MAURICE HINCHEY TO KEYNOTE
FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON HUDSON VALLEY HERITAGE
SEPTEMBER 26-27, 1997

SOJOURNER TRUTH'S 200th BIRTHDAY ALSO TO BE CELEBRATED

New Paltz, NY ---- Congressman Maurice Hinchey will address the historians,
teachers, students, preservationists, and museum professionals assembled to
explore new and on-going studies of the Hudson Valley's natural and cultural
heritage.  The two-day conference has been organized by the Hudson Valley
Study Center at SUNY New Paltz to provide an opportunity for those working
with local and regional history to interact, share information, and learn
what's going on in various fields of endeavor.  Neil Larson, the Center's
executive director, has announced the conference as a central part of the
mission to elevate the status and public recognition of the Hudson Valley's
extraordinary historic record and those who have been working to record,
preserve, and interpret it.  "In a region where the history is so rich and
so often cited, it has amazed me that there has not been a regular forum for
new work from the field.  And so, when we were planning this year's
schedule, we decided to go ahead and start one."  Larson hopes that the idea
will catch on and  continue on an annual basis.  Now that increasing
attention is being drawn to our regional heritage for tourism and economic
development, he sees the conference as providing an important point of
intersection for historians and planners.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey feels the same way.  He will be on hand during
Saturday's luncheon to give a presentation on the new national heritage area
designation that he recently shepherded through Congress, which provides the
Hudson Valley with new opportunities and incentives for developing its
heritage for educational and economic benefit.  SUNY New Paltz's President,
Roger W. Bowen, will also be in attendance.  Bowen is corresponding with
other regional colleges about creating a Hudson Valley Regional Studies
Association to collaborate on developing a more comprehensive curriculum for
students interested in the Hudson Valley's multifaceted history and present.
The anticipated increase of interpretive and economic "packages" for the
heritage area will require new data and historical analysis from the
academic centers in the region.

The conference schedule includes workshops on Friday, September 26, where
researchers and historians can hone their field skills and learn new methods, and the
presentation of over 30 new studies of the region's natural and cultural
heritage on Saturday, September 27. In addition to Saturday's luncheon, a
dinner cruise is planned Saturday evening.  Throughout the two-day event,
there will be programs recognizing the bicentennial of Sojourner Truth's
birthday.  A panel will discuss her legacy in art, literature, and thought
on Friday evening, and a convocation will take place on Saturday at 4:00
p.m.  Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is the featured speaker, andshe
will receive an award from the college.  Maurice Hinchey will present the
Sojourner Truth Library with facsimiles of materials from the Library of
Congress relating to its namesake.

For more information about the program, events and modest costs of this
important conference, call the Hudson Valley Study Center at 914-257-2981 or
check out the conference's web pages at
<http://www.eelab.newpaltz.edu/hvsc/conference/conference.html>.


The Hudson Valley Study Center, located on the campus of State University of
New York at New Paltz,  promotes a vigorous program for the scholarly
exploration of the region's natural and cultural environment.  It also acts
as a catalyst for improved communication and the exchange of ideas among the
academic disciplines, educational institutions, environmental and cultural
organizations, and government agencies that are concerned with its heritage
and its options for the future.