News

Friday, April 28, 11:30-1 PM "Lunch Break Brown Bag"  

at: The Historical Society of Rockland County | 20 Zukor Road New City, NY 10956 | 845-634-9629

Their director, Susan Deeks, has kindly offered to host us. 

• Bring your own lunch.

• Send me any agenda items you think need discussion.  Otherwise, I envision this as an informal discussion time, with some emphasis on what our communities are doing (or not doing) to prepare for the nation's 250th.  We can also enjoy seeing the host site and their exhibits.

• Please RSVP if you think you will attend so we have an approximate head count.  The room holds up to 40. 

• I do not at this time plan to have a virtual attendance option, but if I hear back from several that you need that, I will gather your emails and send out a Zoom link, and set up my laptop, and see how that works for you.

• I will also ask for someone to take notes, to share with those not able to attend.

• Note: We will have a 'free will' donation basket for the host organization.  You'd be surprised how few organizations in our Region there are that can or will host-- for free-- this kind of meeting that are 'relatively central or at least equally

• inconvenient for most.'

RSVP: The courtesy of a reply is requested by April 20.

contact 

Sue Gardner 

warwickhistory@gmail.com

Region 7 of APHNYS will hold its spring 2023 meeting in Herkimer on

Saturday, April 22, 2023 at the Dutch Reformed Church on North Main Street

Herkimer across the street from the Herkimer County Historical Society. The

meeting will begin at 9:30AM and end at 2:30PM

9:30- 10:00 register and sign-in; coffee mingle with others

10:00-10:45 Samantha Hall-Saladino (Fulton County Historian) “Elizabeth

Cady Stanton and Fulton County Historical Society Resources for historians”

10:45-11:30 Ron Ketelsen (Sharon 

Springs H.S. president) “How To Revive

Your Historical Society”

11:30 - 12:00 Justine Hutchinson (Herkimer Reformed Church Administrative

Assistant ) “Dutch Reformed Church and Palatine Settlers”

12:00-12:45 Lunch -visit bookstore

12:45-1:30 “Incorporating DNA results into Genealogy Research” Cassandra

Castle (Herkimer County H.S. Executive Director)

1:30-2:30 James Greiner (Herkimer County Historian) “Murder and Mayhem

in Herkimer”

2:30-? Visit the jail and Suiter Mansion

contact Dick Williams: 

aladdin153@aol.com

Region 8 Tri-County Conference Invite

A Gathering of Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego County Historians

Lewis County Historical Society (LCHS)

7552 S. State Street, Lowville, New York 13367

Friday, May 12th, 10:00AM – 3:00PM

Doors Open 09:30. One Hour Optional Tour at 2:00PM

You are invited to attend the Region 8 Association of Public Historians New York State (APHNYS)

Conference with local historians from Jefferson, Lewis and Oswego Counties. This year’s event

will be held at the Lewis County Historical Society. The primary goal is bringing historians from

the region together where we learn of contacts as well as research processes from one another.

The cost to attend is $10.00 (payable to APHNYS) – light refreshments and lunch is provided. We

prefer this to be paid in advance, however, we will accept cash or check at the door.

Please RSVP and return the bottom portion by May 5th to:

Lewis County Historical Society (LCHS)

Tri-County Region 8 Conference

7552 S. State Street, Lowville, New York 13367

contact 

Tom LaClair at historian@townofclayton.com

Sorry to report that in a short period we have lost two stalwarts of our New York State local government historian community.

Wayne County Historian Peter Evans passed away on March 11. His obituary is at Obituary for Peter K. Evans | Young Funeral Home (youngfuneralhomeny.com). Peter served as an APHNYS trustee and as Region 11 Regional Coordinator and was a faithful attendee of our annual conferences. Our sympathies go to Sue-Jane and her entire family.

Dr. Marilyn VanDyke, former town of Queensbury Historian and a founding member of APHNYS, passed away on March 13. She was APHNYS second Vice President at its creation in 1999 and served on the board of trustees. She also was very active in APHNYS's predecessor organization, AMHNYS (Association of Municipal Historians of NYS). Here is her obituary. Our sympathies to her family: Marilyn VanDyke Obituary - South Glens Falls, NY | M.B. Kilmer Funeral Home- SGF

Join us in Ithaca for our 2023 Annual Meeting!

"Home, Sweet, Home"

The Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) is pleased to announce that our 2023 Annual Conference will be held in Ithaca, NY, September 18-20, 2023. Our conference draws more than 100 government-appointed historians and affiliates from across the state.

Named after the island home of Homer’s King Odysseus, Ithaca sits on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake and is the seat of Tompkins County in the Finger Lakes region of Central New York. As we gather in Ithaca this fall, we consider the pull that the city’s mythological eponym had on its homesick hero and invite you to explore our theme— “Home, Sweet Home”—and its various implications.

How have people connected with the places they call home, whether their birthplace, adopted community, or ancestral origins? How have geographies and landscapes influenced people’s social, cultural, and economic experiences, whether in urban, suburban, or rural homes? How have people used the land they call home? How have people’s homes been a point of pride? How have people defined or redefined their homes? Their families? How have home spaces reflected safety and protection, or threat and vulnerability? What disruptions to homelife—war, captivity, enslavement, migration, natural disasters—have people faced? What have been the experiences of those without homes, those displaced from their homes, or those who lived in places they might not have considered home?

At this year’s conference, we invite New York’s public historians to explore these and other questions relating to the concept of home and its influence on the lives of people throughout our state’s history.

We invite proposals for workshops, panels, and presentations that explore this theme. Deadline: April 30 2023. The Program Committee will review proposals and respond to all applicants by June 15, 2023.

Nancy LaFaver, Lisbon Town Historian and St. Lawrence County Historian, organized a children's program with Dana Denhoff, reenactor with Forsyth’s Rifles. Dressed in a Forsyth Rifles officer’s uniform from the War of 1812 era, Mr. Denhoff explained the uniform details and how to load and shoot it the rifle. He finished by describing the Battle of Ogdensburg for the group. The presentation held the students attention and even some of the parents learned some new information. After his presentation, the kids had a good time trying on the various uniform pieces. 

Ms LaFaver followed up Mr. Denhoff’s presentation by describing a skirmish that took place in Lisbon (Red Mills today) in October of 1813 at Scott’s Tavern. The tavern is still intact and is now a private home.

Ms. met the children on February 18th to join County Legislator, Jim Reagen, for the reenactment and listened as he narrated the battle.

Everyone present agreed that a living history presentation and a reenactment is the best way to learn about historical people and events! 

My first month as APHNYS President has been busy as I adjust to the role and transition some of my previous activities as 2^nd Vice President to our Vice Presidents Julie Madlin and Lauren Roberts. And the rest of the board has been busy too.

The program and local arrangements committees have met to discuss our fall conference, to be held September 18-20 in Ithaca. We expect soon to have the conference theme set and will be issuing the call for proposals. The local arrangements committee is finding a number of tour options – the committee’s big challenge will be winnowing them down to a manageable number. Ithaca has a lot to offer.

The membership committee, comprised of our regional coordinators and chaired by Julie Madlin and APHNYS Director Babette Huber, met in late January, mainly to discuss the spring regional meetings that several regions are planning. A list of our regional coordinators is at Association of Public Historians of New York State - APHNYS Officers, Directors and Regional Coordinators. We still are looking for coordinators for Regions 1 (New York City), 3 (Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester Counties) and 10 (Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Schuyler, Tioga, and Tompkins Counties).

APHNYS Director Jason Parkman has been working with the William G. Pomeroy Foundation on their plans for the inaugural Historic Marker Day, set for April 28. The purpose of the day is to clean historic markers. The Pomeroy Foundation would like to make this an annual event. More information about this is located at National Historic Marker Day | William G. Pomeroy Foundation (wgpfoundation.org). This is a great opportunity to involve various members of your communities in taking care of these markers. The site includes information on how to properly clean these. And it isn’t limited to just Pomeroy markers but all historic markers.

A reminder that all local government historian’s annual reports are to be submitted, not only to their appointing authority, but to the New York State Historian. An on-line form is available at Historian Annual Report Form | The New York State Museum (nysed.gov). The site also gives you an option to download the form and submit it that way.

I want to alert everyone to scam/phishing e-mails that our board have been receiving. Messages appear to come from me or from our treasurer Zach Studenroth. They often, but not always, reference the need for assistance in carrying out some type of financial transaction. Sometimes the ones coming to me are more along the line of “do you have a few minutes to talk today?” They appear to come from the publichistoriansnys@gmail.com address, but if you look more closely or hit reply, you’ll see a totally different address.

We have not heard of any of our members getting such messages, but we thought we should alert you just in case. If you ever get something like this from us, do not respond to it. There isn’t much we can do to prevent this. Scammers often go to public websites and harvest the information. The main thing we can do is be vigilant. Whenever you get an e-mail from anyone that makes you a little nervous, listen to your instincts and check it out before making any response.

Don’t forget to renew your APHNYS membership if you have yet to do so. You can do it on-line with your credit by going to Association of Public Historians of New York State - Join (aphnys.org).  You can download a membership form if you prefer to mail in your check. The form is at 2023 APHNYS Dues and Membership Form.pdf. 

Ray LaFever, APHNYS President

The APHNYS Board of Directors held its organizational meeting on January 9 and elected the following slate of officers:

President – Ray LaFever, Town of Bovina Historian

1^st Vice President – Julie Madlin, City of Ogdensburg Historian

2^nd Vice President – Lauren Roberts, Saratoga County Historian

Secretary – Samantha Hall-Saladino, Fulton County Historian

Treasurer – Zachary Studenroth, Village of Southhampton Historian

The board welcomed two new members, elected at last fall’s annual meeting in Kingston, Stan Cianfarano, Warren County Historian and Jason Parkman, Town of Elbridge Historian. A complete list of our officers and directors, as well as of our regional coordinators, is on our website at Association of Public Historians of New York State - APHNYS Officers, Trustees and Regional Coordinators

I’m taking on the role as APHNYS President with some trepidation, following in the footsteps of Christine Ridarsky, Rose Tucker, Gerry Smith and Carol McKenna, but I’m grateful for the great Board of Directors who help to ensure the smooth running of things and to keep me on my toes. I’m particularly grateful to Julie and Lauren for stepping into the Vice President positions. I’m breathing a little easier!

Kudos and hats off to Christine Ridarsky, who shepherded APHNYS through one of its most challenging times as everyone coped with the pandemic. She was instrumental in making it possible for members to renew and to register for our conference on-line. Christine also led us through a much-needed change to our by-laws. And a thank you to departing board member and 1^st Vice President Matt Urtz, who was instrumental in coordinating the streaming options at our conferences over the past three years, among many other things during his tenure on the board. Matt still intends to be involved with APHNYS, thank goodness.

We have started work on our fall APHNYS conference, which will be September 18-20 in Ithaca in Region 10. We will have a streaming option for those not able to come in person. More information, including the call for proposals, is coming soon. And we’ll be encouraging our regions to hold a spring regional meeting. One suggested topic of discussion at these meetings will be succession planning.

While we interpret and save the history of our communities, we have to think of the future of preserving that past. As we think of retiring from our positions, or even before that thought enters our minds, it wouldn’t hurt to start looking around for someone suitable to follow us and make sure that whatever information we have as local government historians passes smoothly to our successors.

Succession planning is something that APHNYS is working on also. APHNYS is getting new faces and new viewpoints on our board, but we are always looking for more. Out of our twelve regions, three of them have no regional coordinator, so we’re hopeful that some of you will step up to ensure that all the regional coordinator spots filled, allowing us to get a broad perspective statewide.   

So, here’s to a successful 2023 for APHNYS and all local government historians.

Ray LaFever

President, Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS)

PS – If you haven’t joined APHNYS or renewed your membership, I hope you will consider doing so today. You can join on-line at Association of Public Historians of New York State - Join (aphnys.org) or send in a membership form to APHNYS, P.O. Box 1363, Sag Harbor, NY 11963. You can download the form at 2023 APHNYS Dues and Membership Form.pdf

APHNYS was delighted to host a live taping of the A New York Minute in History podcast at our 2022 conference in Kingston. Hosts Devin Lander and Laura Roberts spoke with City of Kingston Historian Taylor Bruck, APHNYS President Christine L. Ridarsky, and Madison Count Historian Matt Urtz,  as well as Susan Hughes, historian and archivist for the conference's presenting sponsor the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and Don Widman, host of the podcast American History Hit. Learn more and listen at Live From the APHNYS | A New York Minute in History - WAMC Podcasts.