Sojourner Truth Library puts rare historical materials online

LibraryStudents of African American history worldwide can now access the Second Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question, held at Lake Mohonk, Ulster County, New York, June 3, 4, 5, 1891. Reported and edited by Isabel C. Barrows (1891), the historical material was published online this week by the Sojourner Truth Library (STL) at SUNY New Paltz. This very rare and fragile document – one of only a handful of copies still in existence – was made available online via the Hudson River Valley Heritage (HRVH) website, which provides access to a collaborative digital record of Hudson River Valley history.

Albert K. Smiley and family, who owned Lake Mohonk Mountain House, held a series of yearly conferences on “Friends of the Indian” from 1883 to 1916, and again in 1929. The Smileys underwrote the housing and hotel service costs for these conferences. At the 1889 conference attendee ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes suggested a series of conferences on the “Negro Question” be undertaken as well. Only two conferences were held on this topic at Lake Mohonk Mountain House, which overlooks New Paltz, N.Y.

The two small, soft-covered annual reports of proceedings from the two conferences were published in 1890 and 1891. Sojourner Truth Library Special Collections has print copies of both reports. The first is available in a digitized format on the Internet Archive. STL’s release this week of a scanned and transcribed copy of the 1891 report now makes available online both of these fascinating artifacts of the early years of Jim Crow.

Mark Colvson, dean of Sojourner Truth Library said, “We are pleased to be able to share this rare and historical material with not only our campus community but with the world. Our relationship with the Southeastern N.Y. Library Resources Council (SENYLRC) helps us provide broad access to our historical materials through their support of the Hudson River Valley Heritage website.”

Since 2006 library staff has received training and technical support on digitization projects through SENYLRC. They have expanded the New Paltz collection on the website to include numerous photographs, documents related to the history of the College and also digital versions of many years of the Paltzonian, the campus yearbook.

“The Southeastern N.Y. Library Resources Council is proud of our longstanding relationship with the Sojourner Truth Library,” said SENYLRC Executive Director John Shaloiko. “The library was an early digitization partner and we are honored to assist them in sharing their unique archival holdings with a wide audience. This nationally significant document is a valuable addition to the Hudson River Valley Heritage website.”

About the Sojourner Truth Library
The Sojourner Truth Library fosters learning and supports scholarship at New Paltz by providing an array of information resources and services. The library staff works to continuously expand information access and delivery by employing state-of-the-art technologies; instill information literacy skills in all graduates through collaborative partnerships with classroom faculty; provide a well-designed and functional facility for learning; and assess the library and information needs of faculty and students across campus in order to meet needs and the changing requirements of new academic programs.

For more information: A brief description of the conference along with a guide to the reports, written by Dr. Laurence M. Hauptman, Professor Emeritus, New Paltz History Department, is included in The Lake Mohonk Conference of Friends of the Indian, written by Larry E. Burgess. This book is available at STL.