History Month Showcase: Some Past & Present Projects

Statewide during the past three years there were many more worthwhile and interesting programs, events and publications than we can describe here.

If you know of some that deserve mention, send us a description, a representative image from the project, and where someone could find out more about it.

For past projects, please indicate the year for which it served as a History Month project.

New York State Museum: Lecture Series
	This series of lunchtime and evening lectures featured six regional authors: Stefan Bielinski: "Peopling Colonial New York: The Multicultural Roots of the Empire State"; Paul Grondahl: "Mayor Corning: Albany Icon, Albany Enigma"; Shirley Dunn: "The Mohicans and Their Land, 1609-1730"; Russell Bellico: "Chronicles of Lake George: Journeys in War and Peace"; Charles Gehring: "In Mohawk Country: Early Narratives About a Native People"; and John Conway: "The Rise of Organized Crime: Upstate in the 1920s and 30s".
For information, contact program coordinator, Stefan Bielinski at sbielins@mail.nysed.gov

Native American Engineering Used by New York's First Canal Company
	This web article describes techniques used to improve river navigation 200 years ago in New York State by using structures similar to Native fish dams to raise water levels on shoals and rifts in the Mohawk River. The website was created by the New York State Museum as a History Month project in 1998.
Go to:http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/histmonth.html

The Depuy Canal House Lectures: November 1st, High Falls
	This lecture featured three presentations: F. Daniel Larkin, author of New York Canals: A Short History and Pioneer American Railroads: The Mohawk and Hudson & The Saratoga and Schenectady; Larry Lowenthal, author of From Coalfields to the Hudson: A History of the Delaware & Hudson Canal; and Carleton Mabee, author of Listen to the Whistle: An Anecdotal History of the Wallkill Valley Railroad in Orange and Ulster Counties, New York.
For information, contact program coordinator Wray Rominger at Purple Mountain Press at purple@catskill.net

Brush-Piling: Eighteenth Century English Engineering in an American Wilderness
	This web article describes the trans-Atlantic diffusion of an English form of erosion control engineering, applied in the early 19th century on canal works in Oneida County. The website was created by the New York State Museum as a History Month project in 1999 and summarizes a collaborative research project in the US and the UK.
Go to:http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/history/brushpiling/index.html

Researching New York 2000: A Conference on New York's History
	Researching New York provides a forum for the exploration of New York State's rich and diverse history. It brings together researchers, archivists, librarians, public historians, museum curators, Web site creators, and documentarians-emphasizing the integral relationship between researchers and resources. This conference is being sponsored by The Department of History & The History Graduate Student Organization, University at Albany - State University of New York and The New York State Archives and Archives Partnership Trust.
November 16 and 17, 2000. For more information go to:http://nystatehistory.org/researchny/

The Knox Trail Website - A Guide to the Trail Markers
	The State Museum created this website as a field guide to the 56 Knox Trail monuments erected by the State in 1926 between Fort Ticonderoga and Boston to commemorate the 1776 winter expedition that brought cannon to General Washington, forcing the British evacuation of the city. Designed as a History Month - 2000 project and intended to focus on heritage-based travel.
For more information go to:http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/srv/KnoxTrail/index.html