Acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck proudly announces the launch of its first digital collections on New York Heritage Digital Collections, offering free public access to historic treasures. As a new member of the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council, the Archives division of the Clerk’s office has been busy digitizing and describing a selection of historic images and publications to distribute freely on this statewide platform.
Three collections are now available as of this press release. These include a selection of 245 images of the Ashokan Reservoir during Construction, courtesy of historian John Duda, and a small selection of images showing Shipyards on the Rondout Creek. Notably, a complete run of all ten volumes of Benjamin Brink’s Olde Ulster Magazine, a history publication produced between 1905 and 1914, has also been made available in its entirety online for the first time.
“The publication of these first three collections represents a milestone for our office and for the County Archives program,” stated Acting County Clerk Taylor Bruck, “our staff has been hard at work identifying and preparing materials for several years with the end goal of getting them online. Thanks to Southeastern New York Library Resources Council, we were finally able to start contributing scans of some of our most fascinating collection materials to a statewide platform where the public can enjoy and study these materials free of charge.”
The late Hon. Nina Postupack, 45th Ulster County Clerk, laid the foundation for the commencement of this project. Her forethought in accepting and preserving the photo morgue of the Kingston Daily Freeman was an unprecedented and historic decision for the Clerk’s Office. The decision challenged the Archives staff to develop a system to digitize and catalog the collection, while working to find a solution for simple public access to what will eventually be a collection of over 85,000 images.
“I know folks have heard a lot about the Freeman collection recently as well as the amazing collection of Gene Dauner now in our care,” stated Acting Clerk Bruck, “this new venue is where you will need to keep an eye out as we start to publish selections of both these remarkable collections over the course of this winter.”
We invite the public to explore these newly digitized collections free of charge at https://nyheritage.org/organizations/ulster-county-archives
For further information, please contact the Ulster County Archives at archives@co.ulster.ny.us or by phone at 845-340-3415 weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Additionally, stay connected with us on Facebook for updates and news.