| Quantity: | 20 Boxes (ca. 20 cubic ft.) plus 3 oversize folders |
|---|---|
| Access: | Open to research |
| Acquisition: | Gift from Dominick C. Lizzi, June 2008; accretions received October 2008, March 2009; November 2011, and March 2012 |
| Processed By: | Vicki Weiss, Senior Librarian, Manuscripts & Special Collections, September 2010; revised March 2012 |
Dominick C. Lizzi was born in Albany, New York, in 1941. He received his bachelor of arts degree in history from Siena College in 1963 and his master of arts degree in history from the State University of New York at Albany in 1964; he did post-graduate work in history at Cornell University.
Lizzi has been a resident of Columbia County since 1964, moving to Valatie in 1965. From 1964 until his retirement in 1996, he taught at Germantown High School. He served as Valatie Village Historian from 1996 to 2010.
He is the author of a biography of Valatie native Governor Martin H. Glynn (Martin H. Glynn: Forgotten Hero, Valatie, N.Y.: Valatie Press, 1994), Valatie: The Forgotten History: A Rural Mill Village, Microcosm of America (Valatie, N.Y.: Valatie Press, 2009), and Let There Be Light: The Forgotten History of the Chatham Public Library, a Carnegie Legacy (Valatie, N.Y.: Valatie Press, 2008). He also has written articles for local newspapers and other publications.
The collection consists chiefly of 34 binders of photocopies of materials collected and compiled by Dominick C. Lizzi in the 1990s and 2000s while researching Valatie: The Forgotten History. (The originals are located at the Valatie Free Library.) A broad range of topics are covered, including commerce, industry, culture, society, education, religion, politics, and government. The materials document Valatie from its earliest Native-American settlement to the present, with the bulk of the materials covering the 1820s through the 1960s.
Included are the text of interviews, notes, correspondence between Lizzi and various individuals, and photocopies of articles from newspapers, books and other publications. Of particular note are the copies of numerous articles from The Rough Notes (ca. 1820-ca. 1960), the local newspaper, the morgue of which was destroyed by fire in the 1940s. The articles Lizzi has assembled for this collection may be the most comprehensive and easily accessible record of the newspaper.
The contents of the binders are in the order Lizzi compiled them and have not been indexed. The collection also includes some accretions and other loose materials that have not been fully processed.
| Box | Binder | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1A | Mills |
| 1 | 1B | Mills |
| 1 | 2A | Mills |
| 2 | 2B | Mills |
| 2 | 3A | Mill Owners/Families/Wild Family et al/Houses/Rathbone |
| 2 | 3B | Mill Owners/Families/Wild Family et al/Houses/Rathbone |
| 3 | 4 | Mill Terms, Families, People/Huyck |
| 3 | 5 | People/Families/Workers' Remembrances/Housman, Callan, Abbott, Rodgers, Purcell, Snyder's Tin Shop |
| 3 | 6 | Early Settlers |
| 3 | 7 | Native Americans |
| 4 | 8 | Rescue Squad/Fire Department/Fires |
| 4 | 9 | Cemeteries |
| 4 | 10 | Veterans' Graves |
| 4 | 11A | Ethnics/Gazetteers/Census/Race |
| 5 | 11B | Ethnics/Gazetteers/Census/ Race (continued) |
| 5 | 12A | Civil War/G.A.R./General Chrysler |
| 5 | 12B | Civil War/G.A.R./General Chrysler (continued) |
| 5 | 13 | Presbyterian and Methodist churches |
| 6 | 14 | St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Quakers |
| 6A (folio) | 15 | Photographs of the Housman Residence and Grounds/Maury Harder Collection (loose papers) and unprocessed accretions |
| 6 | 16 | Major Non-textile Industries and People |
| 6 | 17 | Businesses/Farms |
| 6 | 18A | American Legion/Veterans Groups/WWI/WWII/Korea/Vietnam |
| 7 | 18B | American Legion/Veterans Groups/WWI/WWII/Korea/Vietnam (continued) |
| 7 | 19 | Schools |
| 7 | 20 | Government/Incorporations/Politics/Public Works |
| 8 | 21 | Telegraph/Telephone/Newspapers/Post Offices/Libraries/Railroads/ Trolley/Geography/Streets/Maps |
| 8 | 22A | People (Corning and Van Buren Families, Legal/Lawyers, Jail, Medical/Doctors, Houdini) |
| 8 | 22B | People (Corning and Van Buren Families, Legal/Lawyers, Jail, Medical/Doctors, Houdini) (continued) |
| 9 | 23A | Theaters/Opera House/Mills Hall/Celebrations/Sports/Recreation/Social Organizations/Houdini |
| 9 | 23B | Theaters/Opera House/Mills Hall/Celebrations/Sports/Recreation/Social Organizations/Houdini (continued) |
| 9 | 24 | New York State Cultural Reports on Houses |
| 10 | 25 | Santa Claus Club/General History |
| 10 | 26 | Miscellaneous |
| EL1 | Rough Notes (Valatie, N.Y. newspaper), March 13, 1888: Beaver Mill Fire and Blizzard of 1888 articles; Maury Harder Collection (from Binder 15) | |
| EL2 | Rough Notes (Valatie, N.Y. newspaper), October 20, 1922. Article on Carpenter house fire; very fragile; only extant issue; has been scanned by NYSL/MSC (July 1, 2008) (from Binder 15) | |
| 11 | Unprocessed materials to be added to binders 10-26 (accretion received November 2011) | |
| 12-20 | Accretions of March 2012-March 2013 – Unprocessed | |
| 12 |
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| 13 | Research materials, news clippings, memorabilia, etc. relative to village history and sesquicentennial celebration 2006 | |
| 14 | Research materials related to Valatie: The Forgotten History – archeological survey, architectural heritage, recreational area, and economic development | |
| 15 | Research materials related to Valatie: The Forgotten History, and miscellany
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| 16 | Research materials related to Valatie: The Forgotten History – assorted papers to be added to existing binders | |
| 17 | Research materials related to Valatie: The Forgotten History
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| 18 | Research materials related to Valatie: The Forgotten History
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| 19 | Research materials related to Valatie: The Forgotten History (folio box)
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| 20 | Research materials related to Valatie: The Forgotten History, and miscellany
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| Loose | EL | Photograph: Albany Hospital School of Nursing, Class of 1910 (framed) |