Miner Greeting Cards

Alice T. Miner Museum

Chazy, NY

Alice and William Miner were devoted greeting card senders, and in return they received hundreds of holiday cards every year from a wide network of family, friends, and business associates. These cards, received between 1909 and 1925, fill ten oversized scrapbooks in the museum’s archives. While most of the Christmas cards feature old-fashioned and nostalgic imagery, there’s a not insignificant number of cards that highlight new technology. This card from Happy and Jack Jaschka of Cleveland, Ohio, is the earliest one to reference radio. In 1922, radio broadcasting was in its infancy, and the Jaschkas depicted themselves as early adopters of the new technology, using it to beam their Christmas wishes out to the world.

Rosewood Square Matched Piano

Franklin County Historical & Museum Society

Malone, NY | NNYLN Member

Estimated to be the first piano to reach Franklin County, brought across the ice on Lake Champlain. It was purchased by William Plumb of North Bangor, NY, for his home which was completed in 1838. The piano was manufactured by Hallet, Davis and Company of Boston in 1815.

John Laurance Papers

Oswego County Historical Society

Oswego, NY | NNYLN Member

This letter is correspondence from Joseph Reed to John Laurance, Judge Advocate General, during the Benedict Arnold Court Martial Trial in the Fall of 1780.

John Laurance (1750-1810) was an unknown founding father that immigrated from England to New York City and became a lawyer under Cadwallader Colden’s mentorship, was promoted to Judge Advocate General who presided over many court martial trials that reformed the Continental Army at Valley Forge, and was a House of Representative member and NYS Senator. He purchased land plots in Oswego County with Alexander Hamilton and Alexander McDougall following the war, and a descendant of his built one of the earliest stone homes in the City of Oswego.

The collection of letters, maps, and other correspondence from Laurance, his descendants, and other related people has been recently scanned, and a new John Laurance exhibit has been designed this summer by the staff and volunteers at the museum. This exhibit will be on display this Fall.

Plattsburgh City Directories

Plattsburgh Public Library

Plattsburgh, NY | NNYLN Member

Our local history collection includes Plattsburgh city directories spanning the 1880s to the 1990s, listing residents by name along with their occupation, employer, and address, plus a separate business section organized by trade. Published far more frequently than the census, they’re an invaluable year-by-year record for tracing residents and local businesses over time.

Franco-American Collection

Samuel de Champlain History Center

Champlain, NY

As the only collection of its kind in New York State, the Franco-American Collection at the Samuel de Champlain History Center preserves the rich history of French Canadian migration to northern New York and New England. The collection includes rare late-19th and early-20th-century books, historical newspapers, parish and church records, cemetery stone transcriptions, and unique memorabilia detailing regional Franco-American culture and heritage.

We chose to highlight this collection because it serves as an indispensable bridge connecting northern New York’s local community history with the broader French Canadian experience across the border and throughout the Northeast.

Portrait of a President

Saranac Lake Free Library

Saranac Lake, NY | NNYLN Member

The Adirondack Research Room recently completed an artwork overhaul. We found art tucked in every storeroom, nook, and cranny, created an inventory, and gave them some much needed attention. One of the most interesting pieces we found was this simple, lovely pencil portrait of President Coolidge signed by Phelps Smith, son of Adirondack legend Paul Smith (namesake of the iconic Paul Smith’s College, even though his real name was Apollos Smith, but I digress).

A handwritten inscription on the back reads: “Drawn when President Coolidge was spending the summer at a camp near Paul Smith’s. Given to me after Phelps Smith died. I am named after him.” The inscription is signed by Phelps Harding and dated September 1970.

Crane School of Music at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics

SUNY Potsdam, College Archives & Special Collections

Potsdam, NY | NNYLN Member

SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music was the official music provider for the 1980 Winter Olympics held at Lake Placid. As such, Crane students performed during the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as played national anthems during medal ceremonies. The photos contained in this digital collection document one of the seminal events in SUNY Potsdam and North Country history, offering a glimpse into the Olympic experience of Crane’s students and faculty, from planning meetings with Olympic officials to rehearsals and performances to faculty conducting a valve oil test for brass instruments in the freezer of a local supermarket.