Researching New York Conference Set For Nov 21-23

The Annual Researching New York Conference has been set for November 21-23 at the University at Albany.

The conference meets annually in November, bringing together historians, archivists, public historians, graduate students, museum curators, teachers, documentarians, and more to share their work on New York State history topics.

The complete program of more than 25 workshops, panels, and related events, along with detailed registration information will be coming soon.

Featured events announced so far include:

Edward Berenson, noted scholar of modern French history, will present on his new book, The Accusation: Blood Libel in an American Town (2019), a chilling re-investigation of a remarkable incident of antisemitism in the upstate town of Massena, New York in 1928. After four-year-old Barbara Griffiths vanished in the woods, townspeople and police accused local Jews of committing ritual murder, a popular slander against the Jews of Europe during the Middle Ages. The story was previously told in Saul S. Friedman’s The Incident at Massena: The Blood Libel in America (1978).

There will be an advance screening of Driving While Black, a feature-length documentary film slated for broadcast on PBS in 2020 along with a discussion with film maker Ric Burns and Gretchen Sullivan Sorin, director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program.

A panel discussion “Woodstock in History and Memory,” is planned.  The discussion will focus on some of the lesser known history of Woodstock and how it is remembered today by those who were there. The panel will include Gerald Zahavi, UAlbany History Professor and 1969 Festival attendee; Julia Fell, Assistant Curator of the Museum at Bethel Woods; Mark Berger, a 1969 Festival attendee and author of the book Something’s Happening Here: A Sixties Odyssey from Brooklyn to Woodstock; and Julie Lomoe, a 1969 Festival attendee, and creator of some of the original artwork associated with the festival.

The conference is sponsored by the University at Albany Department of History & History Graduate Student Assn., University at Albany M.E. Grenander Special Collections & Archives, and the New York State Archives Partnership Trust with additional support from New York State Museum, Humanities NY, and the University at Albany College of Arts & Sciences, Office for Research, and University Auxiliary Services, and the New York State Writers Institute.

For more information, email resrchny@albany.edu.