By Tom Rue
At the reorganizational meeting of the Village of Monticello Board of Trustees held on Monday, April 6, 2009, I was appointed Village Historian by the Village Manager. The last time a Village Historian was named was 2004, in an appointment made by then Village Manager Richard Sush.. The day after my appointment I posted a Certified letter to the last gentleman known to occupy this position, and hand-delivered a copy to the Village Clerk. I cited the New York State Art and Cultural Affairs Law §57.09, which requires of all local historians:
“He or she shall make an annual report, in the month of January, to the local appointing officer or officers and to the state historian of the work which has been accomplished during the preceding year. He or she shall, upon retirement or removal from office, turn over to the local county, city, town or village authorities, or to his or her successor in office, if one has been then appointed, all materials gathered during his or her incumbency and all correspondence relating thereto.”
I never received a reply. I do not know what has become of any files of former Village Historians who have since passed away. Unfortunately, I am told this is a common occurrence in many municipalities with historical files.
One project in which I have engaged personally, which comes under the aegis of local history, is a pictorial history of Monticello, expected to be released by Arcadia Publishing as part of their “Images of America” series. I have been amazed and gratified at the outpouring of support and generosity of local people, organizations, and agencies willing to lend their images for preservation and public sharing.
Though the book will contain a limited number of high quality images, I have created high-resolution .TIFF scans of over 1,000 old or vintage photographs of Monticello – consuming over 40 gigabytes of disc space, and am still scanning. Many of these images may be used for other historical and other educational purposes in the future.
The draft cover text for this work in progress describes our community as follows:
“Latin for 'heavenly mountain,' Monticello's founders supported Thomas Jefferson's populist ideals, naming their village for his Virginia home. Center of the Town of Thompson and seat of Sullivan County since 1809, Monticello was founded in 1804 and incorporated in 1830 by John and Samuel Jones. Tanning, lumbering, farming, and manufacturing gave way to tourism. The railroad came in 1871. A fire in 1909 decimated the downtown, but automobile and an artery nicknamed 'the Quickway' connected New York City to the mountains and made Monticello a recreation center. The years 1920 to 1930 saw a population increase of 48 percent. Sidewalks brimmed with shoppers as Broadway, lined with stately and beautiful shade trees, clattered with traffic at all hours. Slightly over an hour from Manhattan, Monticello had two identities: a community built and maintained by workers, residents, and business and a busy 'borscht belt' of vacation center of boardinghouses, hotels, bungalows, and recreation.”
This book should be available in stores and online by the summer. I have attempted to ensure that this book reflect the rich diversity of Monticello's cultural and geopolitical past. This has not only broadened my appreciation and knowledge of Monticello's past beauty and even charm, but of its potential future – if its residents, businesses and government work together.
Through the above project, I have contacted family members of the late Naval Lt. John C. Crawford, after whom the apartment complex on Liberty Street is named. If, through the generosity of the Crawford family, it is possible to obtain a representative portrait of Lt. Crawford (killed in Nin Thuan, South Viet Nam on March 10, 1967), in addition to including it in the book, a hope would be to offer it, framed, to the Monticello Housing Authority to hang in a common area at the Lt. John C. Crawford Houses.
The small image at left showing John Crawford is from a Monticello High School yearbook. The request to the Crawford family has been for either a portrait of him in his Naval uniform, or a less formal picture, as the family may.
A second book that I have in progress, completion of which has been placed on hold for the time being, remains tentatively entitled The Hidden Woman of Monticello: The Story of Adelaide Mary Branch and Melvin Henry Couch. Progress on this book was described in the Sullivan County Democrat in a column by County Historian John Conway. The Democrat has also been good enough to publish a press release and make editorial mention of the pictorial history for Arcadia mentioned above, to aid in photo collection.
One formal outside inquiry routed to me as Village Historian this year through Village Hall came in August 2009 when a television journalist from Brigham Young University (BYU) Broadcasting in Provo, Utah by the name of Augustina Perez came to Village Hall seeking information on former Monticello Mayor Anne Kaplan for a documentary. The product of Ms. Perez' work has yet to be released.
I have previously reported on progress with clean-up and restoration of the abandoned Litts family cemetery adjacent to Sleepy Hollow Apartments, in cooperation with Town of Thompson Highway Superintendent Rich Benjamin. The Town Highway Department has continued to accept responsibility for that maintenance (despite the fact that it it is within Village limits), explaining that the cemetery was not previously known to the Town.
On the same evening, I publicly acknowledged the work of Village employee and resident Alvin Dumas for participating on the Sullivan County Bicentennial Committee, and do so again now. I also provided written reports to the Village Manager and Board of Trustees during 2009 on the history of residency requirements, as well as contractual terms and litigation, involving Village Managers and related matters.
For the coming year, should the Village Manager choose to re-appoint me as Historian, I would like support in exploring availability of public and/or private fund, at no cost to the Village, for projects including:
- Inventory of historic buildings in the Village which may be eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Sites, and thereby for economic development and restoration grants; and
- Inventory, reorganization, and preservation of historic municipal records, as well as off-site back-up copies at the Sullivan County Historical Society to protect against possible catastrophic damage;
- Restoration of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to correct the mis-alignment of its granite panels which occurred when the monument was moved from its original site at the corner of Jefferson Street (would require heavy equipment and bonded, qualified operators).
Items #2 and #3 above would require approval of the Board of Trustees before any action would be taken.
Respectfully submitted,
Tom Rue, Village Historian