SUNY New Paltz History Department

08/29/2023

The Reher Center is collaborating with HUDSY and The Rosendale Theatre on September 14th at 6:30pm for a double documentary screening that focuses on farms, food, and local agricultural production in the Hudson Valley. Both farms are immigrant owned and run. This event is free and will have a unique panel discussion that will feature, Nfamara Badjie, a Co-Founder of the Ever-Growing Family Farm, HUDSY Filmmaker Angel Gates Fonseca, and Reher Center Curator Dr. Sarah Gordon. The panelists will weave themes of local food, culture, community, and work, with the Reher Center's mission to amplify immigrant voices and contributions in the Hudson Valley.

Here is the link to sign up:

This double feature documentary screening and panel discussion explores important themes of local food, culture, community, and work.

12/22/2022

Here's a great feature in the local newspaper about Eddie Moran, SUNY NP History alum. Eddie's doing great work with the history of New Paltz, including the multiple ways that the history has been written and rewritten.

Eddie Moran, 24, has just been named the new Tour and Interpretation manager at Historic Huguenot Street. What does this mean? That Moran, born and raised on a family farm in Wallkill, will now be in charge of the tours that are given weekly, daily, even several times a day during the busy season al

04/14/2022

Save the date! Join us Thursday, April 28 for:

04/05/2022

Join us for this public talk:
Graphic Histories: The Attica Prison Uprising 50 years Later. A talk with Jared Reinmuth, co-author of the acclaimed graphic novel Big Black: Stand at Attica.
Thursday April 7, 6pm in Science Hall 181 (SUNY New Paltz).
Join us as we talk with Jared Reinmuth, who worked with the late Frank "Big Black" Smith to write the 2020 graphic novel memoir Big Black: Stand at Attica, which was nominated for the 2021 Eisner Award (like the Oscars, but for comics!) for Best Reality Based Book. The book recounts the experiences of Smith, a former prisoner at Attica State Prison and a major player during
the 1971 Attica Prison Uprising, during which 43 people died - 39 of whom were killed by officers retaking the facility - in what was then the deadliest encounter between Americans since the Civil War. The uprising, which happened 50 years ago this past October, exposed many of the abuses and inequities embedded
in the U.S. prison system and has played a significant role in subsequent campaigns for prisoner rights.
Reinmuth will be joined by Dan Meyers, a member of the legal team that helped the surviving prisoners win an $8 million civil rights suit against the New York corrections system in 2000, the biggest ever settlement in the history of prisoners' rights.

01/27/2021

We're beyond gutted to share this. John Palencsar, known to many of you as P, passed away suddenly on Monday. Share with us your stories of that wonderful man here, or with his family through his obituary site. I'm sure they would love to know even a fraction of the impact he made on his students. We can't believe he is gone.

Celebrate the life of John Palencsar, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information care of Edward F. Carter Funeral Home.

10/06/2020

Professors O'Sullivan and Lewis's book is featured on the Capital District/Hudson Valley public radio station!👏

SUNY New Paltz faculty members have published a book about the legacy of women’s suffrage in New York during a year marking the 100th anniversary of the

09/24/2020

The Poughkeepsie Journal featured a book edited by Susan Lewis and Meg Devlin O'Sullivan of the History Department, as well as Kathleen Dowley of Political Science. The book is available now from SUNY Press!

A new book on women's suffrage in New York has been published as divides surrounding voting have become sharper.

08/14/2020

Prof. Roper has posted a couple of blog articles, check them out! Topic: Early American history and the Atlantic trade

Description of articles: https://sites.newpaltz.edu/news/2020/08/history-professor-lou-roper-blogs-on-early-american-history-and-atlantic-trade/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=History%20Professor%20Lou%20Roper%20blogs%20on%20early%20American%20history&utm_campaign=20200810%20dd

Article 1 "How to Run an Empire: Early Modern Style": https://historyjournal.org.uk/2020/07/20/how-to-run-an-empire-early-modern-style/

Article 2 “‘The Global Ambitions of the Guinea Company and the Early Modern Orient,”: https://memorients.com/articles/the-global-ambitions-of-the-guinea-company-and-the-early-modern-orient

08/10/2020

Prof. Vargas recently contributed his talents to WAMC's Academic Minute! The topic? COVID-19 and the Black Death.

Check out his segment below!

Where do we look for historical insight on the current pandemic? Michael Vargas, professor of medieval history at SUNY New Paltz, compares COVID-19 to the period of the Black Death. Employed at SUNY New Paltz since 2006, Michael Vargas advanced to Associate Professor rank in 2013 and Professor rank....

07/30/2020

Article by Prof. Stapell posted in January. Check it out!

https://asphs.net/article/bienvenido-mickey-mouse-hopes-for-a-magic-kingdom-in-post-franco-spain/

Abstract: "Bienvenido, Mickey Mouse!?: Hopes for a Magic Kingdom in Post-Franco Spain"
by Hamilton M. Stapell

Who doesn’t love Mickey Mouse? Apparently, not the French in the 1980s, as they actively fought to keep the mouse and his friends out of France. Many Spaniards, on the other hand, were quite eager to lure the Magic Kingdom to their country. What accounts for the difference?

It appears as though Spain did not suffer from the same kind of cultural insecurity and anxieties that plagued other European nations during this period. Instead, many Spaniards apparently welcomed American investment, business know-how, and cultural products, including a Disney theme park, with open arms. In these cases, it seems that they were comfortably willing to accept American cultural products to serve their own ends, namely economic development, international prestige, and a feeling of full European integration.

However, at the same time, there was a certain degree of anti-Americanism in Spain, often as a result of Cold War politics. Debates surrounding the NATO referendum and the presence of American military bases, and nuclear weapons in particular, did provoke anti-American sentiment during this period.

Spain’s attempt to lure Disneyland to the Iberian Peninsula demonstrates that not all European countries in the postwar period have embraced (or rejected) American culture influence in the same way, to the same degree, and for the same reasons.

Bienvenido, Mickey Mouse!?: Hopes for a Magic Kingdom in Post-Franco Spain February 27, 2020/in article /by Academic Web Pages Bienvenido, Mickey Mouse!?: Hopes for a Magic Kingdom in Post-Franco Spain Volume 44 Issue 1 Author(s): Hamilton M. Stapell Recommended Citation: Stapell, Hamilton M. (2019)...

06/29/2020

Prof. Evans recently published a brand new article in the ISIS Journal, "'Most Unusual' Beauty Contests: Nordic Photographic Competitions and the Construction of a Public for German Race Science, 1926-1935".

Check out the link below to read his recent interview with ISIS about the article!

https://www.facebook.com/isis.journal/posts/3030791227027868?__tn__=K-R