I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season as we enter the new year. With the final hours of 2023 at hand, I wanted to take the time to share some of this year’s accomplishments in my roles as an author, historian, musician, and preservationist:
Two weeks ago, I successfully attained my master’s in public administration from Marist College, summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA. As my activities as a student in the field of education, at least for now, come to an end, I am immensely thankful to all those at Marist College who have made my experience extremely rewarding since 2018. Moving forward, I have begun researching the professional employment sector but I am confident that Marist will continue to be an important facet of my work. In April, I will be returning to the institution with my first experience as an instructor for the college’s Life Long Learning programs held at the nearby Locust Grove Historic Site. This first four-part course will cover topics of neglected history in the Hudson Valley as seen through artifacts. I will also be instructing a similar course for Vassar College’s version of this program in March 2024.
As a self-employed lecturer and musician, 2023 was an astounding success with 135 bookings as far south as Fair Lawn, NJ, to as far north as Chatham, NY. This year, I was particularly fortunate to receive a $1,000 community arts grant from the Orange County Arts Council, which has heightened the quality of my concerts by introducing a new 1,000-watt Yamaha amplifier. From a “Salute to Broadway” to the “British Invasion” and “A Night at the Opera,” 12 concerts have been compiled and/or are close to complete — all of which are derived from the original “Bach-2-Rock” performance. Additionally, 2023 saw the debut of new lectures such as “Rails to the River: The Story of Newburgh’s First Railroad” and “Borscht Belt Material Culture: Artifacts from the Catskills Resort Age” — a program tied with my work as an advisory board member for the Catskills Borscht Belt Museum. I am thankful to the libraries, senior centers, and community venues that are consistent supporters of my work; as of today, I have already secured nearly half of this year’s total bookings for the first nine months of 2024.
In April of this year, I was elected as president of the Woodbury Historical Society — an organization that has had a significant impact on my perspectives of local history. I was very fortunate to receive this position with a strong foundation already in place and an enthusiastic team of board members has allowed us to spearhead two of the organization’s most successful events. Town of Highlands historian Ronnie Coffey’s enlightening lecture on the history of Harriman and Bear Mountain State Parks drew a crowd of over 120, while our all-new “Toy Train Legacy” boasted more than 250 in attendance. Between my colleagues and my studies in Marist’s MPA department, I look forward to many more successes in 2024 with a collaborative approach to preserving local history.
As an author, I am pleased to announce that two articles have been approved for peer-review journals in 2023 and are currently amidst revisions for, hopefully, the 2024 season. First, a lengthy work stemming from nearly 10 years of research on Edward Henry Harriman’s incline railway to Arden House has been accepted for the Society of Industrial Archaeology’s IA Journal. Following this, a second publication in the New York Archives Magazine on New York’s earliest milk bottles will be coming in 2024. Simultaneously, I am working on an overview of the Orange County Milk Association — a company with ties to the first milk shipment made by rail in 1842 — for the Goshen Public Library and Historical Society’s new journal. With my master’s degree now attained, I will also be returning to revising and re-submitting my manuscript of Orange County’s rich dairy farming history to various university presses.
The Orange County Milk Bottle Museum now has nearly 900 milk bottles in its collection and has received many visitors by appointment. Among many special acquisitions, I was fortunate to secure a large quantity of rare milk bottles from noted collector Joe Kirby who’s family operated the Lakeside Dairy in Newburgh, NY. Additionally, at the end of the year, a one-of-a-kind toy wagon advertising “Orange County Pure Milk” was added to the museum’s exhibits. The reality that toys advertised this fresh dairy product lends even more credence to the fame of Orange County’s milk across the region. This year’s open house had double the attendees from last year and additionally benefitted from features on Spectrum News, News12 Hudson Valley, and the National Association of Milk Bottle Collectors’ “Milk Route” newsletter. Traveling exhibits also made their way to the Monroe Historical Society’s Collector’s Day in March and the Mount Hope Historical Society’s Harvest Day Festival in October. Stay tuned for the date of next year’s open house soon!
For continued updates on my work, I recommend a visit to my website: alexprizgintas.com. The development of this tool has also been a key success of 2023 and I am very thankful to my website manager, Rhyta Rounds, for her consistent attention to detail and timely updates; 2023 has been an exciting adventure, and I look forward to sharing new developments for 2024 very soon. Thank you for your continued support of my efforts and I hope that you have a happy new year!
Alex Prizgintas, town historian
Woodbury