Newly appointed Village of Montgomery Historian Brian Fitzpatrick strode around the village museum, pointing out exhibits displaying village businesses, buildings, and school and military memorabilia. He had a smile on his face as he talked about his plans for the role.

He stopped at a plastic display board with the words, “honoring our past, celebrating the present, and embracing the future,” the new motto Fitzpatrick will live by as historian.

“When you think about history, you’re sometimes looking in the rear-view mirror,” Fitzpatrick said. “You’re trying to capture what happened, and whose involved, and what was it like? While you’re doing that, what’s really happening is history is today.”

He wants to showcase events with a long history, like St. Pat’s Ramble. He will interview current business owners while cataloguing past village businesses.

He also wants to talk to and interview ordinary village residents and past residents, cataloguing their memories and current day to day life.

“Everyone has a history because it’s their memories and their recollection of what happened,” Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick pointed to City Winery as a future project that will restore the old Montgomery Worsted Mills factory, highlighting the future of the village while preserving the past.

“With City Winery we’re watching history in the making,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s the restoration of an incredible historic site. Restoring a building and putting life back into it at that scale is an incredible opportunity for us to save the past and build on the future.”

He also wants to incorporate new visual story-telling elements, such as videos or pictures.

As for events, he plans to open the museum one night a week, bring in historic speakers and open the museum for events on the front lawn.

It fits into his overall strategy of engaging the community—from businesses to Valley Central School District to local veterans—building on the programs previous historian Marion Wild created.

Fitzpatrick will be aided in the role by his wife, Charlene, and granddaughter.

Fitzpatrick has been preparing for the role since July, when he started working with Wild. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to take the role at first, but Wild was good at convincing him.

“It’s tough to say no to Marion Wild,” Fitzpatrick said.

The village historian since 1990, Wild left a strong legacy for Fitzpatrick to follow.

“She’s not as tall as me, but I’m not going to be able to fill her shoes,” Fitzpatrick said.

Wild transitioned the village museum to its current home across the street at 142 Clinton Street, expanding the museum’s capacity. Fitzpatrick said Wild is a strong writer and contributed tremendously to cataloguing and recording village history.

“Marion’s contribution to the village, to the museum, to its history, her knowledge, her passion, is second to none,” Fitzpatrick said.

Other previous historians are Joseph Wilkin, Emma Locke and Mary Kovar and Ruth Hanlon.

The museum will host a grand opening on April 27 at 1 p.m. A short opening ceremony will be followed by light refreshments in the museum garden. For more information, call 457-7576 or email historian@villageofmontgomery.org.