• Celebrating Over 20 Years of Stewardship 1999 - 2022              

Archived Newsletters

“Scroll Down” for Docents Digest Editions & Contents

Researchers and enthusiasts pen notable citizen spotlights from the

past and present, illuminating the remarkable contributions that have created Floral Park as it exists today… 

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For more information about our activities & FPHS collectibles, please e-mail anncorbett@corbettpr.com or call (516) 775-6849.

Archived Docents Digest Newsletters

All FPHS DOCENTS DIGEST NEWSLETTERS FROM INCEPTION!

(To View - Click-on Edition’s Hyperlink in BLUE)

 Year 2024 - Newsletters

FPHS Docents Digest Spring Summer 2024 Edition

 - Jeanne Petta, FPHS Director Emeritus, to Celebrate her 100th Birthday!

 - Jeanne’s Life Story by Carol Petta O’Hara

 - 100 Birthday Wishes

 - Jeanne was honored at The Floral Park Library

 - From the Archives 

 - Edith Purcell - Across the Years - The Story of Floral Park

 - South Side Auto Sales & Voice of the Air - A Childs’ Family Business at 18 Verbena Ave

FPHS Docents Digest Spring 2024 Edition

 - A Tribute to the Memory of Adele Margaret Werthmuller

 - The Gateway to The Village - Anew

 - A Special Acquisition - Thank You to The Wicks Family

 Year 2023 - Newsletters:

FPHS Docents Digest Winter 2023 Edition

 - In Memory of Harold Wicks V. Wicks, Jr.

 - Harry’s Own Words - Harry Wicks Woodturning

 - Pictures by Harold Wicks, Jr - Rudolph’s Tavern (formerly know as The Oriental Hotel)

 - In Recognition of Presidents’ Day - The George Washington Bible in Floral Park

 - Looking Back in Time

FPHS Docents Digest Summer 2023 Edition

 - A Free Docent’s Tour of the FPHS Museum

 - An Antiques Road Show

 - Floral Park is Proclaimed a Purple Heart Village

 - Purple Heart  Recipients Honored

 - Happy 100th Birthday to The Floral Park Library

FPHS Docents Digest Spring 2023 Edition

•   - April 16th - The Naming of “SEWANHAKA HIGH SCHOOL” - A MYSTERY STORY Presented by Dennis McEnery;
      Other Names Seriously Considered

  •   - President’s Message
  •   - IN MEMORIUM, Russell O’Brien
  •   - Our Lady of Victory Reunion - They Travel Down “Memory Lane”
  •   - GARDEN CITY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Hosts Meeting
  •   - New Membership Year Begins May 1 - Please consider joining - Family $15 a year.
  •   - FLORAL PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT HISTORY
  •   - The Pomerantz Brothers Delight in Viewing Their Brother Marc’s Photos of 1950s Jericho Turnpike
  •   - FPHS Welcomes New Directors, Margaret & Jim MacDonald

 Year 2022 - Newsletters

FPHS Docents Digest Aug./Sept. 2022 Edition

•   - We’re Back! Membership Meeting, Sun. Sept. 18, 2pm @ Pool/Rec. Ctr.
•   - In Memoriam - Peter Fleig
•   - A Visit to the Harold Martin Collection, The Little Red Boat
•   - New Acquisition: 1905 - 1913 Bound Book - Editions of The Warbler

FPHS Docents Digest Spring Summer 2022 Edition

 - Presentation Night at Swing The Teapot - Hosted by Ann & Shane Moynagh

•  - New Additions to The Archives
•  - From The Archives - John Lewis Childs Seed Packets
•  - A Bomb Shelter in Floral Park?

FPHS Docents Digest Apr - May 2022 Edition

  - Cook Books in the Archives

•   - Local Elementary Schools’ Newsletters in the Archives
•   - Childs’ Summer House
•   - Invitation to Swing The Teapot - 7PM, May 19, 2022
•   - Membership Renewal Application

FPHS Docents Digest March 2022 Edition

•   - The Suydam Homestead
•   - Golden Rule Service Station
•   - RE’s Taxi Service
•   - John E. Settler - Author of Fifty Years Ahead of the News, Published in 1993
•   - Village Election - March 15, 2022

FPHS Docents Digest Feb. 2022 Edition

•   - A Vintage Street Sign Post
•   - Excerpts from Two Editions of “THE MAYFLOWER” – 1890
•   - A Vintage Street Sign Post
•   - Excerpts from Two Editions of “THE MAYFLOWER” – 1890
•   - Correction & Childs’ Plans for his Collection
•   - New Discovery - The Netherlands as a Source of Flowering Bulbs
•   - Floral Park Memorial Junior-Senior High School - Looking Back 65 Years

FPHS Docents Digest Jan 2022 Edition

  -  John Lewis Childs - Renowned OOLOGIST

•   - Excerpts from The OOLOGIST magazine written by Harold Bailey 1921
•   - LONG ISLAND PERIODICALS - 1895 and 1899
•   - Nostalgically Striking & Strikingly Nostalgic
•   - John Lewis Childs Plant Sprinkler/Sprayer ad - ca. 1900’

• 
  Year 2021 - Newsletters

Docents Digest Dec 2021 Edition

  -  John Lewis Childs Mansion, Tulip Ave - After a Winter Snowfall

•   - The FISH of Floral Park - “Keeping Friends in Safe Hands”
•   - A Christmas Verse - Poet Norma D. Childs
•   - Alley-Way Snapshot Reveals Sign of Old Times
•   - A Thank You - In a Nutshell

Docents Digest Nov 2021 Edition

  - The Green House, A Sears House, A Dream House

•   - Centennial Gardens Bridge
•   - Centennial Gardens and Bird Sanctuary
•   - FPPD Mounted Police Officers

Docents Digest Oct 2021 Edition

  - Our Lady of Victory Parrish Centennial Year 2021 

•   - Mrs. Helen M. Marsh: Founder of Bellerose Village
•   - The Story of Bellerose Village by Walter Gosden
•   - Eddie Arcaro, Jockey & Floral Park Businessman
•   - Notes from Helen Miller responding to memories shared by Jeanne Petta

• Docents Digest Aug/Sept 2021 Edition

•  - Jeanne Petta Remembers

•   - John Lewis Childs Spring 2013 Catalog
•   - Child’s “Personal Word” about his business history
•   - Comments on an Era by Walter Gosden
•   - Donation Recognitions
•   - Floral Park Jewish Center
•   - The Round House History

Docents Digest May 2021 Edition Congratulations to our new Mayor, Trustees & their families, A Thank You…

•  - In memory of George William Bowen

•   - The Infamous Floral Park Incinerator
•   - Tree City, USA
•   - WWII War Bonds and Rationing
•   - Floral Park Fire Department Helmet
•   - Nomination of FPHS Officers and Board Members
•     May 1, 2021 - April 30, 2023

• 
  Docents Digest April 2021 Edition

•  - Preparing for our new Fiscal Year

   - Covert Family Album - Mary Ellen LaRocca
      - Tour of the Covert Family Carriage House

•   -  Join Our Mission; Preserve Our History

Docents Digest March 2021 Edition

•   - Chronicle of the American Red Cross in Floral Park
    - Music - a part of Floral Park’s Heritage

•    - Floral Park Community Chorus
•    - Floral Park’s Citizen’s Symphony Orchestra
•    - Introducing Floral Park Author’s Second Crime Novel 

• Docents Digest February 2021 Edition

•  -  Mary Goldsmith Childs - Member of Daughters of the American Revolution
   - 1905 Thirtieth Anniversary of John Lewis Child’s Seed Company

•   - Vintage & Special Letters

•  - Child’s Seed Catalog - 1917

•   - The Schoolmate magazine

• Docents Digest January 2021  Edition-  Wish for a Healthy & Happy 2021!
   - The Reveal

•  - The Bank Robbery of 1953

•   - The Infamous Bottle Collection

Year 2020 Newsletters

• Docents Digest November - December 2020 Edition

  •  - Annual Christmas Show at The Floral Theatre
     - Santa arrives

  •  - A History of The Floral Theatre

  •   - Floral Park & Vicinity Historical Directories by Walter Gosden

• • Docents Digest October 2020 Edition

  •  - Seedsmen & Florists by Walter Gosden
     - Floral Park Red Ribbon Week - Looking Back 30 Years by Ann V Corbett

  •   - Reporter’s Interview with Carrie Childs by Ann V Corbett

  •  - Jeanne Mitchell America’s First Young Lady of the Fiddle by Ann V Corbett

• 
  Docents Digest September 2020 Edition
  

  •  - Remembering 9-11
     - Buttons - A Collection of Memories

  •  - The Floral Park Playground by Walter Gosden

  •   - WaterbIll Watchdogs Vs. Jamaica Water Supply by Ann Corbett

• Docents Digest August 2020 Edition

•  - Views of Floral Park
  

•     (John Lewis Childs Booklet)

•  - Belmont Park - Horse-racing 1665-2020

   - Board of Health - Rules & Regs. - 1916

• • Docents Digest June-July 2020 Edition

  •  - President’s Message
    

     - Devil Dog of Floral Park
     - Beautiful Acquisition

  •   - Floral Park’s Woman’s Club Garden
  •   - GATEWAY prints LAST Issue!
  •   - 1874 - John Lewis Childs rents apartment on Jericho Tpke.
      - Thank you Harry Wicks
      - Elevation of LIRR Tracks  

• • Docents Digest May-June 2020 Edition

  •  - West End Civic Association 100th Anniversary & History
    

    •  - Special Delivery - Postman Bill Olivet
    •  - Give a Cheer for John Lewis Childs School
    •  - Flowers & Bulbs for the Trade
    •  - Floral Park Birds 1909 & 2020
    •  - Stella Miller’s Review
    •  - Floral Park’s Bird Whisperer, Donald Haug, Sr.
    •  - The Bird Counters of Floral Park

     
    Year 2019 Newsletters

  • Docents Digest Winter 2019-20 Edition

    •  - FPHS President Ann Corbett writes about our 20th Anniversary
    •     & some upcoming 2020 events
    •  - In 1952 General Dwight D. Eisenhower visited Floral Park
    •  - PBA Benefit Show Poster found - from about 1947
    •     held at The Floral Theatre with Vaudeville acts & Movies
    •  - Three Red Tulips on a Blue Field – considered by
    •     many to be the “Village Logo” 

• • Docents Digest Summer/Fall 2019 Edition

  •  - John Lewis Childs as a young man
    

    •  - CL Allen hires John Lewis Childs
    •  - In memory - Arthur Bradley
    •  - Floral Park - Residents’ Day:
    •  - The Percy Loomis Speer Collection

     
    

    • Docents Digest Summer 2019 Edition

      •  - Jim MacDonald assists with the Village Historical Markers Unveiling
      •  - The Kirchner Triplets – Frances, Katherine, & Marguerite
      •  - Ladislav “Lenny” Jindra – An American Hero, A Survivor of D-Day, June 6, 1944
      •  - Boy Scout Troop 4 Floral Park celebrates 105th Anniversary

       
      Year 2018 Newsletters

    • Docents Digest Winter 2018-2019 Edition

       “Twentieth Anniversary Edition” - Highlights

      •  - The Story of FPHS 20th Anniversary Floral Park Historical Marker Project:
            Fireman’s Hall, Tyson Building, Masonic Temple, 
      •     American Legion, Floral Park School,
      •     1779 House, Floral Theatre, Covert Homestead
      •  - A Window to Businesses of the Past
      •  - NYC Fire Museum Receives 1900 & 1901 Book
      •  - Century Old Portrait of President Ray Larimar Stokely found
        - Remembering Bernice Hayes
    •   - The Resident Directory, 1940
  • Docents Digest 2018 Fall/Winter Edition

  •  - John Lewis Childs an Extraordinary Businessman
    

    •  - Dennis McEnery presents Research on Colonial Gardens
    •  - Victor Koenig’s Restaurant closes - The Harrison Opens
    •  -  J. James Hardware Store
    •  - A Summer Memory - FROZEN CUP
    •  - History in the Making- Phase 1-LIRR 3^rdTrack
    •  - The Warbler – Bird Notes

     

  • Docents Digest 2018 Summer Edition

     - What is a Docent?

  •  - Grant being used for Historical Markers

  •  - Betty Boop visits the Floral Theatre
     - Acquisition:

    •     1888 John Lewis Childs Seed Catalog
    •     first to use Chromolithographs
    •  - Presidents Coolidge & Hoover appoint
    •     Wallace Thurston as our Floral Park Postmaster

  •  

  • Year 2017 Newsletters

  • Docents Digest 2017 Fall Edition

    • •  - The Last 50 by Walter Gosden

         - Changes to Some Familiar Places with some Great Photos
         - Thank you to our Local Businesses

      •   - Join Us - to Preserve Our History
  •  

  • Docents Digest 2017 Summer Edition

  •  - The Hammered Dulcimer

    •  - President’s Message
    •  - FPHS Display at SunnyPond Farm Historical Site
    •  - Sewanhaka High School
    •  - Sewanhaka H.S. Graduates Reminese
    •  - Sewanhaka H.S. Yearbook Collection
    •  - Sewanhaka H.S. History Makers
    •  - FPHS - Who we are
    •  - Thank You to our local businesses

  •  
    Year 2016 Newsletters

  • Docents Digest 2016 Winter Edition

    •  - The Bird Man of Floral Park
    •  - A Message from Historian Walter Gosden
    •  - The Warbler
    •  - No. 10 Jericho Tpke. by Harry Wicks
    •  - Ann Corbett - Speaker at The Queens Farm Museum
    •  - Ray Heatherton - More Than Just “The Merry Mailman”

     
    

    • Docents Digest 2016 Spring (1)

      •  - Short History – LIRR
      •  - Gatsby Era Pure Silk Party Dress Restored
      •  - Friends of the Library Collection

     

  • Year 2015 Newsletters

  • • Docents Digest 2015 Summer Edition
    •   - The History of the Magic Lantern Slide
    •   - 116 Ways of Using the Tomato
    •   - The Herkomer-Brusher Home
    •   - The John Lewis Childs Home
    •   - Edible Long Island - Notable Edibles
    •   - John Lewis Childs: Started The First Seed Catalog
    •      in America 
• 
   Year 2014 Newsletters

•  Docents Digest 2014 December Edition

• •  - FPHS - NEWS IN A NUTSHELL
     - SMILE - CLASS PICTURES - with names of students & faculty

  •  - THANK YOU TO OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES
•  

• Docents Digest 2014 Fall Edition

  •  - 1904 Vanderbilt Cup Historical Marker Unveiling Ceremony
  •  - Great Grandson of Oscar P. Brion Visits Museum
  •  - Jericho turnpike 54 Years Ago – 18 Year Old Photographer Marc Pomerantz
  •  - Enhancing our Vaudeville Collection
  •  - A Visit with Vera Luthy, Age 97

• Docents Digest 2014 Summer-Fall Edition

•  - About The Wicks Farm - Harry & Maureen Wicks
  

  •  - Dr. Harry Howard Fills In The Blanks about Lees’ Drug Store
  •  - Thank You to Our Local Businesses

•  

• Year 2013 Newsletters

• Docents Digest 2013 Winter Edition

• •  - Surprise Visitor
     - Floral Park Woman’s Club Anniversary
  •  - Donations to our FPHS Archives
  •  - Portrait of Caroline Goldsmith Childs
  •  - Floral Park Junior Woman’s Club
  •  - Cub Scouts Pack #482 Visit

   

• Docents Digest 2013 Summer Edition

  • •  - John Lewis Childs’ Chemolithographs Flower Prints Reproduced,

    • •  - Friends of the Library Exhibit
      •  - FPHS “Early Floral Park” Diorama Goes On Display
         - 1000 Acres in Smithtown Renamed “Flowerfields”
      •  - Westend Landmark Under Restoration - Walter Gosden, Village Historian
      •  - Jeanne Petta & George Bowen, Each Honored as Director Emeritas
      •  - President’s Message & “Thank Yous”
      •  - Kaitlyn Felicetti Earns GIRL SCOUT GOLD AWARD
      •  - FPHS WISH LIST

   

  Docents Digest 2013 Summer 2nd Edition

•  - Explore the History of Neighboring Communities - New Hyde Park

  •  - Discover Fosters Meadow
     - FPHS Wish List
    

• 
  Year 2012 Newsletters

• Docents Digest 2012 Spring Edition

  •  - FPHS ACCEPTS THE ORIGINAL FLORAL PARK VILLAGE FLAG
  •  - FPHS ACCEPTS THE FLORAL PARK CIVIL DEFENSE FLAG
  •  - Civil Defense & Junior Rescue Squad by Bill Corbett, Sr.
     - Archivists’ Corner by John Lockwood
  •  - Why a Wish List?
     - THANK YOU to Our Local Businesses!

   

• Year 2011 Newsletters

• Docents Digest 2011 Summer Edition

  •  - Ruth Snyder Murder Case –Marco Conelli
  •  - American Legion Auxiliary 90th Anniversary
  •  - Tulip Hill Bowling Alley Explosion - Super Bowl ‘87
  •  - Historical Notes-Yes, Three Fire Houses

• 
  Year 2010 Newsletters
  Docents Digest 2010 Summer Edition
  

• •  - 4VS Floral Park Centennial Commemorative DVD
  •  - Three Celebrate Milestone - The Kirshner Triplets celebrate their 90th Birthday!
  •  - Archival Room Update - Past Perfect Software Installed
  •  - Walter Gosden, Village Historian Notes
  •  - Volunteer Opportunities
  •  - Press Comments on Floral Park in 1892
  • 
    Year 2009 Newsletters

    • Docents Digest 2009 Winter Edition

      •  - The Miss Mary Martin Story
      •  - Are you a prospective Docent?
      •  - “Show and Tell” Road Show
      •  - Miniature Replicas
      •  - On Loan at Museum

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

•  

Floral Park Historical Society Collectibles

• Ask about our collectible Floral Park History keepsakes and museum-quality floral prints, reproduced from John Lewis Childs' original seed catalog artwork... Please contact Ann Corbett
  

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