The best part of the Oral History Project is capturing the local stories and personal histories of lots of folks. How lucky we are to have Ron Van Tassel's retelling - on camera - of how he and his twin brother raced from their childhood home on Cold Water Street to watch the trains pull in and out of the Hillsdale station from the bridge that once crossed above the tracks. Or especially how they timed their visits so they could experience being lifted off their feet from the steam bursts. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. 

But there's another awesome benefit of getting people to share their stories. That's the wide range of artifacts and photographs our subjects share. Some materials have been donated to the RJHS permanent collection, like this conductor's cap, shown at right. As the story goes, says Ron Vincent, it was found along the Hillsdale stretch of the NY Central Railroad - apparently after blowing off the head of a conductor. Others have also donated or loaned precious family photographs. The banner photo on top of this newsletter shows our Main Street in about 1910. It is part of a collection that belongs to Ruth and John Dodds who were recently interviewed on their beautiful North Hillsdale farm, below.

The collection is constantly growing. If you or your family have materials to donate or just want them to be photographed for the permanent archive, please contact the Roe Jan Historical Society here.