Don Rittner
Encyclopedia
Don Rittner is an American
historian
, archeologist, environmental activist, educator
, and author
living in the Capital District
, Schenectady County, New York
. He is the official Schenectady County Historian, responsible for providing guidance and support to municipal historians and serving as a conduit between the State Historian in Albany and the local historians in their counties. He is also the Albany
City Archeologist and the Schenectady City
Historian. He is the author of 30 books on history, natural history, computers, and other subjects.
He attended the University of Albany where he was a student of William B. Efner, his predecessor as County Historian. In 1973 he became the archeologist for the city of Albany. He excavated old Colonial tavern sites and roads, and located the old King's Highway, erecting markers to commemorate the historic route.
He was named the Schenectady County Historian in 2004. Shortly afterward he was named the official Schenectady City Historian as well. During 2008 he discovered the first railroad tunnel in America through Schenectady's Stockade region and was able to show that 9 Front Street, today a residential home, was actually a stone blockhouse from the French and Indian War period dated 1725. His discovery was featured on "The History Detectives" PBS show in September, 2008.
During the 1970s, he led the fight to save the famous Albany Pine Barrens, known as the Pine Bush. He founded the Pine Bush Historic Preservation Project and was responsible for the city of Albany acquiring its first nature preserve, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. During 1983–89 he served as the preserve's manager. During this time he designed a 40-mile hiking trail around the city of Albany called the Albany Greenbelt. He was responsible for the historic roads and trail system in the preserve to become part of the National Trails System in 1985.
He succeeded in getting both the city and county of Schenectady designated as "Preserve America" communities by the federal government in 2006. In 2007 he placed two historic sites in the city of Schenectady (the Ernst Alexanderson home and the All Electric House) as winners in Parade Magazine's "Tell America's Story" contest. Only four sites in New York State won, with Schenectady winning two spots and being the only city in the entire nation to have two winners.
He has published 30 books in history, science, and technology. From 1999 to 2005, he wrote a history column for seven years for the Troy Record called "Heritage on the Hudson".
Rittner also manages the Capital District Preservation Task Force listserve that provides daily newspaper coverage in history, planning, and preservation to more than 80 leading preservation and environmental groups. He writes a history blog on the Albany Times Union website.
Rittner produces "Thinking Art," through stereo photography and has had his stereo photographs exhibited in museums and art shows. He created the Schenectady Art Attack in the Spring of 2010 to showcase the thousands of creative artists working throughout the Capital District. More than 500 artists displayed their work in over two dozen venues and it has become an annual event. He currently curates the Schenectady Roundtable, a smaller version of the Art Attack at Schenectady City Hall, where artists, lectures, and music are a monthly feature of the city's art night on the third friday of each month.
Rittner has also appeared as an extra in several films (Ironweed, Age of Innocence, Winter of Frozen Dreams, Aftermath, Payback), and is a founder of the Schenectady Film Alliance with Nick Barber. He maintains a film alliance listserv. He is commissioner of the Schenectady Film commission created by the Schenectady City Mayor Brian Stratton. Rittner has been producer and host of several radio shows, including Inside the Net, one of the first radio shows about the Internet (1992), and was publisher of The Mesh - Inside Cyberspace, one of the first newspapers about the Net (1995). He also published Hardcopy for the Common Good in the 1980s, and currently publishes Skenectada, a newspaper about the history of Schenectady County. He is the president of The Onrust Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization that built a replica of The Onrust, the first ship built in New York State in 1614 and first American Yacht (http://www.theonrust.com). It was launched in May, 2009 and made two successful trips to NYC and back for the NYS Quadricentennial Event in June and the Dutch Government's Harbor Day Festival in September.
During the latter 1980s he directed a social service agency which had a homeless prevention program with a 100% success rate in keeping mothers and their kids off the streets. In addition he created the first cardboard recycling program in the city of Troy which netted the city a few hundred dollars each week from recycled cardboard picked up from area businesses. In 1988 he produced a small documentary on a 10-year-old girl who had lead paint poisoning and initiated a law to ban lead paint in low income housing in the city of Troy. He developed a free lead paint test kit that was used for testing in low-income housing.
During the early 1980s he teamed up with his childhood friend and illustrator Raoul Vezina and wrote Naturalist At Large, a weekly environmental cartoon that appeared in the daily Knickerbocker News, an Albany newspaper. These cartoons were often posted in congressional offices in Washington D.C. because of their bite in pointing out the environmental failings of the Reagan-Watt years (the cartoons are available at http://www.donrittner.com/naltoon.html).
From 1988 to the present he has been editor of MUG News Service, a computer news service that provided Apple User Groups around the world with monthly news disks that were sponsored by software and hardware companies. He wrote a monthly column called "MUG Wrestling" for the national Macintosh magazine called MACazine. In 1992, he worked with Child Find of America and produced the first electronic directory of missing children on disk that was distributed to every user group in the United States for free distribution in their local areas. In 1988 he encouraged then marketing director Kathy Ryan of Quantum Computers to develop a Mac interface for their new online service later to be known as America Online. He was able to gather several hundred beta testers and when the service went public (then an Apple user only online community) he managed the User Group Forum, Environmental Forum, and the Society of Environmental Journalists Forum for many years during America Online's early period.
In 1996 he created The Learning Factory, a private education center located in an area mall to offer low priced classes for the public but in particular single mothers in order to increase their job skills. Also during this year he joined forces with the ACLU, America Online, Compuserve and several other online services in Reno v. ACLU (Amicus Curiae) to overturn the Telecommunications Reform Act, a law which would have prevented free speech on the Internet. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor in this landmark case.
Human history
Encyclopedias
Computers
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, archeologist, environmental activist, educator
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
, and author
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
living in the Capital District
Capital District
New York's Capital District, also known as the Capital Region, is a region in upstate New York that generally refers to the four counties surrounding Albany, the capital of the state: Albany County, Schenectady County, Rensselaer County, and Saratoga County...
, Schenectady County, New York
Schenectady County, New York
Schenectady County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 154,727. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county seat is Schenectady. The name is from a Mohawk Indian word meaning "on the other side of the...
. He is the official Schenectady County Historian, responsible for providing guidance and support to municipal historians and serving as a conduit between the State Historian in Albany and the local historians in their counties. He is also the Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
City Archeologist and the Schenectady City
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
Historian. He is the author of 30 books on history, natural history, computers, and other subjects.
He attended the University of Albany where he was a student of William B. Efner, his predecessor as County Historian. In 1973 he became the archeologist for the city of Albany. He excavated old Colonial tavern sites and roads, and located the old King's Highway, erecting markers to commemorate the historic route.
He was named the Schenectady County Historian in 2004. Shortly afterward he was named the official Schenectady City Historian as well. During 2008 he discovered the first railroad tunnel in America through Schenectady's Stockade region and was able to show that 9 Front Street, today a residential home, was actually a stone blockhouse from the French and Indian War period dated 1725. His discovery was featured on "The History Detectives" PBS show in September, 2008.
During the 1970s, he led the fight to save the famous Albany Pine Barrens, known as the Pine Bush. He founded the Pine Bush Historic Preservation Project and was responsible for the city of Albany acquiring its first nature preserve, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. During 1983–89 he served as the preserve's manager. During this time he designed a 40-mile hiking trail around the city of Albany called the Albany Greenbelt. He was responsible for the historic roads and trail system in the preserve to become part of the National Trails System in 1985.
He succeeded in getting both the city and county of Schenectady designated as "Preserve America" communities by the federal government in 2006. In 2007 he placed two historic sites in the city of Schenectady (the Ernst Alexanderson home and the All Electric House) as winners in Parade Magazine's "Tell America's Story" contest. Only four sites in New York State won, with Schenectady winning two spots and being the only city in the entire nation to have two winners.
He has published 30 books in history, science, and technology. From 1999 to 2005, he wrote a history column for seven years for the Troy Record called "Heritage on the Hudson".
Rittner also manages the Capital District Preservation Task Force listserve that provides daily newspaper coverage in history, planning, and preservation to more than 80 leading preservation and environmental groups. He writes a history blog on the Albany Times Union website.
Rittner produces "Thinking Art," through stereo photography and has had his stereo photographs exhibited in museums and art shows. He created the Schenectady Art Attack in the Spring of 2010 to showcase the thousands of creative artists working throughout the Capital District. More than 500 artists displayed their work in over two dozen venues and it has become an annual event. He currently curates the Schenectady Roundtable, a smaller version of the Art Attack at Schenectady City Hall, where artists, lectures, and music are a monthly feature of the city's art night on the third friday of each month.
Rittner has also appeared as an extra in several films (Ironweed, Age of Innocence, Winter of Frozen Dreams, Aftermath, Payback), and is a founder of the Schenectady Film Alliance with Nick Barber. He maintains a film alliance listserv. He is commissioner of the Schenectady Film commission created by the Schenectady City Mayor Brian Stratton. Rittner has been producer and host of several radio shows, including Inside the Net, one of the first radio shows about the Internet (1992), and was publisher of The Mesh - Inside Cyberspace, one of the first newspapers about the Net (1995). He also published Hardcopy for the Common Good in the 1980s, and currently publishes Skenectada, a newspaper about the history of Schenectady County. He is the president of The Onrust Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization that built a replica of The Onrust, the first ship built in New York State in 1614 and first American Yacht (http://www.theonrust.com). It was launched in May, 2009 and made two successful trips to NYC and back for the NYS Quadricentennial Event in June and the Dutch Government's Harbor Day Festival in September.
During the latter 1980s he directed a social service agency which had a homeless prevention program with a 100% success rate in keeping mothers and their kids off the streets. In addition he created the first cardboard recycling program in the city of Troy which netted the city a few hundred dollars each week from recycled cardboard picked up from area businesses. In 1988 he produced a small documentary on a 10-year-old girl who had lead paint poisoning and initiated a law to ban lead paint in low income housing in the city of Troy. He developed a free lead paint test kit that was used for testing in low-income housing.
During the early 1980s he teamed up with his childhood friend and illustrator Raoul Vezina and wrote Naturalist At Large, a weekly environmental cartoon that appeared in the daily Knickerbocker News, an Albany newspaper. These cartoons were often posted in congressional offices in Washington D.C. because of their bite in pointing out the environmental failings of the Reagan-Watt years (the cartoons are available at http://www.donrittner.com/naltoon.html).
From 1988 to the present he has been editor of MUG News Service, a computer news service that provided Apple User Groups around the world with monthly news disks that were sponsored by software and hardware companies. He wrote a monthly column called "MUG Wrestling" for the national Macintosh magazine called MACazine. In 1992, he worked with Child Find of America and produced the first electronic directory of missing children on disk that was distributed to every user group in the United States for free distribution in their local areas. In 1988 he encouraged then marketing director Kathy Ryan of Quantum Computers to develop a Mac interface for their new online service later to be known as America Online. He was able to gather several hundred beta testers and when the service went public (then an Apple user only online community) he managed the User Group Forum, Environmental Forum, and the Society of Environmental Journalists Forum for many years during America Online's early period.
In 1996 he created The Learning Factory, a private education center located in an area mall to offer low priced classes for the public but in particular single mothers in order to increase their job skills. Also during this year he joined forces with the ACLU, America Online, Compuserve and several other online services in Reno v. ACLU (Amicus Curiae) to overturn the Telecommunications Reform Act, a law which would have prevented free speech on the Internet. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor in this landmark case.
Recognition
Recognitions include the Nature Conservancy's Oak Leaf Award (1977); Ludwig Voglestein Award (1981), Executive Award for Environmental Impact, New York State Outdoor Education Association (1985), National DAR Award for Historic Preservation (2006), and others.Books (partial list)
Natural history- Pine Bush – Albany’s Last Frontier
- EcoLinking : Everyone's Guide to Online Environment Information
- The Zodiac - Dedicated to Science, Literature and the Arts
- Naturalist At Large Environmental Cartoons (with Raoul Vezina)
Human history
- Schenectady:Frontler Village to Colonial City
- Serendipity in Science: Twenty Years at Langmuir University. Autobiography of Vincent J. Schaefer
- Albany Then and Now
- Albany, New York
- Albany Revisited
- Hello Goodbye: Disappearing Landscapes and Artifacts of the Capital District
- Remembering Albany - Heritage on the Hudson
- Lansingburgh
- Troy, New York
- Troy, NY: A Collar City History
- Troy Then & Now
- Troy PBA: 1903-2003
- Remembering Troy - Heritage on the Hudson
- Schenectady's Stockade - New York's First Historic District
Encyclopedias
- Encyclopedia of Chemistry (with R. A. Bailey)
- Encyclopedia of Biology (with Timothy Lee McCabe)
- A to Z of Scientists in Weather and Climate
Computers
- Macazine Presents the Mac
- The iMAC Book
- Rittner's Field Guide to UseNet
- The iMAC Book: An Insider's Guide to the iMAC's Hot New Features
- iMac, iBook, and G3 Troubleshooting Pocket Reference
- Usenet
- Whole Earth Online Almanac
- MacArcade
- MacArcade - Japanese Version
- Online Astronomy