100 YEARS AGO Hotel feeding the needy

Henry S. Duncan of Albany’s Hampton Hotel made the offer to provide a full turkey dinner to 600 mothers and children from among the city ’s poor as his personal guests on Christmas afternoon in a special dining room, in three different shifts of 200 people each. He made arrangements through the Times Union’s Empty Stocking Club, the charitable group that would send out invitations. They would also coordinate a committee of 10 hostesses who would supervise the dinner and help the mothers in caring for their children at the table. The attendees were to be treated as guests of honor and would receive the same food as the hotel’s regular patrons, cooked by the hotel chefs and served by specially selected waiters. (And) “they are to be welcomed for themselves, not how they are costumed.” The dining room would be exclusive for the mothers and children, with no one from any other part of the hotel permitted admission and a private entrance provided from Green Street. Every child will get a gift.

50 YEARS AGO

Reading labs fit for the space age

It seemed books were on their way out of the reading class with film and sound tapes being used more effectively. Students in Schenectady ’s remedial reading program were finding that books were not the only traditional elements that had vanished from lessons. Reading labs in each of four junior high schools were equipped with the nontraditional methods at a cost of $40,000. “Hardware” was the jargon used by Dr. Daniel Briggs, area reading expert, to describe the audio-visual equipment. Briggs was enthusiastic about the potential of the space age reading program introduced in the fall.

—Times Union, Dec. 16, 1970

C.J. Lais Jr., Azra Haqqie.