Local History Room
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Patchogue-Medford Library
Local History Room |
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How to Find the Local History Room in the Library
From Main Street entrance: Walk straight ahead to the back of the building, going past
| 6:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. | ||
| 2:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M. | ||
| 9:30 AM - 12:00 P.M. & 2:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M. |
* Serials: include a selection of Long Island history periodicals & yearbooks (selected travel, business, & some telephone directories). These are backed by additional titles in the Periodicals Plus Room (e.g., Rivington's Gazette [1773-83], Patchogue Advance / Long Island Advance, Main Street Press, Suffolk Daily Island News, Long Island News, Mid-Island Mail, Newsday, New York Times, Wall St. Journal, selected atlases & Sanborn atlases, selected Census & passenger ship records); and various storage collections (e.g., Seton High School Yearbooks, 1911-1974, in L.I. Ref. Storage). Featured are:
* Vertical Files: include the L.I. Vertical File & L.I.-Patchogue Vertical File, as well as a number of fragile scrapbooks. The files have used traditional, broad subject headings, but are now undergoing painstaking sub-division, with improved cross-referencing to link like things, and these improvements will re-cataloged, permitting better organized, precise, and quicker access to more specific kinds of information. Portions of the Library's Adult Reference Vertical Files and Children's & Parents' Services (CAPS) Vertical Files, plus the entire Suffolk Cooperative Library System Long Island Vertical File (presently in Basement storage for lack of space elsewhere) all support the L.I. Vertical Files.
* Electronic Resources: (searchable by librarians on duty) include the library catalog (PALS), countywide catalog, an electronic version of the L.I. Forum Index, RLINAMC (for elusive, N.Y.S. Historical Documents Inventory records which provide otherwise unpublished collection descriptions of archives and special historical collections held in Suffolk County and Nassau County), and selected Internet Resources. Homegrown Sites illuminating aspects of local history have been & continue to be developed. Feel free to ask what we're working on now. Electronic services are backed by additional services at the Main Reference Desk, Public Internet Stations, & CD's, Databases, & Other Links in the Technology Area behind the Adult Reference Desk, as well as by electronic resources in the Young Adult, and Children's & Parents' Services Departments.
* L.I. Genealogical Information Sources: include material found in the types of resources listed above, backed by more general Reference & Ref. Storage genealogical collections. A computerized index to Long Island genealogical name indexes, called the Gendex, is underway (not available), and the Ref. Desks, Ref. Technology Area, and Internet Stations can provide avenues to many more resources.
5 sites for now, to be revised & expanded. If you expect dull viewing, you're in for some surprises. For The Patchogue-Medford Library has historical links to: Samuel F.B. Morse, Abraham Lincoln [more than one connection], William T. Sherman, Jefferson Davis, Andrew Johnson, Horace Greeley & Thaddeus Stevens; to the California Gold Rush, the Civil War Union Medical Corps; to major Civil War campaigns, battles, & sieges (e.g., Fort Wagner, Fort Fisher, Charleston, Bermuda Hundred) fought along the South's Atlantic coast; and to several significant U.S. inventions and patents. (All that through just one of its founders.) As the site gradually expands, to absorb and recreate results of original research performed during (and following) the library centennial, you'll find information on the "pre-historic" free association library, 1883-1900, the near-lynching & near-suicide of a an early trustee (in 1884); the library's 9 relocations about town; its ties to Brooklyn Public Library. Fascinating local individuals abound, who served on the library board and actively supported it, like the late 19th century's: John S. Havens (general store owner, Brookhaven Town Supervisor), Jesse Mills & his business partner, Fremont Hammond (department store owners), John J. Craven, John M. Price, Judge Wilmot M. & Elizabeth Mott Smith, Wellington E. Gordon, newspaper publisher James A. Canfield, the Edwin Bailey family (famed for its lumber yards & mills). Its "Librarian" and later Directors set its course in a variety of directions, often path breaking for not only the community, but for the county as well. Alma D. Custead, 1914-1945, set it on a course of countywide leadership. There has been a host of interesting trustees, directors, and staff members, ranging from the daughter of an admiral to a sometime belly dancer and radio announcer, to a mountain climber. Generations of local (and sometimes not just local) authors have gotten their start here or have supported it. E.g., the library sponsored a decade-long writing contest, judged for by popular novelist Phyllis Whitney). Poets, literary critics, screenwriters, playwrights, producers, a U.S. rear admiral, people in all walks of life and occupations, many village presidents and mayors & Brookhaven Town supervisors have shared in and been an important part of the library's growth. The Library also has ties to the late King Hassan of Morocco, and to the Jewish heritage of a Roman Catholic Saint. It includes a number of Suffolk County, N.Y. foundings & "firsts," as well: (a) First countywide library association (founded by a director, also it's 1st president); (b) first county-wide public library catalog; (c) 1st location of the county's Suffolk Cooperative Library System; (d) First library in the county to loan salt water fishing tackle. It also led book drives for the troops in Camp Upton, L.I., and abroad ("...against the blue devils of loneliness and depression") in World Wars I & II. On December 20, 2000, at 3:30 P.M., Patchogue-Medford Library observed the Centennial of its State Chartering by the University of the State if New York.
A series of links to sites on the web, some of which are also useful for a home library. Many take you step-by-step through the basics, some providing handy checklists, advising you on prevention techniques, or safety and when (and why) to call in an expert.
Links, under 22 topical categories, to a variety of websites on the Spanish-American War, everything from land and naval campaigns to music to Long Island involvement (e.g., Camp Black, Camp Wykoff, return of the Rough Riders & Teddy Roosevelt, native Long Islander).
This Newsday series, performed under deadline, and editorial strictures, has some historians figuratively tearing hair over accuracy and details. But it did do much to re-popularize the study of Long Island history with the average citizen. With chronological, biographical and thematic sections, it also republishes key historical documents and includes audio and visual material. Rewards browsing. Contains many an eye-opener.
A stellar review of resources, a version of which appeared in the scholarly Long Island Historical Journal (Spring 2001), here updated by the author. The author is curator of the map library, and author of the well-researched book Long Island Maps and Their Makers.
Following the title of the author's pioneering study, this website contains digitized images and descriptions of many of the maps in his book, and with them, conveys a sense of the history of the Long Island region's cartography, since colonial days. Arranged in six generally chronological chapters, with links to other websites containing L.I. maps (at the very end of Chapter 6). Also contains links to the author's Long Island Cartobibliography, and to the main site of the SUNY at Stony Brook Map Collection, the region's finest.
Contains general information on the Institute (which has a fine record of original research and publication); a classified list of its Publications; a brief description of its collections; a contact person; and a link to its September 11th Project. The Institute is known for its occasional bibliographies, calendar of forthcoming local history events, exhibits, and workshops.
Provides useful links to collection descriptions of Suffolk & Nassau County archives and historical collections, including that of the Suffolk County Clerk; and to a directory of county historical societies, many having websites (also linked).
Papers of the Farragut Council
* For Patchogue-Medford area history, also try The Greater Patchogue Historical Society, P.O. Box 102, Patchogue, NY 11772, which publishes a Newsletter, has its own archives; and generally meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month (September-December & March-June), in Patchogue-Medford Library's basement Meeting Rooms. Members are often familiar with specialized historical information, or can provide useful referrals or memories. Prime Contacts: Anne Swezey: (631) 474-7265 [former Patchogue Village Historian & L.I. Advance Woman of the Year, 2000] and Marjorie Roe: (631) 475-7851 [Past President of the Society].
* Patchogue Village Historian, Hans Henke, maintains a large historical photograph collection.
* Brookhaven Town Historian, David A. Overton, and Researcher, Mallory Leoniak (who wrote a pamphlet on the history of women's suffrage in Suffolk County), have hours from 9 A.M. - 2 P.M. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, at Brookhaven Town Hall, 205 South Ocean Avenue, Patchogue, NY 11772, tel.: (631) 654-7897.
* Side Note: Brookhaven Town runs from the North to the South shore of Long Island. It includes numerous villages (e.g., Blue Point-famous for its oysters, Patchogue-once an industrial and summer resort town, Medford-famous for a Long Island Railroad experimental farm & pioneer color photography, Port Jefferson-ferry to & from Bridgeport, CT). The Town contains many libraries, archives, parks, theaters, historical sites, academic institutions (e.g., SUNY at Stony Brook, Briarcliffe College, St. Joseph's College, and Suffolk County Community College). Also in Brookhaven Town are Fire Island National Seashore's headquarters, and Brookhaven National Laboratory. It is the most populous of the ten Towns in Suffolk County, the southeastern-most county of New York State.
* Suffolk County Historical Society, 300 West Main Street, Riverhead, NY, 11901, tel.: (631)727-2881, publishes a newsletter, the Register, maintains a library, archives, museum, and bookstore.
* The Society's Weathervane Bookshop acquires copies of newly published and re-published, short run (few copies printed) works. Along with the gift shop at Old Bethpage Village (Old Bethpage, NY, in Nassau County), the Weathervane is the prime place to find published new trends and topics in Long Island history, and to located in-print hard-to-find items.
* Municipal Archives & Records Centers (around the Island and N.Y.S.): Every incorporated village (as opposed to those unincorporated), city, and other municipality (Town, County, and often Region), in New York State is required by law to maintain an archives or records center, staffed by an archivist or trained government records keeper. There may also be a separate borough, county, town, or village clerk.
* Dozens of Historical Societies Dot the Island: Some are geographically oriented, concerned with individual villages or groupings of villages (e.g., Three Village Historical Society, which covers 3 incorporated & 2 unincorporated villages). Others are thematic or regional (such as the Long Island Railroad Historical Society or the Long Island Studies Council). Very often these associations own material relevant to nearby and not-so-nearby villages on the Island.
* Most of the 55 Public Libraries of Suffolk County have a designated local history contact person on staff. Suffolk County Library Association's Reference & Adult Services Division's Long Island History Committee maintains a list. Scope and extent of individual library local history collections depends entirely on the Library. Two public libraries to which referrals frequently made are the East Hampton Library (see their Long Island Collection website and Smithtown Public Library.
* Many school libraries now collect local history materials to support mandated 4th & 7th grade local history curricula. The curriculum has been one of the driving forces for subjecting the many folkloric aspects of Long Island history to the light of professional historical scrutiny.
* Hofstra University's Long Island Studies Institute (LISI), in Hempstead, NY, has also been a driving force in new research and publication on many aspects of Island history. It is also known for its occasional bibliographies, dissertations, conferences, and archives.
* The State University of New York at Stony Brook's History Department publishes the academic Long Island Historical Journal. The University's Melville Memorial Library maintains a small collection on L.I. History as well as a Map Library (2nd floor) with a collection of historical Long Island maps. Dr.David Allen, its Curator, is also author of the ground-breaking Long Island Maps and Their Makers, and maintains a fine website, The Map Collection, at SUNY
* Long Island Archives Conference (which may now be defunct, or about to be replaced) used to network archivists, historians, librarians, and others, across the 4 counties of L.I. conducting a variety of workshops on topics often of concern to anyone dealing with historic materials. It is also a link to the many varieties of archives on the Island. There may now be a replacement organization.
* The Suffolk County Archaeological Society has steadily been revising our view of the the past with new findings and cultural remains. It is esp. known for its fine, ongoing, multi-volume series, Readings in Long Island Archaeology and Ethnohistory, edited by Gaynell Stone.