Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection Projects
Wreaths Across America
Wreaths Across America’s mission is “Remember, honor, and teach.” The Collection worked with local volunteers from Wreaths Across America , using our records and resources to locate the graves of those who have served and honor them.
The New Paltz Historic Documents Project is a collaboration between four institutions with collections of historical documents: Historic Huguenot Street, the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at Elting Memorial Library, the Reformed Church of New Paltz, and the Town of New Paltz. The project consists of conserving (as needed), digitizing, and making available online early documents from New Paltz and surrounding communities, ranging in date from the mid-1600s to 1830, with some mid and later 19th-century documents included.
The documents are made available online through the New York Heritage website and are supported by the Southeastern New York Library Resources Council. The project was funded by a series of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities between June 2018 and April 2025. As of July 2025, 29,312 pages of these historic documents have been made available and searchable online, and we continue to seek funding to complete this ambitious project.
Find out more about the project here.
Documents from our collection that were part of this project can be viewed here.
New Paltz Historic Documents Project
Working with Carol Johnson and Margaret Stanne from the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection, Gregory Krupp, a student intern for SUNY New Paltz’s Geography Department, mapped the land of the original patent and its early divisions. These divisions were made by the members of the Duzine, the twelve men, who governed our early township. Krupp was able to identify old boundary and plot lines combining today’s technology with old deeds, maps, town records, and stone walls, some of which were built with slave labor. All this land was not surveyed until 2017, 340 years after the patent. Online access to the Krupp Map is available at http://arcg.is/aueia.
Krupp Map
For a decade local history enthusiasts have worked to present the Annual Historic Houses on the Land Tour, a special look at the historical and unique homes of the Wallkill River Valley. The Collection provides essential assistance to researchers as they prepare the history of these homes, both through the architectural history of the houses and the families that lived in them.
Historic Houses of the Land Tour
Bridge over the Wallkill River, circa 1891-1940.
Since its inception in 1965, the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection has had a close working relationship with Historic Huguenot Street. This relationship has proved beneficial to both collections, through research, programming, and exhibitions, both on-site and virtually, such as the exhibit “Never was a slave,” Jacob Wynkoop and Carol Johnson’s lecture, “The Centennial of Women’s Suffrage in New York State.”
Collaboration with Historic Huguenot Street
The Lifetime Learning Institute (LLI) offers “stimulating and fun, non-credit, non-competitive courses for adults 55 years and older. Our courses are offered each fall and spring semester in four or eight-week formats.” Carol Johnson has taught courses for LLI, including an eight-week course on the history of New Paltz. The collection has also assisted many of the presenters with research for their own courses.
Collection Staff also offer programs for other local groups and organizations. If you or your group is interested in hosting such a program, contact collection staff at hhhc@eltinglibrary.org
Lifetime Learning Institute
Minnewaska State Park opened its first formal visitor’s center in October of 2020. Collection Manager Margaret Stanne worked with them to research material to be used in their exhibit design. Included in their exhibits is an interactive slideshow of photographs and documents detailing the history of the park land use, incorporating many photographs from the collection.
Lake Minnewaska Visitor Center Exhibits.
Since 1987 the Collections Coordinator has written a column in the local paper, using the headlines and articles from past New Paltz newspapers to talk about what life was like back then and how different or similar it was to now.