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Rensselaer County Municipal Historians This page was last updated 17 March 2009. |
In New York state, the law requires that every town in the state have a town historian. Recently, one of our guests emailed me asking, "What does a town historian do? We don't have town historians where I live." I searched for a detailed job description for a town historian, and I found one at the website of the town of Greene, in Greene County, NY. For many of you, I know it is frustrating that some town historians are not online - indeed, some towns' entire governments have no website. But we should remind ourselves that town governments have scarce resources and have other functions besides history and genealogy. Nevertheless, town governments are custodians of precious genealogical records that are not online, and it is through town historians that we have the best chance of gaining access to those records. The internet is a wonderful thing, and fortunately, more and more genealogical records are coming online all the time. But it is a fact we must face that SOME of our genealogical "brick walls" cannot yet be surmounted whilst sitting at home at our computers. We highly recommend that you contact the town historian of the town in which your ancestors lived - even if this means that you have to dust off the paper, envelopes and stamps!
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Kathryn T. Sheehan, who is now officially Rensselaer County Historian |
Rensselaer County Historical Society 57/59 Second Street Troy, NY 12180 |
Tel: (518) 272-7232 Tel: (518) 272-7252 RCHS website |
City, Town and Village Historians
| City, Town or Village | Historian | Address | Tel/Fax/Web |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin | Sharon Klein Berlin Town Historian |
P. O. Box 316 Berlin, NY 12022 |
Tel: (518) 658-2723 |
| Brunswick | Sharon Zankel Brunswick Town Historian |
Brunswick Town Office 336 Town Office Road Troy, NY 12180 |
Tel: (518) 279-9714 Website |
| Castleton-on-Hudson | Ellen S. Allen Castleton-on-Hudson Village Historian |
85 South Main Street Castleton-on-Hudson, NY 12033 |
Tel: (518) 732-7124 Website |
| East Greenbush | Waldi Cavanaugh East Greenbush Town Historian |
East Greenbush Town Hall 225 Columbia Turnpike Rensselaer, NY 12144 |
Tel: (518) 477-4869 Website |
| East Nassau | Wally Stock  East Nassau Village Historian |
Village of East Nassau P. O. Box 268 East Nassau, NY 12062 |
Tel: (518) 766-5802  (Please call only during normal business hours.) Website |
| Grafton | Hilda Goyer Grafton Town Historian |
P. O. Box 13 Grafton, NY 12082 |
Tel: (518) 279-3565 Fax: (518) 279-3685 Website |
| Hoosick (town) | Joseph Holloway Hoosick Town Historian |
95 Main Street Hoosick Falls, NY 12090 |
Tel: (518) 686-9008 |
| Hoosick Falls (village) | Hoosick Falls Village Historian | Municipal Building, Main Street Hoosick Falls, NY 12090 |
Tel: (518) 686-7072 |
| Nassau (town) | Susan J. Shields Nassau Town Historian |
P. O. Box 587 Nassau, NY 12123 |
Tel: (518) 766-7532 Website |
| Nassau (village) |
Kurt Vincent Chairman, Historic Preservation Committee |
Nassau Village Hall 40 Malden Street P. O. Box 452 Nassau, NY 12123 |
(518) 766-3044 |
| North Greenbush | James Greenfield North Greenbush Town Historian |
2 Douglas Street Wynantskill, NY 12198 |
Tel: (518) 283-6384 Fax: (518) 283-2639 Website |
| Petersburgh | Peter Schaapok Petersburgh Town Historian |
296 Potter Hill Road Petersburgh, NY 12138 |
Tel: (518) 658-2963 |
| Pittstown | Ellen L. Wiley Pittstown Town Historian |
35 Sherman Road Valley Falls, NY 12185 |
Tel: (518) 663-5601 |
| Poestenkill | Linda Sagendorf Poestenkill Town Historian |
P. O. Box 210 Poestenkill, NY 12140 |
Tel: (518) 283-5100 |
| Rensselaer | Charles Semowich Rensselaer City Historian |
Rensselaer City Hall 62 Washington Street Rensselaer, NY 12144 |
Tel: (518) 449-4756 Fax: (518) 449-4756 Cel: (518) 506-6864 Website |
| Sand Lake | Judy Rowe Sand Lake Town Historian |
P. O. Box 273 Sand Lake, NY 12153 |
Tel: (518) 674-2026 Ext. 20 Website |
| Schaghticoke (town) | Christina Kelly Schaghticoke Town Historian |
290 Northline Drive Melrose, NY 12121-9707 |
Tel: (518) 753-6915 Fax: (518) 753-6918 Website |
| Schaghticoke (village) | Richard Lohnes Schaghticoke Village Historian |
77 Main Street Schaghticoke, NY 12154 |
Tel: (518) 753-4737 |
| Schodack | Diane Hutchinson Schodack Town Historian |
Schodack Town Hall P. O. Box 436 East Schodack, NY 12063 |
Tel: (518) 477-7939 Ext. 316 Fax: (518) 477-9594 Website |
| Stephentown | Stephentown Town Historian ( no official historian;function officially performed by Stephentown Historical Society) |
Bill Zimmerman Stephentown Historical Society P. O. Box 11 Stephentown, NY 12168 |
Tel: (518) 733-6070 (voicemail) Website | Troy | Troy has no City Historian. Troy Bureau of Vital Statistics has birth and death records from 1876; Troy City Clerk has marriage records from about the same date. |
Troy City Hall 1 Monument Square Troy, NY 12180 |
Tel: (518) 270-4401 Fax: (518) 270-4609 Website |
| Valley Falls | Judy Hoag Valley Falls Village Historian |
State Street Valley Falls, NY 12185 |
Tel: (518) 753-4936 |
Send comments or suggestions to:
Lin Van Buren