News and Views from the Empire State
Legislation has been introduced which would amend the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law to change New York State History Month from November to October according to an announcement made by the Office of State History.
The move comes on the heels of a revival of sorts for New York’s History Month, which suffered from years of being ignored. November was designed New York State History Month in 1997 by the State Legislature.
[Read more…] about Effort Underway To Move NYS History Month To October
§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.”
New York State Historian Devin Lander and the Office of State History have made online submission of the required report available to allow historians to more easily make their required report via the web.
[Read more…] about New Online Reporting System For Local Historians
Is New York’s “historical enterprise” really entering a new phase, as Bruce Dearstyne contends in his recent post? There certainly seems to have been some change going on in the New York State Office of Cultural Education. Perhaps most notably, New York is now employing a full-time State Historian for the first time since 1976 (not 1994, as Bruce suggests).
While this is certainly a step in the right direction, it would be naïve to allege that today’s State Historian position holds the same power and responsibility that it once did. [Read more…] about History In New York: Where Are We Headed?