Village Historian presents annual report

Stillwater Village Historian Linda Sanders has submitted her annual report for 2016.

In accordance with New York State Department of Education section 57.17 of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law: “He or she will make an annual report in the month of January to the local appointing officers or officer and to the State Historian of the work accomplished during the preceding year.”

ATTENDANCE

I attended the January village board meeting and gave my annual report. This was the only one I attended. This was the year of the Bicentennial of the village. A committee was formed under the direction of Ellen Vomacka. Plans were made to celebrate the occasion with an event on the actual date of April 17th. The committee consisting of Bonnie Minick, Euphrasia VanArnum,Jeff Mahar, Judy WoodShaw, Sara Kipp, Tim Campbell, Raylene and Mike Hammond, and Kathy Kinowski. This was well attended by the community and we were pleased to have Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner in attendance. I wrote some articles and had them published in the Express newspaper and on the village website on the history of the village from the beginning. This seemed to be well received by the residents. We are very fortunate to have
some wonderful writings of the previous historians namely Mrs. May
Edwards who happen to be chosen when the law that each community
must have an historian. That was in 1918. She was followed by Mrs. Susan
Hayner who served from 1926 to 1971. She was followed by Mrs. Elizabeth
Abel who served from 1971 until 1995. That was when I was appointed to
take her place. I try to get to the office from Monday to Thursday and am also available by appointment.

RESEARCH

I counted the number of requests for information and found that there were at
least 27 such requests for property histories, schools, roads, veterans,
railroads, cemetery laws and other miscellaneous items. We have visitors
from several places to come and do research. This year we had people from
Texas and Louisiana along with local residents.

In October, it was Stillwater’s turn to honor a deceased veteran. I chose Doris
Noonan who was not only a dear friend but a surgical nurse during World
War II. She served in both Europe but also in the Philippines. This was the
first time a female was honored alone. We were pleased to have her
children present for this ceremony.

SPEECHES

I was requested by the mayor to give a speech at the time of our bicentennial
event. I tried to put some humor into the talk as there were some great
things that happened in the past 200 years. Stillwater was a booming
village at the time of its becoming an official community.

This year, like for the past several years, plans were made to I have planned the
service for that tragic event that happened on September 11, 2001. This
year we were able to use the Blockhouse Park as the weather cooperated.
A large gathering of residents was present and we were pleased to have the
Stillwater School Band participate. The clergy of the churches of Stillwater
were present to add to the program.

THANK YOU

Special thanks to Mayor Rick Nelson and the village board for their support. Thishas been a difficult year for me as my physical health has deteriorated. I
thank heaven at least I can type on the computer. Without your help and
support this job would be so much more difficult. Special thanks to Mayor
Nelson for being my “chauffer” when we attended events out of the village.
But most of all a huge thank you to my cohort Linda Palmieri who is the
best. If it wasn’t for her help and knowledge it would almost impossible to
do this job. Linda is the genius behind the Blockhouse Museum and her art
work to show the displays that are shown.

I will continue to try my best to serve as your historian and as the No. 1
cheerleader of Stillwater.

Respectfully submitted,
Linda Sanders