The Peru Gazette

Plattsburgh Public Library continues its monthly speaker series, Lifelong Learning for All, held on the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the library auditorium on the second floor. The series brings local experts to the library to share their knowledge with the community. All are welcome. Each session includes a half-hour presentation followed by Q&A and discussion.

On Wednesday, November 4, 2026, at 5:30 p.m., Dr. James M. Lindgren, Emeritus Professor of History at SUNY Plattsburgh, will present “Lost Plattsburgh: Our Missing Architectural Roots.”

The presentation focuses on the architecture and importance of Plattsburgh buildings destroyed by fire or willful act, and on how their loss has left a lamentable gap in the city’s nineteenth- and twentieth-century history. The talk picks up where Allan Everest left off in his 1972 book Our North Country Heritage.

Dr. Lindgren returns to the series after his August presentation, “Exploring Plattsburgh’s Point.”

Attendees may also want to visit the library’s exhibit on urban renewal in Plattsburgh, which is now on display on the main floor.

About the Speaker:
Dr. James M. Lindgren is an internationally recognized scholar of the historic preservation and museum movements in the United States. He is the author of Preserving Maritime America (University of Massachusetts Press, 2019), Preserving South Street Seaport (NYU Press, 2014), Preserving Historic New England (Oxford University Press, 1995), and Preserving the Old Dominion (University Press of Virginia, 1993), along with some sixty other publications. He taught courses on historic preservation, history museums, and historic sites at SUNY Plattsburgh for thirty-seven years and received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the College of William and Mary and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.