David Butler’14 may have just graduated from Colgate but he is still working to leave a mark on the Upstate New York community. This summer, he is working as a Field School Fellow for the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum in Peterboro. NAHOF will be commemorating several significant events in the coming year, including the sesquicentennials of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery, the end of the Civil War and the death of Abraham Lincoln, the 165th anniversary of the Cazenovia Convention, the 180th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society in Peterboro and the 10th anniversary of NAHOF itself, and David is working on plans for NAHOF to recognize each of them.
David Butler will create promotional videos for the National Abolition Hall of Fame this summer as a Field School Fellow
He is working on several videos for NAHOF on the chronology of abolitionism in America, the significance of the Cazenovia Convention and the historical experience of the Civil War. David studied International Relations and Art History at Colgate, and took classes in video art. He will put the skills he developed in that course to use by filming events that will take place this coming weekend during the 22nd annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend and producing videos about the event. Once completed, the videos will be used as promotional tools for visitors and prospective volunteers to the Gerrit Smith Estate and the Smithfield Community Center, which is where NAHOF is located. They will also be used as educational tools for the public and during school visits.
The Civil War Weekend will be this weekend, June 14 and 15, in Peterboro, and will feature the 12th Rgt. United States Infantry Company A and the Civil War Heritage Foundation, who will host an encampment on the green throughout the entire weekend. The weekend programs will also highlight Peterboro connections to 1864 war events. The building sites at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark will be open throughout the weekend with exhibits on the Underground Railroad, African-Americans in Peterboro and Gerrit Smith, and exhibit panels from the NYS Museum exhibit “The Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War” will be on display with other exhibits at NAHOF. A full schedule of the Civil War Weekend is available at http://civilwarweekend.sca-peterboro.org/