2-28-03 To all my fellow Historians: Before I left office today, I wanted to share the good news with all of you regarding the new descriptions for the collections of the Washington County Historian's Department being posted on the NYS Archives' Historic Documents Inventory (HDI). This was done through support from NYS Archives' LGRMIF grants, which helped underwrite a joint project between the NYS Archives, the Washington County Historian's Department and the Washington County Data Processing Department. The result of this project was the creation of an application written for MS ACCESS that allowed us: 1) to arrange and describe on computer the collection of the Historian's Department; 2) to have full in-house search capabilities, all designed using the MS ACCESS features; and 3) to generate a report and then have the report file be able to be shipped to the NYS Archives for uploading on to the HDI. The goal is for the NYS Archives ultimately to provide the application at no cost. The user would have to purchase MS Access. For municipal historians and anyone with archival collections, including historical societies and museums, this could provide a low-cost mechanism both to arrange and describe collections and have an in-house and online mechanism for searching them. But, from here, it will be up to the NYS Archives to see how it this set up for eventual distribution. There'll have to be a manual and I think the more people who look at it, the more its potential will expand. Although I know publicly thanking people is always fraught with peril, as someone could be left out, I really must thank some key people. If anyone has been omitted, please forgive me. Sincere thanks to all the people who made the program successful: in the NYS Archives, Prudence Backman, Bonita Weddle and Ann Marie Przybyla (our Regional Advisory Officer for Region 4); in the Washington County Data Processing Department, Karen Pratt, Dept. head, and Programmer Lisa Mcdonald; in my department, the Washington County Historian's Department, Volunteer Researcher Loretta Bates, who provided, among things, a particular service in offering advice on the end product from the user's viewpoint; and Librarian and Archivist Albert Fowler of the Crandall Library who worked as a consultant in the initial design with Lisa Mcdonald and Bonnie Weddle. In particular Lisa Mcdonald, who designed the application, has done wonders; and Bonnie Weddle has been absolutely excellent to work with. The cooperation between those two was critical, and I can't say enough to praise them and the NYS Archives in general. I have to add, too, that we had strong support from the Washington County Board of Supervisors, County Administrator Kevin G. Hayes, and RMO Donald Stewart, and that's essential in any project like this. This sounds like an Oscar acceptance speech, so I will stop. These are the sites for the collections of the Washington County Historian's Department on the HDI: http://nysl.nysed.gov/uhtbin/035-hdi/(NIC)NYWH30E-880-00$ http://nysl.nysed.gov/uhtbin/035-hdi/(NIC)NYWH30E-880-01$ Thanks everybody, Joe Cutshall-King ________________________________ Joseph A. Cutshall-King Washington County Historian Washington County Municipal Center 383 Broadway Fort Edward, NY 12828 Tel.: 518-746-2178 Fax: 518-746-2219 E-mail: [log in to unmask] HOME: PO Box 154 Cossayuna, NY 12823 Home/Bus. Tel./FAX: 518-692-9505 E-mail: [log in to unmask]