Town Historians and Village Historians
Rensselaer County
Municipal Historians
This page was last updated 23 Sep 2015

In New York state, the law requires that every town in the state have a town historian. Recently, one of our guests emailed me asking, "What does a town historian do? We don't have town historians where I live." I searched for a detailed job description for a town historian, and I found one at the website of the town of Greene, in Greene County, NY. For many of you, I know it is frustrating that some town historians are not online - indeed, some towns' entire governments have no website, although more and more are now coming online. But we should remind ourselves that town governments have scarce resources and have other functions besides history and genealogy. Nevertheless, town governments are custodians of precious genealogical records that are not online, and it is through town historians that we have the best chance of gaining access to those records. The internet is a wonderful thing, and fortunately, more and more genealogical records are coming online all the time. But it is a fact we must face that SOME of our genealogical "brick walls" cannot yet be surmounted while sitting at home at our computers. We highly recommend that you contact the town historian of the town in which your ancestors lived - even if this means that you have to dust off the paper, envelopes and stamps!

Rensselaer County Historian
Kathryn T. Sheehan
Rensselaer County Historian 		Rensselaer County Historical Society
57/59 Second Street
Troy, NY 12180		 (518) 272-7232
(518) 272-7252
RCHS website

City, Town and Village Historians
City, Town or VillageHistorianAddressTel/Fax/Email/Website
Berlin Sharon B. Klein
Berlin Town Historian		 P. O. Box 316
Berlin, NY 12022-0316		 (518) 658-2723
Website
Brunswick Sharon Zankel
Brunswick Town Historian		 Brunswick Town Office
336 Town Office Road
Troy, NY 12180		 (518) 279-9714
(518) 279-3461
Fax: (518) 279-4352
Website
Castleton-on-Hudson Ellen S. Allen
Castleton-on-Hudson Village Historian		 85 South Main Street
Castleton-on-Hudson, NY 12033		 (518) 732-2211
Website
East Greenbush Waldi Cavanaugh
East Greenbush Town Historian		 East Greenbush Town Hall
225 Columbia Turnpike
Rensselaer, NY 12144		 (518) 477-4869
Email
Website
East Nassau Linda Dellea
East Nassau Village Historian		 Village of East Nassau
P. O. Box 268
East Nassau, NY 12062		 (518) 766-5802
(Please call only during
normal business hours.)
Website
Grafton Patricia Niebuhr
Grafton Town Historian		 P. O. Box G
Grafton, NY 12082		 (518) 279-3565
Fax: (518) 279-3685
Website
Hoosick (town) Joseph Holloway
Hoosick Town Historian		 95 Main Street
Hoosick Falls, NY 12090		 (518) 686-9008
Website
Hoosick Falls (village) Hoosick Falls Village Historian Municipal Building, Main Street
Hoosick Falls, NY 12090		 (518) 686-7072
Nassau (town) Susan J. Shields
Nassau Town Historian		 P. O. Box 587
Nassau, NY 12123		 (518) 766-7532
Website
Nassau (village) Kurt Vincent Nassau Village Hall
40 Malden Street
P. O. Box 452
Nassau, NY 12123		 (518) 766-3044
Email
Website
North Greenbush James Greenfield
North Greenbush Town Historian		 2 Douglas Street
Wynantskill, NY 12198		 (518) 283-6384
Fax: (518) 283-5345
Email
Website
Petersburgh Petersburgh Town Historian 296 Potter Hill Road
Petersburgh, NY 12138		 (518) 658-2963
Website
Pittstown Ellen L. Wiley
Pittstown Town Historian		 35 Sherman Road
Valley Falls, NY 12185		 (518) 663-5601
Website
Poestenkill Linda Sagendorf
Poestenkill Town Historian		 P. O. Box 210
Poestenkill, NY 12140		 (518) 283-5100
Website
Rensselaer Charles Semowich
Rensselaer City Historian		Rensselaer City Hall
62 Washington Street
Rensselaer, NY 12144		(518) 694-3126
Fax: (518) 449-4756
Cellphone: (518) 506-6864
Email
Website
Sand LakeBob Moore
Sand Lake Town Historian		 P. O. Box 273
Sand Lake, NY 12153		 (518) 674-2026 Ext. 20
Website
Schaghticoke (town) Chris Kelly
Schaghticoke Town Historian		 290 Northline Drive
Melrose, NY 12121-9707		 (518) 235-5813
Fax: (518) 753-6918
Email
Website
Schaghticoke (village) Linda Bunk
Schaghticoke Village Historian		 77 Main Street
Schaghticoke, NY 12154		 (518) 753-4737
Email
Schodack Diane Hutchinson
Schodack Town Historian		 Schodack Town Hall
P. O. Box 436
East Schodack, NY 12063		 (518) 477-7939 Ext. 316
Fax: (518) 477-9594
Email
Website
Stephentown Stephentown Town Historian
(no official historian;
function officially performed by
Stephentown Historical Society)		 Patricia Flint
Stephentown Historical Society
P. O. Box 11
Stephentown, NY 12168 		(518) 733-6070 (voicemail)
Website
Website
Troy Kathryn Sheehan
Troy Bureau of Vital Statistics
has birth and death records from 1876;
Troy City Clerk has marriage records
from about the same date.		 Troy City Hall
1 Monument Square
Troy, NY 12180		 (518) 270-4401
Fax: (518) 270-4609
Website
Valley Falls Judy Hoag
Valley Falls Village Historian		 State Street
Valley Falls, NY 12185		 (518) 753-4936


Send comments or suggestions to:
Debby Masterson

Go Back to Home Page