Office of State History

This article originally appeared in the Waterville Times Prior to the Civil War fugitive slave laws sought to capture runaway slaves from the south and return them to their owners. The famous “Jerry” rescue in Syracuse occurred in 1851, but Uti...

2018 marks the Bicentennial of Frederick Douglass' birthday and Rochester, NY is taking the lead in celebrating this momentous occasion.  Though Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland, he lived for several years with his family in Rochest...

There are some obvious truths that emerge from the survey of New York State county and borough historians, submitted by the State Historian to all county and borough historians in September 2017 to which approximately thirty individuals responded....

A couple of weeks ago Keith Williams, the author of the "F.Y.I." column that runs in The Sunday New York Times, reached out to me (and others) for his end-of-year article. He asked us: If you could go back in time and attend any par...

  A survey created by New York State Historian Devin Lander in partnership with Tompkins County Historian Carol Kammen was recently sent to all 62 County and 5 Borough Historians. The survey questions ranged in topics from the amount ...

On August 25th, 2017, the Office of State History and Office of Cultural Education hosted the 2017 County and Borough Historians' Institute, a day-long facilitated workshop. The day was a success and allowed for an interesting and informative exch...

On Saturday, July 22, 2017, I had the honor of being asked to give the keynote address at the 238th Anniversary of the Battle of Minisink Commemoration.  I was asked to attend and speak at the event by Sullivan County Historian John Conway wh...

WHAT County and Borough Historians’ Institute WHEN August 25th, 2017 9:00am-5:00pm WHERE New York State Museum Huxley Theater 222 Madison Avenue Albany, NY Goal—The County and Borough Historians' Institute is a free learning opportu...

This is the first article in an ongoing series from professional publishers on current trends in the field of New York State History. Trends in the History of Early New York Big history is making a comeback in the subfield of early Amer...

(This article was originally published in the March issue of Perspectives on History by the American Historical Association) As part of a 2013 AHA Roundtable in Perspectives about the Supreme Court ruling in Fisher v. University ...

COMMEMORATING WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE 100TH ANNIVERSARY Honoring the Fight for Women's Rights From the inception of the women’s rights movement in Seneca Falls in 1848, New York has been a leader in advancing women’s equality. To honor the cente...

Greetings and Happy (Belated) New Year!  2017 is a huge year for History in New York State.  Throughout the year we are celebrating several important and exciting anniversaries including the 200th anniversary of the beginning of const...

Several months ago, New York State Historian Devin Lander sent out a survey to the various municipalities in New York about their local government historian. This survey included questions such as: salary, time spent at the post, college degr...