To celebrate immigrants from the Carpatho-Rusyn Mountains, the Slate Valley Museum will open a new exhibit in conjunction with this month’s First Friday on June 7. “Preserving a Heritage, Building a Community: The Carpatho-Rusyn People of the Slate Valley” will look at the experiences of these people in this area at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century and how it influenced local culture. “This innovative exhibit explores the complete lives of immigrants, from their arrival into the valley to their daily lives and experiences in the slate industry as well as how they maintained their cultural identity while becoming American,” museum officials said. During First Friday, the museum will also unveil its newly digitized oral histories, which will allow visitors to see and hear interviews with community members about their firsthand experiences. <http://manchesternewspapers.com/2013/05/29/slate-valley-to-display-new-exhibit/> -- Bob Sullivan Schenectady Digital History Archive <http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/> Schenectady County (NY) Public Library