Time Capsule Contents

Town Historian Babette Huber has office hours are by appointment in the Town Hall. The position of Historian is a part-time Town Board appointment.

The Town of Victor Archives contains a wealth of information, including the following:
--  Assessment Rolls, 1813, 1829, 1864, 1871, 1979, 1883, 1888, 1891, 1900-01, 1903, 1905, 1907-50, 1952
--  Census Records, 1790-1850
--  Churches
--   Cobblestone Buildings of Victor
--  Cemeteries, Boughton Hill Cemetery, St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Village (sometimes called Methodist) Cemetery,
--  Genealogical Files
--  Maps
--  Military Records
--  Newspapers, mostly The Victor Herald microfilm from 1895-1995
--  Organizations
--  Personal Papers, Boughton Family, Bowyer Family, Charles Brown, Maurice Keefe, Nelson Lobdell, Dr. Alfred Mead, Rose Family
--  Schools, Districts 1-13, Victor High School, Central School District
--  Victor Historical Information

JANUARY 2008 TO DECEMBER 2008
(Report is required to be filed with the State Historian and the Ontario County Historian)

THE TOWN HISTORIAN COLLECTS, PRESERVES, AND INTERPRETS VICTOR HISTORY AND RESPONDS TO REQUESTS. GENERAL CATEGORIES FOR THE HISTORIAN'S ACTIVITIES ARE PRESERVATION, ORGANIZATION, RESEARCH, AND EDUCATION.

The Town Historian is a duly appointed (by the Supervisor) position by requirement of NYS Law 57.13.

2007 was the first year that this Historian also worked as the Village Historian as well as the Town Historian.


TOWN HISTORIAN'S ACTIVITIES:

As required by law, I collected material of historical significance. The inventory of collected material is on file, and an inventory of material acquired during 2008 is attached to this report.

My goals for 2008 included:

• To continue to make the students and adults in Victor community aware of their history and the historic resources in the town;
• To make Victor’s history more accessible through email, my website, programming, written articles;
• To continue with historic house histories for the Historic Victor Marker Program in the Village as well as the Town;
• To add more programs/presentations on the history of Victor;
• To develop an intern and volunteer program;
• To continue to put additions to the Archives on the database;
• To finish scanning the Archives’ photographs;
• To cooperate and assist other historic/service organizations in the community.

I have responded to over 265 requests for historical information, genealogy and other historian related assistance.

A Village Cemetery Preservation and Restoration Committee was formally organized and adopted by Town Board resolution on June 11, 2007. Many hours were spent working with this committee. See attached report from Dianne Parks and Bonnie Waters, Committee chairs. The cemetery was abandoned in the late 1940s and has since become the responsibility of the town by NYS Law 291 (1) (2)—Care of abandoned cemeteries located in villages is the responsibility of the town (Informal Opinion No. 81-25).

I have written articles for the Town of Victor Newsletter:

• “East Victor Bridge Controversy New? History Says Otherwise”
• “You’re Sleeping on the Job! The Story of Fred M. Locke,”
• “History Repeats Itself in Victor in 2008,”
• “Victor’s Evolution—Town Board Actions Over the Last 194 Years.”

The Victor Herald has requested a once a month article pertaining to life 50 and 100 years ago in Victor;

Programs presented were:

• “The New York to Paris Automobile Race in 1908” to the Victor-Farmington Kiwanis, the Naples Rotary, the Farmington Seniors and the Legacy;
• “Historic Victor” to the Legacy and the Honeoye Falls-Mendon Historical Society;

As part of the second Heritage Lecture series in May during Preservation Month:

• “Historians of Tomorrow,”—8th Grade History Day Project Presentation;
• “Ganondagan—Then and Now;”
• “The Wonders of Valentown Museum;”
• “Historic Victor Plaque Celebration,”—Along with Mayor John Holden and Deputy Supervisor Cody I presented 12 historic plaques at the second annual Village of Victor Historic Plaque ceremony and 3 plaques to Town recipients;

Put a display in the Village Hall on the Lehigh Valley Railroad in conjunction with the reopening of the Lehigh Valley in Victor;

Met with a Genealogy class sponsored by Victor Parks and Recreation and students from FLCC;

I attended the following workshops and/or conferences:

• OnCor (Ontario County Online Resources);
• Association of Public Historian of NYS conference;
• Preservation conference;
• Region 11 Association of Public Historians workshop;
• Microsoft Office 2007;
• Intro to Digital Images and Scanning
• Celebrations
• Maintaining Community Character and Historic Preservation (presented by Ontario County Planning);

Presented, along with the State Historian and Administrator for the Association of Public Historians, the Hugh Hastings Award for volunteerism, to Dianne Parks and Bonnie Waters;

Dedicated the Fred M. Locke historic marker on Route 96 east of Victor Village;

Meetings that I attended were: County Historian meetings; several Town Board, Planning Board and Architectural Review Board meetings; Victor Roundtable meetings; Town Hall Task Force meetings; Ganondagan; Victor Historical Society; the Ontario County Historical Society; Village Cemetery Preservation and Restoration Committee, Task Forces #3, #6, and #10 (Internal Champion for #10); Chris Day from Ontario County Public Works; American Legion; Nancy Herter, S(Approximately 7 meetings per month—not including meetings with Leslie, Town departments or department head meetings.) I keep in close contact with Gail Fischer, the regional state archivist, and have attended regional workshops for professional improvement.

Much time was spent this year working with the Town Hall Task Force to gather materials for the Time Capsule, organize six display cases, and assemble photographs for the hallway art.


Gave input to the Planning and Town Boards concerning Historic High Point, Fishers Ridge;

Updated the 1994 DOS database software to Windows for the historical collection;

Began monthly reports to the Town Board;

I am a member of the Ontario County Historical Society’s Board of Directors and will serve for three years and have been appointed the Curator Chair;

Collecting historical information was done by clipping articles and news of interest and obituaries from newspapers; putting new information into the Archives database; taking pictures and slides and indexing them in notebooks; obtaining house and barn histories and gathering genealogy information.

The average number of hours that I worked each week was 16.

I continue to appreciate the support of the Town to encourage history and preservation in Victor and to support its Historian who is in her 19th year serving in this capacity.

Respectfully submitted,


Babette M. Huber
Victor Town Historian
January, 2009