- Don Rittner
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Don Rittner is a historian, archeologist, environmental activist, educator, and author living in the Capital District, Schenectady County, New York; in December, 2004 he was named 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. Shortly after 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. It was featured on "The History Detectives" PBS show in September, 2008. He was able to get both the county of Schenectady and the city designated "Preserve America" communities by the White House in 2006, and in 2007 he was successful in getting two historic sites (the Ernst Alexanderson home and the All Electric House) in the city of Schenectady 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 to have two winners in the entire nation.
Rittner's career continues the work of William B. Efner, former Schenectady City Historian. During the 1930s and 40s, Efner studied the old colonial roads and taverns of the Pine Bush region between Albany and Schenectady.
Rittner was named Albany City Archaeologist in 1973 and began excavating colonial tavern sites in the Pine Bush. He completed Efner’s work in relocating the old King’s Highway and in 1975 erected sixteen King’s Highway markers that are still visible along the route.
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 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 Web site (http://blog.timesunion.com/rittner/).
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 1970s, he led the fight to save the famous Albany Pine Barrens, known as the Pine Bush, and was responsible for the city of Albany acquiring its first preserve known as 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.
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.
He attributes much of his success to his mentors and friends through the years: college teacher Lou Ismay, scientists Vince Schaefer and Roger Cheng, historian John Wolcott, and peace activist/singer Pete Seeger.
Some of his 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), among 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
Don Rittner quotations
"I may not know everything, but I'm working on it."
"I use to be afraid of the dark. Now I'm just afraid of people."
“A Leader is someone who can do everything him(her)self, but lets other people help him(her).”
“Trying to save ecosystems has more to do with changing egosystems.”
"The Mac is not a computer. It's a way of life."
“Civility is only a passenger - not a driver - on the information superhighway.”
“There are 5,000 great people for every jerk on Usenet. But that still is a lot of jerks. Proceed with caution and eyes wide open.”
“No matter how well you know the rules of netiquette, you will eventually offend someone who doesn't.”
“The Net is the ultimate empowerment tool. You have the right to express your opinion to a global audience, but everyone has the right not to pay any attention to it.”
“Rittner's Computer Law: "Never argue with people who write with digital ink and pay by the kilowatt-hour."”
“Most computer users don't think about backing up their software until the day they lose it.”
“A formula for computing in the workplace: one third of the time is spent being productive. One third of the time is spent playing games. The remaining third of the time is spent trying not to get caught.”
“Digital wisdom is made of recycled electrons that are meaningful until you pull the plug."
“History is an intricate web of timing, people, circumstances, and serendipity.”
"Common sense is sense uncommon."
External links
Categories:- American historians
- Living people
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