Erie Canal Book Talk and Gallery Tour

The Office of Cultural Education presents a gallery tour of the NYS Museum exhibit Enterprising Waters: New York's Erie Canal lead by Senior Historian Brad Utter, followed by a book talk, Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott by author Paul G. Schneider, Jr.

A book signing will take place after the presentation, with books available for purchase, and Alexander Stewart Scott's original travel journal, which is now in the NYS Library's collections, will be on display.

Scott was a 21-year-old Canadian law-school graduate in 1826, when he set off on a combination vacation/family visit from Quebec City to Albany. From there, he headed to Wayne County in Western New York, and eventually Niagara Falls, with some of his trip taking place via the Erie Canal. Luckily for us, he recorded notes on what he had seen and done during his 110-day trip. He was a good writer and the 136-page diary is a good read, as historian Paul G. Schneider, Jr. found 190 years later, when he transcribed it in 2016. Schneider also researched Scott, life in New York State and Canada in the 1820s, and what it was like to travel in the U.S. fifty years after the founding of our country. Schneider's transcription, with his notes, has just been published as Everything Worthy of Observation: The 1826 New York State Travel Journal of Alexander Stewart Scott, and now the "good read" is an even better read.

Location: NYS Museum South Hall (Gallery Tour) and Huxley Theater, 1st Floor (Book Talk), Cultural Education Center