April 13, 2014
Re: The http://www.reynoldstonnewyork.org website
Dear Friends,
First off I want to thank all of you for your generosity in sharing material related to your family and loved ones with us and the website. Your support and encouragement has meant a great deal to us.
As many of you know, the website created by myself with the help of Robert McGowan, has not seen many changes over the past couple of years due to my own health issues. The good news is that my health is improving and I am looking forward to putting my last health issue – leukemia, into remission by the fall of this year.
None-the-less, the complexities of running a website have grown over the years and I do not see myself as either willing or able to carry out the work of managing a website in an ever more complex technical environment.
Over the past five years, Mr. McGowan and I have worked very closely with SUNY at Plattsburgh – Special Collections – in the Feinberg Library. We have now deposited all the original tapes, transcripts, photos, correspondence, manuscripts, and related documents that we collected for over fifty years into Special Collections for long term preservation.
In addition SUNY Plattsburgh has also generously agreed to take over the Reynoldston website and maintain it within their own systems. This will mean changes of course, but the core of all the material contained on the site will be preserved. I know that they will treat you and the material you shared with us on the website, with the same respect we worked hard to demonstrate. Mr. McGowan and I plan to continue to support the website through the SUNY at Plattsburgh.
Lastly, we want to encourage you to also consider donating your own original material to SUNY Plattsburgh to ensure it survives for many, many generations. The history of Northern New York is not well known. Thus the more material that is permanently preserved means that the lives and stories of our families and neighbors will be there for future generations to study and enjoy.
The contact at SUNY Plattsburgh, Special Collections is Debra Kimok who is just as devoted to the history of our area as we are. You can contact her by email at kimokdm@plattsburgh.edu
With best wishes,
William Langlois & Robert H. McGowan