6 May 2021

By Göran R Buckhorn

Göran R Buckhorn dives into a new online exhibit about the Poughkeepsie Regatta.

An e-mail arrived yesterday to HTBS from the Archives and Special Collections at Marist College, which is a private liberal arts college founded in 1905 in Poughkeepsie, New York. After eight years of developing and researching the history of Poughkeepsie Regatta, Elizabeth Clarke and Ann Sandri, two staff members at Marist College Archives and Special Collections, are ready to invite visitors to their brand-new exhibit on the regatta. And you do not have to leave your chair to visit – the exhibit is online. In these COVID-19-ridden times, that is the way to go!

In their ‘invitation’, Elizabeth Clarke and Ann Sandri write, ‘The result [of the exhibit] is what we believe the most comprehensive publicly available collection concerning the Poughkeepsie Regatta in the country. The exhibit features an in-depth look at this fascinating history and showcases the items in our collection.’ Clarke and Sandri continue ‘The exhibit provides year by year coverage as well as an in depth look at the participating universities and their coaches.’

Personally, I got ‘stuck’ on the ‘coaches page’ and had a fun time clicking around among the famous and maybe not so famous coaches and freshman/assistant coaches, who brought their crews to the Poughkeepsie Regatta throughout the years.

According to their e-mail, Clarke and Sandri are grateful for the help with the research they received from different people. From a well-informed source HTBS heard that they crossed the border to Connecticut for a visit with rowing historian Tom Weil, HTBS eminent contributor in Woodbridge, a couple of weeks ago.

Clarke and Sandri mention that the online exhibition is far from completed and they will continue to expand it and include more items online from the rowing collection. They invite everyone to share information about the pieces that they are missing in the exhibit. Feedback, questions and comments are also welcome.

Explore the exhibition by clicking here.