Ontario County Receives State Archives Award
October 28, 2011
Albany, NY -- The New York State Archives and the Archives Partnership Trust have selected Ontario County to receive the 2011 Cheryl Steinbach Annual Archives Award for Excellence in Local Government Records Management.
The award was presented to County Administrator John Garvey, County Clerk Jack Cooley and Ontario County Records and Archives Center Director Dr. Hans-Joachim Finke at a luncheon ceremony at the Cultural Education Center in Albany on October 25, 2011. The award is named for the late Cheryl Steinbach, Chautauqua Town Clerk, who was a strong advocate for strengthening local government archival and records management programs.
The Steinbach award recognizes Ontario County as a model of excellence and best practices in the fields of records and information management. This award commends the county’s success at developing and implementing records management policies and procedures for all county departments, and mentoring hundreds of local government officials annually through records management consultations and hands-on training in inactive records management. In addition, the county’s records program provides professional archival research services to genealogists and researchers from around the world.
“We are pleased to recognize Ontario County for their outstanding efforts to manage and ultimately preserve the records of local government,” said State Archivist Christine Ward. “This entity was selected from among all local governments as having the finest program in the state in 2011. But the real winner is not this local government; rather it is the people of the State of New York. We commend all involved in this winning program and wish them continued success in the years ahead.”
Previous recipients of this annual award include Rockland County (2000), the City of Troy (2001), Corning Community College (2002), Niagara County (2003), Village of Dexter (2004), Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County (2005), Town of Cheektowaga (2006), Town of Lewisboro (2007), Ulster County (2008), the City of Saratoga Springs (2009) and Schuyler County (2010).
The annual Archives Awards program recognizes outstanding efforts in archives and records management work in New York State by a broad range of individuals and organizations. A complete list of this year’s award recipients follows:
William Hoyt Annual Archives Award for Advocacy
William Josephson, Of Counsel at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP
Lifetime Achievement for Services in Support of New York State History and Archives
Laurence M. Hauptman, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, State University of New York, New Paltz
Program Excellence in a Historical Records Repository
Local History/Genealogy Department of Archives of Central Library, Onondaga County Public Library
William H. Kelly Award for Excellence in Local Government Archival Program Development
Town of Russia
Cheryl Steinbach Award for Excellence in Local Government Records Management
Ontario County
Excellence in State Agency Records Management
Department of Taxation and Finance
Excellence in the Educational Use of Local Government Records by a Local Government
Clifton Park/Halfmoon Public Library
Laura and Robert Chodos Award for Excellence in Student Research Using Historical Records, Grades 4-5
Grant Tucker, Murray Avenue School, Mamaroneck Union Free School District,
Teacher: Pamela Tanenbaum
Laura and Robert Chodos Award for Excellence in Student Research Using Historical Records, Grades 6-8
Sarah Jones, Farnsworth Middle School, Guilderland Central School District,
Teacher: Deborah Escobar
Laura and Robert Chodos Award for Excellence in Student Research Using Historical Records, Grades 9-12
Cody Nager, North Salem High School, North Salem Central School District,
Teacher: Michael Valenti
