For Immediate Release: February 1, 2007
CONTACT: Jackie McGinnis
518-880-3524
SENECA RAY STODDARD DOCUMENTARY TO BE DISTRIBUTED BY APT
Troy, NY -- In April 2007, American Public Television (APT) will make available for national distribution a film that originally premiered on WMHT-TV in Troy, New York entitled SENECA RAY STODDARD: AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL.
Seneca Ray Stoddard was a writer in the days of Emerson and Mark Twain. He was also an illustrator, publisher, mapmaker, promoter and above all, photographer. Stoddard captured stunning images of a rugged and changing wilderness in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. In the late 1800s he did more to promote, and create, the tourist trade in one of the last wilderness areas in the east than anyone of his day.
Producer Paul Frederick reflects, "As I sat at the computer doing some of the restoration work, I wondered how Stoddard would feel about the work we were doing to his images. He was known to hand draw on some of them, double print clouds into empty skies ... so in a way, we are continuing his creative legacy by embracing the latest digital technology to do the same."
Stoddard took over 10,000 photos in his lifetime, some of which were found at The Adirondack Museum in BlueMountainLake and The Chapman Museum in Glens Falls.Other prints were provided by private collectors and they reveal images that have never before been available to the public. The restoration work on the nearly 300 photos in the production was extensive, and each photo required an average of 30 minutes of digital clean-up.
WMHT Educational Telecommunications’ public broadcasting services include WMHT-TV, WMHT –FM 89.1/88.7, Classical 97.7 WBKK and RISE, a radio reading service for the visually impaired and print disabled, as well as community outreach and family learning initiatives.
For 45 years, American Public Television has been a prime source of programming for the nation’s public television stations. APT distributes more than 300 new program titles per year and has 10,000 hours of programming in its library. It is responsible for many public television milestones including the first HD series and the 2006 launch of the Create channel featuring the best of public television’s lifestyle programming.
APT is known for its leadership in identifying innovative, worthwhile and viewer-friendly programming. It has established a tradition of providing public television stations with program choices that strengthen and customize their schedules, such as JFK: Breaking the News, Battlefield Britain, Globe Trekker, Rich Steves’ Europe, Great Museums, Jacques Pepin: Fast Food My Way, America’s Test Kitchen From Cook’s Illustrated, Broadway: The Golden Age, Lidia’s Family Table, California Dreamin’- The Songs of The Mamas and The Papas, Rosemary and Thyme, P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home, The Big Comfy Couch, Monarchy with David Starkey, and other prominent documentaries, dramatic series, how-to programs and classic movies.
For more information about APT’s programs and services, visit APTonline.org.
For more information on WMHT visit or contact Jackie McGinnis at 518-880-3524 or by e-mail at .