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
Historian and preservationist Ruth Piwonka is this year’s recipient of the Martha Washington Woman of History Award. This award is given by Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site each year to a woman who has made a contribution to the history of the 
Historians can often be isolated. They need fellow historians to thrive. After years in graduate school, perhaps more writing a dissertation – how many colleagues will you have who share the same interest?
One hundred years ago, on 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 an official historian to gather and preserve historical records.
The Association of Public Historians in New York State 
There are some obvious truths that emerge from the survey of New York State county and borough historians, submitted by the State Historian to all county and borough historians in September 2017 to which 
§57.09 of the NYS Arts and Cultural Affairs Law requires all appointed Local Government Historians to “make an annual report, in the month of January, to the local appointing officer or officers and to the state historian of the work which has been accomplished during the preceding year.”