Tool Library Sneak Peek...

Stay tuned in the new year for more details on the new Mobile Tool Library Truck, sponsored by an ARPA grant from the City of Albany!

Give the gift of HAF this holiday season!

Looking for some fun and unique gifts this holiday season, all while supporting HAF? We have something for everyone. Memberships to HAF and the Tool Library make great gifts. If that's not your thing we have new retro logo'd hoodies and tees, coffee mugs, greeting cards, tote bags and the 2024 calendar. We also have gift certificates for that hard to shop for person in your life.

You can find our merchandise at:

Fort Orange General Store
412 Broadway
Downtown Albany

HAF Parts Warehouse
89 Lexington Avenue
Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
HAF Offices: Monday through Firday

HAF Book Club 2024 is Announced!

In early 2024 HAF will be hosting our annual book club (date to be determined).  The book we will be reading is Russell Shorto's Island at the Center of the World in conjunction with 2024 being the 400th anniversary commemorating the founding and the unity of the City of New York.

About the book ... When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records–recently declared a national treasure–are now being translated. Russell Shorto draws on this remarkable archive in The Island at the Center of the World, which has been hailed by The New York Times as “a book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past.”

The Dutch colony pre-dated the “original” thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. The Island at the Center of the World uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.

For more information on the 400th anniversary:  https://ny400th.org/

In addition, HAF is pleased to announce that best-selling author Russell Shorto will be the honored guest speaker at HAF's Matthew Bender IV Lecture on Sunday, October 20, 2024.

Stay tuned for more information on both the Book Club and the Bender Lecture.

2024 is HAF's 50th anniversary year. We have a year full of events to commemorate. We are looking for interns who would like to help with events, programs, research, PR, marketing and more!

Contact Shöna Nilsson at: [email protected].

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