Amateur history seekers and local researchers will soon have a new resource for uncovering the past of Great Neck.
The Great Neck Historical Society has launched an initiative to catalogue records spread out among dozens of Great Neck’s organizations, associations, businesses and public entities – a program that Alice Kasten, the society’s president, said will help uncover the region’s history.
“It’s actually very difficult to do research on Great Neck,” said Kasten. “If you’re interested in finding out more on Great Neck’s past, the library has some material, but it’s hard to access and it doesn’t have as much material as it should.”
The historical society sent questionnaires several weeks ago to more than 55 groups, including village halls, local schools and the Great Neck Chamber of Commerce, asking them to detail records they possess that could be of historical importance and how the public can access them. The historical society will collect the responses and create a one-stop database informing researchers where Great Neck’s historical documents can be found, including photographs, letters, business records, maps and other miscellanea from the peninsula’s past.
“We’re sure there are organizations all over Great Neck that have records,” Kasten said. “What we’re trying to do is enable people who are doing research to access this information.
Kasten said researchers have worked on projects ranging from book-length histories of Great Neck to personal genealogies.
The group intends on putting the information in the library’s Great Neck history room. Kasten also said that an “archives conference” is in the works – the historical society hopes to have organizations display their historically important records and documents at a library event in April.
But for now there’s a long way to go.
The historical society has received about a half-dozen responses so far, according to Kasten.
