By BRENDA SHUFELT, History Room Coordinator
THE HUDSON AREA LIBRARY History Room has monthly local history talks you’ve probably read about in this newspaper but also offers free research services. These requests are answered by dedicated and knowledgeable staff and volunteers. Many requests are from Hudson residents who have acquired a home or are considering renovating their home and need to go before the Historic Preservation Commission. Other requests for history of residences are done out of simple curiosity. We also sometimes are asked for information on family ancestors. We don’t focus on genealogy but we do have city directories from 1851 to the present with information on Hudson residences. And we have specialized resources such as ledgers from the Hudson Orphan Asylum, which have helped family members find out about long lost relatives. Those are some of our favorite research findings.
The research requests we received this past year reflect our community’s divergent interest in local history. Here are some examples: Did we have photos of the roof of CMH Hospital to determine if there was ever a weather monitoring station? Did we have information on James McClure Wardle, Hudson City’s Engineer 1927-1950, honored in a plaque at the Oakdale Beach House? Did we have any photos of the amusement ride “The Rainbow,” which ran from 1983-1991 and was at the Columbia County Fair? Any images or articles on the barge ride of the Sinclair Dinoland dinosaurs to the 1964 World’s Fair from the Jonas Studio? A history and, hopefully, images of the Park Hotel in Stottville; the same for a house on Middle Road in Greenport? Any chance we may have vintage Halloween photos from Hudson? Can we send digital images of the Civil War Letter of Corporal George E. Lasher of Germantown?
The answering of one particular request was so much fun I am sharing it with The Columbia Paper’s readers. William (Billy) Blowers, president of the Friends of the Hudson Area Library, Board Member of The Hudson Literacy Fund and Hudson fixture, purchased a vintage class ring from Bavier Brook on Warren Street a few years ago. The ring was from the CMH School of Nursing and Billy, who worked at CMH at the time, thought it was an apropos find. The raised head of the ring was engraved “Hudson City Hospital” with a “19” and “33” on either side. The initials “N.C.M.” were engraved on the inside. Billy wanted to know who the ring might have belonged to and asked Emily Chameides, our library director, if the History Room could help with that information. Well, yes we can! In our archived collection: The Papers of the CMH School of Nursing. Emily brought Billy to our archival room where they began searching. And, find an answer they did.
I was away at the time but they were so excited they texted me images of the answer. They found “N.C.M.” in the 1933 White Cap, the yearbook for nursing students at the hospital. In my Messages app appeared a movie star (think silent film) headshot of a woman in a white cap and nurse’s uniform: Natalie C. McNamara, known as “Nat,” “Happy-go-lucky, never blue,/We’ve found her loyal, ever true” were the words next to her photograph.
In the spirit of White Cap, a mostly humorous description of Natalie follows: “Her hometown is Hudson; characteristic, good-natured; hobby, shopping in the Grand Union; aversion, hurrying; great achievement, curls; greatest mistake, going with medical students.” In the Who’s Who list she is “Prettiest Girl.” Finally in a parody listing of classes: “9:30 A.M. Miss Natalie McNamara will explain the advantages of Thom McAnnn shoes.”
A text thread between Emily, Billy, and I ensued on whether “Nat” resembled Mary Pickford or Lillian Gish. We settled on Pickford.
Some research requests are heavy on the research and take hours of (what most people would call tedious) work pouring through resources. Some are fun and serendipitous and originate from curiosity about an item, a house, a document someone has come across in their life. Finding an answer to their query brings a person, an event, even a home to life from that time period. It is a lovely thing to find something someone is looking for in the recesses of history.
We have done no further research on Natalie C. McNamara, the snapshot of her life as a graduating nursing student in 1933 was what the requestor wanted. Any readers with further information on this beautiful accomplished lady feel free to reach out to me at brenda.shufelt@hudsonarealibrary.org. But for now our Mary Pickford look-alike lives in our minds as a young woman, fun and beautiful, who has her life ahead of her with the skills and education to begin a career of aid to others.
And, if all this has whetted your own curiosity, here is information from The Papers of the CMH School of Nursing finding aid: The Hudson City Hospital moved into its new home and the training school opened in 1900. Applicants were required to be between the ages of 21 and 35, have good education, perfect health, and excellent moral character. The first graduation of the Hudson City Hospital Training School for Nurses took place in the fall of 1903. In 1953 the affiliations consisted of Queens General Hospital, Long Island for Pediatrics, and Willard-Parker Hospital, New York City for Communicable Diseases, and Hudson River State Hospital, Poughkeepsie for Psychiatry. The nursing school at CMH stayed active into the late 1980s.
The primary mission of the Hudson Area Library’s History Room is to acquire, preserve, and make accessible holdings regarding the history and culture of the library’s service area which includes Hudson, Greenport and Stockport. We also maintain a Columbia County collection. Our work, archives and their maintenance are supported primarily through donations of patrons, researchers, and persons interested in local history. To learn more about the History Room and its resources, including more information on CMH School of Nursing, go to https://historyroom.hudsonarealibrary.org, visit in person during our open hours (Wednesday 5-8pm & Saturdays, 10am-1pm), or make an appointment by emailing brenda.shufelt@hudsonarealibrary.org.
