Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015 Town Historian Annual ReportLouise Bement 49 Myers Road Lansing, NY 14882 2015 Town Historian’s Report As Town Historian, and also President of the Lansing Historical Association , I try to be at the Lansing Archives Building every Saturday morning from 10:00 to 12:00. I am joined there by several board members of the association and, so the mornings once a month when I am downtown at the Municipal Historians’ meeting, there will almost always be someone at the building working on the archives and able to answer any questions from people who show up. I continue to edit and mail out the Lansing Historical Association newsletter four times a year. It is quite a lot of work, but a very enjoyable job. I am always looking for interesting articles, diaries, newspaper clippings, and so forth to input and, surprisingly, there always seems to be enough to fill a newsletter several times over. I have former Lansing historians to thank for this because they saved so many artifacts. (We continue the practice!) I preside at the five board meetings a year of the Lansing Historical Association. In January I gave a talk at the Village of Lansing board meeting about the role of the Lansing Town Historian. I was interviewed by the TWCNY Channel 10 TV station for a short program about Rogue’s Harbor. I was consulted by Lisa Campbell for her project of a cookbook for the town, under the auspices of the Lansing Loves to Read group. I helped a woman from Indiana University, discussing with, and mailing to her, the 1853 and 1866 maps of the Town of Lansing. Fannie Welch, Kathy LaLonde, and I began working on the Agricultural Exhibit for the East Shore Festival of the Arts. This exhibit remains on display throughout the months of May and June. I copied the Mack family file for a person who was researching that history. In February Jon Buck (from Maryland) came to do research. He had been here about 15 years ago and had forgotten that he had been here until I showed him his correspondence in the file! He is a very nice man. I gave a talk for the Friends of Salt Point. The topic – The International Salt Company that had been on Salt Point from 1907 to 1964. 75 people in the audience – standing room only. I met with the man representing the CIT Company in Ohio which was doing the historic pictures of Lansing for the redo of Tops Supermarket in Lansing. The Tops store is under new management which is renovating the store. I got in touch with Bill Hecht from Union Springs and Bill and I worked on scanning the pictures and sending them to the company to be put in a format to be used at the supermarket. Turned out we had a very short time allotment in which to get it done. In March I spent a great deal of time working with Bill Hecht on the Tops picture project. At least six days where we worked for 2 to 3 hours. I got the Lansing Central School’s 50th anniversary book reprinted, to be available through the Lansing Historical Association. I n April I took Dan Klien and his aunt around South Lansing to show them where their family had lived in the 1920’s. I attended the “Dish IT Up” cookbook party put on by the Lansing Loves to Read group. The cookbook was dedicated to Carolyn Montague and me. We found that very flattering. I gave a short talk on the history of food and recipes. Gerd Aasen came to talk to me about an article she was writing about her coming to America from Norway, and her life in Lansing. We put this article in the next historical association newsletter. I gave a program on Rogue’s Harbor for the Lansing Historical Association. I went to the Tops store and identified all the pictures that were exhibited there in two different formats. I typed this up and gave the information to the store manager . In May I worked at the East Shore Festival of the Arts. I visited with Margaret Shalaby about Mrs. Whitlock,the Syrian Hill Witch. (We have good information about this woman, who set fire to barns, did other criminal acts, and was convicted of same.) I “entertained” a Tiger Scout group at the schoolhouse for a half hour visit. Mrs. Becker’s class from the Covenant Love School in Dryden spent the day at the schoolhouse. Every other year in May they come and learn their lessons in our school. This year there were 10 students, grades 1 and 2. I visited with Lou Emmick to learn about the history of the Lions Club. Six little girls from the Cayuga Heights and Belle Sherman Schools visited the schoolhouse. They also visited the Agriculture Exhibit. In June I gave a presentation at the Lions Club dinner. I met with the Friends of the Library board and gave them a slide show of Lansing history. I met with the Pathways Committee about the Murdock/Midland/Shortline Railroad history. In July a woman came to work on the Bloom family history. I also answered a phone call about the Morse family farm on Wilson Road. I had my first meeting with Boy Scout Ben Caveny about a project for his “Star” badge. This evolved into a project of 8 ½ hours work over July and August. We produced a brochure for the Town Park and Recreation department. It is about the history of the park and the recreation department with nice pictures. Ben and I are proud of it. I did a tour of the Asbury Cemetery for two women from Cayuga Heights. They had never done a cemetery tour and needed to find out how to do one for Pleasant Grove Cemetery. In August some people from Pittsburgh stopped in to see our archives. They were impressed. Jeff Lee and his family visited the schoolhouse. Jeff was a student of mine in fourth grade many years ago. A professor from Cornell came to do research on Portland Point. The Municipal Historians had their picnic which counted as one of our monthly meetings. In September a professional photographer came to take pictures of her two children in our schoolhouse. I copied Underground Railroad information for Erica Simms. I looked up Galagher gravesites for Mary Akles. A girl named Megan met with me to discuss doing work for her Masters of Library Science degree using our early poorhouse records. This has turned into a very nice relationship with members of our association as Megan works when we are working at the Archives on Saturday mornings. I worked with Brad Griffin about a Civil War soldier named Charles Gilbert. In October Dan Veaner interviewed me about the historical association. I helped Mike Richards and his wife with research into boats, railroads, floods, and the salt mine. They had a wonderful time in our archives. I did a tour of Asbury Cemetery as part of The History Center’s cemetery exhibit. I presented a program on Salt Point for the historical association. In November I mailed the Andrew Myers history to Debbie Smith in Arnold, Md. She was thrilled. I met with Marcia Herrick and Sue Ruoff about the ruins of an old house near the Boys Jail for a Pathways project. The 1853 and 1866 maps confirmed the ruins were on the Jacob Shoemaker property. I presented a talk on the History of Boats and Boating for the Friends of Salt Point. 70 people in attendance. I went to a Municipal Historians meeting about grant writing. The first of January marks the 35th anniversary of my becoming Town Historian. It is a fun and rewarding job.