To the Editor:

The Village of Altamont Archives and Museum has received the largest gift of historical documents, handwritten wills, mortgages, and correspondence, including Civil War letters, we have ever received. Pamela Crounse Jones had established the Crounse Family Archives within our collections with this extraordinary gift. Documents date from 1752 to the 1920s.

During the past few weeks, trained volunteers have processed over 100 documents, receipts, and letters into acid-free materials for labeled storage boxes. In addition to tboxes for deeds, documents and mortgages, and for family receipts, correspondence, and house photographs, we have three larger flat boxes for indentures and deeds; the Mary Ann Brock painting; and the two archival boxes storing the letters of Mary Crounse

Some of Mary Crounse’s letters are so faded that they cannot be transcribed — I took some 20 of the letters to the University at Albany Preservation Library and, with the help of Dr. Karen Kiorpes and the labs infrared lamp, we will be able to transcribe their contents. That will be done this summer. That facility is amazing!

We will move other Crounse family gifts (such as those from her recently deceased brother, Fred) into this larger collection. Ron Ginsburg has already photographed some of the important documents from this recent gift.

Our next exhibition in the Hallway Gallery at Village Hall is “Given in Trust: Recent Gifts to the Collections.”A public reception will be held on Sunday, May 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the village hall.

Naturally we will be including some of the stunning material from the Crounse Family Archives.

Marijo Dougherty, archivist

Village of Altamont