Points North Newsletters

July/August 2008

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Research Writing Contest Winners Are Announced Mary Jane Watson of South Colton was the first place winner of the Researching the North Country Writing Competition. She is shown receiving her $1,000 check and certificate from NNYLN Executive Director John Hammond. Laura Halferty was the second place contest winner. With more than five months invested into research, writing and re-writing, a South Colton woman has been named the winner of the first Researching the North Country Writing Competition. Mary Jane Watson claimed first prize winnings of $1,000 from the Northern New York Library Network for her essay on "St. Lawrence County Native Leads New Deal Opposition." The second place winner of $500 was Laura Halferty of Ellisburg, for her essay on "Irish Women in Oswego, 1855 and 1915." The Northern New York Library Network was pleasantly surprised to receive 36 essays for the writing competition. Submissions were judged on quality of the scholarship; originality of topic and treatment; and use of local libraries, archives, and cultural resources. The two winning essays may be found on the Network’s website at www.nnyln.org, and click on "Researching the North Country Writing Competition Results." Ms. Watson’s essay focused on a significant portion of the political career of South Colton native Congressman Bertrand H. Snell. It was described by the Network as demonstrating "...good documentation, a well-developed and well-supported argument, clear writing, and good integration of local and national politics." Upon being notified of her award, Ms. Watson said she was "very happy and pleasantly surprised." She is already looking forward to participating in next year’s event. "I find the research more fun than the writing," she smiled. "I was glad to hear of such a competition. There is so much to be discovered (in the region). A lot of local people went on to fame." Ms. Watson noted she had worked for 30 years, and then went back to school, earning her Masters degree in history at McGill University. During her last semester she had to work on a major research paper. She turned to SUNY Potsdam and with the assistance of Archivist Jane Subramanian, conducted research in the Bertrand Snell Collection. "Research is like a mystery. You start out trying to find information on a person or event. Each thing is a building block to that person or event," Ms. Watson said. "There is fun in the pursuit. There is history here people don’t know about." Ms. Halferty’s essay was described by the Network as being well written, and including a wide variety of sources. "She made her case clearly and concisely." "I became interested in writing local history when I took a graduate course with Dr. Judith Wellman at SUNY Oswego, and that’s when I began researching local Irish women," Ms. Halftery said. "I chose to focus on Irish women immigrants for a few reasons: first, I’ve always been interested in Irish and Irish-American history and my own Irish heritage. Second, despite the fact that Oswego had such a large population of Irish immigrants, little has been written about them. And third, Irish women immigrants are unique among other women immigrants because so many of them came to America alone - without husbands or family members," she continued. "I was ecstatic when I found out I was a winner," Ms. Halferty said upon hearing the news. "The point of doing local history is so communities can benefit from it. There’s a whole world of social history in our own backyards." Those interested in reading more about Bertrand Snell’s time in history, or the lives of immigrant women in Oswego, may find the essays at www.nnyln.org A complete list of names of everyone who entered the competition and the titles of their essays may also be found here.

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