Retrospect is a look back at the people, places and events that shaped the history of the Sullivan County, New York Catskills, including the famed Borscht Belt resort industry.

John Conway conceived the column for the Times Herald-Record newspaper in July of 1987.  The column continued weekly in the Record until 1998 and then resumed during 2002 and 2003.   Except for a brief hiatus in early 2007, the column has appeared on Fridays in the Sullivan County Democrat since February of 2004. 

John Conway has been the Sullivan County (NY) Historian since 1993.  He was born and raised in Monticello, NY, educated at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, and has been in the vanguard of the movement to chronicle and preserve local history for more than 25 years. 

He is an adjunct professor at SUNY-Sullivan, teaching a class on local history.  He has written five books, and expects a sixth to be completed for release in 2009.  He has written for the Encyclopedia of New York State.  He is regularly asked to provide historical context for Sullivan County news events by the New York Times, Associated Press, Fox News, and RNN, among others.  He has appeared on the Fox television series Million Dollar Mysteries, talking about gangster Dutch Schultz and his lost Catskills' treasure, and on the BBC documentary, Stand Up America, discussing the role of the Borscht Belt on American comedy.