City Council made it official Monday for Ryan Duffy to establish his second office to be at City Hall.
Duffy, executive director at Holland Land Office Museum, will take the helm as city historian now that former historian Larry Barnes resigned the post at the end of 2023.
Why does he want to take on this secondary set of responsibilities?
“The nice thing is that it's similar to my regular job. So it's not a huge transition to just do it over here, as well. So I look at it as just adding on to my duties, really,” Duffy said after council’s business meeting at City Hall. “I write columns all the time. But I also deal with genealogy requests and things that city and municipal historians deal with. So a lot of the duties I perform, is a seamless transition. It's just working with a new collection, really.
What’s your favorite part about working with history?
“My favorite part, I went and studied history to study history. And the research aspect is always something I've enjoyed probably the most,” he said. “And I don't always get to do it all the time at the museum, at least in the same capacity. So it was a way to be able to do that but still dealing with something that I'm pretty passionate in, and know quite a bit about.”
Why is there a city historian?
The Arts and Cultural Affairs Law of New York State mandates that there be a city historian, and the position is appointed by City Council. Duffy’s term is for four years, effective immediately, according to the resolution approved during Monday’s business meeting.
Duffy was uncertain how many hours he’d actually be putting into the job, which is paid $5,000 annually. That wasn’t always the case, and for most of Barnes’ 16 years in the post, he was an unpaid volunteer. A push that began with former management and council led to the stipend in 2023.
The city historian’s office is located on the second floor of City Hall next door to council chambers, where filing cabinets are filled with research materials. During his terms, Barnes authored four books about various city topics, and Duffy isn’t certain just yet what he might " deep-dive” into. He is open to requests and questions, he said.
“I know there'll be ways to get in contact, even if I'm not here. So I welcome everybody to get in touch with me if they need something. Once I get settled in, I'll do my best to start combing through things and getting the history of Batavia out there,” he said.
The main number for City Hall is 585-345-6300.
