CRREO, the Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach, has launched a new blog on New York State history. The first three entries explore the stories of Jupiter Hammon, Gilded Age Castles of the Thousand Islands, and Matilda Joslyn Gage. 



We live in the midst of New York stories, and create new ones every day. They are all around us. The sum of these stories, some familiar, some virtually forgotten, make up the history of our state. As a center of innovation, enterprise, diversity, interconnections, conflicts and leadership, New York State both reflects the entire history of the United States and provides its own special flavor to the American narrative. 



New Yorkers have been accused of neglecting their past to focus on the fu ture. Yet the college students who study Empire State history with me are not only excited to learn about the state in which they live, but frustrated when they realize how much they were nev er before taught. So, as I wrap up my research and begin writing a new college textbook on the history of New York State, I set out in this blog to share with a wider audience some of the discoveries I have made along the way as I’ve researched New York’s stories. It will feature snippets of history that I find intriguing — vignettes from the Big Apple and the boroughs, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, Capital District, North Country, Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, the Niagara F rontier – and anywhere in between. Although these stories may not be news to all of you, they will be surprising to some, and will jog the memories of others. 



The blog can be found at http://sites.newpaltz.edu/nyrediscovered/ 


Read and enjoy. And, if you have any comments or corrections, please share them with us. 


Sincerely, 




Susan Ingalls Lewis 
Associate Professor of History 
SUNY New Paltz