Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History

FAIN: ZED-283286-22

SUNY Research Foundation, College at Geneseo (Geneseo, NY 14454-1401)
Michael Leroy Oberg (Project Director: May 2021 to present)

The recruitment of 21 interns and development of programming at the Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History.

Under state law, NY retains 1600 historians to research local history, yet their work has largely been ignored by academics and the public. The Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History pairs SUNY Geneseo interns with local historians to propagate their research; broaden their approach to the past; present history that incorporates the experiences of all who live, and have lived, in their communities; and reach out through public programming, exhibitions and the internet. It will hire a director and build capacity for NY historians by providing more interns, who advance access to historical education using their digital humanities and other skills to innovate historical research, publication, and archival work. When we teach people about their own history and place, we teach them that their stories matter. We connect people who feel disconnected when we present them with the evidence that they have a role in their community’s story, that they themselves are forces in history.