Politics on the Hudson

Westchester County has a new county historian, or more specifically, history-keeper.

The Board of Legislators voted Monday to give the designation to the Westchester County Historical Society, which has been the de facto County Historian since the last one, Susan Swanson (no relation to the similarly-named legislator) moved out of the area in 1993.

The person or entity holding the job is responsible for promoting the “establishment and improvement of programs for the management and preservation of local government records with enduring value for historical or other research”; encouraging “the coordinated collection and preservation of nongovernmental historical records by libraries, historical societies and other repositories”; and carrying out and actively encouraging “research in such records in order to add to the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the community’s history.”

The appointment runs through December 2009.