Town Historian Settling In To New Office Space

By Nancy K. Crevier

Dan Cruson has officially been the town historian for Newtown since 1994, but his office has been “wherever I was,” Mr Cruson said recently. All that changed last month with the opening of the Town Historian’s office, housed appropriately enough, in historic Edmond Town Hall.

Located in the rear section of the former town clerk’s office, behind the new Borough office, Mr Cruson is thrilled to have a place where historic town documents can be safely stored.

“The reason I requested this space was because of the vault,” he said. The vault that had stored all town land deeds and other town documents is adjacent to his new office.

“The vault provides a protective environment for town documents and for historical documents,” said Mr Cruson.

Because he had never had a permanent space for the reams of papers and stacks of maps given to him and uncovered over the course of the past 16 years, much of that material was stored in the Booth Library vault, in The Matthew Curtiss House on Main Street, “or in my own family room,” Mr Cruson said, where the valuable documents were vulnerable to fires and to temperature changes. “The vaults prevent the deleterious effects of storing these papers,” he said, due to the controlled climate.

The Historical Image Archive will be moved from the library to the new town historian office in the near future. “These are the actual images and negatives that wouldn’t be handled by the public,” he noted.

The vault is a work in progress right now, said Mr Cruson. Ideal for his needs, shelving, map chests, and file cabinets have been recovered from Fairfield Hills buildings and placed in the vault.

“A year from now, these shelves will be filled. It will be substantially more complete than it is now,” he said, moving about stacks of antique ledgers and day books piled high on the central block of cabinets in the vault. Although the vault space is shared with documents belonging to the borough, it offers plenty of space in which to expand, he said.

Not only will the office allow Mr Cruson to spread out as he works and provide safe haven for documents, it will also offer somewhere to host meetings for town organizations like the Newtown Historical Society and the Village Cemetery Association. “I’m looking to put in a conference table that will allow that,” he said.

Currently, the furnishings are spare in the recently painted room. A large desk dominates the far end of the room, naturally lit on two sides by huge Palladian windows. Another desk, also relegated to the town historian from the former probate office, anchors the far corner of the room.

“These desks were custom made for Edmond Town Hall in 1930,” Mr Cruson said, at the same time that town benefactress, Mary Elizabeth Hawley, had similar desks manufactured for C.H. Booth Library.

A work desk centered against the back wall of the room is already covered in blueprints from a bygone era, and was also redirected to his new office from the former probate office, now relocated to Newtown Municipal Center at Fairfield Hills. Ticking and tocking gently above the wooden table is the Edmond Town Hall Master Clock, a regulator pendulum wall clock that maintains the proper time for all clocks in the building.

Visitors can chat with Mr Cruson, seated on a green-striped silk upholstered Second Empire couch, donated by the historical society.

“It was given to the historical society, but was in storage,” Mr Cruson explained of the furnishing, “because it doesn’t fit in the Curtiss House. It’s also the wrong time period.”

The fact that he can now host visitors is the another advantage to having his own office space, said Mr Cruson. “It makes me more available to the public. Having an office is easier in that people can now access me to ask questions, because it is convenient,” he said. Town documents are more readily available for public examination, and items that have for so many years been “far flung” are now gathered together in one spot.

“I’ll actually have somewhat regular office hours after the first of the year,” he said. Mr Cruson hopes to be in his Edmond Town Hall office Tuesdays and Thursdays, from noon to 4:30 pm, or by appointment. “However,” he chuckled, “I do reserve the right to ‘duck out.’”

Until the first of the year, it will be “catch as catch can” for office visits, he said, adding that he is working on installing the Internet and getting a phone. Because the position of town historian is an unfunded position, he is personally responsible for the costs of all supplies and equipment. He is appreciative of offers he has had from residents and local organizations to assist in the cost of setup and for ongoing office costs.

As Mr Cruson settles in to the new space, he looks forward to installing display cases to showcase local Indian artifacts and selected documents, all of which will change on a regular basis.

“I especially look forward to this as a place where the elementary students will visit,” said the former Joel Barlow High School history teacher. “When students are doing their tours of Main Street, I hope to be included,” he said.

For a brief tour of the new Town Historian office, view the video at NewtownBee.com.