Martin A. Sweeney – författare

In The Heart of Central New York: Stories of Historic Homer, NY Martin A. Sweeney makes the past come alive through this collection of articles from his column in The Homer News. Through his writing, Sweeney offers readers a glimpse of the excitement he brought to his classrooms by bringing to life the people, events, manners, and mores of the past in a community that is the heart of Central New York State. This compilation represents Sweeney’s successful efforts as a public historian in using the press as a tool for generating interest in his community’s unique historical identity.With annotations and a touch of humor, this book illustrates for current and emerging public historians how to successfully engage a community in acknowledging their history matters—that the fibers of “microhistory” contribute to the rich tapestry that is county, regional, state, and national history.

The Remarkable Life of Albert Haskell, Jr.: The King of Crown City isthe first comprehensive portrait of the Cortland, New York schoolboy who forged a path of his own that garnered him a reputation in New York State and the Northeast of the nation as an accomplished lawyer, politician, banker, civic organizer, supporter of higher education, and promoter of industrial expansion.As a district attorney, Haskell crossed paths with the prohibition government agents, murderers, white slavers, members of the “Black Hand” gang, and the Ku Klux Klan. He successfully prosecuted those who were part of a tubercular cattle scandal. As a state assemblyman, he was an advocate for the state’s dairy farmers during the violent milk strikes in the 1930s. Haskell co-founded a chapter of Rotary International in 1919 and played a pivotal role in the 1950s in making the place of his birth “the typewriter capital of the world.” Based on a trove of scrapbooks assembled by Haskell through his lifetime and kept by his grandchildren, this biography reveals exactly why Haskell’s life of integrity and public service merits the title of “King of ‘Crown City.’”

Presenting archival stories of a Central New York town, curated by a veteran historian, this collection documents the history, identity, and heritage of a unique community.Retired educator and historian for the Town and Village of Homer, New York, Martin A. Sweeney compiles and presents a new companion work to The Heart of Central New York: Stories of Historic Homer, New York (Hamilton Books, 2022). An individual work on its own of stories from a Central New York community’s past as a tool for documenting a community’s history and providing a sense of its identity, values, and historical place, together, these two are the first published collection of accounts of Homer’s past. This work represents a heritage in which a community can find common ground amid differences and lessons for today and offers inspiration for veteran and emerging public historians.

Presenting archival stories of a Central New York town, curated by a veteran historian, this collection documents the history, identity, and heritage of a unique community.Retired educator and historian for the Town and Village of Homer, New York, Martin A. Sweeney compiles and presents a new companion work to The Heart of Central New York: Stories of Historic Homer, New York (Hamilton Books, 2022). An individual work on its own of stories from a Central New York community’s past as a tool for documenting a community’s history and providing a sense of its identity, values, and historical place, together, these two are the first published collection of accounts of Homer’s past. This work represents a heritage in which a community can find common ground amid differences and lessons for today and offers inspiration for veteran and emerging public historians.

Although Illinois enjoys the indisputable title of "The Land of Lincoln," one small town in New York State played a significant role in the sixteenth president's history. Three native sons of Homer--a detective, a journalist, and a painter--helped inscribe Abraham Lincoln's place in the nation's iconic imagery. Private investigator Eli DeVoe foiled an assassination plot against Lincoln before his first inauguration; journalist William Osborn Stoddard, an early Lincoln supporter, became an influential secretary of the president; and artist Francis Bicknell Carpenter painted The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet, which still hangs in the U.S. Capitol. This exploration of these men and the town that produced them offers insight into the complexities of presidential image-making, and reveals why a small New York town has become a choice destination for Lincoln historians.