(Posted April 19, 2004)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Why is there a Pennsylvania town called Burnt Cabins? Why is the Juniata Valley in Pennsylvania? The answers to such questions, as well as others concerning Pennsylvania history will be made clear at the first annual Juniata Valley History Conference held Friday, April 30 to Saturday, May 1 at the Clarion Inn in Burnham, Pa.

The conference, sponsored by the Currents of the Juniata Valley, a local history project initiated by Juniata College and the Westsylvania Heritage Corp. in 2002, is titled "The Albany Congress of 1754: Becoming Pennsylvanians." The conference honors the 250th anniversary of the Treaty of Albany, a 1754 agreement that ceded Indian territory comprised of what is now the Juniata Valley (Bedford, Blair, Huntingdon, Juniata, Fulton, Mifflin and Perry counties) into the colony of Pennsylvania.

Registration fee for the conference is $15. Dinner for the conference is $23 and luncheon is $12. Accommodations at the Clarion Inn are $54 for a single room and $60.30 for a double room (plus tax). A printable registration form is available at the Currents of the Juniata Web site at http://www.juniata.edu/currents.


Free registration is available for high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Students must complete and send in a registration form to qualify for free registration.
The conference starts Friday, April 30 at with dinner at 6:30 p.m. The keynote speaker is Timothy Shannon, associate professor of history at Gettysburg College.

The second day of the conference, on Saturday, May 1, starts at 9 a.m. with a presentation by Alan Irvine, a professional storyteller and visiting professor of sociology at the University of Pittsburgh.

At 10:15 a.m., David Hsiung, Charles A. Dana Professor of History at Juniata College, will present the talk "Indian-Colonist Relations in Central Pennsylvania."
At 11:30 a.m., Shannon, Irvine and Hsiung will participate in a roundtable discussion focused on the Albany Congress of 1754. The roundtable will be moderated by John Giblin, a historian with the U.S. Army Military History Institute in Carlisle, Pa.

For more information, or to receive a registration form, please e-mail currents@juniata.edu; telephone (814) 695-8290; or write, Currents of the Juniata Valley, Juniata College, 1700 Moore St., Box 938, Huntingdon, PA, 16652.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.