Print Collection

Owen D. Young was born on October 27, 1874 in VanHornesville, New York, educated at St. Lawrence University and Boston University. He died July 11, 1962 in St. Augustine and is buried in VanHornesville, New York . The Young collection documents five decades of national and international business and political history, including the post World War I reparation period which saw Young as the key figure in the Dawes Plan of 1924 and the Young Plan of 1929 with its provisions for the still existing Bank of International Settlements.

The idea of a "seaway" dates back to 1892 when U.S. Rep. John Lind of Minnesota sponsored a resolution in Congress for a joint U.S.-Canadian investigation into the possibility of building a deep-draft waterway from the head of Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean. In 1921 the International Joint Commission recommended that the U.S. and Canada enter into a treaty for a joint power and navigation project on the St. Lawrence River and Roosevelt recommended it again in 1943 but each time was rejected by the Senate.

The Adirondack Collection consists of ephemera, promotional literature, maps, magazines, commercial photo albums, picture books, Seneca Ray Stoddard photographs, and 2 groups of unidentified photographs. Also included are the records of Citizens to Save the Adirondack Park, from 1975-1982.

Benjamin M. Kip was born August 27, 1871 in Canton, N.Y. and died October 1, 1957 in Canton. He attended Canton schools and graduated from New York Art School. From 1898 until 1948, when he retired, he was a photographer in Canton. The collection consists of glass plate negatives and various prints that belonged to Benjamin Kip, a photographer in Canton, N.Y. These negatives were used in published souvenir books of Potsdam, Canton, and Gouverneur, N.Y. in the late 1800's.

The North Country Defense Committee and the coalition Upstate People for Safe Energy Technology (UPSET) were the most prominent groups that opposed the implementation of the 765 kV power line by the New York State Power Authority. For a five-year period, between 1975 and 1980, these two groups and some 20 others fought the construction of a 150 mile high voltage power line in Northern New York State. In addition to the power line controversy, a priority of the NCDC was to inform the public of the possibility of the construction of a nuclear power plant in Upstate New York.

This collection contains records and papers pertaining to Birdsfoot Farm. Box 1 contains a brief history of the beginnings of Birdsfoot from 1972-1975. Within the collection are meeting minutes, financial records, and land trust agreements (1988-2007) pertaining to the Birdsfoot community. While Birdsfoot was founded in 1972, this collection mostly documents the activities from 1987 through 2007. The disposition of records for the period 1972-1986 is currently unknown.

The Canadian Rebellion of 1837 was a movement in Lower Canada toward establishing a French Republic on the St. Lawrence River that was led by Louis Joseph Papineau. During the same year William Lyon MacKenzie led a similar armed revolt in Upper Canada which failed, he then fled to the United States and established headquarters on Navy Island on the Canadian side of the Niagara river and tried to continue the rebellion with the aid of sympathizers from the United States.