Special Programs

IN CONVERSATION WITH AMY GODINE

THE BLACK WOODS:
PURSUING RACIAL JUSTICE ON THE ADIRONDACK FRONTIER

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2026 AT 7:00PM

Join the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at 7pm for a program with independent scholar and author, Amy Godine, for a discussion of her book The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier. Godine chronicles the history of Black pioneers who migrated to the Adirondacks from the late 1840s to the 1860s, putting them back into the heart of the Adirondack narrative. In this conversation she will focus on writing the history of a community which did not record its own experience and who left no enduring material culture: not a diary or a memoir, not a house, a barn, or the hint of a foundation. What does historic preservation look like when the physical spaces and places have disappeared?

Amy Godine resides in Saratoga Springs and is a longstanding contributor to Adirondack Life. The Black Woods won the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Forest History Society Book Award, as well as favorable reviews in the New York Review of Books and the quarterly journal, Salmagundi.

This program can be attended in person at Spring Street Gallery, 110 Spring Street, or online via Zoom for a suggested donation of $10 or more. To register, click below or call (518) 587-5030.

WOMEN OF THE SARATOGA CAMPAIGN

THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2026 AT 7:00PM

Join the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation on Thursday, March 26 at 7:00PM for a virtual program with Anne Clothier, Assistant to the Saratoga County Historian. Many know the story of British General John Burgoyne’s Surrender to the Americans after the Battles of Saratoga in 1777, commonly referred to as the Turning Point of the American Revolution. Familiar names such as Benedict Arnold and Philip Schuyler are often associated with this history, but what about the women who were also involved in this crucial campaign? Whether it was those actively traveling with the armies, or local residents who had the revolution brought to their doorsteps, this presentation tells lesser-known stories of women on both sides of the conflict and shares their perspectives on the ways their lives were forever changed by these events.

Anne Clothier grew up immersed in history on her family’s 200-year-old farm in northern Saratoga County. Her particular interests include women’s history, textiles, and medical history. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in History from SUNY College at Oneonta. While attending the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies, she gained experience working on projects at the Farmers’ Museum, Fenimore Art Museum, and New York State Historical Association. She worked as Director of Education at the Saratoga County History Center at Brookside Museum for over a decade before becoming Assistant to the Saratoga County Historian in 2024.

This program can be attended online via Zoom for a suggested donation of $10 or more. To register, click below or call (518) 587-5030.