Rensselaer County, New York

For reference queries contact Grenander Department Reference staff or (518)–437–3935.

BLANDY, TOM
Papers, 1990-1999, 2 cubic ft. (APAP–133)
Tom Blandy has been involved with a number of local and regional environmental groups including the Rensselaer County Greens, Save the Pine Bush, and Concerned Citizens for the Environment (CCE). During the late 1990's, CCE was primarily concerned with the Green Island Solid Waste Incinerator proposed by the American Ref-Fuel Company. The opposition campaign culminated in the court case Concerned Citizens for the Environment vs. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation & American Ref-Fuel Company. These papers document the political and legal opposition of the group Concerned Citizens for the Environment against the proposed Green Island Solid Waste Incinerator. They consist of court records, correspondence, documentary evidence, publications, news clippings, and other materials directly or indirectly relating to this opposition.

BROWN, FRED R. (1888–1966), missionary
Papers, 1910–74, 4 ft. (MSS-004)
 Includes correspondence with family, friends, and fellow missionaries in China, 1910–31; diaries, 1916–27; papers on religious activities and war in China, 1920–25; and some clippings, photographs, and printing materials concerning China, 1920–27. There are also some papers of his wife, Clella McDonnell Brown, including a paper on the nationalist Chinese in Nanchang, 1926–27, and a diary about a trip to China. Fred R. Brown was a Methodist missionary and science teacher in the Kiansi Province of China from 1910 to 1931, when he and his wife, a fellow missionary, settled in DeWitt, New York.

CASATELLI, JEANNE
Papers, 1966-2002, 2.6 cubic ft. (APAP-150)
Jeanne Casatelli is a native of East Greenbush, New York, who has fought sprawl in her hometown for more than twenty years. She is a founding member of East Greenbush's Community Action Network (CAN). The papers document Casatelli's interest in issue-based grassroots organizations in the late 1990s and early 2000s through her involvement in Community Action Network. CAN opposed the widening of U.S. Route 9 and 20 in East Greenbush through a vigorous campaign of public education and political action. The papers provide near-complete documentation of this campaign, including letters, e-mail, press releases, position papers, contact lists, and notes. Information on another organization of which Casatelli was a member, Citizens for Riverfront Action (CRA), is limited to CRA's involvement in coordinating Scenic Hudson's Great River Sweep in the community of Rensselaer.

CITIZENS' ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION
Records, 1973-2005, 44.25 cubic ft. and 6 videotapes (APAP-197)
The Citizens’ Environmental Coalition (CEC) consists of 110 community and environmental groups and over 14,000 individuals in New York. CEC is active in local, state, and national environmental issues. CEC’s primary purposes are to fight pollution in New York State, build a healthier environment, and to encourage, educate, and organize local citizens with similar goals. It supports democratic, grassroots activities, helps build coalitions, and "promote[s] corporate accountability and non-violent social justice values." The collection documents CEC’s efforts to support grassroots environmental activities. In some cases, the records demonstrate CEC’s efforts to advance an existing grassroots movement. In other examples, CEC’s records show it joining state, national, and international networks to become active in a larger environmental cause or project. CEC’s records also show extensive outreach activities - efforts to foster cooperation or stimulate new environmental activism among concerned citizens. The collection also contains records from various New York State offices and departments, the New York Environmental Institute, EPL Institute Inc., Superfund Monitoring Project, Toxics In Your Community Coalition, Healthy Schools Network, and the Office of Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried, former New York State Assistant Majority Leader.

DAVIS, JACKSON
Papers, 1952-1997, 9.83 cubic ft. (APAP-141)
The papers of Jackson Davis document his environmental activism and work with environmental organizations. The collection consists of publications, minutes, notes, news clippings, and memoranda from local and regional environmental groups Davis has worked with, as well as a collection of subject files created by Davis relating to a wide variety of environmental topics. Also included are a collection of Davis' bibliographical projects and a number of environmental health publications collected by Davis' father, Dr. H. Jackson Davis, Sr. who served as health commissioner in Rensselaer County Jackson Davis worked for a number of organizations doing bibliographical research. Much of the material in the collection was created through the collection of sources and compiling of bibliographies. Part of Davis' research process was the listing of subject headings. The Bibliography series contains research on certain environmental topics that have no direct relation to the organizations that Davis worked for.

DICKINSON, JOHN DEAN (1767–1841), U.S. Congressman, attorney
Papers, 1796–1834 (MSS–062)
Letters, deeds, and retained copies of legal documents kept as an attorney and landowner. Dickinson practiced law in Lansingburg and Troy, New York, from the 1790s; was president of the Farmers Bank of Troy, 1801–41; served in the NYS Assembly, 1816–17; and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives as a Federalist, 1819–23, and a Whig, 1827–31.

GLOVE CITIES AREA JOINT BOARD, AMALGAMATED CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKER'S UNION (ACTWU)
Records, 1933–1989, 10 ft. and 6 microfilm reels (APAP–017)
Contains the records of the Glove Cities Area Joint Board of the ACTWU, including minutes, 1954–87; subject files, 1941–86; and contracts, 1946–86, and minutes, 1939–87, of affiliated locals. Also contains the records of the New York State Capital District Joint Board: minutes, 1966–72, 1981–83; membership card file, 1933–83; minutes of affiliated locals, 1942–89; and the records of the New York State Capital District Union Label and Service Trades Council, 1960–81. The Glove Cities Area Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was founded in Gloversville, N.Y., in 1954. This Joint Board originally had jurisdiction over the clothing workers' unions in Gloversville, N.Y., Johnstown, N.Y., and nearby villages. These locals were primarily locals of glove and leather goods workers. The Capital District Joint Board of the Shirt, Collar and Pajama Workers of Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was founded in Troy, N.Y. in 1934 with jurisdiction over locals of clothing workers in Albany, Schenectady, and Rensselaer counties. In 1976 both joint boards were affected by the merger of ACWA with the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA), which produced the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). In 1985 the joint boards merged into one, keeping the title Glove Cities Area Joint Board. These records are particularly important for the information contained on labor strife in Fulton County, N.Y., from the 1930s to the 1950s. For related records, see the records of the Hudson Valley Area Joint Board, ACTWU. Records document the decline of textile and leather goods industries in the New York State Capital District in the 1970s and 1980s.

HUDSON VALLEY AREA JOINT BOARD, AMALGAMATED CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKER'S UNION (ACTWU)
Records, 1919–1920, 1938–1989, 14 ft. (APAP–050)
Includes minutes, 1944–89; contracts, 1938–89; arbitration files, 1948–89; and memorabilia, 1945–85. Includes the records of the predecessor joint boards of the Hudson Valley Area Joint Board: the Amsterdam N.Y. Joint Board, 1948–81; Mid–Hudson Valley Joint Board, 1944–57; New York State Capital District Joint Board, 1919–20, 1940–65; and Columbia County Joint Board, 1938–57. Also includes minutes and other records of defunct  locals administered by these joint boards. Also includes the records kept by a TWUA International Representative, 1950–57; and a TWUA Assistant State Director, 1938–75, related to organizing locals; and the retained records of the Berkshire Joint Board, 1949–71. Because the managers of these joint boards were officers on regional labor councils, these records also include the retained records of the Upper Hudson Area Industrial Union Council, 1952–58; Upper Hudson Area Central Labor Council, 1956–84; Central Labor Union of Newburgh, New York, 1960–65; and Troy Area Industrial Union Council, 1948–60. These joint boards belong to the ACTWU and to its predecessor, the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA). For related records, see the records of the Glove Cities Area Joint Board, ACTWU.

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, LOCAL 201
Records, 1900, 1922–1982, 2 ft. (APAP–052)
Contains records of Local 201 and its predecessor locals: Local 12 (Troy, N.Y.), membership ledgers, 1922–51; Local 62 (Schenectady, N.Y.), minutes, 1936–44, 1965–82; Local 201 (Albany, N.Y.), minutes, 1962–81; and contracts, 1965–82. Local 201 now represents painters in Albany, Schenectady, and Rensselaer counties. Merging the three original locals had been discussed at least since 1979, and in 1982 the merger was completed and resulted in a more centralized and efficient management of the union.

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY
Records, 1914, 1925, 1939–2000, 11.2 cubic ft. (APAP-103)
The records contain information about the history and activities of the LWVRC since 1939 and up to the present. The collection includes board and general meeting minutes and agendas, treasurers' reports, the results of various studies conducted by the organization, photographs, videos of workshops and debates and audio tapes of oral histories of former members' participation in the League. Publications put out by the League, either locally or nationally, including monthly Bulletins and Calendars, The Voter (a monthly newsletter) and Election and Voter Guides published for local elections, are a valuable part of the collection. Though items in the collection span from 1914 to the present, the bulk of information spans the late 1950s through the 1980s.

LEWIS, NAHUM
Papers, circa 1940-1990, .4 cubic ft. (APAP–156)
The collection documents the Jewish community in New York's Capital Region and includes material from teh Troy Zionist Organization of America, the Albany Jewish Community Center, the Troy Hebrew Credit Union, an exhibit produced by the Albany Institute of History and Art.

NEWSPAPER GUILD OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, LOCAL 34
Records, 1936–1989, 3 ft. (APAP–005)
Contains executive board and membership minutes, 1936–87; unit minutes, 1942–87;  bulletins, 1936–84; contracts, 1937–89; and organizing and litigation files, 1935–88.  The Newspaper Guild of Albany, N.Y.,  Local 34 was chartered on March 20, 1934, as the Tri–City Newspaper Guild of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy, N.Y.  as well as nearby cities.  In 1937, the guild won its first agreement and the first Newspaper Guild agreement in upstate New York when it signed a contract with the Albany Times Union. The Albany Guild's last strike in 1964 formed the basis for The Ink Truck, the first published novel of William Kennedy, who was one of the strikers. The local began as a union of reporters and editors, but over the years other newspaper occupations have been organized as the guild has subsumed independent unions. Currently, janitors and drivers, as well as employees from the business office and sales and circulation departments are represented by the guild.  Although the guild has confined most of its activities to the tri–cities, it has opened offices in Hudson and Glens Falls, N.Y.

RAND, E.C.M., railroad writer
Report, 1909, 1 vol. (MSS–104)
"Report on Investigation of Books and Records of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company from 1870 to 1899 inclusive Showing Value to it of the Leases of the Albany & Susquehanna and Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroads," a 510–page typescript report, including a 22–page subject index and numerous manuscript corrections and emendations. The author was a New York City authority on the railroad business.

RENSSELAER COUNTY GREENS
Records, 1998-2004, 6.96 cubic ft., 11 cubic ft., and MB Electronic Records (APAP-192)
The records of the Rensselaer County Greens includes information about its efforts to protect the Rensselaer County community from the destruction of environment and historical landmarks. The records consist of applications, permits, court material, environmental statistics and research, news clippings, visual information, rulings, and audiovisuals. The best documented initiative in the records is Rensselaer County Greens' conflict with Besicorp and the factory the company planned to build in Rensselaer. The organization also opposed the construction of a microchip semiconductor plant proposed in North Greenbush, NY; was involved in the debate over an Interstate 90 connector planned in East Greenbush, NY; and the preservation of historic landmarks including saving the Freihofer Building in Lansingburgh, NY.

SHEET METAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, LOCAL 83
Records, 1892–1989 (APAP–047)
Includes minutes of meetings, 1892–1989; committee records, 1931–82; files on jurisdictional disputes with other building and construction trades unions, 1952–77; NLRB case file on the 1965 lockout, 1965–69; and dues ledgers, 1892–1980.  Local 83 was organized in 1892 as an affiliate of the Tin, Sheet Iron and Cornice Workers' International Association, which itself was organized only four years previously.  The depression of 1893 weakened the fledgling international, and its AFL charter was revoked in 1896, but Local 83 continued through these hard times.  In 1899 the international union was rechartered as the Amalgamated Sheet–Metal Workers' International Association.  In 1903 this international merged with the Sheet Metal Workers National Alliance, creating the Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers' International Alliance, which in 1924 granted Local 83 a charter with jurisdiction over Saratoga, Albany, and Rensselaer counties of New York.  The jurisdiction of Local 83 has since expanded to include twelve counties in the New York State Capital Region.

SOLOMON, GERALD B. H.
Records, 1978-1999, 52 cubic ft. (APAP–157)
(Currently unprocessed)
The Solomon Papers are rich in summary material documenting his career (1979-1999) as a Republican representing the 22nd District of New York. Of particular interest are the numerous "Black Books" containing detailed summary information pertaining to Solomon's legislative activities, including his voting activity and the justification for his vote, bills and resolutions he introduced, and legislation and resolutions he cosponsored by him. Also of interest are the Floor Statements, Remarks, and Extensions made by Solomon. Solomon kept most of the House Resolutions voted on during the later half of his career, which are represented in the collection. The papers lack substantive correspondence and material related to his early congressional career (1978-1988). He also served as a member of the New York State Assembly from 1973-1978.

TROY (N.Y.) AREA LABOR COUNCIL, AFL–CIO
Records, 1942, 1969–1989, .25 ft. (APAP–037)
Contains minutes, 1981–89; correspondence, 1975–88; constitution and by–laws, 1987; and dinner journals, 1969–83.  The Troy Area Labor Council is a delegate organization for labor unions in Troy, N.Y., and vicinity.  The labor council is the successor to either the Troy Trades' Assembly (founded in 1864) or the Workingmen's Trades' Assembly (founded in 1882).

TROY AND RUTLAND RAILROAD COMPANY
Records, 1849–1860, 1 ft. (MSS–122)
Letters, financial statements, proxies, and other business records retained by William Law of Troy, New York, as secretary of the Troy and Rutland Railroad Company, 1849–1860; and engineering drawings for four Troy and Rutland Railroad bridges in northeastern New York State, 1850–1851.

UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA AFL–CIO–CLC (USWA), LOCAL 8652
Records, 1977–1989, .2 cubic ft. (APAP–077)
The collection includes contracts from 1977 through 1989, meeting minutes from 1982, job descriptions for employees from 1980, scattered correspondence, and other materials related to union business. The closing of Portec Corporation's Troy facility is documented through the support services offered for employees by the union, a seniority list, and the shutdown agreement. The scrapbook includes photocopies of news clippings and photographs documenting union members on strike from 1986–1987 and the closing of the Portec plant in Troy. USWA Local 8652 was chartered in 1977, and was apparently the first union since the 1800's to represent steelworkers at what had become the Portec Corporation, Railway Products Division, in Troy, New York. In 1989 Portec closed its Troy plant and moved the operation, ending Local 8652's brief history.

VERSATILE CLUB OF TROY, NY
Records, 1936–1989, .4 cubic ft. (APAP–040)
Contains drafts of official meeting minutes, 1945–1988; anniversary brochures and histories, 1956, 1982; by–laws, 1939, 1986; financial documents, 1950–1988; some photographs; social programs; biographical statements about members. Organized in 1931 as the Girls' Versatile Club of Troy under the direction of Rev. D. H. White of the A.M.E. Zion Church to strengthen "religious ties" and "provide an outlet for good clean fun," the club adopted its present name in 1947. This African–American women's social club has contributed to church repairs, sponsored African-American entertainers, provided scholarship support for college students and, since the 1960s, sponsored "Ladies of Leisure and Career Women's Luncheons," bringing major African-American speakers to the area.

WILLISON, MALCOLM
Papers, 1958–1997, 14.9 cubic ft. (APAP–055)
This collection details the social activism of Malcolm Willison in New York State's Capital Region. As an active board member of several local groups, his papers contain minutes, financial statements and budgets, programming ideas, brochures, planning notes, articles and reports, and clippings that detail the evolution of the various organizations contained in the collection. Organizational newsletters and event flyers, course and conference information planned by Willison in his capacity on executive boards, and vast amounts of correspondence about any number of events and issues are also part of the scope of the collection.

WMHT
Records, 1962-2004, 126 cubic ft. (APAP-211)
In 1953, the Mohawk-Hudson Council on Educational Television was chartered by the New York State Board of Regents as the licensee of WMHT Public Television Station and Public Radio. It was the first charter granted in New York State for an educational television council. Initial Programming was broadcast on WRGB, and later on WRTI and WROW-TV. The Council's first headquarters was a single room in Schenectady's Riverside School. In 1955, WMHT hired Donald Schein as associate producer and he led the effort for regular broadcasting that began in 1962, as Schein was elevated to general manager. An all- classical music radio station WMHT-FM began in 1972 and the Radio Information Service (RISE), a radio reading service for the blind and print handicapped in 1978. Prior to Schein's retirement in 1986, he concluded negotiations for the acquisition of Channel 45 (now WMHQ). Today, WMHT Educational Telecommunications, located in Troy, NY, is the only full-service public broadcaster serving Eastern New York and Western New England. The collection consists of program schedules, publications, administrative files, production files, subject files, slides, and photographs.