E. Allen, Dina Dublon, Victor Dzau, Ray Hunt, Alberto Ibargüen, Arthur Martinez, Steven Reinemund, Sharon Rockefeller, James Schiro, Franklin Thomas, Cynthia Trudell, and River King.
On October 1, 2006, former Chief Financial Officer and President Indra Nooyi replaced Steve Reinemund as chief executive officer. Nooyi remains the corporation's president, and became Chairman of the Board in May 2007.
Mike White is the President of PepsiCo International Division.
[edit]
The Reader's Digest Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc. is a global publisher and direct marketer based in Pleasantville, New York, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest.
RDA's magazines include 50 worldwide editions of Reader's Digest. Its other 26 magazines include Every Day with Rachael Ray (U.S.); The Family Handyman (U.S. and Australia); and RD Specials, one-time publications sold at supermarket checkout counters.
RDA sells 50 million books a year worldwide. These include general books, illustrated reference books, Select Editions (condensed) books, and adult and children's trade books. The company also markets music collections, videos and other products.
RDA business divisions are:
UNITED STATES
- RD Inspiration -- Reader's Digest magazine, Selecciones, Trade books, music.
- RD Food & Entertaining -- Every Day with Rachael Ray, Taste of Home (and other Reiman publications), Allrecipes.com, Taste of Home Entertaining
- RD Home & Garden -- The Family Handyman, Birds & Blooms, Backyard Living, etc.
- RD Health & Wellness
- School & Educational Services -- Weekly Reader Publishing Group; QSP, which offers magazine subscriptions, gifts, and food for sale for school and youth group fundraising; Books Are Fun, the leading North American book and gift display marketer, acquired in 1999
INTERNATIONAL (Operations in 50+ countries selling products in 70+ countries)
- RD Europe
- RD Asia Pacific
- RD Canada & Latin America regions
In March 2007, Reader's Digest was acquired by an investor group led by Ripplewood Holdings. RDA's President and Chief Executive Officer is Mary G. Berner.
Former top executives at PepsiCo
[edit] PepsiCo brands
PepsiCo owns five different billion-dollar brands. These are Pepsi, Tropicana, Frito-Lay, Quaker, and Gatorade. The company owns many other brands as well.
- Pepsi, Caffeine-Free Pepsi, Diet Pepsi/Pepsi Light, Caffeine-Free Diet Pepsi, Caffeine-Free Pepsi Light, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Pepsi Lime, Pepsi Max, Pepsi Twist and Pepsi ONE.
- Other U.S. carbonated soft drinks, including Frawg, Mountain Dew, Mug Root Beer, Sierra Mist and Tropicana Twister Soda
- 7 Up (international distribution)
- Other U.S. beverages, including Aquafina (Flavor Splash, Alive, and Twist/Burst), Tava, Dole, Gatorade, Izze, Mountain Dew AMP, Propel Fitness Water, SoBe, Quaker Milk Chillers, Ben & Jerry's MilkShakes, and Tropicana
- Beverages marketed outside the U.S.: Alvalle, Concordia, Copella, Evervess, Fiesta, Frui'Vita, Fruko, Junkanoo, Kas, Loóza, Manzana Corona, Manzanita Sol, Mirinda, Paso de los Toros, Radical Fruit, San Carlos, Schwip Schwap, Shani, Teem, Triple Kola, and Yedigun
- Frito-Lay brands: Baken-ets, Barcel, Bocabits, Cheese Tris, Cheetos, Chester's, Chizitos, Churrumais, Cracker Jack, Crujitos, Doritos, Fandangos, Fritos, Funyuns, Gamesa, Go Snacks, James' Grandma's Cookies, Hamka's, Lay's, Miss Vickie's, Munchies, Munchos, Nik Naks, Ollie's Meat Snacks, Quavers, Rold Gold, Ruffles, Rustler's Meat Sticks, Sabritas, Sabritones, Sandora, Santitas, Smartfood, The Smith's Snackfood Company, Sonric's, Stacy's Pita Chips, Sun Chips, Tor-tees, Tostitos, Walkers, and Wotsits
- Quaker Oats brands: Aunt Jemima, Cap'n Crunch, Coqueiro, Crisp'ums, Cruesli, FrescAvena, King Vitaman, Life, Oatso Simple,Quake, Quisp, Rice-A-Roni, and Spudz
In 2007, Nooyi spent $1.3 billion on healthier-alternative brands like Naked Juice, a California maker of soy drinks and organic juice.
Pepsico has also recently acquired a 50% stake in Sabra Salads [2]
[edit] Partnerships
PepsiCo also has formed partnerships with several brands it does not own, in order to distribute these or market them with its own brands.
[edit] Discontinued lines
- All Sport, a line of sports drinks. All-Sport was lightly carbonated; in contrast, rivals Gatorade and Coke-owned POWERade were non-carbonated. The 2001 purchase of Quaker Oats (in effect acquiring Gatorade) made All Sport expendable, and the brand was sold to another company.
- Aspen Soda, an apple-flavored soft drink (late 1970's-early 80's)
- Crystal Pepsi, a clear version of Pepsi-Cola.
- FruitWorks: Flavors were Strawberry Melon, Peach Papaya, Tangerine Citrus, Apple Raspberry, and Pink Lemonade. Two other flavors, Passion Orange and Guava Berry, were available in Hawaii only.
- Josta: launched 1995, "with Guarana," the first energy drink launched by a major soft drink company in the US, is now the subject of a "Save Josta" campaign.
- Matika: Run in August 2001, it was a tea/juice alternative beverage, sweetened with Cane Sugar & containing Ginseng. Dragonfruit Potion, Magic Mombin, Mythical Mango, Rising Starfruit, Skyhigh Berry
- Mazagran: launched 1995
- Mr. Green (SoBe)
- Patio: line of flavored drinks (1960-late '70s)
- Pepsi Edge, a mid-calorie version of Pepsi-Cola.
- Pepsi Blue, a berry-flavored, blue version of Pepsi-Cola.
- Pepsi Kona: launched 1997, a coffee-flavored version of Pepsi-Cola.
- Slice, a line of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks.
- Smooth Moos: launched 1995, a flavored milk-based drink.
- Storm: launched March 15, 1998, replaced by Sierra Mist.
[edit] Former brands
PepsiCo owned a number of restaurant chains until it exited that business in 1997, selling some, and spinning off others into a new company Tricon Global Restaurants, now known as Yum! Brands, Inc.. PepsiCo also previously owned several other brands that it later sold.
[edit] Diversity
PepsiCo received a 100 percent rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2004, the third year of the report. [3]
[edit] Tampering
During the summer of 1993, PepsiCo managed to stave off a runaway hoax pertaining to alleged product tampering. Syringes were claimed to have been found in cans of Diet Pepsi -- first in Seattle, then throughout the U.S. over the next few days. With the arrests of several of the fraudulent claimants, reports of found hypodermic needles ceased. PepsiCo's subsequent handling of the situation via carefully-worded press releases and VNRs is frequently cited as a textbook example of how exactly to handle falsely spread rumors about a company.[4]
[edit] Criticisms
[edit] PepsiCo in India
PepsiCo gained entry to India in 1988 by creating a joint venture with the Punjab government-owned Punjab Agro Industrial Corporation (PAIC) and Voltas India Limited. This joint venture marketed and sold Lehar Pepsi until 1991, when the use of foreign brands was allowed; PepsiCo bought out its partners and ended the joint venture in 1994. [5] Others claim that firstly Pepsi was banned from import in India, in 1970, for having refused to release the list of its ingredients and in 1993, the ban was lifted, with Pepsi arriving on the market shortly afterwards. These controversies are a reminder of "India's sometimes acrimonious relationship with huge multinational companies." Indeed, some argue that PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company have "been major targets in part because they are well-known foreign companies that draw plenty of attention." [6]
In 2003, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a non-governmental organization in New Delhi, said aerated waters produced by soft drinks manufacturers in India, including multinational giants PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company, contained toxins, including lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos — pesticides that can contribute to cancer, a breakdown of the immune system and cause birth defects. Tested products included Coke, Pepsi, 7 Up, Mirinda, Fanta, Thums Up, Limca, and Sprite. CSE found that the Indian-produced Pepsi's soft drink products had 36 times the level of pesticide residues permitted under European Union regulations; Coca Cola's 30 times. [7]CSE said it had tested the same products in the US and found no such residues. However, this was the European standard for water, not for other drinks. No law bans the presence of pesticides in drinks in India.
The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo angrily denied allegations that their products manufactured in India contained toxin levels far above the norms permitted in the developed world. But an Indian parliamentary committee, in 2004, backed up CSE's findings and a government-appointed committee, is now trying to develop the world's first pesticides standards for soft drinks. Coke and PepsiCo opposed the move, arguing that lab tests aren't reliable enough to detect minute traces of pesticides in complex drinks. On December 7, 2004, India's Supreme Court ruled that both PepsiCo and competitor The Coca-Cola Company must label all cans and bottles of the respective soft drinks with a consumer warning after tests showed unacceptable levels of residual pesticides.[citation needed]
Both companies continue to maintain that their products meet all international safety standards without yet implementing the Supreme Court ruling.[citation needed] As of 2005, The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo together hold 95% market share of soft-drink sales in India. [8] PepsiCo has also been alleged[who?] to practice "water piracy" due to its role in exploitation of ground water resources resulting in scarcity of drinking water for the natives of Puthussery panchayat in the Palakkad district in Kerala, India. Local residents have been pressuring the government to close down the PepsiCo unit in the village.
In 2006, the CSE again found that soda drinks, including both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, had high levels of pesticides in their drinks. Both PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company maintain that their drinks are safe for consumption and have published newspaper advertisements that say pesticide levels in their products are less than those in other foods such as tea, fruit and dairy products.[9] In the Indian state of Kerala, sale and production of Pepsi-Cola, along with other soft drinks, was banned by the state government in 2006[10], but this was reversed by the Kerala High Court merely a month later.[11] Five other Indian states have announced partial bans on the drinks in schools, colleges and hospitals.[12]
[edit] Pesticide Residuals Controversy
[edit] Timeline
• 6th, August, 2003 – The Delhi based Center for Science and Environment (CSE) reveals that it has conducted a study on samples of 12 major soft drink brands sold in the country for the residual levels of pesticides and found the levels to be far too high when compared with the same in the samples from developed countries.
• 4th, August, 2002 – Both the Cola giants join hands when faced with adversity. The PepsiCo India holding chairman Rajiv Bakshi assures that the company’s products are of highest quality and conform to very stringent standards set by “independent accredited laboratories”. He expresses the opinion that the company is open for inspection by “an independent accredited authority comprising experienced people”
• 7th, August, 2003 – Pepsi Bolivia comes up with a press release stating that all Pepsi products conform to the most stringent of quality standards world over. The regular testing and stringency norms at Pepsi, it seems, require the most sophisticated and specialized tests and equipment to be able to detect the pesticide residue at 0.1 parts per billion levels. Moreover, CSE is not a government accredited body certified for the capability of carrying any such tests, says the press release. The press release also cites the name of “an independent world-class laboratory” – VIMTA, which was accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration for Laboratories (NABL), as having tested the Pepsi products against several stringent norms. Mutual mudslinging begins as the company openly questions the credibility of the tests done by CSE and its capability in conducting such tests.
• 10th, August, 2003 – The Pandora’s Box is opened. While the Cola giants stick to their story of CSE’s claims to be baseless and utter rubbish, CSE reiterates that the soft drink majors follow double standards with the samples from US containing no pesticides, whereas the samples from Indian plants contain 30 to 35 times more than the acceptable levels of pesticide residues stipulated by European Economic Commission (EEC). The Cola giants start contemplating legal action in the wake of steep fall in sales.
• 22nd, August, 2003 – Union Health minister Sushma Swaraj issues statement that only three samples out of the 12 in the contention meet the EEC norms; while the other samples have residue levels above the acceptable limits, they are only 2 to 6 times more than the acceptable level unlike 30 to 35 times as claimed by the CSE; This has been the result of tests conducted by two laboratories, the Mysore-based Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) and the Kolkata-based Central Food Laboratory (CFL).
• 23rd, August, 2003 – The government appoints a 15-member all party Joint Parliamentary Committee under the leadership of Sharad Pawar to delve into the issue and submit a report on the same in the next session. The committee is also expected to suggest the safety standards for pesticide residue levels in soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages that have water as the main ingredient.
• February, 2004 – The JPC submits its report to the parliament, saying that the tests conducted by CSE are accurate and India needs to come up with a set of standards for carbonated beverages. Central Committee on Food Standards (CCFS) endorses the JPC report and says it will set final standards. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) also starts revising its standards.
• June, 2004 – Pesticide Residue Sub-Committee of CCFS meets and decides to do year-long monitoring.
• November, 2004 – CCFS meets and decides to set up National Expert Committee to study the matter.
• 8th, August, 2006 – Four states – Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh ban the sale of Coke and Pepsi in the educational and governmental institutions. The ban is a consequence of CSE’s report stating that even now, the pesticide levels in these drinks are more than 24 times above the limits set by BIS. While the top management of both the companies insists that their products adhere to the most stringent norms and are safe for consumption, CSE toughens its stand that the Cola companies are misleading the general public and have a long way to go before actually meeting those safety norms.
• 10th, August, 2006 – Kerala announces a complete ban on production and sale of carbonated soft drinks, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, while Karnataka announces a ban on sale of colas in schools and state-run hospitals.
• 14th, August, 2006 – PepsiCo India Chairman Rajeev Bakshi reiterates that the company’s products in India are as safe as anywhere else in the world. He expresses the company’s willingness to support the government in setting up criteria for pesticide residues in soft drinks, but insists that a protocol for testing has to be developed, which is not to stall notification of BIS norms, but a measure to ensure that the testing procedure is validated by series of labs in India and the world over.
• 22nd, August, 2006 – The expert committee constituted by union health minister Anubumani Ramadoss quashes the CSE’s report on pesticide residue levels stating that the experiment methodology has lot of flaws in it right from sampling to reporting the residue levels.
• 22nd, September, 2006 – The Kerala High Court quashes the government’s ban on production and sale of the Colas in the state. The state government is exploring other alternatives.
• 10th, January, 2007 – Pepsi India Holding chairman Rajeev Bakshi exits Indian operations.
• 16th, February, 2007 – The apex court accepts the appeal of Kerala state government against the High Court judgment quashing the ban on production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the state.
[13]
[edit] Matter of Contention
The presence of pesticide residues in the samples of soft drinks manufactured and distributed in India by the Pepsi India holding company are at levels greater than those present in the samples of similar products in US and Europe. Each of the three major parties involved, i.e., The Cola companies, CSE and the government, differ on what is acceptable standard for the pesticide residue levels in the soft drinks. While the Cola companies contend that their products in India are as safe as they are elsewhere, CSE is particular about the fact that the pesticides present in the soft drinks are carcinogenic in nature and the Cola companies are apathetic about this fact. The government neither cracked the whip on the Cola companies, nor did it play dumb spectator. The government says that while it is true that the residue levels of pesticides in soft drinks are above the EEC norms, they are not as high as those values reported by CSE. The matter has led to contemplation of setting criteria for the standard levels of pesticide residues in non-alcoholic beverages in India. The issue is alive for the past three years and no specific measures have come out till now in this regard.
[edit] Soft Drinks Market in India
India is one of the top five markets in terms of growth of the soft drinks market. The per capita consumption of soft drinks in the country is estimated to be around 6 bottles per annum in the year 2003. It is very low compared to the corresponding figures in US (600+ bottles per annum). But being one of the fastest growing markets and by the sheer volumes, India is a promising market for soft drinks. The major players in soft drinks market in India are PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co. like elsewhere in the world. Coca-Cola acquired a number of local brands like Limca, Gold Spot and Thums Up when it entered Indian market second time. Pepsi Co’s soft drink portfolio consists of Miranda and 7Up along with Pepsi. The market share of each of the company is more or less the same, though there is a conflict in the estimates quoted by different sources [14]
The major ingredient in a soft drink is water. It constitutes close to 90% of the soft drink content. Added to this, the drink also contains sweeteners, Carbon dioxide, Citric Acid/Malic acid, Colors, Preservatives, Anti Oxidants and other emulsifying agents, etc.[15]
[edit] Social Implications
The first time when CSE conducted tests on samples of 12 soft drinks, it found out that the pesticide residue levels in these samples are as high as 30 to 35 times that of the levels acceptable by EEC norms.
Indian soft drinks market is not under any regulation. Prevention of Food adulteration act 1954 does not include soft drinks. None of the BIS standards that existed before August 2003 had any guidelines or set criteria for the residue levels of pesticides in the soft drinks. But different international agencies have set standards for the residue levels of pesticides. The European Economic Community (EEC) sets the maximum admissible concentration of individual pesticides and related products in drinking water at 0.1 parts per billion to ensure that the toxicity is not dangerous to human beings. For a few pesticides like aldrin, dieldin and heptachlor epoxide the admissible limit is even more stringent, i.e., 0.03 parts per billion.[16]
The samples tested were found to contain four pesticides more often than others – Lindane, DDT and its metabolites, Malathion and Chlorpyrifos. Each of these can have detrimental effects on the general well-being of human beings. Lindane accumulates in the fat tissues and can cause damage to liver, kidney and is suspected to be carcinogenic in nature. DDT and its metabolites are found in almost 80% of the samples tested. DDT and its metabolites have negative impact on the potency levels of human beings and can increase the incidence risk of breast cancer among the female population. Chlorpyrifos is suspected to effect the functioning of the brain. It also affects the immunological system of the body. Malathion is also carcinogenic in nature.
Some of those who sympathize with PepsiCo in this whole pesticide saga say that the per capita consumption of soft drinks in India is too small for any of these pesticide residues in the soft drinks to have any appreciable effect if at all on the consumers. Though this may be true to certain extent, it has been scientifically proven that the excretion of some of the aforementioned pesticides from the human body is extremely slow even after the intake ceases. Moreover, all the aforementioned pesticides are proven to be highly carcinogenic in nature.
The main reason cited for the highly unacceptable levels of pesticide residue levels in the soft drinks is mainly because of the negligence on the part of the companies to process the ground water before using it in the manufacturing process. The ground water in general, is contaminated because of unregulated and indiscriminate use of pesticides in India.
The public response to CSE’s findings has been very sharp as reflected by steep drop in sales of the soft drinks immediately following the release of CSE’s findings. [17] Though there was no hue and cry all over, the general public seems to have taken strong notice of the fact that all is not well with the soft drinks produced and marketed by the Cola Companies. The blatant denials by the head honchos did not allay the fears of the general public.
[edit] Political Implications
The government’s response initially was guarded in nature. The government has conducted its own investigation into the matter and came out with the verdict that though the samples did contain pesticide residues, the levels were not as high as those stated by CSE. Lack of any specific guidelines or set criteria in this case has meant that the Cola Companies have not flouted any legality and could not be wronged for what they were doing. One positive that came out was that the government started tinkering with the idea of coming up with standards for acceptable levels of pesticide residues in the soft drinks and other beverages.
The political ramifications of the issue are there for all to see. The new UPA government that came into the power in May 2004 could not force the issue and this saw the pesticide issue taking backburner. Three years after the issue first saw the light, there was not much progress from the side of Pesticide Residue Sub-Committee of CCFS – the government supported body. CSE came up with fresh tests and still highly unacceptable levels of pesticide residues, this time taking the new BIS standards and guidelines for acceptable limits. Four states ruled by the opposition at the center, NDA, i.e., Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh banned the sale of Coke and Pepsi in educational and government institutions. Karnataka and Kerala followed the suit, with the later even banning production of the soft drinks in the state.
Overall, the government did not play a proactive role in this issue as can be seen from the fact that three years after the issue first cropped up, the government is yet to come up with the standards for pesticide residue levels in the soft drinks. The fact that the ministry of health and CSE do not see eye to eye on the matter did not help the cause. Somehow, the matter has deviated substantially from the core issue, i.e., carcinogenic pesticide residue levels in the primary ingredient water. The CCFS is known to have been expending resources and time on the obesity inducing sugar, which anyway is not the major constituent of the soft drink composition. Moreover, the expert committee constituted by the ministry of health faulted the CSE’s methodology of conducting tests and hence the credibility of its tests.
[edit] Economic implications
Despite of the initial knee-jerk reaction, the general public by and large has not been paying much attention to the Pepsi pesticides issue. The ban imposed by some of the states will hit the profitability of the company’s operations. The thing really worth mentioning is the reluctance of both the Cola Companies in accepting the fact that they have been following different safety standards at different places. All through the issue, the chairman of Pepsi India Holding Rajeev Bakshi was adamant that Pepsi’s products in India are as safe as anywhere else. While it may be true that extremely low levels of per capita consumption render any fears of toxic effects of pesticides unreasonable, the reluctance of the Cola Companies in accepting the fact that the ground water used in the manufacturing process is not sufficiently treated, is an ominous sign to the consumer.
The cost involved with such processing and subsequent testing of the water samples for residue levels might not be exorbitant in comparison to the amount of damage from not taking any such initiative might cause in the long run. In the age of triple bottomline, the overall behavior of Pepsi India in the pesticides issue leaves a lot desired.
[edit] Greater Malaise
The issue of pesticide residue levels in soft drinks manufactured and marketed by Pepsi Co in India has not exposed a greater societal malaise that has gone unnoticed. It is the safe and controlled use of pesticides in the country. Many of the pesticides that are still in use in India and other developing countries are banned from usage in the developed world. Contaminated food along with nutrient deficiency is one of the main reasons for health related issues in the developing countries that many companies are respectful of.[18]
Today, pesticide manufacturers are some of the most misunderstood corporations in the world.[19] Though the developed world ensured that pesticide usage in those countries is severely regulated, the developing countries became a prime market for all the pesticide manufacturing companies because they do not have to pass Government inspection. In most developing countries, the usage of pesticides is not regulated. This has led very few people abusing pesticides and no companies abuse the lax regulation. Though most companies are careful some aren't so people have to be careful.
[edit] PepsiCo in Burma
From 1991 until 1997, PepsiCo was one of the most notable companies to do business in Burma. PepsiCo's business partner, Thein Tun, was a noted business partner of the ruling Burmese military junta, which has been alleged to be responsible for some of the worst human rights violations in the world.
PepsiCo's involvement prompted one of the biggest Burma-related boycotts in history. The campaign was on a par with those against Texaco and Unocal, running around the same time, and currently against Total Oil.
PepsiCo formally began their investment in Burma in November 1991 when they opened a bottling plant in the then-capital Rangoon, despite the call by Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy for companies to avoid doing business in Burma until it returned to democracy. The campaign against Pepsi was initiated by the Asian-based Burma Rights Movement for Action. The campaign later gained growing strength in the West as Burmese human rights groups focused on campaigns against companies in Burma, including the oil giants Texaco, Unocal, Amoco, and Petro-Canada.
When Petro-Canada left Burma, Canadian and U.S. based Burmese democracy groups sharpened their focus on PepsiCo. The campaign received a massive boost when, in 1996, the Free Burma Coalition took the lead in forcing Pepsi out of American universities. This included the scrapping of a multi-million dollar deal at Harvard.
The campaign also spread to Europe, where the UK-based organization, Third World First, adopted the boycott. In response, in 1996, PepsiCo attempted to step out of the spotlight by selling its share of its Burmese joint venture to its partner but retaining its Burmese franchise agreement. Aung San Suu Kyi responded, "As far as we are concerned, Pepsi[Co] has not divested from Burma" and both human rights and environmental groups continued the pressure on Pepsi. Eventually, with the Burmese regime holding violent anti-democracy rallies and pressure from around the world mounting, PepsiCo announced in January 1997 that it would cut all ties with Burma. However, to this day, PepsiCo has not admitted that it was morally wrong to invest in Burma as some other companies have upon leaving the country.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ The Pepsi Challenge. IUCN (2008). Retrieved on 25 March 2008..
- ^ PepsiCo Buys 50% Stake in Sabra
- ^ Corporate Equality Index 2006
- ^ The Pepsi Product Tampering Scandal of 1993
- ^ "Coca-Cola India", Jennifer Kaye, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, 2004 (PDF)
- ^ "Coke, Pepsi lose fight over labels", Knight Ridder News, 9 December 2004
- ^ "Indian Coke, Pepsi Laced with Pesticides, Says NGO", Inter Press Service, August 5, 2003
- ^ "How a Global Web of Activists Gives Coke Problems in India", Wall Street Journal, July 7, 2005
- ^ Cola sales down 10% on state bans
- ^ Sanjoy Majumder (2006-08-09). Kerala bans Coke and Pepsi. BBC News. Retrieved on 2008-01-03.
- ^ K.C. Gopakumar (2006-09-23). Kerala HC quashes ban on Coke and Pepsi. The Hindu BusinessLine. Retrieved on 2008-01-03.
- ^ Indian state bans Pepsi and Coke
- ^ News snippets from www.domain-b.com
- ^ CSE Report: Analysis of pesticide residues in soft drinks, August 2006
- ^ CSE Report: Analysis of pesticide residues in soft drinks, August 2006
- ^ CSE Report: Analysis of pesticide residues in soft drinks, August 2006
- ^ News snippets from www.domain-b.com
- ^ Emerging Food-related Health Problems in Globalization - Detlef Schwefel
- ^ Pesticides in the environment - Editorial, Current Science, Vol.85, No.5, 10th September 2003
[edit] Related links
[edit] External links
- This page was last modified on 4 June 2008, at 16:09.
- All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity
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Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) is a hospitality ownership, management, and franchise organization based in White Plains, New York. One of the world's largest hotel companies, it owns, operates, franchises and manages hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties under its nine owned brands. As of May 1, 2007 the firm owned, managed, or franchised more than 860 hotels in over 95 countries with about 232,000 rooms worldwide.
[edit] History
Starwood headquarters in White Plains
Starwood Hotels and Resorts was originally formed by the real estate investment firm Starwood Capital to take advantage of a tax break; at the time the company was known as Starwood Lodging.[2] Initially, Starwood Lodging owned a number of hotels throughout North America, all under different brand names. The Westin Hotel Company was purchased in 1994 from Aoki Corporation of Japan. Starwood acquired the Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, and The Luxury Collection brands from ITT Sheraton in 1998.
In 1999, Starwood launched "W" Hotels, a brand that has been described as a "fun, hip and exciting hotel collection that happily marries boutique hotel flair with the quality and functionality of larger brand hotels."[citation needed] In September 2005, Starwood announced the launch of aLoft, a new hotel brand based on W. aLoft Hotels cater toward business travelers. Starwood intends to have 500 aLoft hotels worldwide by 2012. In 2005, Starwood purchased the Le Méridien brand, which greatly increased the company's operations in Europe.
In 2004, Starwood's founder and CEO Barry Sternlicht stepped down as CEO to focus his attention on his other firm, Starwood Capital. He remained on the Board of Directors until 2005. He was succeeded as CEO by Steven J. Heyer, and Starwood began selling a number of its company-owned hotels, instead focusing on becoming a management company and franchiser for its current and future hotel brands. In April 2007, Steven J. Heyer left the company on the request of the Board of Directors because of an issue with Heyer's management style and after allegations of personal misconduct.[3] Chairman of the Board Bruce Duncan served as interim CEO until September 2007, when the company announced Heyer's successor, Frits van Paasschen.
[edit] Brands
[edit] Aloft; a vision of W Hotels
Announced on September 28, 2005, the aloft brand will serve as a 'little sister' brand to the ultra-chic W Hotel brand, similar to Sheraton and Four Points by Sheraton.
The concept for aloft is a build-only brand of mid-scale hotels, 3 to 5 stories in height located in urban areas with up to 500 properties scheduled for completion before 2012. Rooms will feature 10-12 feet high ceilings, emphasizing space and comfort with modern amenities and, like other Starwood brands, a trademarked bed (yet to be announced). Suites are likely to be of a typical loft style design.
Aloft's focus is on encouraging guests out of their guest rooms to socialize in the Living Room (lobby) for a game of pool or to enjoy a dip in Splash (the pool). Another concept is a complimentary car wash, courtesy of the commissionaire department upon arrival.
Some of its first hotels will open in Chicago, Istanbul, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Portland and Charleston in mid 2008, and the first internationally will open in Beijing and Montreal.[4] Starwood has announced plans to have 500 Aloft hotels by 2012; as of late 2007 more than 50 were in development.
[edit] Element; Westin Hotels
The Westin Ottawa, Canada
element, a brand extension of Westin Hotels & Resorts, was announced on September 22, 2006. It is an extended-stay hotel. Formerly known by its working title, Project ESW, element's design goal is "nature". It incorporates social meeting areas into the hotel's design.[5]
Currently there is one location open with an additional hotel planned for Summerlin, Nevada scheduled to open in October of 2008 known as 'ELEMENT Las Vegas Summerlin'.
[edit] Four Points by Sheraton
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Four Points by Sheraton is Starwood's mid-market hotel brand. It was established in 1995.
Four Points by Sheraton recently rebranded itself, altering it's logo's lettering (the same as Sheraton's) and compass image to that of a more stylized font and colorful pinwheel graphic.
The highest SPG category Four Points by Sheraton, and therefore the most prestigious Four Points by Sheraton, is the Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea in New York.
Four Points by Sheraton's signature bed is the Four Points Comfort bed.
[edit] Le Méridien
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Main article: Le Méridien
Le Méridien is a French-inspired hotel brand formerly headquartered in the United Kingdom, with 130 properties. Le Meridien was initially owned by Air France and its first property was Le Meridien Etoile in France. The brand was acquired by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide in 2006 and as a result, its loyalty program, Le Meridien Moments, ceased. However guests were able to have their accumulated points merged with an existing or new Starwood Preferred Guest membership.
There is one Le Meridien property with no rooms; Le Cafe Royale London is a Convention Centre.
The highest SPG Category Le Meridien, and therefore the most prestigious Le Meridien, is the Le Meridien Bora Bora.
[edit] The Luxury Collection
The Luxury Collection is a group of unique hotels and resorts offering exceptional service to an elite clientèle. All of these hotels, some of them centuries old, are internationally recognized as being among the world's finest.
Many of The Luxury Collection's hotels and resorts have a rich and distinguished heritage; Hotel Schloss Fuschl in Hof bei Salzburg, Austria is over 557 years old and at the time of it's completion in 1875, the 552 room Palace Hotel, San Francisco, California USA was the world's largest hotel. Many Luxury Collection hotels were once residencies for European aristocracy and monarchy, for example, Hotel Imperial in Vienna, Austria was once the residence of Prince of Wurttemberg. Many notable guests of Hotel Elephant in Weimar, Germany include Goethe, Liszt, Johan Sebastian Bach and Leo Tolstoy. The Sheraton Kuwait Hotel & Towers, which opened in 1966, has the honor of being the first Sheraton hotel in the world to be opened outside the United States.
The Luxury Collection hotels and resorts are distinguished by magnificent décor, spectacular settings, impeccable service and the latest in modern conveniences and amenities. In bustling cities and spectacular resorts around the world, The Luxury Collection provides the definitive hospitality experience for people of superior taste and refinement.
Often, a truly unique and exceptional Sheraton, Westin or Le Meridien property is branded as a The Luxury Collection hotel or resort, for example, the Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur is not technically a Sheraton hotel, nor is the Sheraton Laguna Resort Phuket or the Sheraton Kuwait Hotel & Towers.
The Luxury Collection also includes the smallest Starwood hotel or resort, the Hacienda Uayamon in Campeche, Mexico, with only 12 casitas including 2 suites.
[edit] Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
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Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is Starwood's largest brand.
Sheraton has four rather unique resort properties in rural Pennsylvania in which you may only check-in if you're a couple.
There is one Sheraton in the United Arab Emirates which has no rooms; it's a country club.
The brand's signature bed is called the Sheraton Sweet Sleeper Bed.
[edit] St. Regis
The St. Regis is one of Starwood's luxury brands. Each property is designed to capture the distinctive personality of the destination. The first St. Regis hotel was in Manhattan, and in the 1930s under head bartender Fernand Petiot introduced America to the Bloody Mary cocktail.
The St. Regis brand has since expanded to 12 properties located in Washington D.C., Monarch Beach, San Francisco, Houston, Aspen, Fort Lauderdale, London, Rome, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Bora Bora.
Planned St. Regis Hotels and Resorts include Costa Rica, Baha Mar, Bahia Beach, Punta Mita, Bal Harbour, Atlanta, Deer Valley, Mexico City, Lhasa, Bali, Macau and Osaka.
St. Regis Residences are located in Aspen, Atlanta, Bahia Beach, Bal Harbour, Bali, Costa Rica, Deer Valley, Fort Lauderdale, Jakarta, Mexico City, New York, San Francisco and Singapore.
The new St. Regis Hotel Singapore provides a fleet of Bentleys for airport transfers and its residencies are the most expensive apartments in Singapore.
[edit] W Hotels
The uber-chic W Hotels brand was launched in 1998 with the opening of the original W New York, located at 541 Lexington Avenue; the second was W Atlanta - Perimeter. Since then, the W Hotel brand has expanded to over 30 properties including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Mexico City, Montreal, Seoul, Dallas, two in both Chicago and New Orleans, four in Atlanta, Honolulu, New Mexico and the first W Retreat and Spa in the Maldives. The original W New York hotel has been joined by four other local properties including W New York - Times Square, W New York - Union Square, W New York The Tuscany and W New York - The Court.
Upcoming W Hotels include Athens, Istanbul, Doha, Dubai, Santiago, Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Yokohama, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Scottsdale, Minneapolis, Hoboken, Philadelphia, Hollywood, Austin, Boston, and the second and third W Retreat and Spas in Vieques and Koh Samui, Thailand. A second Atlanta property is also scheduled.
Only one W Hotel has since closed / rebranded; in March of 2006 the W Sydney - Wooloomooloo rebranded to The Blue Hotel, owned by Taj Hotels.
Everything is stylized with W Hotels; reception is referred to as 'Welcome', the pool is 'Wet'.
W Hotels has pioneered some unique promotions in recent years such as Woof. The five W Hotels in New York welcome canine guests with a doggy Signature W Bed, doggy Bathrobe, turn down treat, doggy sitting services and walks through Central Park.
Should a guest reserve the Mega Suite at W Seoul - Walkerhill, South Korea, the hotel will organize a red Jaguar XJ for airport chauffeuring.
The only way to get to the W Retreat and Spa - Maldives is via the resorts' own private seaplane from Male.
Select W Hotels feature Bliss Spas, such as Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
Select W Hotels feature W The Store, such as New York, Chicago and San Diego, however items may also be purchased online. Items include upmarket clothing and accessories, home wares and toiletries.
Select W Hotels feature Residences such as Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Hollywood and New York. Also, the planned W Austin is to have more space for residences than for hotel purposes.
The brand's signature bed is called the Signature W Bed.
The highest SPG category W Hotel, and therefore the most prestigious W Hotel, is W Retreat and Spa - Maldives.
An episode of South Park in Season 10, "Hell on Earth 2006", featured the W Los Angeles - Westwood, where Satan held a Halloween party. The depiction was very accurate.
[edit] Westin Hotels & Resorts
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Main article: Westin Hotels
The Westin Hotels & Resorts brand is Starwood's upper upscale luxury hotels and resorts brand. Westin locations are targeted towards upscale business travelers and convention attendees. Westin is the oldest brand. Westin's trademarked signature bed is the Westin Heavenly Sleeper, however Westin also has the Westin Heavenly Bath and Westin Heavenly Shower.
[edit] Starwood Preferred Guest
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Starwood Preferred Guest ("SPG") is Starwood's hotel rewards or loyalty program. Membership is free and instantaneous, either online or with the assistance of a hotel's reception staff member. A temporary membership card can be attained at the time of joining SPG, however the delivery of a laminated card with an introductory package usually takes six to eight weeks time for delivery.
Since its inception in 1999, SPG has been awarded the Hotel Program of the Year six times by consumers via the prestigious Freddie Awards. However, in recent years, it has failed to capture this important award.
[edit] Disney
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, is known not only for their lavish hotels, but also for their relationship with The Walt Disney Company. On January 13, 1990 the Walt Disney World Swan opened under the Westin Hotel brand. In June of 1990, the Swan's sister hotel opened, the Walt Disney World Dolphin under the Sheraton Hotels brand. Even though these two hotels are official Disney hotels, and are on Disney property, Starwood Hotels runs, operates, and manages both.
Matt Ouimet, president of the Starwood Hotel Group, was formerly the president of the Disney Cruise Line and later the Disneyland Resort in California.
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