Altamont Library Notes for Thursday, March 1, 2018

This week we mourn the loss of Marijo Dougherty. Many of us in the Altamont community were lucky to call Marijo a neighbor, or a colleague, or a friend.

We here at the library were happy to be able to honor Marijo’s work at the 2018 I Love My Library Gala. Marijo was a lifelong curator, working as the director of the University at Albany Art Museum and later becoming interim director of the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls.

When she moved to Altamont, she used her gifts to create the Village of Altamont Archives and Museum. In her role there, she put on dozens of exhibitions, contributed tremendously to Keith Lee’s book. “Images of America: Altamont,” and served as the chairwoman of the organizing committee for the Museum in the Streets project that was unveiled last summer.

The history that she has preserved and brought to light will never be forgotten, nor will she.

One of the great projects that we’re working on here at the library is what we’re calling the Marijo Dougherty Oral History Collection, in which we record and transcribe interviews with community members to preserve their personal stories, and our first interview, conducted by Laura Shore, was with Marijo herself.

It’s a wonderful interview, and in it she touches on one of the many things she loves about Altamont: Orsini Park.

“How many places can you sit in a chair and look out at a bunch of kids running barefoot in the grass? You’d be hysterical! They’re going to step on razor blades or needles or god-knows-what. But not here in Altamont. They can run in the grass and just be a child again, and reinforce their freedom.

“It’s just, it’s a wonderful thing to see happen … They can easily cross the street. They go to the Home Front for ice cream and they go all over the village. How many places can you do that? … Those are memories those kids will carry forever, and hopefully continue here in Altamont.”

To all of Marijo’s many friends and family members, we offer our sincere condolences.

We’ve got a bunch of neat things coming up here at the library.

“Power of Habit”

On Monday, March 5, the First Monday Book Club will meet at noon to discuss “The Power of Habit” by New York Times journalist Charles Duhig. This bestseller is a fascinating study of why people do what we do and what modern science tells us about how we can change our habits, and cultivate new, healthier ones. This is sure to be a fascinating discussion, so please join us.

Concert

Please join us on Friday, March 9, at 7 p.m. for the next installment of the SongTeller Sessions concert series. Our performer this month will be Deb Cavanaugh.

Artist/educator, singer/songwriter Deb Cavanaugh has been performing in the Capital District of New York State since 1982. Nowadays, playing a variety of acoustic instruments (guitar, mandolin, mountain dulcimer and banjo), her show includes elements of pop, folk, jazz, and blues. Deb is perhaps best known for teaching Music Together, an early-education research-based program for families with young children.

These concerts are free and all-ages appropriate, so bring your whole crew!