Mary Paige Lang-Clouse, Director
Ethelbert B. Crawford Public Library
479 Broadway Monticello, NY 12701
Dear Mary Paige,
Please accept this note of thanks and commendation for Youth Librarian Mariana Sprouse for the enjoyable five hours she spent with me today, along with Myron Lester Gittell, for a portion of the meeting, identifying, examining, and making notes on materials contained in the collection of Monticello and Sullivan County historical photos and documents. With Mariana's demonstrated professional knowledge of archival methods and principles, combined with her clear appreciation for the local significance of many of the materials contained in the boxes we reviewed and the respectful manner in which she treated the human subjects of the materials, and of the physical items themselves, by the time we completed today's task I was even more comfortable than I was when I first delivered the collection to the library this past summer.
I know that Mariana is recognized as a valued member of your staff. The materials are in good hands to be appropriately catalogued in a finding-aid, to be protected and made available to interested researchers. I am grateful to you personally as Library Director for accepting this collection on behalf of the local community for preservation and for allowing Mariana to prioritize it in relation to her many other tasks on behalf of the EBCPL. In the not too distant future, I look forward to being able to access the materials by means of a finding aid Mariana intends to compile. You, she, or anyone else from the library may feel free to reach out to me at any time regarding this project or any other matter of mutual interest or concern. Thank you very much.
Warm regards,
Tom Rue
Former Municipal Historian for the
Village of Monticello, 2010-2022
[P.S.: Many of the photos and written contained in the boxes shown below were given to me by the late Susan Schock who inherited them from the files of her father, Alvin O. Benton, the editor of The Republican Watchman newspaper in Monticello for several decades, as well as Past Master of Monticello Lodge #532 and as District Deputy Grand Master for the Sullivan District, Free & Accepted Masons. None of the items were property of the Village. There were other sources, too, whose kindness is acknowledged.]