History in the Making

	As a Sage student, G. William Glidden ’67 also balanced a commitment to the New York Army National Guard and a full time job at General Electric.He maintained the same demanding schedule throughout his 30-year-career, serving in the National Guard and working in technical and marketing positions at GE (where Jack Welch, who became the renowned CEO, was once his department manager); Sun Oil Company; and the Aid Association for Lutherans.And he’s kept up that pace since “retiring,” by devoting his time to a number of activities that preserve and promote New York State’s rich military history.

G. William Glidden’s interest in military history has roots both personal and professional.

He said his interest in genealogy—he has traced his ancestry to the year 1530 in Devonshire, England—led to the discovery of military records that start with King William’s War. Glidden’s great uncle served with a cavalry unit from Crown Point during the American Civil War. Another uncle survived Pearl Harbor. “I remember clearly Sunday, December 7, 1941. Our family worried about him. We never heard until a week later that he was still with us.”

Glidden’s work as a logistics officer at the National Guard’s 205th Support Group in Troy took him around New York State and the entire northeast in the 1980s. “I found that the state military collection of artifacts was in sad shape, and the flags at the state capitol were rotting on their staffs.” (New York boasts a significant collection of flags carried into battle by New York troops, including the largest collection of state Civil War battle flags in the country.)

He enrolled in the University at Albany’s Public History graduate program, to become familiar with museum operations and historic preservation, as well as to meet professionals in the field. He also became involved in local groups with historic preservation as their mission, including the Albany-Mohawk- Hudson Chapter of the Company of Military Historians (CMH). In 1988 he served as chair of the chapter and picked the state military collection as the project of the year.

Glidden’s CMH chapter, as a member of The Empire State Military Collection Committee, worked to establish a museum for the state’s military artifacts—including munitions, books, records, photos, uniforms, flags and more— then scattered among the state capitol, archives, armories, and warehouses.

“It took approximately from 1991 to 2002 before we opened a permanent museum and veteran’s research center at the armory in Saratoga Springs,” he said. “I left Saratoga as a Private First Class in 1961 and returned upon the opening of the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center as a retired Major of Ordnance. It was extremely interesting to return 41 years later to the same armory.”

The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center is administered by New York State’s Division of Military and Naval Affairs. The New York State Military Heritage Institute—of which Glidden is a trustee—serves as the privately based contact between the public and the museum and supports the public relations, membership, fundraising, and acquisition/preservation efforts of the museum.

Glidden writes for the Museums’ newsletter, the Standard Bearer, and organizes workshops to acquaint the public with the museum. He is also involved with the Battle of Plattsburgh Commemoration—a weekend long celebration now in its ninth year—and as an Elderhostel instructor, guiding groups to historic sites in the Champlain-Hudson Corridor.

When promoting upstate New York’s abundant heritage attractions, he and his wife, who live on the shore of Lake Champlain, are active in their local Kiwanis Aktion Club, the first in New York’s North Country, which has officers and members that are developmentally disabled.

Glidden said his degree in business administration at Sage Evening College—now the Sage After Work division of Sage College of Albany—enabled him to move from his position as a technician with GE’s Silicone Products Department into a marketing position he desired. And although he describes balancing work, school, a military commitment and family responsibilities as very busy, judging from his current calendar, it appears to be a schedule that agrees with him. “It’s fun to be retired. I accomplish even more than before.”