From Dublin to California to Toronto to just down the road, guest speakers filled a two day agenda, with research papers and presentations, on Johnson and his role in colonial New York. Well over 300 attendees filled the Visual Arts Auditorium for the weekend.
The 2007 Western Frontier Symposium examines the shifting dynamics of the interdependent European & Native American cultures in the Mohawk Valley in the time of Sir William Johnson. Drawing from Johnson’s voluminous papers and other sources, scholars will explore the agents of change at work in these borderlands in the decades before the American Revolution.
By 1763, over one hundred years of interactions had begun to change Native American and European cultures along the western frontier of colonial New York.
Sir William Johnson, Irish-born British Commissioner of Indian Affairs, honorary Mohawk, international war hero, town builder and New York’s largest landowner, moved easily through the multiple cultures of the region. His collected papers create an unique window into 18th century New York and are being digitized as a legacy project by the NYS French & Indian War 250th Anniversary Commemoration Commission.
Symposium scholars from America, Canada & Ireland will share their research on the changing economic and cultural relationships among colonial British, Dutch, German and Native American residents of the eighteenth century Mohawk Valley.
All presentations are open to the public free of charge, thanks to a grant from the
New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
"RE-ENVISIONING HISTORY” Exhibit at the Perrella Gallery, FMCC
A concurrent exhibit, “Re-Envisioning History” will open on October 20th., with a special reception at 5pm. The Month-long exhibit features the work of contemporary artists Geoffrey Harding, Robert Griffing, Debra Grover, Bert Ducey, Ray Helmicki, Michael Galban, Eileen Sammons and Peter Jemison who bring the eighteenth century world to life. Books and Art Prints will be available for purchase.
All sessions will be held at Fulton-Montgomery Community College, Johnstown New York. The presentations on Saturday (8-5 pm) and Sunday (8-1 pm) are free and open to the public. Associated historic sites will have open house tours on Sunday 1-5 pm.
Click Here for Schedule
Johnson Papers Focus of Commission Legacy Project
The NYS French & Indian War 250th Anniversary Commemoration Commission used the Lake George Battlefield as a backdrop to announce on November 29, 2006, that the Sir William Johnson Papers would be digitized as the Commission Legacy Project. Owned by the New York State Library, the 14 volumes of Johnson Papers contain a wealth of information about life in
upstate New York in the 18th century.
The F&I 250th Commission and the NYS Library have partnered to fund the digitization of all of these papers, and make them available online to individuals, schools and libraries across the state.
Nick Westbrook, Vice-Chair of the F&I Commission will demonstrate the final product at the Western Frontier Symposium.
REGISTRATION BROCHURE is now available
as a PDF download, HERE.
SPECIAL OFFER FOR TEACHERS
For more info on the Symposium, Contact:
Wanda Burch
or
Robin Campbell
Tell a friend about the Symposium! (Click to open your emailer)
Call For Papers
Sponsored by:
Fulton-Montgomery Community College
Mohawk Valley Heritage Corridor Commission
NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation
NYS Archives Partnership Trust
NYS French & Indian War 250th Anniversary Commemoration Commission
and related historic sites in the Mohawk Valley:
Johnson Hall SHS
Herkimer Home SHS
Schuyler Mansion SHS
Fort Crailo SHS
Old Fort Johnson Historic Landmark
Fort Klock Historic Restoration
Palatine Settlement Society/Nellis Tavern
Montgomery County Department of History & Archives
Fort Plain Museum
Fort Stanwix National Monument
Old Stone Fort Museum
Website made possible by: Old Fort Johnson/Montgomery County Historcal Society
