DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS:  This is varied work usually performed by an individual with training or experience in local and regional history who has an interest in preserving, interpreting and promoting the history of Putnam County. The individual should be available on regular basis at the office provided by the County to answer inquiries, to assist researchers and to make the County History library and archives publicly accessible.  The position is governed by statute (Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, §57.07; Local Government Records Law, Article 57-A, §1; County Law, §400). The incumbent receives direction from the State Historian and the County Executive.  Performs related work as required.

TYPICAL WORK ACTIVITIES:  (Illustrative only)

• Collects and preserves material relating to the history of Putnam County and of the region and maintains a library, subject files, an archive and databases of use to researchers, historians and future generations;
• Collects, preserves and files photographs and maps illustrative of Putnam County's present and past and maintains a database of these collections;
• Initiates, plans, organizes, coordinates and implements programs relating to County history in cooperation with the County's local government historians, historical and preservation agencies in Putnam County and acts as a liaison between them and the Office of State Historian;
• Works with the Records Management Officer to promote improvement in the preservation and management of County records and ar­chives, cares for and manages the public records and archives entrusted to the County Historian and serves as a member of the County Records Advisory Board;
• Conducts research and through writing, exhibits and public pro­grams, interprets and promotes interest in and a better understanding of Putnam County history;
• Acts as a resource for all departments of County government; for teachers and students in schools, colleges and universities; for local government historians, historical agencies, re­searchers and writers;
• Performs a variety of related activities.

Typical Work Activities are intended only as illustrations of possible types of work that might be appropriately assigned to an incumbent of this title. Work activities that do not appear above are not excluded as appropriate work assignments, as long as they can be reasonably understood to be within the logical limits of the job.

FULL PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: Good knowledge of Putnam County history; good English language skills; knowledge of conservation and preservation; ability to carry out research with original records and documents, to interpret those records and documents in a broad historical context, to organize information and historical data and statistics and to conform to acceptable scholarly norms regarding attribution and citation of sources; ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing, including public speaking and teaching skills; organizational ability; keyboard and computer skills.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Either

1. Master's degree or doctoral degree including concentration in American history or a related field; or
2. Bachelor's degree including some concentration in history or a related field, and minimum of two (2) years experience, paid or volunteer, in an historical agency, museum, preservation organization, archive, historical records repository or history library, as a local government historian, in an educational institution or other public setting involving history, or in research and historical writing; or
3. Graduation from high school or possession of a comparable diploma and at least five (5) years experience, paid or volunteer, in an historical agency, museum, preservation organization, archive, historical records repository or history library, as a local government historian, in an educational institution or other public setting involving history, or in research and historical writing; or
4. An equivalent combination of training and experience as indicated in a), b) and c) above.

PLEASE NOTE: Your degree must have been awarded by a college or university accredited by a regional, national, or specialized agency recognized as an accrediting agency by the U.S. Department of Education/U.S. Secretary of Education.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT:  Access to transportation is required to perform field work responsibilities in a timely and efficient manner.

APPOINTMENT NOTE:  The County Historian may supervise/coordinate the work of Town and Village Historians; it is therefore recommended that a County Historian not serve as either a Town or Village Historian while serving as the County Historian.

12/81; 11/90; 1/94; 11/95; 10/97; 6/09

Non-Competitive Class (PT)