With much of the area recovering from the series of storms and extended power outages, Our American History made it’s return. We had a small gathering at the library for local author Deborah Rafferty Oswald on March 10 where she shared her inspiration and research methods and materials for her book, The Girls of Haviland. Afterwards she autographed copies of the book.

The next Our American History will be on April 14^th – Palisades Amusement Park: A Century of Fond Memories with Vince Gargiulo.

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We will be holding a series of Show & Tell & Scan days at the museum this upcoming season. We are interested in seeing what old photos, documents (including genealogy documents and records), and reasonably sized objects (i.e., objects that are easily carried from your car into the museum without assistance) you have relating to the history of the town. We’ll scan the photos and documents, photograph all your cool stuff, and provide you with a digital copy. In return, we’re asking that you allow us to share them (with credit) through our programs, displays and exhibits, in response to information requests, and on social media. Each session will be several hours long, so you’ll be able to chat with your neighbors and friends, see what other information the museum may have about your house/family/neighborhood/that old building you’ve always wondered about/etc.

There will be four sessions, split into geographical areas

• Lake Oscawana
• Lake Peekskill
• Roaring Brook
• Greater Putnam Valley

The dates will be announced shortly, so whether your family’s been here for three or four generations, or you are a newer resident that moved into an old house and found some cool stuff, or have somehow acquired anything related to the history of Putnam Valley, start thinking about what you’d like to share with us! The Where Are We album on Facebook will also be updated next month, so take a peek through there to see if you recognize any of the houses and have any information about them!

And finally….the exhibit for this year will be about the Revolutionary War in (now) Putnam Valley and the surrounding areas. The official opening will be in early May. If you haven’t ever been to the museum, or it’s been a while, say, since kindergarten, this will be a great year to come back. See you soon!

One last note – the building is still winterized. We’ll let everyone know when it’s open again.