Archive: Around Town

The Lansing Historical Archives building is getting a new roof this week.  The building houses the Town's historical records, diaries, clothing, and other materials, as well as official town records.  The work includes the new roof, paid for by the Lansing Historical Association, and will be followed up with repairs to siding and other renovations by the Town Highway Department.

The structure was purchased in kit form and assembled in 2005.  It includes a large storage/display space, an office for Town Historian Louise Bement, a room that had been intended to be climate controlled for delicate artifacts and documents, and an attic space used to store official town records, both paper and computer backup disks.  Federal law requires the Town to keep records for 150 years.


The Lansing collection includes more than two centuries worth of documents, objects and clothing.  Bement receives many requests for research and information from individuals and families tracing their genealogy, or nailing down historical facts.  In 2015 Bement provided a series of photographs to the Lansing Tops Market which were enlarged and installed around the store to give it a more local flavor.  A series of them were merged to form a huge mural displayed in the foyer of the store.  She has provided photographs to other local businesses, including Crossroads Bar & Grill.

New York State requires its municipalities to have historians.  There are more than 1,300 appointed historians in the state.  Lansing has collected records since Alice Bristol began recording Lansing history in 1929.  Since that time there have been a number of historians, but the archive was spread out in the historians' private homes, garage, and a storage unit until the archival building was constructed.


The building was originally constructed by a combination of professional and volunteer workers, and has been plagued with leaks and various construction issues since it was first erected.

Bement opens the building to the public most Saturday mornings from 10am to noon.

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