Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection Projects
Wreaths Across America
Wreaths Across America’s mission is “Remember, honor, and teach.” The Collection worked with local volunteers from Wreaths Across America , using our records and resources to locate the graves of those who have served and honor them.
2020 NEH Grant
Four local repositories of historic documents, Historic Huguenot Street, the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at Elting Memorial Library, the Town of New Paltz, and the Reformed Church of New Paltz are proud to announce that they have been awarded a $349,999 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. The grant is to be used for preserving and digitizing significant historical documents concerning the history of New Paltz from the mid-1600s to 1830. The latter date encompasses the point at which most enslaved people in New York State were legally emancipated. Documents to be included are the Indian Deed from 1677, early birth, marriage and death records from the French Church, Militia records, personal correspondence, and store and farm ledgers.
Fewer than 15% of applications submitted to the Humanities Collections and Reference Program last year received funding this year in this category. Josephine Bloodgood, Director of Curatorial and Preservation Affairs at Historic Huguenot Street spearheaded this exciting project.
The first phase of this comprehensive project is anticipated to take three years and covers the preservation of and digital imaging of the documents. This will be done by a team of professionals from the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia, along with the hiring of a contract Digital Librarian/Project Manager to assist the local repositories’ staff in coordinating and making these collections available online. Intended to extend the life of these historic documents, this will also make their intellectual content more accessible to scholars, students, genealogists and the general public nationwide.
Documents from our collection that were part of this project can be viewed here.
Krupp Map
Working with Carol Johnson and Margaret Stanne from the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection, Gregory Krupp, a student intern for SUNY New Paltz’s Geography Department, mapped the land of the original patent and its early divisions. These divisions were made by the members of the Duzine, the twelve men, who governed our early township. Krupp was able to identify old boundary and plot lines combining today’s technology with old deeds, maps, town records, and stone walls, some of which were built with slave labor. All this land was not surveyed until 2017, 340 years after the patent. Online access to the Krupp Map is available at http://arcg.is/aueia.
Bridge over the Wallkill River, circa 1891-1940.
Historic Houses of the Land Tour
For a decade local history enthusiasts have worked to present the Annual Historic Houses on the Land Tour, a special look at the historical and unique homes of the Wallkill River Valley. The Collection provides essential assistance to researchers as they prepare the history of these homes, both through the architectural history of the houses and the families that lived in them.
Collaboration with Historic Huguenot Street
Since its inception in 1965, the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection has had a close working relationship with Historic Huguenot Street. This relationship has proved beneficial to both collections, through research, programming, and exhibitions, both on-site and virtually, such as the exhibit “Never was a slave,” Jacob Wynkoop and Carol Johnson’s lecture, “The Centennial of Women’s Suffrage in New York State.”
Lifetime Learning Institute
The Lifetime Learning Institute (LLI) offers “stimulating and fun, non-credit, non-competitive courses for adults 55 years and older. Our courses are offered each fall and spring semester in four or eight-week formats.” Carol Johnson has taught courses for LLI, including an eight-week course on the history of New Paltz. The collection has also assisted many of the presenters with research for their own courses.
Collection Staff also offer programs for other local groups and organizations. If you or your group is interested in hosting such a program, contact collection staff at hhhc@eltinglibrary.org
Elting Memorial Library c. 1920-1923.
Lake Minnewaska Visitor Center Exhibits
Minnewaska State Park opened its first formal visitor’s center in October of 2020. Collection Manager Margaret Stanne worked with them to research material to be used in their exhibit design. Included in their exhibits is an interactive slideshow of photographs and documents detailing the history of the park land use, incorporating many photographs from the collection.
100 Years Ago Monthly Column
Since 1987 the Collections Coordinator has written a column in the local paper, using the headlines and articles from past New Paltz newspapers to talk about what life was like back then and how different or similar it was to now.