NEWS RELEASE:
 
Conference on New York State History
Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York
June 12-14, 2014
 
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (04/30/2014) — The 2014 Conference on New York State
History will be offering something for anyone with interest in New York
State History when it meets at Marist College in Poughkeepsie on June
12-14.
 
Conference highlights include presentations by author and CBS news
commentator Douglas Brinkley, Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer, and History
Channel Vice President and Chief Historian Libby Haight O’Connell.  
 
Conference attendees will also be able to hear celebrated filmmaker Ken
Burns speak about his upcoming documentary, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate
History,” at a public program sponsored by the FDR Presidential Library
& Museum and the Home of FDR National Historic Site.
 
“This year’s program is intended to serve a broad audience and make
good history more useful and enjoyable for all New Yorkers,” said New
York State Historical Association President and CEO Paul S. D’Ambrosio
Ph.D.
 
The New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown is the
principal conference sponsor. Co-sponsors include the Hudson River
Valley Institute of Marist College, the New York State Museum, the New
York State Archives Partnership Trust, and the New York Humanities
Council.
 
The three-day program will feature presentations by more than 100
speakers who will together address a wide range of topics—from the most
up-to-date professional research on such topics as women’s suffrage, the
politics of the Civil War, and the changing public memory of 9/11 to the
current state of such issues as classroom education, museum programming,
and heritage tourism.
 
“New York State’s history community is extremely diverse. It includes
scholars, teachers, museum and archives professionals, and history buffs
of every description,” said New York State Historian Robert Weible, who
chaired the committee that organized the conference. Both Weible and
D’Ambrosio noted that one goal of the conference would be to foster
closer relationships among New York’s many historical interests.  
 
The organizing committee included representatives of the Association of
Public Historians of New York State, Bard College, the Center for
Applied Historical Research, the Cooperstown Graduate Program, Hobart &
William Smith Colleges, the Hudson River Valley Institute of Marist
College, the Iroquois Indian Museum, the Museum Association of New York,
the National Park Service, the New York Academy of History, the New York
State Archives, the New York State Council for Social Studies, the New
York State Museum, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation,
and Historic Preservation.
 
The conference has a special interest in strengthening history
education in New York by providing focused sessions for elementary and
secondary teachers, as well as for museum educators.
  
Just prior to the conference on Thursday, June 12th, the Home of FDR
National Historic Site, the FDR Presidential Museum & Library, and the
Center for Applied Historical Research will sponsor a free public
program entitled “Imperiled Promise: Public History and Shared Authority
at New York’s NPS Sites.” Program participants will discuss and solicit
public comment on a recent study, authored by the Organization of
American Historians, that critically examines the ways in which the
National Park Service presents history to the public.
 
Ken Burns will speak afterwards and screen scenes from his most recent
production, “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History.”  This presentation is
also free and open to the public.  Both the Burns and National Park
Service programs will seek to attract conference attendees when they
take place at the Henry A. Wallace Visitor Center of the FDR
Presidential Library & Museum. The Wallace Center is located a short
distance from Marist College.  
 
The conference program and registration information are available
online at https://www.nysha.org/nysha/for_teachers/cnysh

 
For more information, please contact:
 
Mary Zawacki, Managing Consultant 
for the Conference on New York State History
Phone: (607) 547-1453
E-mail: [log in to unmask]  

 
About the New York State Historical Association 
New York State Historical Association (NYSHA) has been welcoming and
connecting people to our shared cultural heritage since 1899 through
exhibitions and programs that provoke, delight, and inspire.  Whether
you are a student exploring history through New York History Day; a
visitor taking in the Fenimore Art Museum’s world-class collections; a
researcher combing through the holdings of our Research Library in
Cooperstown or online; a scholar, teacher, or history buff attending one
of our conferences or enjoying the journal of New York History or
another of our publications; or a family experiencing first-hand a
19th-century farming community at The Farmers’ Museum, a vibrant living
history museum and sister institution, you are experiencing a dynamic
21st-century cultural institution.