from the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame

Goshen, NY — Historic Roosevelt Raceway, Long Island’s landmark entertainment venue, is the focus of a two phase project being conducted by the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame. With the aid of two 2007-08 Museum Collection & Research Grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a state agency, the museum will record and digitize the more than 8,000 photographs, videos, programs and posters that were rescued from the raceway prior to its demolition in 2000.

NYSCA announced the award of a $15,000 grant for Phase I of The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame’s Roosevelt Raceway project in July 2007. This first phase, of the multi-faceted project plan, will focus on a group of 3,500 press files containing photographs and press information, as well as a significant collection of videotape recordings salvaged from the shuttered raceway.

After a second review of the museum’s project, during NYSCA’s December 2007 meeting, the state agency announced that it was awarding an additional $5,000 in funding for the 2007-08 phase of the Roosevelt Raceway project.

The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame is pleased and gratified by NYSCA’s recognition of the project’s importance to New York’s citizens, visitors and fans of the historic sport of harness racing.

Phase II of the project, to be conducted during 2008-09, will complete the work of cataloging and housing raceway artifacts started in Phase I. Two temporary part-time positions, supported by NYSCA funding, have begun to perform Phase I cataloging and digitization.

A third project phase, now in early planning, will provide for the exhibition and publication of materials preserved by museum staff. This exhibition phase of the project is keenly anticipated by those who best remember the legendary raceway.

It is important to note that NYSCA can only provide half of the money that will be required to correctly and systematically record and digitize this significant collection. Additional funding is therefore eagerly invited. Fans and the children of fans, employees, and horsemen and women of Roosevelt Raceway can contact the museum’s director at (845) 294-6330 for more information on how to support this major initiative.

Visit the museum, just 60 miles north of New York City, and discover more about the fascinating history of harness racing and the Standardbred horse, as well as the museum’s educational programming and other services that support the sport. The museum, located at 240 Main Street in Goshen, N.Y. is open daily from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Admission, thanks to The United States Trotting Association, is without charge. Please call (845) 294-6330 for more information or visit the institution’s Web site at www.harnessmuseum.com.