Thursday, August 8, 2019

Cohoes Parade, 1955


After considerable investigation, this parade has been identified as the 325th Anniversary festival of Cohoes, NY.  Here is the source:
Albany Times Union
October 30, 1955, Section B, page 1









Mayor Roulier holding his hat




Empire State Grenadiers Drum & Bugle Corp from Cohoes




Monday, August 5, 2019

Sixty summers ago 3 men moved to southern California, 2 returned to New York and 1 remained....

Robert Wills, Arthur Mylott and Al Rivet left the Northeast for golden California, its promises and possibilities. They had many first impressions of southern California from the perspective of upstate New Yorkers who arrived in late June 1959.  They were accustomed to snow, lots of snow, in winter and moderate summers. It is no wonder Al was fascinated by the weather..by mid August Bob and Art returned to New York.  One with a prison record and the other without a driver's license and so for them there was no job.  Only Al remained in the sunshine state with a job at Hughes aircraft... here is one of Al's first letters to home.






for the small Cornish side of our family, a new research center


click link below to read the news about...

opening September 2019

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

2019 The "Je me souviens" Project at Siena College

It's been almost 9 years ago when I started this FrancoAmericanGravy blog.  Although in the past 3 years I haven't added a lot of content, there are still many stories to tell.  I am always hopeful I will be able to find and share new stories of Franco-Americans in Cohoes and upstate New York.  Meanwhile others have picked up the cause.  Notably is Dr. Janet Shideler, faculty at Siena College in Loudonville, NY and recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Dr. Shideler is the founder and administrator of Je Me Souviens project to digitize artifacts and memorabilia of Franco-Americans from upstate New York. She was interviewed by Mountain Lakes, a PBS affiliate.

You can watch the interview here.

You can view the project here

Below is a video about the project:


Mountain Lakes PBS will be hosting an event with Dr. Shideler and the project.  They wrote: "North Country residents who are descendants of French-Canadian immigrants are being invited to gather in Plattsburg in early June to be part of the "Je Me Souviens" project.  Dr. Janet Shideler and her colleagues/students from Siena College will be here at our Mountain Lakes PBS studios on Sunday June 9th and again on Monday June 10th from 1- to - 6 pm.  Artifacts such as photos, letters, naturalization papers, military medals and even toys and household items will be scanned and posted to the New York Heritage Digital Collection online."

JE ME SOUVIENS PROJECT
JUNE 9th and 10th 1- 6 pm

MOUNTAIN LAKE PBS STUDIOS
SESAME STREET

PLATTSBURGH, NY


If you cannot make the even and would like to participate in the project, you can contact Janet Shideler at Siena College
Email: jshideler@siena.edu
Phone: 518-782-6769