Researching New York: Perspectives on Empire State History
November 20 & 21 2014 ~ University at Albany-SUNY
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 20, 2014
11:30 AM – 5:30 PM: REGISTRATION & EXHIBITS
University at Albany, Science Library, Barnes and Noble Reading Room
SESSION I: 12:15 -1:45 PM
Opposing Loyalties: Forging Political Identities
Becoming ‘Loyalist’: Partisanship and the Origins of Loyalism in New York City
Christopher F. Minty, New York Historical Society
“That Wretched Question about the State Right of New York to Hang McLeod”: The McLeod Case and Governor William
H. Seward’s Political Identity
Christopher Leahy, Keuka College
Comment: Eric Morser, Skidmore College
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Work, Leisure and Culture: Community Identities
Palenville: From the Fumes of Tanning to the Peaks of Cole
Ron Dombrowski, Mountain Top Historical Society, Greene County Historical Society
Automobile and Truck Manufacturers of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York 1884-2010
Walter Miller, The Museum of Automobile History
New York City, Second Generation Artists, and New Identities in the 1950s
Joan Fiori Blanchfield, University at Albany, SUNY
Comment: Mary Borden, Empire State College
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Identities Accepted, Identities Rejected
Black or Deaf? African-American Students at the New York School for the Deaf
Rebecca A.R. Edwards, Rochester Institute of Technology
Not in My Backyard: Community Opposition to Group homes in New York State
Kathryn Lawton, University at Buffalo, SUNY
Reform & Identity in Rural New York Schools
Casey Jakubowski, University at Albany, SUNY
Comment: Margaret Lynch Brennan, Independent Scholar, NYS, Dept. of Education, retired
SESSION II: 2-3:30 pm
The Complex Identity of Roosevelt Island
A Roundtable Discussion
Roosevelt Island: New York City’s Therapeutic Logistics Locale
Sean McGee, Cornell University
Protect This House: Residential Design anthe Evolution of Community on Roosevelt Island
Roberta Moudry, Cornell University
The “Fruits” of Health Reform: Three Leading Figures Who Shaped the Identity of New York City’s
Roosevelt Island
Judith Berdy, Roosevelt Island Historical Society
Autopsy of a Hospital: Photographic Record of Coler-Goldwater on Roosevelt Island
Charles Giraudet, Charles Giraudet Photography
Moderator: Roberta Moudry, Cornell University
Discarded Identities in the Age of Urban Renewal, 1930-1970
From Baghdad to Gotham: Identity Fetishism and Cannabis Sativa in New York City, 1925-1937
Bob Beach, University at Albany, SUNY
People of Waste and People of Plenty: The Young Lords Garbage Offensive and Puerto Rican Identity
Tina Peabody, University at Albany, SUNY
The people of the South End: The Engineering of Albany’s Capital
Shannon Missick-Wood, University at Albany, SUNY
Comment: Paul Murray, Siena College
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Making History Work: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Public History
A Roundtable Discussion
John Bonafide, Technical Preservation Services Bureau, NYS Division of Historic Preservation
Kathleen Johnson, HistoryConsulting.com
Michael T. Lucas, New York State Museum
John Scherer, NYS Museum, Emeritus; Town of Clifton Park Historian
Ivan Steen, Center for Applied Historical Research, University at Albany , SUNY
3::30 PM
Break & History Showcase
Join us in the Exhibit Area, Barnes & Noble Reading Room
SESSION III – 4:15-5:30 pm
Hodinohso:ni’ in Post-World War II New York: New Perspectives.
How Ernest Benedict Saw the World: A Mohawk Journalist and the International Indigenous Rights
Movement
Kwinn Doran, University at Albany, SUNY
Contemporary Events in Iroquois Territory
Doug George-Kanentiio
COMMENT:
Laurence M. Hauptman, SUNY New Paltz Emeritus,
Heriberto Dixon, SUNY New Paltz Emeritus
CHAIR: Kevin White, SUNY Oswego
From the Archives: Writing History/Writing Biography
A Conversation with Richard Norton Smith
Off-Site Events: Transportation will be provided for those who sign up when registering
6:00 PM ~ RECEPTION~Historic Milne 200
7:30 PM Thursday November 20th
Page Hall University at Albany, Downtown Campus
On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller
Richard Norton Smith
Fourteen years in the making, On His Own Terms is the first complete biography of Nelson Rockefeller. Drawing on
thousands of newly available documents, some two hundred interviews, and Rockefeller’s unpublished reminiscences,
Richard Norton Smith recreates this complex life, both personal and political; A political and presidential historian, a
public intellectual regularly appearing on C-Span and other public affairs programs, Richard Norton Smith is the former
head of 6 presidential libraries. An earlier work, Thomas E. Dewey and His Times, was a finalist for the 1983 Pulitzer
Prize. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute and the University at Albany History Department, this featured
conference event is free and open to the public, made possible with the support of the NYS Council for the Humanites.
The shuttle bus will return to the University at Albany Science Library immediately following the talk.
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FRIDAY, November 21, 2014
8:15 AM – 3:30 PM: REGISTRATION & EXHIBITS
University at Albany, Science Library, Barnes and Noble Reading Room
Coffee and Continental Breakfast
SESSION V: 9-10:15 AM
Political Communities: Not Always Business as Usual
Vanquished Warrior: Reconsidering Al Smith’s 1928 New York Defeat
Robert Chiles, University of Maryland
Redressing the Imbalance: Incorporating Women Legislators into New York’s Political History
Lauren Kozakiewicz, University at Albany, SUNY
Comment: Tod Ottman, Independent Scholar
How an Amusement Park Closure and Hockey Logo Change Threatened a Region’s Character
Forever Reaching for the Ring: Losing a Long Island Amusement Park
Marisa L. Berman, Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives
Fisherman Flop: The Infamous Hockey Logo That Riled Long Island
Nicholas Hirshon, Ohio University
Comment: Suzanne Wasserman, Gotham Center for New York City History/CUNY
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Working Woman
Multiple Identities: The Careers of Eleanor Roosevelt
Frank Futral, Roosevelt Vanderbilt National Historic Site
Eleanor Roosevelt’s Community Stimulus Program
Franceska Macsali Urbin, Roosevelt Vanderbilt National Historic Site
Eleanor Roosevelt and the Fight for Social Justice
Shannon Butler, University at Albany, SUNY
Comment: Frank Futral, Roosevelt Vanderbilt National Historic Site
SESSION VI – 10:30 -Noon
Crime, Scandal, and Identity
“Did All These Children Die a Natural Death?” Infanticide, Infant Abandonment and Infant Mortality in
Antebellum New York City
Dutch’s Spirits and The American Dream
Sherri Darocha, Dutch’s Spirits at Harvest Homestead Farm
Selling Sex in the Queen City: Prostitution in Elmira, 1860-1920
Kelli Huggins, Chemung County Historical Society
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Marcela Micucci, Binghamton University
Comment: Richard F. Hamm, University at Albany, SUNY
A Roundtable Discussion: “Is New York a Liberal City?”
The Limits Of Liberalism: AIDS Activists and Reproductive Rights Feminists in New York City
Tamar Carroll, Rochester Institute of Technology
Liberalism in the Jim Crow North: Black People in 20th Century New York City
Brian Purnell, Bowdoin College
Crime & Liberalism in Postwar New York City
Robert W. Snyder, Rutgers University-Newark
The Liberal Party & the Decline of Independent Labor Politics in New York
Daniel Soyer, Fordham University
Public Housing Residents vs. Urban Liberalism 1960-1995
Fritz Umbach, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Beyond Seneca Falls: Integrating Women into New York History
A Roundtable Discussion
Susan Lewis, SUNY New Paltz
Laura Dull, SUNY New Paltz
Susan Goodier, Hamilton College, SUNY Institute of Technology
Karen Pastorello Tomkins Cortland Community College
The Making of a Myth: Seneca Falls Unraveled
Lisa Tetrault, Carnegie Mellon University
Lunch Keynote Friday November, 21st
The story of how women’s rights began in 1848, at the women’s rights meeting in Seneca Falls, New York, is a cherished
American myth. But where did that story come from? Who invented it? And for what reasons? Unraveling that story
by investigating its roots, which lay fifty years after the convention, Tetrault invites us to rethink the relationship of
Seneca Falls to the evolution of modern women’s rights activism. Carnegie Mellon University historian Lisa Tetrault is
the author of The Myth of Seneca Falls: Memory and the Women’s Suffrage Movement, 1848-1898. She specializes in
U.S. women’s history, memory, and social movements.
SESSION VII: 2:00-3:30 PM
Reproduction: Imagined and Reimagined
Stirpiculture: Science Guided Human Propagation and the Oneida Community
Alexandra Prince, Rensselaer County Historical Society
A Pragmatic Approach to an Indiscreet Topic: Margaret Sanger and the Early Years of the “Birth Control Review”
Sarah Patterson, University at Albany, SUNY 5
Conceiving an Identity on Film: Margaret Sanger’s Self-Representation in “Birth Control” (1917)
Martin F. Norden, University of Massachusetts
Comment: Nancy Rosenbloom, Canisius College
Shaker Identities
Perceptions of Ann Lee
Starlyn D’Angelo, Shaker Heritage Society
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The Shakers as Social Service Providers
Samantha Hall-Saladino, Shaker Heritage Society
Who were the Wicks?
Ann Sayers, Shaker Heritage Society
Comment/Moderator: Lisa Seymour, New York State Museum
Circling the Civil War: Old Sources, New Lens
African American Albany: A View from the Census, 1855-1875
Francis Butler, Siena College
The Paper Heart of a Bureaucratic Underdog: Orsell Cook Brown, an Unacknowledged Assistant in an
Acknowledged Regiment
Cassandra Jane Werking, University at Albany, SUNY
1886 Banquet Book: A Research Clue on Transformation of NY Blacks’ Identity
Thomas C. McCarthy, NY Correction History Society
Comment: Jennifer Lemak, New York State Museum
Public History: Variations on a Theme
Uncovering New York’s Maritime History: Inspiring Students’ Creative Approaches to Researching Maritime Artifacts
David Allen, SUNY Maritime College
Promoting Identities of New York: New York Heritage and the Digital Public Library of America
Lawrence Naukam, Rochester Public Library, retired.
Putting New York State History to Work: The Spirit of New York
Bruce W. Dearstyne, Independent Scholar
Comment: Devin Lander, Museum Association of New York
The Workers of the Erie Canal: They Built America
4:00 PM Friday November 21st
Recital Hall Performing Arts Center Uptown Campus
Written by Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill, Artistic Director of the Capital Repertory Theatre, this innovative drama examines
the origins of the Erie Canal, a miraculous waterway that transformed America from a burgeoning country into a great
nation. Sourced from more than 35 historical records—and created to bring professional theatre and history to school
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audiences—They Built America features the politicians, farmers, merchants, and laborers who came north to build the
Canal. This live performance, featuring professional actors from Cap Rep, is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored
by the University at Albany Public History Program, this event is free and open to the public.
Researching New York is sponsored by the University at Albany Department of History and History Graduate Student Organization and
the New York State Archives Partnership Trust. Cosponsored by the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives, University
Libraries and the Judaic Studies Program, with additional support from The New York State Historical Association and the Farmer’s Museum, and
the University at Albany College of Arts & Sciences, the Office for Research, and University Auxiliary Services. For program updates, registration
information, and additional details, go to www.nystatehistory.org
Updated October 25 , 2014
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