One of the reasons we created our website, The POORHOUSE STORY (a clearinghouse for information about 19th century American poorhouses) at http://www.poorhousestory.com was that we were committed to seeing that the history of poorhouses did not remain "invisible" ... but more importantly, that those "paupers" who lived and often died in poorhouses did not remain anonymous and unknown to their descendents. An early feature of the website was the NEWS ALERTS page where we could alert people to situations where such poorhouse history might be at risk. We think that is now the case in Albany NY. Our very first NEWS ALERT dealt with the issue of what was to be done with the remains in the old Albany City/County Poorhouse cemetery which was being excavated for a construction project. It has continued to surprise us that there has been so little local interest in the fate of that cemetery. Recently there has been more discussion of what should be done with the remains of those buried in the old poorhouse cemetery. The land is being commercially developed. Since we published an item about this cemetery 2 years ago, developers and officials insist, despite a "public notice" published in the newspaper (which apparently resulted in only one descendent responding) and some other media coverage, there has been little or no public interest in what is done with those remains. However, none of that media ever provided the actual NAMES of those buried at this current construction site. We are providing that list on-line in the hope that these "paupers" will not remain anonymous to the public. If you will go to http://www.poorhousestory.com/ALBANY.htm and scroll to the bottom of the page you will find links marked with big yellow NEW arrows. Today we put up the names of those buried in 1880-1883; and the other names will be published over the next couple of weeks. If you think this is a valuable service, please contact the volunteer who is transcribing that interment list. He would appreciate knowing that his work is helpful; and he could probably use some help getting the list transcribed sooner. If you want to see something respectful done about the cemetery, please contact Cathy Woodruff, Staff Writer with the Times-Union newspaper, and/or county officials. There is some urgency in this matter, because despite the fact that The Charitable Leadership Foundation trustee Richard Liebich was quoted (in a January 29, 2002 Times-Union article)as saying that the foundation was merely "conducting a series of preliminary studies to determine the feasibility of such a project" and that there would be no movement of graves at the site "until all appropriate formalities are completed" -- burials began to be removed about one week from when this statement was issued. Sincerely, Linda Crannell (aka=The Poorhouse Lady)