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County historians Dave Dorpfeld (on right) and Ted Shuart (on left) confer with Contributing Editors at arecent editorial meeting for Catskill Tri-County Historical Views, Delaware Greene and Schoharie. Due outin the spring of 2018, the new publication will support and feature the work of historical writers, societies,museums, and presses. Photo credit: Gerry Stoner.
County Historians Lead New York State History EffortsBy Carolyn Bennett
New York Statetakes its history very se-riously. And, to prove it—by law since 1919-- theState Legislature appointsover 1600 local historians,including 62 county his-torians. Amazing supportfor our growth from NewYork’s original 12 countiescreated after the Britishtook over the Dutchcolony of New Amster-dam in 1683!From the discovery of
New York State harborin 1583 through Septem-ber 11, 2001 to the pres-ent, New York is repletewith history--and doesn’twant to lose it.Who are New York
State’s 62 county chroni-clers who serve with littleor no compensation topreserve our history? Andwhat are some of theiractivities?Three area county his-
torians, David Dorpfeld,Greene; Gabrielle Pierce,Delaware; and Ted Shuart,Schoharie, recently signedon as County Editors forCatskill Tri-County His-torical Views, a new bi-annual publication. Withan impressive group ofnearly two dozen histori-cal Contributing Editors,Catskill Tri-County willreach out to new and es-tablished writers for localhistory stories. But thatis only part of the picture.Many people don’t
know what a county his-torian does. Many morearen’t even aware of thevaluable service these in-dividuals render. Amonga County Historian’s manyduties are collecting andpreserving county mate-rial; identifying materials
for preservation; and col-lecting nongovernmentalhistorical records,” ac-cording to Devin Lander,NYS Historian, on theNew York State Museumwebsite.David Dorpfeld has
served Greene County forthe past 8 years after 30years as Greene CountyHistorical Society Treas-urer and Board of Trusteemember. When asked about his
role as Greene CountyHistorian, Dorpfeldturned the light awayfrom himself and backonto the importance oflocal historians.“I cannot stress enough
the importance of localhistorians! We are so of-ten the link betweenthose seeking to know somany facets of local his-tory, genealogy, docu-ments, assisting folks infinding what they seek,or at the very least, of-fering guidance towardsthose answers. We remindour communities of theimportance of what camebefore us, we shed lighton the often shadowyhints of what existed longago. We do our best topreserve our history andto encourage others todo so as well. Often notan easy undertaking, butalways, always worth-while, Dorpfeld said.According to Dorpfeld,
he was humbled by theinvitation to becomeGreene’s fourth CountyHistorian. “I consideredmy three predecessors tobe real giants,” he said,referring to Jessie VanVechten, Mabel Parker,and Raymond Beecher.“All had major achieve-
ments and set the barhigh for their successors.”Delaware County’s his-
torian Gabrielle Pierceaccepted the responsibil-ity in 2010. “I was verypleased that the Boardsaw the wisdom of fillingthis important positionand that I was selected,”Pierce said, adding, “Isurely did appreciate thatthe public acknowledgedthe importance and valueof having a County His-torian.” Pierce, a photog-rapher and journalist, isalso owner/operator ofNest, a guest house inHamden. Ted Shuart was ap-
pointed Schoharie CountyHistorian following serv-ice as Cobleskill Townand Village Historian. Heis a Master Interpreter inthe Farmer’s Museum inCooperstown, since 1996,and has been a member
and Board member of theCobleskill Historical So-ciety for nearly 30 years. “I was asked to be the
County Historian in thewinter of 2013 afterHarold Zoch retired. Iwas flattered to beasked,” Shuart explained.“Harold Zoch was the his-torian before me. I metHarold on several occa-sions but didn’t knowhim. He focused mainlyon research. The projectof his that I am familiarwith was his re-survey ofCounty cemeteries. Thecemeteries were first doc-umented in the 1930’s andHarold did a recount thatshowed that seventeenof the cemeteries weregone.”All three County His-
torians are very busy intheir public service.One of Gabrielle
Pierce’s current projects
is the recognition andrestoration of theDelaware County PoorHouse cemetery. “Likemost poor house ceme-teries, this one has suf-fered major neglectthrough the decades andthat needs to be rectified.Recently, it was returnedto the ownership of theCounty, and it is the re-sponsibility of this Countyto be committed to takingcare of this sad chapterof our history,” she said. Ted Shuart’s current
efforts are focused onmilitary history and miss-ing historic markers.“I am currently putting
together a roster of themen from Alden’s Mas-sachusetts regiment whowere present at the Battleof Cobleskill. This willbe part of the informationinscribed on a monumentto be placed on the bat-tlefield. I am also on amission to refurbish, re-store and replace dam-aged and missing histori-cal markers. I have alsoformed a committee andhave the materials neededdonated to build a replicablock house at the OldStone Fort museum,” hesaid.David Dorpfeld has just
finished working with agroup of Coxsackie resi-dents to plan and executea 150th anniversary cele-bration of that GreeneCounty town.
“I am also workingwith a woman from Cox-sackie to recognize theMansion Street Cemeteryon the National HistoricRegister and am alwaysavailable to help the 16Greene County MunicipalHistorians and local his-tory groups with theirwork,” Dorpfeld said.A new project all three
County Historians shareis Catskill Tri-County His-torical Views, an historicalpublication for 2018 high-lighting Delaware, Greeneand Schoharie history. “I hope this new pub-
lication will make peopleaware that SchoharieCounty has played an im-portant role in the devel-opment of the state andthe nation and I hope peo-ple will visit the area tosee some of our scenicand historic sites,” saidTed Shuart. Gabrielle Pierce agrees.
“I am very excited aboutthe idea of this "Tri-Coun-ty" publication and I lookforward to both being acontributor and to enjoy-ing and learning fromwhat my fellow historiansand contributors submitand share!”Said David Dorpfeld,
“I am very excited aboutthis publication. Thereis strength in numbersand by joining the threecounties in this venture;I feel the publication willsucceed.”
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