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PUBLIC NOTICE: NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIFACT COLLECTORS

PUBLIC NOTICE:

CALL TO NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIFACT COLLECTORS IN THE TOWNS OF CLERMONT, GERMANTOWN, LIVINGSTON

The Towns of Clermont, Germantown and Livingston History Departments Historians have been reviewing evidence of the original Native American inhabitants of the three-town area. This review was further developed by Germantown Historian, Tom Shannon, during his presentation on Indigenous People in Germantown at the Germantown Library in Spring 2023. This led to the beginning of a project to coordinate information between the three towns to discover what records and/or artifacts existed. The product of this study is hoped to be an exhibit and web pages documenting Native American industries and presence in the area.

Columbia County was part of the ancestral homeland of the Mohican People from time immemorial to the Livingston land purchases and the initial patent to Livingston Manor in 1686. Today, the Stockbridge Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, a federally recognized tribe with its reservation in Central Wisconsin, is dedicated to preserving its heritage in its homelands through its Tribal Historic Preservation Office based in Williamstown, MA. The Towns have been in consultation with Dr. Jeff Bendremer, the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), to help facilitate this project.

Dr. Brendremer has graciously agreed to review the artifacts to help identify their age and use. This information is significant to the Project because it will help put the objects in context and explain the industries along the Roeliff Jansen Kill and Hudson River. Our objective is to organize a meeting with the Stockbridge-Munsee THPO in the March of 2026.

To that objective, anyone in the area who has a collection of artifacts found locally on farm fields or excavation sites and who are interested in learning more about their history and use is asked to please contact either Tom Shannon, Germantown Historian GermantownHistory@gmail.com or Dawn Brownson, Clermont Historian historianclermontny@gmail.com. 

Be assured that all artifacts will be returned after Dr. Brendremer’s study and will remain the property of the collection holder. This Project is for historical and educational purposes only. We welcome participation of local residents, high school students and/or scouts to help expand knowledge of the history of our Towns and region.

Thank you for your interest in this Project.