The United States Colored Troops Institute for Local History and Family Research at Hartwick College, is named for the Bureau of Colored Troops of the Civil War that was responsible for the 200,000 black soldiers and their 7,000 white officers jointly known as the USCT. Established during 1998, the USCTI has members in 19 states and Canada devoted to the research, preservation and remembrance of the USCT. Pleased accept the following updates:

The Congressional Black Caucus Veterans' Braintrust Award 2003 will be bestowed on Harry Bradshaw Matthews, associate dean and director of U.S. Pluralism Programs, and president of the USCTI, on September 26^th at 6 pm in the Washington Terrace Hotel, 1515 Rhode Island Avenue. The award was established by General Colin Powell during 1990. Contact number is 202-232-7000.

The USCTI's Civil War Awards Dinner will be held at Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY, on Saturday, September 27^th at 6 pm. Cost is $20 per person, with several seats still available. Stanton F. Biddle, professor of Administrative Services Librarian, and former Chief Librarian at the William and Anita Newman Library at Baruch College of CUNY, will receive the USCTI's President's Award for Distinguished Service. Professor Biddle is currently vice president of the USCTI. Also receiving the Distinguished Service Award is Ruth B. Anderson, Executive Director of Akwaaba: The Heritage Associates of Rochester. Akwaaba will receive the Preservation Award and perform the reenactment, "A Time in the Life of Frederick Douglass, Shields Green, and a Woman Called Moses." The Daniel A. Payne Gospel Choir at Hartwick College will also perform select songs. For further information call 607-431-4428.

The third regional conference of the USCTI will be held in Columbia, Maryland on October 10-11, 2003 at the Columbia Hilton Hotel [800-235-0653]. The conference is co-sponsored by the Central Maryland Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Friends of the Ellicott City Colored School, and the Howard County Center of African-American Culture. For further information call John Gourdin at   [log in to unmask]

The Web site of the USCTI has been selected for inclusion in the online Guide to African American Documentary Resources, administered from Cornell University. The Guide links sites at 19 universities, the National Archives, Library of Congress, the NYPL's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and other select sites. You can access the Guide through http://www.hartwick.edu/usct/usct.htm

Submitted by

Harry Bradshaw Matthews, Associate Dean

And Director, U.S. Pluralism Programs

Office of Academic Affairs

Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY

[President, USCT Institute]