Write a commentThe H. Lee White Maritime Museum presents “Local Laterals of the Erie Canal: Middle Division” with Jacob Maloney as part of its History Lecture Series this fall.
The first session begins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at the museum located at the north end of West First Street Pier in Oswego.
The next featured speaker will be Derrick Pratt, director of education at the Erie Canal Museum. He will present “The Conception of the Erie Canal” at 6 p.m. on Wednesday Oct. 22. The third speaker will be Capt. Tammee Poinan Grimes of the Erie Canal tour boat, “Colonial Belle,” which has operated on New York’s canals since 1989. She will give her presentation at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
The maritime museum’s fall 2025 History Lecture Series explores the lasting impact of the Erie Canal as part of the American experience with this three-part series.
The largest state-funded public works project of the 19th century, the Erie Canal was built in three sections (Western, Middle, Eastern) from Rome and to Buffalo. Later, four lateral canals (Seneca & Cayuga, Oswego, Chenango and Black River) were constructed in the Middle Division to capitalize on the success of the original canal and connect rural communities with new people, ideas and goods. The productivity of each canal was varied and some were ultimately abandoned, but their influence and legacy on New York State remains today, more than 150 years later.
Jacob Maloney is the museum assistant at the Oswego County Historical Society and the collections assistant at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, N.Y. After graduating from SUNY Brockport with a bachelor’s degree in history, Maloney completed his master’s degree in museum studies through the Cooperstown Graduate Program at SUNY Oneonta. He participated in multiple internships, including the Rochester Museum and Science Center, Billings Farm & Museum, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, which helped him gain hands-on experience in collections, archives and libraries.
The H. Lee White Maritime Museum’s History Lecture Series is free and open to the public. The museum and its Treasure Chest Gift Shop are open daily from 1 to 5 p.m. (with extended summer hours) at West First Street Pier in Oswego’s Historic Maritime District.
For more on this event or other programs, contact the museum at 315-342-0480 or visit www.hlwmm.org.
