Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) Records

Historical Note:

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. Unique in its concept, 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.

For the next sixty years, these historians worked independently without the ability to network and learn from each other.  In 1971, a group of town, village and city historians banded together to form the Association of Municipal Historians of New York State (AMHNYS).  This group's purpose was to promote training and professional standards for appointed historians, to encourage local support, to provide a forum for sharing ideas among historians, and to recognize the work of local historians.  AMHNYS was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1979.

Seven years later, in 1986, the County Historians Association of New York State (CHANYS) was created to mirror the municipal historians' program for the sixty-two county historians.  The two groups held separate conferences, workshops and pursued independent direction until 1999, when the boards of both groups agreed to merge the two organizations into what they felt would be one stronger and more effective tool for local government historians.  This new group became the Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS).  It was recognized by the New York State Board of Regents as the official group representing the needs and work of over 1,600 local government historians.

From its inception, the APHNYS's priorities were to raise the level of professionalism among the historians and to create a system that would allow the historians to receive the basic training and education needed to fulfill their responsibilities.  The association divided the state into twelve regions, with a coordinator in each region. The coordinators oversee regional and statewide meetings, conferences, and training events.

The Upper Hudson Historic Federation (UHHF) was formed when historians of Essex, Hamilton, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties met in November of 1970 to create a mutually beneficial federation. With the formation of AMHNYS, the federation became Region II of AMHNYS, but continued to operate under the UHHF name.  By the 1999 merger of AMHNYS and CHANYS, the UHHF had been phased out as a separate organization.

Scope and Content Note:

The records of the Association of Public Historians of New York State (APHNYS) consist of minutes, conference proceedings, newsletters, correspondence, memoranda, financial reports, photographs, and other materials documenting the activities and functions of this organization and its predecessors as outlined in the historical note.  Therefore, this collection has been organized into four series: 1) the records of the Upper Hudson Historic Federation; 2) the records of the County Historians Association of New York State; 3) the records of the Association of Municipal Historians of New York State records; and 4) the records of the Association of Public Historians of New York State.

There is some degree of overlap in the material contained in each series, due, in part, to each organization having often attended the same meetings, particularly in the 1990s.

Provenance Note:

The original accession of these records was received from Dr. Marilyn Van Dyke in 2004 and accessioned as SC22814.  These were her records from her time as an officer of the Association of Municipal Historians of New York State, circa 1991-1997. In 2014, the Association of Public Historians of New York State transferred its holdings of the organizational records of AMHNYS and CHANYS, and the older records of APHNYS, which the two previous organizations had merged to form in 1999. These were accessioned as SC23302. In May 2016, the two accessions were collated and processed to form the current the current record group.

Series I: Upper Hudson Historic Federation, 1970-1998

Meeting minutes, newsletters, correspondence and other administrative papers make up the bulk of this series. Membership lists and member card files along with some financial and banking records are also included. The scrapbook in Box 2 contains photographs and newspaper clippings of activities of the five-county Upper Hudson Historic Federation for 1994-1996.  The series is organized chronologically.

Series II: County Historians Association of New York State, 1967-1999

The records of the County Historians Association of New York State contain organizational records (meeting minutes, correspondence, membership lists); records of the association's annual meetings and of the various activities in which the association was involved. The records are organized chronologically within each category.

Series III: Association of Municipal Historians of New York State, 1971-2001

The records of the Association of Municipal Historians of New York State contain administrative records (meeting minutes, correspondence, Historian's Exchange newsletters, membership lists, training materials and project files) and records of some of the association's regional activities and financial files. These are organized chronologically within each category.  Box 5 contains the records of Dr. Marilyn Van Dyke, who was president of AMHNYS from 1993 to 1997. During her tenure one of the organization's major efforts was the New York State Cemeteries Name/Location Project. Many records pertaining to that project are contained within her files. Also included are some association artifacts, three scrapbooks with records of meetings, photographs, programs, brochures and clippings, and two photograph albums documenting some of the twice-yearly meetings of the organization (Box 7).

Series IV: Association of Public Historians of New York State, 1996-2007

The records of the Association of Public Historians of New York State include the merger documents from 1998-1999, administrative files, correspondence, project files, county and region files, Historian's Exchange newsletters, member lists, resolutions, training materials, treasurer's reports, and meeting plans. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject. Major projects include Local Historian Training, the September 11, 2001 resolution, and the Registered Historian Program, which is also covered in a large binder of material in Box 11.

Organized chronologically are the twice annual conference files, from 1998-2005.  These include detailed records of conference registrations, agendas, business meeting and general meeting minutes, budget reports, programs, presentations, speakers, president's notes, attendance reports and area highlight brochures.  Box 11 contains detailed receipt books from 1997-2003, and checkbooks and registers from 1999-2007.