Roosevelt project underway at Harness Racing Museum

Historic Roosevelt Raceway, Long Island’s landmark entertainment venue, is the focus of a three-phase project being conducted by the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame.  With the aid of two Museum Collection & Research Grants from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a state agency, the museum has begun to 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. 

Funding agencies can only provide half of the money that will be required to correctly and systematically record and digitize this significant collection, create a permanent exhibit at the museum worthy of the remarkable “Dream Track,” and provide for the publication of a comprehensive pictorial catalog of the collection and the people whose commitment made it all possible. Therefore, to support these plans a special fundraising effort is now being launched! Providing exciting donation incentives that include souvenir lapel pins, Roosevelt Raceway replica tote bags, and Founders’ Plates, it will be directed to those members of the harness racing community whose lives were touched by the Roosevelt years: the excitement, the crowds, and the great times. We urge all who remember this tremendously successful harness racing facility to support our efforts to keep these great memories alive.

Brochures inviting individual, corporate and organizational contributions are being mailed to the fans and the children of fans, employees, and horsemen and women of Roosevelt Raceway and members of the harness racing community nationwide and throughout the world.  To receive a brochure or for additional information on supporting this major initiative, please contact the museum’s director at (845) 294-6330 or email hrmdir@frontiernet.net.

Visit the museum, just sixty 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, NY is open daily 10 am-5 pm. (Last tour 4:00 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 website at www.harnessmuseum.com. (Harness Racing Museum)

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