The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum announces that the New York Community Trust, Elizabeth Meyer Lorentz Fund has made a grant of $505, 000 over the next three years to fund the expansion of the Pare Lorentz Film Center.

“Pare Lorentz was known as FDR’s movie maker and the Center that bears his name provides a wonderful opportunity for the Library to produce quality educational and exhibit programming,” said Cynthia Koch, Library Director.

Lorentz was best known for his documentary classics depicting American life during the depression years--particularly The River, with music by Virgil Thomson. After his death, his wife, Elizabeth Meyer Lorentz continued to work with the Library and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute to carry on the Lorentz legacy. She dedicated and funded the original Lorentz Center in 1993 which is located in the Gatehouse of the Roosevelt Library, a small building at the entrance to the site.

Now, funds from a trust Mrs. Lorentz created through her will, managed by the New York Community Trust and secured for this project by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, are being used to move and expand the Film Center's video editing equipment to the currently under-construction Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center. The new Center is scheduled to open in November 2003.

Using historic footage from the Roosevelt Library archives, the Library staff has produced educational videos for distribution and for museum displays. With this generous grant, videos will be created and produced for national distribution designed for grades 7 through 12. Already available in this series are Pearl Harbor, featuring outstanding footage of the Japanese attack and the Japanese Internment, the thought-provoking story of American citizens of Japanese descent being forced into internment camps during World War II. The film series will make available to educators and students all over the country the rich resources of the Roosevelt Presidential Library archives.

The Library’s award winning website www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu will complement the film series with documents, photographs and classroom activities to be used alongside the videos. Through the generosity of Elizabeth Lorentz and the New York Community Trust this unique learning experience can be distributed all over the world.

To find out more about the exceptional resources of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum click on our website www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu. From tourism information to an online collection of over 13,000 digitized documents and 1000 photographs, the website is an outstanding place to start your discovery of the Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Part of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum is dedicated to preserving historical material and providing innovative educational programs, community events, and public outreach. If you need additional information about the Roosevelt Presidential Library please call 845 486-7745.