2026 Sloan Lecture Series
We offer lectures each month on a variety of topics. Our theme for 2026 is Rooted. Throughout its history, the Erie Canal has been an agent of change and transformation. Through this lecture series we aim to explore the many facets of this transformative waterway's history. We look forward to sharing these stories with you throughout the year. All Sloan Lectures are available both in person and via Zoom. Everyone who registers will also receive a recording of the talk. Registering for the Annual Pass registers you for all talks for the remainder of the year, as well as provides access to all previously recorded talks for the year.
Thank you to the Winifred & DeVillo Sloan, Jr. Family Fund for supporting this series.
Current Schedule of Lectures (more lectures and information will be added soon!)
January 15 @ 6:30 PM- Sloan Lecture- The Making of Flower City: The Erie Canal, American Empire, and the Horticultural Transformation of the Country
Born of the Erie Canal, Rochester, New York exploded from a small village into a boomtown. Developing into a prominent hub for flour-milling, Rochester was an icon of America’s market revolution. But when the Panic of 1837 struck the region, the economic foundations of the city collapsed. In the wake of collapse a new group of horticulture reformers sought to reform the city, region, and their residents. By the middle of the decades of the nineteenth century, they city became home to a group of plant nurserymen and seed dealers whose transnational reach remade the North American landscape and transformed Rochester from the Flour City into the Flower City.
February 28 @ 12PM- Sloan Lecture- The Erie Canal and Organ History
Laurence Libin, former curator of musical instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art will discuss how the canal helped spread piano culture and Anne Laver, associate professor of organ at Syracuse University will talk about the canal's impact on regional organ building and share clips from a new documentary film, The Organ in America.
April 16 @ 12PM- Sloan Lecture- The Great Steam Canal Boat Race of 1873
Nearly as soon as the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, inventors were already dreaming about powering canal boats by steam. Early attempts proved hopeful but not practical as the canal was not wide enough or deep enough to accommodate the heavier boats. With completion of the first enlargement by the 1860s many believed that steam-powered canal boats were possible. New York State agreed, and in 1873 sponsored a competition of steam canal boats from Syracuse to Utica for a prize of $100,000. Five boats competed to demonstrate how steam could revolutionize canal traffic. The trials and tribulations of that race would give rise to the motivation of modernizing the canal to allow for motor power on the canal. It was the construction of the barge canal in the early 20th century that would retire the horses and mules and welcome motorized boats on the canal system. The Great Steam Canal Boat Race of 1873 helped make it happen.
May 28 @ 6PM- Sloan Lecture- Making Humans More Humane—Henry Bergh and the Birth of Animal Rights in 19th century America
In Gilded Age America, people and animals lived cheek-by-jowl in environments that were dirty and dangerous to man and beast alike. The industrial city brought suffering, but it also inspired a compassion for animals that fueled a controversial anti-cruelty movement. When Henry Bergh founded the ASPCA in 1866, he launched a campaign to grant rights to animals that was applauded by many, and ridiculed by many more. Bergh fought with robber barons, Five Points gangs, and legendary impresario P.T. Barnum, as he came to the defense of trolley horses, livestock, stray dogs, and other animals. He also challenged the use, and abuse, of horses and mules on the Erie Canal, a showdown that engaged the nation and, some argued, threatened to shut down a crucial link in the national economy. This talk is based on Freeberg’s 2020 book, A Traitor to His Species, that tells the story of a remarkable man who helped to shape our modern relationship with animals.
