The United States Colored Troops Digest Collection

The U.S. Colored Troops Institute for Local & Family History (USCTI) was established at Hartwick College in 1998 as an educational membership organization to promote and encourage research, preservation, and remembrance of the United States Colored Troops, inclusive of men of African descent, Native Americans, and their white officers. The Institute’s focus has since expanded to other military conflicts from the Revolutionary War through the Korean War.  Founded and led by Dr. Harry Bradshaw Matthews, former Associate Dean at Hartwick College, the USCTI provided Hartwick students with an opportunity to conduct research, contribute to newsletters such as the bi-annual USCT Civil War Digest, and participate in events and field trips. The Institute remained at Hartwick College until Dr. Matthews' retirement in 2020.

The USCTI has been honored with proclamations from several state governments and the Congressional Black Caucus Veterans Braintrust, as well as entered into the Congressional Record for outstanding historical and genealogical research.  It was selected in 2008 as an endorsed site of the United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. In April 2011, the USCTI was recognized by the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom as a “Facility."