News

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.

The APHNYS Registered Historians program is looking for a few good historians to participate. Nothing says honor and distinction than being recognized by both your fellow historians and your own municipality as a registered historian. Over the last few years, an increasingly larger number of historians have become registered with APHNYS. These historians have shown their commitment to their own profession and their area by performing all the duties of the job.

The APHNYS Registered Historians Committee has streamlined the process. Click on the link below for the application form. Take the time to read the form fully and add the requested supporting material. The deadline submission for this program is July 1, 2022.

Association of Public Historians of New York State - Registered Historians (aphnys.org)

Our address for mailing completed packets is:

Sandra Bradford

Attn: Registered Historians Program

5588 Mark Taber Road

Trumansburg, NY 14886

Or, better yet, scan the application and documentation submit the complete application packet as a PDF file to: Sept.winds@live.com

Take the time to look over the program. It denotes those who truly strive to promote excellence in history. Those who complete the program will be recognized at the 2022 Conference in Kingston with a certificate and a special Registered Historians pin.

The 2022 Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) annual conference will be held in Kingston, New York, September 19–21. You are invited to spread the word about your organization, institution, products, or services to the 80+ public historians in attendance, our 400+ members, and New York’s 1,600+ government-appointed historians. 

Information about how you can be a sponsor, exhibit at the conference and advertise in our annual conference program is in our APHNYS 2022 Annual Conference marketing opportunities.

Last year was a year like we've never experienced before. As we struggled with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we also marked the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that recognized U.S. women’s right to vote and the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment that enfranchised black men, as well as the anniversaries of innumerable other “Watershed Moments” in local, state, and national history. As the Association of Public Historians of New York State gathers in Oswego, at the convergence of the Oswego River and Lake Ontario, we seek to examine the various ways in which public historians interpret and commemorate “Watershed Moments,” as well as the role water has played in shaping the communities we serve.

We've got an exciting program planned for you! Look for the full program on our website soon!

Applications are now being accepted for the fourth grant round of the Pomeroy Fund for NYS History, a partnership between the Pomeroy Foundation and Museum Association of New York (MANY).

This round will provide $50,000 in grants to assist 501(c)(3) history-related organizations in New York State with capital needs expenses in 2021.

Grant requests will be considered for technology equipment, facility maintenance equipment, furnishings, major material purchases, renovations, refurbishments, remodeling and rehabilitation.

Eligible organizations must be a history-related organization located in New York State and have an annual operating budget of $150,000 or less. If your organization received funding from the Pomeroy Fund in 2020, you are eligible to apply, but preference will be given to those who have yet to receive funding.