About the Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History

The mission of the Geneseo Center for Local and Municipal History is to increase civic engagement in the community by promoting the study of local history in New York State. We also seek to foster cooperation between students at SUNY-Geneseo and the state’s local history community.  That community is significant, and it is one that the academic historians have not worked with closely enough.  Under New York State law, every municipality in the state should have a local, government-appointed historian.

We feel that students from across the campus working through the Geneseo Center can provide assistance and support to local historians while they develop skills and gain work experience.  The Geneseo Center gives students real world, equitable “high impact” learning experiences, and allows them to connect local history to larger historiographical trends and contribute in important ways to telling the Empire State’s story.

Mission Statement

To increase civic engagement in the community by promoting the study of local history in New York State; and foster cooperation between students at SUNY-Geneseo and the region’s local history community

Board

Michael Leroy Oberg (Distinguished Professor, SUNY-Geneseo and Director).

Catherine Adams (Department of History, SUNY-Geneseo)

Darrell Norris (Department of Geography, SUNY-Geneseo)

Taylor Stoermer, (Museum Studies Program, Johns Hopkins University)

Michelle Finn (Rochester Deputy City Historian)

Amie Alden, (Livingston County Historian, retired)

Kevin White (Indigenous Studies, University of Toronto)

Mary Jo Lanphear (Town of Brighton Historian)

Contact Us:

LocalHistory@Geneseo.edu