New York history

Sullivan County:

Libertas (Liberty HS yearbook) (1919, 1941, 1942, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962)

If these are of interest to you, please let us know what years you would like us to republish first. Note that 1919, 1941, and 1952 are already available on CD-ROMs, and that 1960 and 1962 are now available as a download -- click the links above to find out more about them --but we're planning to eventually make our entire set available. We'll prioritize the years that seem to be of most interest. (See our Liberty page for more information).

Monticello, NY materials:

See our Monticello page (including the Town of Thompson)

We're always looking for more Monticello material!

Callicoon Historian -- the history of Callicoon and the Upper Delaware Valley:

This is now an active project! Please Click Here to learn more about our "Callicoon Historian" project. Also, check our Delaware County page. Several downloads are already available.

Schenectady County:

Duanesburg NY School Attendance Registers.

These original attendance records, mainly for School District 22 in the Town of Duanesburg, were an impulse purchase on eBay. The school years for which we have the originals include 1902-1903, 1905-1906, 1906-1907, 1909-1910, 1910-1911, 1911-1912, 1913-1914, 1914-1915, 1917-1918, 1918-1919, 1919-1920, 1921-1922, 1922-1923, 1923-1924, 1925-1926. We also have District 17's record book for 1923-1924 only. The State Education Department altered the format of the books from year to year. However, many have a reconciliation to the census, all identify the school children and their parents or guardians by name, all contain extensive attendance records by the child for the year, at least one has a schedule of physical defects noted in each child, and some have registers of visitors to the school. This is local history absolutely first-hand, but due to its very limited scope we will defer publication until we have an indication of interest in it. Please let us know if this is of interest to you. Is this a good prospect for a download or a series of downloads?

Schenectady and the Great Western Gateway, Past and Present.

This 1926 book was published under the auspices of the Schenectady Chamber of Commerce as a memorial of the dedication of the Great Western Gateway Bridge that year. 76 pages long, it's got some memorable photos (including two of the covered bridge that once spanned the Mohawk at that location), and essays about Schenectady and the Mohawk Valley during the various historical periods that predated dedication of this bridge. We think it's pretty interesting, and when we find some companion documents, we'll publish it -- and if nothing comes along pretty soon to accompany it, we'll publish it as a download.

Franklin County:

Frederick J. Seaver's Historical Sketches of Franklin County, New York

(1918). This is a first-rate county history of the county known as "The Siberia of New York" -- a county that was settled late but still managed to accumulate some interesting history in the years between its settlement and Mr. Seaver's book's original publication. It's 819 pages long, and contains not only county history but also considerable material on the towns, including an appendix with the then-current and previous officials and institutions. The book also includes 75 pages of short biographical sketches. We would like to hear from you if this is of any potential interest to you. It's not currently prioritized, because getting it scanned and ready to go is a huge amount of work, but it can be in the queue if we receive sufficient indications of interest. See our Franklin County page.

Oneida County:

See our page about Oneida County!

Montgomery County:

Washington Frothingham's History of Montgomery County

(1892). 450 pages of history of the county that includes Amsterdam, Canajoharie, and a significant section of the historic Mohawk Valley, plus 325 pages of family histories of the area, plus three indexes comprise this volume. Included as well on unnumbered pages are some nice portraits of significant people of the era when the book was written. This one, a recent purchase by us, is pretty certainly in the queue for production as it is complete, well-written, of high quality, and already indexed. Let us know if this is of interest to you, and perhaps we can advance it on the priority list a bit. We can offer downloads as well. See our Montgomery County page.

St. Lawrence County:

The History of the City of Ogdensburg, by Rt. Rev. P.S. Garand, D. D., V. G.

(1927) 449 pages of well-researched, well-written history of the only city in St. Lawrence County. See our St. Lawrence County page.

Lewis County:

See our page about Lewis County!

Mohawk Valley:

W. Max Reid's The Mohawk Valley: Its Legends and Its History

(1907). This is a nice area history with abundant colorful legends to supplement it. In its 545 (including index) pages are also included a number of photographs by J. Arthur Maney. It's light reading, and a good introduction to the area, as perceived a century ago. Tell us if this looks like something you would be interested in!

Jefferson County:

See our page about Jefferson County

Madison County:

See our Madison County Collection page

Miscellaneous NYS:

Washington Irving's A History of New York from the beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty

by "Diedrich Knickerbocker" (1864). This is a classic, but somewhat scarce. Find out more about Washington Irving's History of New York.

Gazetteer of the State of New York

by J. H. French (1860). 751 pages. This is really a classic New York State source, and difficult to locate at anything approaching an affordable price. There is detailed information about every county in the state, together with fact-loaded chapters on railroads, banks, other corporations, religions and religious organizations, and much, much more. We've begun to include excerpts on future CDs about New York State locales, we're offering chapters on individual counties for download at a nominal price, and, in case you are not familiar with the level of detail offered, we're offering the chapter about Sullivan County as a free download.

Annual Report of the State Board of Charities for 1906

This three volume report, totaling more than 2700 pages, is a study of the state and private welfare structure in New York State in that year. Frankly, we have not decided what to do with this one. We think, for starters, whenever we publish a CD about a county or locale in New York State we will include extracts from these volumes related to that locale. We doubt that there would be much demand for the entire set of volumes, so we'll defer consideration of their publication as a unit. Having said that, the pages of verbatim testimony on the part of various organizations might be of considerable interest to someone doing historical research on the subject of attitudes toward the less-fortunate more than a century ago. Perhaps there's material here for some downloads.

The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling, orator, statesman, and advocate

by Alfred R. Conkling (1889). 709 pages. Roscoe Conkling? Think of the Tweed Ring, the disputed presidential election of 1872, the Utica NY area. Roscoe Conkling was a man who wielded tremendous power on a national level in the days of the political "spoils system" -- written by a family member, and thus a considerably more sympathetic view than you'll find in the history books.

"Boss" Tweed: the Story of a Grim Generation

by Denis Tilden Lynch (1927). 433 pages, including index. The name of Boss Tweed is synonymous today with our current variety of crooked politicians. The man was a New York City politician whose influence spread far beyond the city boundaries. The writing style is journalistic rather than scholarly, but it is an absorbing read. More about his administration has emerged in recent years, but this is a view of the way the man was perceived in the 1920s. Let us know if this interests you!

Barnard College annuals and the The Barnard College Song Book.

See more information about these Barnard items from the 1920s.

Two Decades: a History of the first 20 years of the WCTU in New York State

by Frances W. Graham and Georgeann M. Gardenier. (1894) ~ 90 pages. Today, the Women's Christian Temperance Union is viewed more as a slightly amusing antique than as a serious political and social movement that achieved sufficient national strength to get a Constitutional amendment enacted. That represents considerable political power, especially considering that women at the time were not considered to have much brains or be worth listening to! (This volume was published decades before women even had the right to vote!) Regardless of the ultimate failure of prohibition, the movement itself is worth understanding as a successful pressure group. This book documents the first 20 years of the WCTU in New York State, and includes biographies of many of the women who were in leadership roles. Interesting reading and likely to be published as a download soon!

Additional useful information available on this website about New York State includes:

Sullivan County, New York. We continue to be involved in Sullivan County local history work, including continued expansion of our page on place names in Sullivan that don't exist anymore, and what (if anything) has taken their place. If you've ever been seeking an ancestor, or a location where a historic event took place, and have found yourself unable to get past an old place name that has changed, you'll appreciate this finding aid. We've also started a page of links to websites that provide genealogical material specific to families with Sullivan County backgrounds. View our Sullivan County Series pages. We recently added a free download of the Sullivan County chapter of French's Gazetteer of New York State (1960). We're also collecting material for future CDs and downloads about Sullivan County genealogy and history!

Changed place names in Sullivan County

See our free compilation of Sullivan County place names that have changed.

The Sullivan County chapter of French's Gazetteer

FREE! See the Sullivan County chapter of French's Gazetteer.

Other Sullivan County information

More Sullivan County, New York information

New York State history

The following New York State items are currently available:

Nassau County, NY:

New York County, NY:

Otsego County, NY:

Our New York State titles that are currently in preparation:

Noah Cross & Rachel Osterhout descendants This project, which starts with a 1975 typescript of genealogy (now available as a download), and grows from there, is now underway. See more about the Cross Family project.