From left, Dan Oliveri presents a check to Tom Manuel, founder of The Jazz Loft Photo from The Jazz Loft
The Jazz Loft, a music venue and museum located in Stony Brook Village, has recently completed an ambitious renovation project of its basement, now known as the “Coal Bin.”
The name is a salute to juke joints of the early 20th Century, such as Herb McCarthy’s Bowden Square which featured a basement space for music called the Coal Bin, which was literally located in the coal bin area of the building’s basement. The new Coal Bin at the Jazz Loft will serve as a functional work space as the Jazz Loft continues its mission of archiving and preserving Jazz history.
Funding for the project came from a $40,000 grant from The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, Inc. and a matching gift from Jazz Loft patron Dan Oliveri.
The Jazz Loft’s basement section was updated and transformed into a multi-use work space which will be utilized by Stony Brook University (SBU) student interns,who will begin an archiving, inventory project and digitalizing project of the more than 10,000 historical Jazz artifacts in the possession of the museum. The interns will be using a program designed by students enrolled in a very unique class at the University called “Benevolent Computing,” offered by the Department of Computer Science within the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The course is directed by SBU professor Tony Scarlatos andsuch as its name suggests, explores the phenomenon of how software applications canaffect positive social change in the world.
“The Jazz Loft’s mission is dedicated to the preservation, education and performance of Jazz and we now have a fantastic workspace for us to properly archive and store our Jazz collection,” said Jazz Loft founder Tom Manuel. “It is an honor to have this project supported by the Robert David Lion Gardiner, which has also enabled us to preserve a part of our building that is 250 years old.”
According to Manuel, the museum currently possesses paper records, sheet music, personal possessions of Jazz legends past and present, posters, photos, diaries, manuscripts, programs, musical instruments, vinyl record collections and more that require cataloging and storage.
The Jazz Loft is located at 275 Christian Avenue in Stony Brook. Visit www.thejazzloft.org for further information.
Eagle’s Nest, the Mansion of William K. Vanderbilt II. Vanderbilt Museum photo
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum has received assistance from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation – a grant of $2,000 from its Reimbursement Operating Support (ROS) program.
Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan, executive director of the Vanderbilt, said the Gardiner grant helped with the cost of the Museum’s service contract for website and IT support.
“The pandemic created an immediate need for increased technical support for our Education Department,” Wayland-Morgan said. “Our educators needed to transition quickly from on-site educational programs to virtual learning. Their expertise in instruction and program creation allowed them to produce new videos and collections-based projects for learning in school and at home.”
“We were able to creatively increase our capacity to serve schoolchildren, families, and other constituents throughout Long Island and well beyond. The Gardiner grant gave us necessary support to make that happen,” she added.
Kathryn Curran, executive director of the Gardiner Foundation, said it created the ROS program to counter the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on “Long Island’s historic stewards.” The awards were for reimbursement for institutional expenses incurred in 2020.
The Gardiner Foundation, established in 1987 in Hampton Bays, supports the study of Long Island history, with an emphasis on Suffolk County.
The Gardiner foundation awards the Order of the Ancient and Honorable Huntington Militia a grant to collaborate with the Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay to present demonstrations on colonial crafts and trades. Photo from Raynham Hall l Museum
Since 1639, the Gardiner family and their descendants have owned a 5-square-mile island in the Atlantic Ocean nestled between Long Island’s North Fork and South Fork. The property, known as Gardiner’s Island, was obtained from King Charles I of England as part of a royal grant. Today, that legacy is benefiting all of Long Island, thanks to Robert David Lion Gardiner, the island’s 16th Lord of the Manor, who died in 2004.
In 1987, Gardiner established the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation to support the study of American history. Each year, the foundation awards $5 million in grants to Long Island and New York nonprofits focused on preserving history. Look around at preserved pieces of history all across Long Island and in New York City, and you will likely find the foundation often behind the scenes offering support.
Thanks to the Gardiner Foundation, the new interactive software display highlights the displays in the First Order Fresnel Lens Building that is alongside the Fire Island Lighthouse. Photo from Gardiner Foundation website
The foundation helped reinvigorate the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site in West Hills, for instance, in preparation for this year’s 200th birthday year celebration.
And as the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City prepared for its 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission this past July, Gardiner helped fund programs and space travel exhibits. It’s considered a substantial addition to the museum and Long Island’s contribution to the space program.
The 107-year old Huntington Lighthouse was preserved and restored with a $145,000 matching grant from the foundation. The Whaling Museum & Education Center at Cold Spring Harbor has the foundation to thank for its climate-controlled storage rooms for its collections.
Big or small, the foundation has been a wonderful resource for nonprofits. Since the foundation aims to preserve Long Island heritage and encourages collaboration, it is possible to find many success stories.
In Setauket, some may have noticed the sagging 1887 carriage shed at the Caroline Church has been replaced. The foundation over the last few years has helped fund its stabilization and replacement.
St. James is currently undergoing a revitalization, and the foundation helped fund the Celebrate St. James organization in staging a musical comedy about the entertainment history of the community.
This month, the foundation awarded its 2019 grants. Recipients include the Order of the Ancient and Honorable Huntington Militia which presented Dec. 14 a demonstration at Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay of handmade colonial crafts and trades. The presentation included a free exhibition with artisans who showed how to do silver and black smithing, weaving, horn and leather work and basket weaving.
Harriet Gerard Clark, executive director of Raynham Hall Museum, is one of many people from organizations that recognize the distinct value of Gardiner.
“I would say that the Gardiner foundation is profoundly changing the way we understand history on Long Island, not only by providing very much needed brick-and-mortar funding, but also by proactively encouraging and incentivizing new ways of networking and collaborating among institutions concerned with historic scholarship, so that we Long Islanders can gain a truer understanding of our own identity,” she said.
The Ward Melville Heritage Organization, which owns historic properties in Stony Brook and Setauket, has also benefited from the Gardiner’s work. The foundation most recently sponsored a live historically-themed play entitled “Courageous Women of the Revolutionary War.” The production highlights the previously unsung female heroes of George Washington’s spy ring.
The Gardiner foundation is comprised of a five-member board, plus an executive director. Kathryn Curran bears that title and deserves special recognition.
“Kathryn is a terrific lady, she is very creative and brings people together.”
– Gloria Rocchio
WMHO president, Gloria Rocchio, is very grateful to the foundation and recognizes Curran’s unique qualities.
“Kathryn is a terrific lady,” Rocchio said. “She is very creative and brings people together.”
One of the conditions of WMHO’s grant was to talk to other historical societies.
“We are making new connections because of that effort,” Rocchio added. “That was all because of Kathy.”
The Smithtown, Northport, Port Jefferson, Miller Place-Mount Sinai and many other Long Island historical societies have grown or become better established because of the Gardiner foundation.
The organization also announced this month that it will fund a Long Island Radio & Television Historical Society documentary that will explore the development of wireless technology on Long Island, featuring the Telefunken wireless station in West Sayville and an international spy ring in the lead-up to World War I. The project also highlights the work of Nikola Tesla of Shoreham and Guglielmo Marconi of Babylon.
The foundation seeks to support 501(c)(3) organizations that demonstrate strong and organized internal capacity, effectiveness, financial and human resources as well as the intellectual capacity to successfully manage the project. Newly formed historical entities are welcomed to apply for a grant.
At a time when historical preservationists report a decline in financial resources, the foundation’s support becomes more and more noteworthy.
For high school students interested in studying history, the foundation also offers a generous undergraduate scholarship worth $40,000.
The Gardiner’s grant portfolio and scholarship information can be viewed on its website at www.rdlgfoundation.org, which gives an in-depth overview of its preservation efforts.
The William Miller House is located at 75 North Country Road in Miller Place. File photo
A Gardiner grant is growing one local historical society’s reach.
The Miller Place-Mount Sinai Historical Society announced the approval of a $4,750 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, which will be used to upgrade and enhance the format and capabilities of its website and social media platforms.
The Daniel Hawkins House was donated to the Miller Place-Mount Sinai Historical Society. Photo from Edna Giffen
“The website itself will allow us to better communicate with our members and the general public, and to build awareness about our society and the local history that we are stewards for,” historical society trustee Matthew Burke said. “Once the upgraded website is unveiled, we anticipate launching multiple social media outlets that will seamlessly connect with and populate our website to further enhance our outreach efforts.”
The Miller Place Historical Society was founded in 1979. In 1982, the name was changed to Miller Place-Mount Sinai Historical Society to reflect the membership and the close ties that the two communities have had since the 1600s. Burke filled out the application, emphasizing how upgrading can continue to raise awareness of the historical significance of the hamlets and the buildings the society owns.
The main property is the 1720 William Miller House — the namesake of the town and the oldest house in Miller Place. Its listing on the National Register of Historic Places enabled the eventual preservation and restoration of the structure beginning in the early 1980s. In 1998, the Daniel Hawkins House, located just east of the William Miller House, both on on North Country Road, was donated to the society. It has undertaken a major fund drive to finance the restoration of the historic gem, with the hopes of using it an archival library and exhibition space. Doing this, will also allow for the William Miller House to become a living museum.
Becoming connected with the Gardiner foundation, according to Burke, could help the society in this process.
“We like to see organizations try to become more sustainable by broadening their outreach and embracing technology to make regional history more accessible.”
—Kathryn Curran
“We’re thrilled not only to have received the financial assistance, but to start developing a relationship with the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation,” he said. “Executive Director Kathryn Curran has already introduced us to other members of the Long Island preservation and history communities who may help us.”
Besides handing out the capacity-building grant, networking, according to Curran, is part of what the foundation is all about.
“We want historical societies to link to each other, so if somebody likes going to a Revolutionary War house or Civil War site, they would want to go to another — their success would be built on each other to create tourism,” she said. “We also want them to come to us in the future for funding for different kinds of projects to build their base, their audience and their supporters.”
She said history is hot — noting a rise in genealogy searching and finding different connections to their communities — so she said this is a good time for historical societies to be growing.
“We like to see organizations try to become more sustainable by broadening their outreach and embracing technology to make regional history more accessible to a new audience,” Curran said. “Historical societies don’t like change, and they really need to grow. These investments by the foundation are there specifically to help them become more self-sufficient and have a broader outreach. It’s all about making history an important part of the community.”
