What Does the County Historian Do?

WHAT DOES THE COUNTY HISTORIAN DO?

by Dorothy B. Alsdorf

Since I became Dutchess County's Historian, numerous people have asked me, "What does a County Historian do?" The answer is, "The County Historian does a myriad of tasks". The first official act on the part of your present historian was to notify the New York State Department of Transportation of a broken mile stone on Route 9 near the entrance to Norrie State Park. In passing the area several days later, I observed that the damage had been most effectively repaired. This was most encouraging to your historian, for, although it is the duty of the person in cha,rge of any road, town, county or state, to make such repairs, it is not always done. Our thanks go out to Mr. Hart. It is essential that the County Historian be alert to the needs of the Appointed Historians within her jurisdiction. It was discovered that one of the greatest needs of this group was to be instructed in a better working knowledge of the use of the records in the County Clerk's Record Room. Arrangements were made with Mr. Hautman and his secretary, Miss Helen Harden, most graciously gave an afternoon of instruction in location of documents, maps and other records kept in the Record Room. This has proven most helpful to all of us making the searches for information so often requested of us.

The formation of the Dutchess County Historians' Association has been of the greatest help in improving the communications among historians. Incidentally, the DCHA welcomes associate members from among the people of the County who are interested in history but are not Appointed Historians. A quarterly newsletter put out by DCHA Publicity Chairman Bea Fredriksen of Hyde Park, and also group meetings help the members of the organization a great deal.

Assistance from the Department of History by Dr. Lewis Tucker and Mr. Edmund J. Winslow is always available to those who seek it. At the annual meeting in May, held at Wappingers Falls, Mr. Winslow was a guest of the group. He spoke on several subjects, among which was the problem of old cemeteries. Questions were addressed to Mr. Winslow regarding more or less routine subjects which sometimes have a tendency to pose problems. These he answered most graciously. This assistance from the State Department of History is deeply appreciated.

Much of the historians' time is spent in research. With the Bicentennial of the American Revolution foremost, this historian has been spending a large portion of her research time studying the activities of such persons as the counter-spy Alexander Bryan, Abraham, Paul and Peter Schenck, Zephaniah Platt and many others having a Dutchess County background.

A favorite activity in which your historian indulges is the sorting and indexing of ancient documents belonging to Dutchess County. Although this work is fascinating, it is most tedious and demands much patience. The handwriting of the people of the eighteenth century is anything but legible.

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All Appointed Historians are the recipients of many requests for information pertaining to ancestors or places. Most of these come from out of the State. Some are intriguing and some are amusing. The majority are just plain matter of fact inquiries as to specific facts regarding ancestors of the inquirer. Some historians do not answer inquiries which do not enclose a stamp for reply. I try to do a, little better than that and, whenever possible, I find the answers. One person went so far as to remind me that I am a public servant and she expected an answer! She was sent an answer which included not only her requested information but a full explanation of the extent of an historian's responsibility as a public servant!

Well-kept files are an essential part of the historian's program. The historian often must improvise. In this case I find a wine carton makes an adequate, if not elegant, file holder. Wine cartons are of the correct size to hold file folders. For the County Historian, there must be a folder for each town, each city and each village within the County. In addition, there are folders for the State of New York, each County Historian within the State, each history affiliated society or organization with whom the historian corresponds, and endless other categories. Brochures and research sources occupy much space. It is a fond dream of this historian that some time in the near future a space in the county properties will be available for an Historian's office.

During the school year many requests for help come to the historian from the students at our local colleges. At least three of these institutions give a course in Hudson Valley or Dutchess County architecture. Fortunately my years as a class-room teacher are of assistance in guiding these young people to sources of reference on these two subjects. My dining room table is often the scene of a capsule course of one or two hours, showing pictures of building illustrating architectural types found locally and noting the identifying points of each architectural type. I offer unlimited use of my personal library in my home.

Among the speaking engagements which I have enjoyed was one at a local historical society which had requested "something on Strawberries if you can". The challenge was accepted and it proved to be one of the most fascinating assignments ever undertaken by this historian. Requests for talks on the subject of local history from scout troops and civic organizations are a routine matter. Scheduled for the winter months are a meeting with the Mahwenawsigh Chapter DAR and the local chapter of New England Women.

To keep informed on what is being done in the office of other County Historians, one must belong to the State Association of County Historians. This requires attendance at two meetings per year. Due to poor communication between the Office of the Historian and other departments of County government, this historian did not attend these meetings. The County Historian is a member of the County Governing Board as is any other appointed officer and, as such, is entitled to the same considerations for traveling as any other member of the County board.

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While the office of County Historian is not mandated by laws of the State of New York, the duties are so mandated! The County Historian is advised in a book, "A Quiz for Local Historians", which is distributed by the State Department of History, that "the County Historian must supervise and coordinate the work of Town and Village and City Historians within the county. There should be cooperation between all historians, including City Historians". To further this cooperation and to promote communication the DCHA was formed. In Dutchess County there are twenty townships. With the exception of Dover and Poughkeepsie, each town has an Appointed Historian. Dover was unfortunate in that its historian was forced to resign because of ill health. It is hoped that Dover will soon have a new appointment to that office. Sad to report there seems to be no encouragement at this writing that Poughkeepsie will ever have a Town Historian. Of the eighteen Towns having historians, sixteen of them cooperate to some degree. Fortunately, fourteen of those sixteen attended a representative number of our meetings. The two of the fourteen who do not get to the meetings make contact by telephone or letter and thus participate in projects. Your County Historian will be overcome with joy to see the day when we have one hundred percent participation in the History Program in Dutchess County. In spite of this reluctance to participate on the part of some, Dutchess, an original County replete with historical fact and lore, is going forward in the fields of research and in recording and preservation of her history. The Appointed Historians have just about completed short, up-to-date histories of their respective townships, and some of the Village historians have done the same. It will be the task of the County Historian to do this work for the non-participating historians and for the townships that are without historians. Are there any volunteers? The same group that has written the histories of their areas has also indexed the material available in their local libraries on the subject of local history. You may well ask, "Will this work be available to the public? The answer is, "Yes, indeed."

History in the closet is as good as no history. It is hoped that the histories of the towns shall be assembled in a book to be printed by the County. If this fails, we shall have to improvise. Historians are well experienced in making the best of what they have at hand, so I am sure that we shall have our book. The index of materials on local history can be done by mimeograph or possibly by a duplicator. When completed, each set of work will be placed in an area easily accessible to any interested persons. These places would include schools, libraries and Town Clerks' offices.

Two of our towns and one of our villages have this year celebrated anniversaries of the founding of their departments of government. These were the Towns of Pleasant Valley and LaGrange. The Village of Wappingers Falls was the only village having a celebration of its birthday this year.

The Office of the Historian of Dutchess County has a paucity of historian's records in that none beyond those of my immediate predecessor

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have been turned in to the Historian's office. The blue book to which I referred earlier clearly directs that all items collected by the historian pertinent to the department of government and area which she serves must be carefully preserved and turned over to the succeeding officer. These items should be listed in an accession book and kept secure. At the close of each yea,r, the County Historian must submit a report to the appointing officer and the County Board of Representatives. A copy must also be directed to Dr. Leonard Tucker, the State Education Department, Office of State History in Albany.

Ideally, the County Historian will travel about the county visiting the historians within her jurisdiction, giving assistance and helping with any problem that the Town Historian may have. This first year has been an extremely busy one attempting to do first things first and has not permitted these visits. Should I continue in office next year, this visiting will be one of the firsts.

To conclude this report to my fellow historians and members of the Dutchess County Historical Society, I would like to leave the thought that this is a, great county, this Dutchess County. Let us continue to research, record and dispense the historic facts and lore of our County which is second to none.

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