Wed, Sep 23
|Bovina Public Library
Out of the Shadows
Historian Diane Galusha explores the history of slavery and freedom in rural Delaware County
Time & Location
Sep 23, 2026, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Bovina Public Library, 33 Maple Ave, Bovina Center, NY 13740, USA
About the event
Join historian Diane Galusha for an illustrated talk exploring the history of slavery and freedom in rural Delaware County.
Galusha will share some of the primary sources behind the traveling exhibition Out of the Shadows: Slavery and Freedom in Delaware County, NY 1790–1870, currently on view at the Bovina Public Library through October 15. Her research draws on personal documents, census records, wills, newspaper accounts, memoirs, and other historical sources.
The talk will spotlight some of the people whose lives emerge from these records, including enslaved people who sought freedom, free Black families who established lives in Delaware County, and the often-fragmentary evidence that allows us to recover their stories.
The exhibition, a collaboration between historian Diane Galusha, artist Robin Kappy, and designer Drew Harty, combines imagined portraits with historical narratives to bring these largely overlooked stories into view.
Free and open to all.
The exhibition will be on view at the Bovina Public Library September 15 - October 15.
This project is made possible with funds from the Delaware County Arts Grants, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered in Delaware County by the Roxbury Arts Group.