From the Editor
This is my last issue as Editor of the Review . 19 years have passed since my introduction as your new editor by Mary Van Order Norton. It has been a wonderful experience; especially meeting and knowing so many with an interest in sharing and preserving Schoharie County History. Please accept my sincere appreciation to all who, over the past years, have contributed articles to the Review.
Les Hendrix of Schoharie, will take over as Editor of the Review with the fall 2001 issue. Thank you to Alan Ginsburg, Professor Emeritus, SUNY Cobleskill, for the following introduction-
Whether he’s perusing documents or compiling facts and figures, Les Hendrix’s goal as a local historian is to explore what is relevant and interesting in the past and how it relates to the present.
“In exploring anything and everything, you come across a lot of misinformation, so you have to be careful and discerning,” says Mr. Hendrix. One of his aims as editor of the Historical Review will be to formulate research and writing guidelines for contributors.
The first issue of the Review was a four page mimeographed newsletter in 1937, published by the Schoharie County Historical Society and called Yo-Sko-Ha-Ro. It’s masthead read, “History, Tradition, Culture, Foresight.”
A former newspaper reporter and editor for both the Cobleskill Times-Journal and the Gazette Newspapers, as well as assistant city editor and features editor for the Albany Times-Union , Mr. Hendrix has acquired a vast experience in determining the accuracy of a story and a willingness to provide guidance and coaching for writers.
Mr. Hendrix has a bachelor’s degree in English from Syracuse University. He served in the Air National Guard, was mobilized for a tour of active duty in Germany during the Berlin Wall crisis, received a letter of commendation and was later commissioned.
Mr. Hendrix’s interest in local history began in 1984 when he helped his mother, Roberta L. Hendrix, then the Cazenovia town historian, edit and publish a book about the community’s origins. She had found in a library safe a collection of handwritten composition books, from 1885, about the founding of Cazenovia.
In 1987 he was drafted by Helene Farrell, then executive director of the Schoharie County Historical Society, to compile and write a new county history. Mr. Hendrix began reading local history. Much of it was compiled and written by citizens interested in a particular area of the county’s past, from the archeology of the Mohawks to the settlement of the Palatines, from the Revolutionary War to World War II. He also enjoyed reading about local folklore, notable events, and stories about the area’s famous and infamous residents.
That resulted in the Society’s publication of Sloughter ‘s Instant History of Schoharie County in 1988, and an expanded edition titled The Sloughter ‘s History of Schoharie County, From the Arrival of the Wisconsin Glacier to the Devastation of North Blenheim , in 1994.
Throughout the process of compiling the book, Mr. Hendrix consulted with and was encouraged by academic and lettered historians, as well as people in the Schoharie County historical and writing communities. He also attended a workshop conducted by Carol Kammen, a senior lecturer in history at Cornell University and authority on writing local history.
Mr. Hendrix’s appointment as editor of the Review is viewed by Kammen as an asset to the Historical Society’s efforts to record and preserve the county’s history.
“The Schoharie County Historical Society is very fortunate to have Les’s energy and attention. He is careful, interested in presenting good history, intelligent, and has a delicious sense of humor. What more would be needed in an editor,” Kammen said.
In 1997, Mr. Hendrix retired from a 32-year newspaper career to start a second career in public service with Schoharie county. He is now an administrator in state government.