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Major General Philip John Schuyler (1733-1804) was born into a “prominent Dutch lineage…the prestige that can come from long established family roots… an arrogancy not without a touch of vanity, but also the wellspring of ambition”.
The Major General married Catherine “Kitty” Van Rensselaer in 1755. Kitty gave birth to 15 children in the course of their long marriage, eight of whom survived to adulthood: Angelica, Eliza (Hamilton), Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, Margarita “Peggy”, John Bradstreet, Rensselaer, Cornelia and Catherine or “Caty”.
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In the winter of 2017, a lock of George Washington’s hair was discovered in the stacks of the Special Collections Department at Union College, triggering an international media storm. The lock of hair was found in a small envelope that was tucked inside a rare book entitled Gaine’s Universal Register (1793). The book belonged to Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, son of Major General Philip Schuyler, Sr., and the brother of Eliza (Schuyler) Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton.
Although media coverage focused on Washington’s hair, the discovery— the hair, the book, and the handwritten note on the envelope—all helped tell the story of the Schuyler (pronounced: SKY-ler) family and their role in the founding of Union College.
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When Union College was chartered in 1795, the founders never even considered the possibility of female participation, either as students or educators. The world was decades away from the Suffragette movement.
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As part of Union College’s commitment to the celebration of Women’s History Month, we proudly tell the story of Katherine ‘Kay’ Flickinger Dockstader, an outdoors enthusiast, hiker, skier, amateur photographer, and former GE employee. Born in Schenectady in 1910, she was a world-wide traveler who had a lifelong fascination with the Adirondacks. As a member of the Schenectady Chapter of Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) as well as the YMCA/YWCA’s Otyokwa Club, she regularly took weekend hiking trips, often in the High Peaks. After summiting Allen Mountain on September 7, 1946, she became the 41st member of the 46er Club. At the organization’s first meeting, she was appointed Secretary. By 1958 she had climbed all High Peaks twice. Kay was also the first woman to ascend Mt. Iroquois on skis.
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Exhibit: October 5 (Thursday) - December 15 (Friday) at Schaffer Library, Lally Reading Room, Union College. "Reformation, Restoration, and Romeyn: Faith and the Founding of Union College".
* Exhibit opening reception (October 5th, 12:50-1:50 p.m.) includes 1:00 p.m. recital on the pedal harpsichord by Stefan Kiebling.
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In 1517, Martin Luther, a scholar and theologian at Wittenberg University in Germany, posted his “Ninety-five Theses,” essentially challenging some of the practices of the Catholic Church and paving the way for the Protestant Reformation. The ripple effect of that act of rebellion is reflected in notable objects from the Special Collections and Archives at Union College. Indeed, the Reformation in many ways influenced the creation of Union College in 1795.
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John S. Apperson Jr.
(1878-1963)
A Virginia native and college dropout, John “Appy” Apperson relocated to Schenectady in 1899, eventually landing a job as an electrical engineer at General Electric, where he worked for 47 years.
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Paul A. Schaefer
(1908-1996)
Grassroots Activism and the American Wilderness: Pioneers in the 20th Century Adirondack Park Conservation Movement” highlights the remarkable careers of John Apperson and Paul Schaefer, two citizen activists who were dedicated to preserving the Adirondacks and New York’s Forest Preserve. This
exhibit focuses on their early forays into political activism. Indefatigable, determined, and politically astute, Apperson and Schaefer prompted a national dialogue around preserving wilderness for future generations. They are now remembered as giants of the conservation movement.
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Recommended Reading:
Anthologies and Collected Essays:
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, Ytasha Womack
Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness, Reynaldo Anderson & Charles E. Jones, [eds.]
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, Sheree R. Thomas, [ed.]
So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy, Nalo Hopkinson & Uppinder Mehan, [eds.]
Afrofuture Females, Marleen S. Barr, [ed.];
Afrofuturism: A Special Issue of Social Text, Alondra Nelson, [ed.]
The Black Imagination: Science Fiction, Futurism, and the Speculative, Sandra Jackson & Julie E. Moddy-Freeman, [eds.]
Authors:
Steven Barnes, Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany, Tananarive Due, Kodwo Eshun, Jewelle Gomez, Andrea Hairston, Nalo Hopkinson, Walter Mosley, Nnedi Okorafor, Rasheedah Phillips, Charles R. Saunders
Nisi Shawl, Alexander Weheliye, And, many more...
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Black Space: Reading (and writing) ourselves into the future
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Union College President Eliphalet Nott demonstrated his characteristic progressive nature when he purchased a complete set of the four-volume, double-elephant-folio, The Birds of America, from Audubon in the summer of 1844. The artist was visiting the campus to tour fellow naturalist and Union professor, Captian Issac Jackson's garden.
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Afrofuturism Film Series
Every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Schaffer Library PBK Room
April 25th - May 30th Union College Schaffer Library
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In his seminal 1994 essay, Black to the Future, Mark Dery coined the term "Afrofuturism." In interviews with a triad of African American writers, Dery posited that mainstream speculative fiction failed to include people of color in its narratives. Working from an overlooked fact that a body of speculative works created by diasporic artists has existed for years, we could call the stories that address African American cultural themes, replete with ubiquitous technology, in a science fiction setting, Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism could thus be seen as giving a voice to the people whose past had once been told for them or who historically had been excluded from the mainstream SF future.