Hello all;

I've been trying (without success) to contact someone at Alco Historic Photos (http://alcohistoricphotos.com/) for several months now; both via email and snail mail. No replies to either.

Are they still processing photo orders / requests?

If not can someone direct me to current holder of the archives?

Thanks and stay healthy!

OK well I'm glad it is not just me...I've been trying for many months. BTW is there an index somewhere?

Have you tried sending a message to info at nrhs.com?

Bob H

Somebody I know has tried going through he NRHS as well to no avail.

I have had the same experience trying to communicate with the national organization on a few occasions. Keep in mind that organization peaked at around 21,000 members in the early 1990s but in recent years their website claims only 13,000 and their IRS filings would give the impression the current number might be closer to 5,000. They are probably short of volunteers, like most historical groups nowadays.

PC

For the last 30 years, ALCO Historic Photos has always answered me promptly. In fact, they are the only such organization to have done so. They must be on hard times now.

I have not talked to any of the principals of the organization in person since Covid started but I know they were down to only a couple active members that were doing the work. I know from Facebook that one of those two people recently had a death in the family and was dealing with the fallout from that. I believe they stopped meeting because of Covid restrictions and may have just not started up again. I don't have any further information than that.

Sorry to say, but its ridiculous that an organization can be active on facebook, but not respond to emails or letters, or orders from the last several months.

I did not mean to imply that the group posted on Facebook. I am Facebook friends with one of the volunteers and that is how I know they had a death in the family.

Somebody is active posting and sharing on the Alco Historic Photos page in the last few days - who, I do not know.

Has anyone had luck contacting them in the last few months? I have tried reaching out both through social media and their website to no avail.

If they are dead, did their archive go anywhere?

I contacted the Schenectady city Hall about a month ago, as their upstairs archive had been in contact with AHP at one point. The archivist there mentioned that AHP has had several members deaths in the last year or two but had no further contacts or info. The last time I was personally able to get any sort of reply was early 2020, when I managed to get a catalog, but the order I placed after appears to have gone into the void (and my $86 along with it) and any followup letters and emails have received no response.

Old forum posts from around 2010 state about a third of the collection had already been lost by that point. I would be surprised if the archive has gone anywhere assuming it still exists.