In 1919 New York State passed legislation to create an officially-appointed historian in every town, village, city, borough and county across the Empire State. It provided every municipality with a distinctly identifiable person whose duties would be to ensure that the history of that area was collected, preserved and used to promote the history and heritage of the communities of New York. [Read more…] about History of the Association of Public Historians of New York State
Association of Public Historians of NYS
Association of Public Historians of NYS Conference in Ithaca Sept 18-20
The Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) will hold their 2023 Annual Conference in Ithaca, NY, September 18-20, 2023. The conference draws more than 100 government-appointed historians and affiliates from across the state. The conference theme is “Home, Sweet Home” and its various implications. [Read more…] about Association of Public Historians of NYS Conference in Ithaca Sept 18-20
Municipal Historians Annual Meeting Goes Virtual
April 11, 1919, New York Governor Al Smith signed the “Historians Law.” The first law of its kind in the United States, the Historians Law allowed for every village, town, and city in the state to have a municipal historian to gather and preserve historical records.
The Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS), the organization for the state’s municipal historians, is set to host its first virtual annual meeting and conference on Monday and Tuesday, September 21-22, 2020. [Read more…] about Municipal Historians Annual Meeting Goes Virtual
Municipal Historians: Start Documenting COVID-19 Crisis
The Association of Public Historians of New York State is asking local government-appointed historians, to document the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, including the impact on their communities and how citizens respond.
Government-appointed historians have a duty under New York State Law to document these sorts of episodes and may wish to partner with local historical societies. “The key here is to document, collect, and preserve as much data and information on the local reaction to COVID-19 as you can,” an announcement from APHNYS said. [Read more…] about Municipal Historians: Start Documenting COVID-19 Crisis
New York State Family History Conference Planned
The third annual New York State Family History Conference (NYSFHC) will be held September 15–17, 2016 in Syracuse. This event will bring together hundreds of genealogists from across the United States to learn about their New York ancestry.
This year, the event will run concurrently with the annual conference of the Association for Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS). As part of the concurrent conferences, attendees of the NYSFHC Conference will be welcome to attend APHNYS lectures and field trips, and APHNYS registrants will be welcomed to attend NYSFHC lectures. [Read more…] about New York State Family History Conference Planned
Recent Lower Hudson Valley History Meeting Highlights
In recent weeks I have had the opportunity to attend and participate in three regional and county history community meetings. These included the annual meeting of the Greater Hudson Heritage Network; a meeting of Region 3 (mainly the Hudson Valley) of the Association of Public Historians in New York State (APHNYS); and the Sullivan County History Conference
These three meetings provided opportunities to meet with colleagues, discuss important issues, and learn what’s happening. What follows are some highlights from those meetings. [Read more…] about Recent Lower Hudson Valley History Meeting Highlights
A Call For Municipal Historian Reform In NYS
This question of what municipal historians should be doing came up at the recent annual conference of the Association of Public Historians of New York (APNYS). The setting was a session at the conference for first-time municipal historians and was chaired by Christine Ridarsky, the City of Rochester Historian who works at the Central Library in Rochester and serves on the APHNYS board.
The stories told during the session did not reflect well on the state of the municipal historian position in New York State. Some had stumbled into the job based on very local circumstances. They didn’t know what the job entailed, nor did the municipal leaders who appointed them. [Read more…] about A Call For Municipal Historian Reform In NYS
Peter Feinman: The State of the Municipal Historian
New York prides itself as being the only state in the country to require each municipality to have an historian. Unfortunately, besides taking pride in this action, the State does little or nothing to support those historians.
In previous posts, I have reported the following based on an analysis of a download of the municipal listings from the Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS): [Read more…] about Peter Feinman: The State of the Municipal Historian
Economic Development Councils And Path Through History
The Regional Economic Development Councils (REDC) awards for 2014 were recently announced. These councils were created by Governor Andrew Cuomo as a conduit for the disbursement of state funds among 10 designated regions. Each region holds meetings to discuss the economic development proposals which have been submitted for their region. The approved proposals are then submitted for statewide consideration and the results were announced in December. Now that the 2014 awards have been announced, it’s time to consider what it all means for the history community. [Read more…] about Economic Development Councils And Path Through History
Bruce Dearsyne: Strengthening Public History in NYS
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of discussion here on The New York History Blog about the status and role of local government historians, including, for instance, a summary of a special issue of the journal Public Historian three years ago on the status of history in New York State, and, most recently, Peter Feinman’s post “The State of Municipal Historians,” which resulted in many comments.
Local government historians are unique to New York State. They give us an edge over other states in the local history arena. Their potential is immense. But their status and role need to be strengthened. [Read more…] about Bruce Dearsyne: Strengthening Public History in NYS