History of the Gilboa Historical Society: Our Founders
Panel 1: Founding members, movers, and shakers
Richard Lewis was the town historian the lead speaker during the formation of the society, and its first president in 1998. The vice president was Cindy Buel; treasurer, Wilma Jones; and secretary, Shirley Kutzscher.
Two strong members at the start of the Historical Society were Beatrice Mattice, historian of the Town of Conesville with her immense knowledge about Gilboa and the neighborhoods around this area; and Kristen Wyckoff, with both her knowledge of Devonian fossils and our guru in artistic matters.
Other essential early members were Carolyn Brown, Pete and Jane Fox, Marlyn Kessler, Mary Jane Laben, Cynthia Mattsen, Marianne Neuber, Janette Reynolds, Cathy Sanzari, Linda Stratigos, Wally and Sylvia Van Houten, and Mary Wyckoff.
Early artifacts in the GHS collection from Richard Lewis
Gilboa Monitor newspapers: Richard Lewis inherited a number of Gilboa Monitors dating from 1878 through 1980. In time, he had them microfilmed through the Capital Newspaper Project. Subsequently, Lee Hudson expanded the numbers of newspapers in our collection and had them all digitized. They are accessible at fultonhistory.com and nyshistoricnewspapers.org.
Photographs of the 1910 village: Richard received a phone call from a man who claimed to have a box of photographs that appeared to be of properties in the village of Gilboa. Richard naturally thanked the man and arranged to have the pictures shipped here. It turns out that these pictures were created by the New York City’s Board of Water Supply to establish value of the properties confiscated under eminent domain. These pictures have been scanned and are being made available online. In total, we have pictures of most of the properties in the village and are working with the Board of Water Supply archives of New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection to round out our collection. We also have title maps and tax rolls to define each of the properties.
YOU can help!
We are currently asking for volunteers and content (text and photos) for each of these displays. Please contact Gerry Stoner if you have interesting content for any of these displays, or would like to work on an area of interest to you.
Navigating our pages
The narrow column on the right has three scroll-down windows (at the end of this window on your phone, pad, or tablet):
Current 2023 activities of the society.
A complete set of links to Facebook, social media, and our society’s web pages.
The benefits of the Gilboa Historical Society and how to join our association.
GILBOA MUSEUM OPEN
12 TO 4 Saturday and Sundays
Memorial Day to Columbus Day.
MUSEUM TOURS-ON-CALL
(607) 588-6894 to set up a tour.
Map for the Gilboa Museum.
May, 2024
• Wednesday, 5/15, 6 p.m.:
General program TBA.
• Saturday, 5/25, 12 p.m.:
Gilboa Museum celebrates the season opening.
June, 2024
• Sunday, 6/2, 11 a.m.:
Psychic Fair.
• Wednesday, 6/19, 6 p.m.:
Annual Shopping Bag Auction.
July, 2024
• Wednesday, 7/17, 6 p.m.:
GHS program: Field trip to be announced.
• Saturday, 7/20, 10 a.m.:
Gilboa Naturalist Program Drive-By Bald Eagle nests.
August, 2024
• Saturday, 8/3, 10 a.m.:
Gilboa Naturalist Program Fossil Tree Descendants hike with Mike Kudish.
• Saturday, 8/17, 10 a.m.:
Gilboa Naturalist Program
American Indian Clay Bowls—Bouck Island.
• Wednesday, 8/21, 6 p.m.:
Gilboa Historical Society Ice Cream Social.
• Saturday, 8/31, 10 a.m.:
Gilboa Naturalist Program
Fossil Hike on Schoharie in Gilboa.
September, 2024
• Sunday, 9/1: 10 a.m.: Harvest Festival.
• Wednesday, 9/18, 6 p.m.:
General program TBA.
• Saturday, 9/21, 10 a.m.:
Gilboa Naturalist Program
Field trip to Cairo quarry.
October, 2024
• Wednesday, 10/16, 6 p.m.:
Annual Meeting of Gilboa Historical Society & election of board members.
November, 2024
• Sunday, 11/17, 11 a.m.:
Holiday Boutique at Gilboa Museum.
• Wednesday, 11/20, 6 p.m.:
General program TBA.
December, 202
• Wednesday, 12/11, 6 p.m.:
Raffle and Bottle Auction, pot luck refreshments
The Board of Gilboa Historical Society meets at 1:00 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month.
Unlinked pages are under construction.√
GHS Facebook page
GilboaMuseum
Gilboa Museum Gift Shop
Gilboa Historical Society
GHS History (Founders, Early Supporters, First Decade, Expansion, Our 21stC)
GHS Activities
GHS Facilities
GHS — Who We Are
Publications and Podcasts
Gilboa Fossils and the Devonian ecology
Gilboa Fossils, a site of the Gilboa Historical Society.
Nicholas J. Juried History Center
Gilboa Village (under construction)
Gilboa Reservoir (under construction)
Communications between you and the Society is key to your enjoyment and our success.
You can type out your information on this form, save it to your desktop, and email it or print it out and send it to the Society (PO Box 52, Gilboa, NY 12076)
Our annual membership is based on an anniversary date established when we process your check. A renewal would simply add 12 months to the projected expiration date, while lapsed memberships are seen as new ones without penalty for the lapse.
Member benefits
- All GHS Newsletters and mailings.
- Gift shop discounts of 10% on all sales.
For donations, please use the QR code
