Zadock Pratt Museum is Awarded Two Grants - From NBT Bank & Bank of Greene County

Top left to right; Stephen Birnbaum, museum president, Mason Chase, Prattsville Councilman and liaison to the museum, Tony Bluestone, museum board member, Stephanie Goff, AVP Branch Manager III NBT Bank, and Anne Donovan, museum board member.

PRATTSVILLE — Zadock Pratt Museum will be using the monies received from these financial institutions for reinvesting into the operational programs of the museum and to start the process of archiving historical documents.

NBT Bank, headquartered in Norwich, NY, acting through its branch in Windham chose Zadock Pratt Museum for a grant totaling $5000 for the preservation of community archives. The NBT Grant will be dispersed in 2025 and 2026, for $2500 per year. According to Anne Donovan, ZPM board member who worked on securing the grant, “Documents dating back to the 1700s will be carefully archived for access by current and future generations. NBT Bank has provided funds to begin this complicated process.”

Earlier in the summer, Donovan hosted an event at the museum that drew widespread attendance from surrounding counties that examined the power of community archives with an expert conservator from Harvard University Library’s Preservation Services, Melanie Meents. “It’s our mission to preserve these documents and learn from the leaders in the field on best practices, NBT grant money helps us to get started,” added Donovan.

The Bank of Greene County, which serves customers in the Hudson Valley and Capitol Region, presented a check for $2000 to Stephen Birnbaum, board president of the museum, through the bank’s charitable foundation. “The support Bank of Greene County provides the museum enables us to offer informational and cultural programs to the public. We really appreciate the continued support of this institution,” states Birnbaum.

About the museum: The Zadock Pratt Museum is in the Great Northern Catskills mountaintop region, the museum is the former residence of Zadock Pratt a U.S. Congressman, banker, soldier and industrial revolution innovator as well as the namesake for the town he founded, Prattsville. Built in 1828 and redesigned in the 1850s, it has been on the National Register of Historic places since 1986.

For more information visit www.zadockprattmuseum.org or contact Karen Johnson at 631-617-4109