Greene Historical Society receives grant to conserve historic map
GREENE – Tucked away on the top floor of Moore Memorial Library, the Greene Historical Society Museum is dedicated to both preserving the town’s history and keeping it alive.
“We really have a treasure trove,” said GHS President Nancy Bromley, of the diversity of artifacts which comprise the small museum’s ever-growing collection.
One of the most recent acquisitions has Bromley and other members of the society excited, both because of its historical significance, and that it has led to the group’s first successful grant application.
The item in question is a map, gifted to the historical society earlier this year by Greene-native Ruth Maxine Filer Thompson.
“She inherited the map from her mother, who was a district school teacher in East Greene, what is now Brisben,” Bromley reported.
The map, hand-drawn in ink and water color on very fine parchment paper stitched to a linen cloth, depicts the subdivision of the northeast portion of the township of Greene south and east of the Chenango River. It is identified by an inscription as copied by Joseph Julliand on July 1, 1823; and is believed to be the town land grant map from which Julliand, a land agent, worked as he sold parcels of the Livingston Tract.
The 16,138 acre tract – which included parts of what is now Brisben, Greene and Coventry – was granted to Walter Livingston in 1788, after purchase of the area which is now Chenango County was purchased from the Oneida and Tuscaroras as a result of a treaty negotiated by General George Clinton.
The tract’s 152 parcels, each averaging approximately 106 acres, are delineated on the map. Each is numbered, with the precise acreage, name of the buyer and the amount paid for the land noted in script. The Chenango River, Tillotson Creek and other landmarks are also noted, and roads such as Hogsback and Hartman Hill Roads are identified.
Because of the map’s age and condition, as well as its historical importance, the society knew it must be handled carefully.
“It was all rolled up when it arrived. ... We didn’t even dare open it,” Bromley reported. They took it first to Cornell, where a book conservator helped them unroll it. From there, they took it to West Lake Conservation in Skaneatles, a firm which specializes in conservation of such items. According to Bromley, they were given an estimate of $2,500 for the work which would need to be done to clean, repair and conserve the map.
“Of course, we didn’t have the $2,500,” she said. And so the grant writing process began. After careful consideration of their options, the society chose to apply for funding through the Greater Hudson Heritage Network’s Conservation Treatment Grant Program.
“It’s a regranting agency of the museum program of the NYS Council on the Arts,” Bromley explained.
GHS’s grant application was one of 53 received from museums and cultural organizations in 31 New York counties, she said. In the end, 26 organizations received a total of $120,426 in the 2010 round of funding.
“We were thrilled to be one of them,” said Bromley, who credited GHS member Abbie Rogers for submitting the successful grant application.
It is particularly notable, she added, because the grant is the first the historical society, which received its absolute charter last year, has ever applied for.
According to Bromley, the entirety of the $2,397 grant they have been awarded will go to conservation of the map, which has already been delivered to West Lake. The work is expected to take from 6 to 12 weeks. Once it is complete, GHS will decide whether the original or a digital reproduction will be displayed.
“We really have a treasure trove,” said GHS President Nancy Bromley, of the diversity of artifacts which comprise the small museum’s ever-growing collection.
One of the most recent acquisitions has Bromley and other members of the society excited, both because of its historical significance, and that it has led to the group’s first successful grant application.
The item in question is a map, gifted to the historical society earlier this year by Greene-native Ruth Maxine Filer Thompson.
“She inherited the map from her mother, who was a district school teacher in East Greene, what is now Brisben,” Bromley reported.
The map, hand-drawn in ink and water color on very fine parchment paper stitched to a linen cloth, depicts the subdivision of the northeast portion of the township of Greene south and east of the Chenango River. It is identified by an inscription as copied by Joseph Julliand on July 1, 1823; and is believed to be the town land grant map from which Julliand, a land agent, worked as he sold parcels of the Livingston Tract.
The 16,138 acre tract – which included parts of what is now Brisben, Greene and Coventry – was granted to Walter Livingston in 1788, after purchase of the area which is now Chenango County was purchased from the Oneida and Tuscaroras as a result of a treaty negotiated by General George Clinton.
The tract’s 152 parcels, each averaging approximately 106 acres, are delineated on the map. Each is numbered, with the precise acreage, name of the buyer and the amount paid for the land noted in script. The Chenango River, Tillotson Creek and other landmarks are also noted, and roads such as Hogsback and Hartman Hill Roads are identified.
Because of the map’s age and condition, as well as its historical importance, the society knew it must be handled carefully.
“It was all rolled up when it arrived. ... We didn’t even dare open it,” Bromley reported. They took it first to Cornell, where a book conservator helped them unroll it. From there, they took it to West Lake Conservation in Skaneatles, a firm which specializes in conservation of such items. According to Bromley, they were given an estimate of $2,500 for the work which would need to be done to clean, repair and conserve the map.
“Of course, we didn’t have the $2,500,” she said. And so the grant writing process began. After careful consideration of their options, the society chose to apply for funding through the Greater Hudson Heritage Network’s Conservation Treatment Grant Program.
“It’s a regranting agency of the museum program of the NYS Council on the Arts,” Bromley explained.
GHS’s grant application was one of 53 received from museums and cultural organizations in 31 New York counties, she said. In the end, 26 organizations received a total of $120,426 in the 2010 round of funding.
“We were thrilled to be one of them,” said Bromley, who credited GHS member Abbie Rogers for submitting the successful grant application.
It is particularly notable, she added, because the grant is the first the historical society, which received its absolute charter last year, has ever applied for.
According to Bromley, the entirety of the $2,397 grant they have been awarded will go to conservation of the map, which has already been delivered to West Lake. The work is expected to take from 6 to 12 weeks. Once it is complete, GHS will decide whether the original or a digital reproduction will be displayed.
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