This issue includes vibrant color reproductions of Thomas Cole’s paintings thanks to the generosity of Shaileen and Tony Kopec, longtime supporters of The Hudson River Valley Review. The paintings illustrate H. Daniel Peck’s exploration of Cole’s dedication to the Catskills via his paintings of Catskill Creek, an article adapted from his 2019 Handel-Krom Lecture in Hudson River Valley History. One of Cole’s concerns was the impact of progress on the region’s pristine natural landscapes. Wyatt Erchak reappraises the meanings of progress and progressivism in late nineteenth-century Albany as it played out in public transportation. While Robert Moses is notorious for his work in that field around New York City, Alan Strauber investigates the expansion of Moses’ empire of parks and parkways in the Hudson River Valley. In a change of pace, Susan Fox Rogers reflects that even wartime presidents needed an occasional morning off to listen to the world as it awakens. Our Regional History Symposium examines the Poughkeepsie Regatta and its legacy, before we end by recognizing the bicentennial of Washington Irving’s The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Esq., which marks the debut of Rip Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman.

As always, the issue is rounded out with book reviews and a listing of New and Noteworthy titles about our region.

You can preview the issue and read the Regional History Symposium, Book Reviews, and New and Noteworthy Books online at: https://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/back-issues.

The Hudson River Valley Review is available at select booksellers and museum gift-shops throughout the region for $15.00 each. Subscriptions are available through the website at: https://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/subscriptions, or by calling 845-575-3052. A one-year subscription (two issues) is $20.00, save even more by subscribing for two years at $35.00.

The Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College is the center for the study and promotion of the Hudson River Valley, providing information about the region’s history, culture, economy, and environment, and educational resources to teachers, students, and others through www.hudsonrivervalley.org, public programming, and The Hudson River Valley Review. This biannual journal covers all aspects of regional history. All articles in The Hudson River Valley Review undergo peer review.

 

THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY REVIEW
Volume 37, Number 1, Autumn 2020

“In the Catskills”:
The Meanings of Region in Thomas Cole’s Catskill Creek Landscapes
H. Daniel Peck

Creating a “Wide-Awake and Progressive City”:
Greater Albany’s Electric Streetcars and the Idea of Progress, 1886–1906
Wyatt Erchak

Robert Moses in the Hudson River Valley
Alan Strauber

Personal Reflection
Dawn Chorus: Reliving FDR’s Wartime Birding at Thompson Pond
Susan Fox Rogers

Regional History Symposium
The Poughkeepsie Regatta at 125: A Marist College Archives Collection Spotlight
Emma Dionne
The Hudson River’s Famous Four Miles
Elizabeth Clarke and Ann Sandri

Plus: Book Reviews and New & Noteworthy Titles Received