The Records Donation Program
When the twelve original counties of the Colonial Province of New York were created in 1683, the clerk of the Court of Sessions acted as registrar of land conveyances and was generally known as the County Clerk. Since then the duties of the clerk have 
included custodian of civil and criminal court records and minutes; recorder of land records; agent for the Department of State for passports; agent for the Department of Justice for immigration; agent for the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles for registration and licensing; and the custodian of county records. As custodian of records, the County Clerk oversees the Ulster County Records Management Program – a proven success that is recognized throughout New York State.
That recognition has lead to recent returns of official Ulster County records of historical value – some from the New York State Archives in 2003, others from the Huguenot Historical Society in 2001 and 2005 and most recently the Davis Family Records Donation. Continuing a more than 320 year tradition of responsible records management that began with a locked wooden chest in a basement store room and is now known as the Ulster County Archives, a state-of-the-art facility in the Ulster County Records Center, the Honorable Nina Postupack, our 45th Clerk of the County of Ulster, announces a new initiative called the Records Donation Program.
county records, especially those of historical value, and to recognize their donors. Official county records are those that were at one time, filed or recorded by the County Clerk’s Office. Donors’ names will be engraved on a plaque installed in a place of honor in the Records Center to remember those who realize that official public records, especially those of significant historical value, should remain in the public domain.
