Town Historian Responsibilites

The Town Historian is responsible for:

• Collecting and preserving material relating to the history of the Town

• Maintaining accuracy to the best of his/her abilities when writing stories

• Making materials accessible to students and researchers

• Cooperates with groups and officers in research and in preparation of programs and celebrations

• Participating in planning exhibits and events

• Trying to continually add to the local historical files with pertinent materials (tapes, pictures, microfilm, etc.)

• Documenting cemetery records and any other information of local historical value

Rush Museum

The Rush History Office is actively collecting materials for the Rush Museum in the Town Hall. If you have anything that the museum may be interested in, please contact the Town Historian or stop by Mondays between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm and peruse the museum collection.

Current resources that are available in the Town History office include:

• Census Records from 1800-1865 -- Most are currently not alphabetized and are written in long hand and are very hard to read.

• Assessment Rolls from 1818, 1820, 1918 and 1977

• 1872 Beers Atlas

• Cemetery Records for Maplewood Cemetery (in Henrietta), Pine Hill Cemetery (old records only), Pioneer Hill Cemetery, North Rush Cemetery, West Rush Cemetery, East Rush Cemetery (also known as Webster, Crosby or German), Thomas cemetery, and the No. 6 Cemetery (also known as McFarlan or Palmer).

• Genealogy Records on older families of Rush -- The majority of these records are not organized. Most records are from people who have done research on their own and sent copies. Some records are handwritten letters/documents that have been given to us.

• Photos -- We have new and old photographs available of area town buildings, barns, bridges, celebrations, cemeteries, churches, clubs, the Rush dam, dedications, disasters, events, farming, holidays, Rush homes, parades, parks, people, the railroad, reenactments, the reservoir, road crews, roads, schools and students, and veterans.

• Pamphlets on area towns, genealogy, etc.

• Maps of Rush dating back to early 1800's

• The books "Landmarks of Monroe County", with an index by name and "History of Monroe County NY", with illustrations and an index by name. Many other books are also located in our office.