To the Editor:

Who are my relatives? This is a question many are asking.

As a result, a growing number of us are searching for sources that would provide us with insight into our pasts. The New York State Archives offers a vast library of valuable information.

Although as its website states, “The Archives’ purpose is to document functions and activities of State government and none of the records were created for the purpose of geological research, many of the records in the Archives contain information on individuals.”

These include records of birth, marriage, and death; military-service papers; censuses; real-property transfers; real property taxes; court proceedings; naturalization papers; wills and probate records; prison and reformatory reports; poorhouse censuses; and maps. So much intriguing and insightful information, but how to access it?

John Diefenderfer of the New York State Archives will present this month’s program for the New Scotland Historical Association, and he will be able to answer that question. Mr. Diefenderfer is head of the Archives’ Documentary Heritage Services program. He is familiar with the archives’ records and he will share research tips and will also demonstrate the online access tools available to us to locate information at the Archives.

This valuable and informative program will be presented at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 1, at the Wyman Osterhout Community Center in New Salem on Old New Salem Road. Admission is always free.

On the same day and at the same location, please take the opportunity to take in the exhibits at the New Scotland Historical Association Museum, which will be open for a half-hour before the program.

Judy Kimes

Publicist

New Scotland

Historical Association