Did you know that Utica in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries published Welsh, German, Polish, and Italian newspapers?
Did you know that in the mid-nineteenth century more people of Welsh ethnicity resided, per capita, in Oneida County than in any other county in the United States?
Did you know that scholars credit Utica's Italian community for providing the vital impetus behind Franklin D. Roosevelt's campaign for governor of New York in 1928?
Did you know that in 1940 Utica had over 70 groceries run by Lebanese immigrants and their descendants?
Find out more about these facts and so much more at this event where Douglas Ambrose, professor of history at Hamilton College, tells us the stories of Utica.
Doug Ambrose has been a professor of history at Hamilton College since 1990. He received his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and his publications have focused on the intellectual and religious history of the Old South and the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton.
Although Doug knew little about Utica when he arrived at Hamilton, he quickly fell in love with the city and purchased his first home there in 1995. He has developed an avocational interest in his adopted city's history, especially in the various ethnic groups that have played such vital roles in the city's changes over the past two centuries. His talk will examine why Utica became a destination for various immigrant groups, how those peoples influenced the city's social and cultural development, and how the city and its inhabitants responded to the economic and demographic challenges of the 20th and 21st centuries.
