New York (State). Office of State History.

The position of State Historian was created by statute in 1895 (Chapter 393) and filled by appointment of the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. The State Historian's official duties were to "collect, collate, compile, edit and prepare for publication all official records, memoranda and data" relative to the wars and state relations of the Colony and State of New York. For nearly two decades he carried out this mandate by collecting and publishing records on the history of the state.

The State Historian was placed under the Education Department in 1911 and made director of the newly created Division of History (Chapter 380). The same laws also created in the Education Department a Division of Public Records under a supervisor appointed by the Governor. The Supervisor of Public Records was charged with examining the condition of records kept in the public offices of counties, cities, villages, and towns, or kept by any organization created under state law. Under the law, the Education Department also had "general and exclusive supervision, care, custody and control" of all public records of any discontinued public office, institution, or organization.

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