Who We Are

We have published in the Quarterlies walking tours of the village of Gilboa based on tax maps, tax rolls, or a reasonably complete set of BWS pictures; and conducted bus tours with structured guides around the perimeter of the reservoir.

Like Jim’s book, the probable list price for The Gilboa Valley, ca 1915 will be under $50.00  and hopefully we will match Hobart’s sales record of well over 1000 copies.

Six Topical Histories of the Construction of the Schoharie Reservoir

Over the years, we have scanned all of the NYC Board of Water Supply Annual Reports from 1904 to 1934. Each of these volumes report on the activities of the Board of Water Supply for the year in question.

Thus, volumes in the 1904-1914 years reported the maintenance and expansion of New York City infrastructure, improvements to the reservoirs in Westchester and Putnam counties that would eventually receive Catskill and Schoharie waters, long-range plans for the Catskill watershed, and increasing coverage of the Esopus watershed and the dam at Ashoken.

From Gilboa’s point of view, there was not much information pertaining to the Schoharie Dam in these 1904–1914 books, BUT there is a wealth of information about the decision-making of where additional water might or might not be coming from to supplement the waters at the Ashokan Dam. We thought it would be a great project to collect all of this strategic information into a single volume called The Schoharie Reservoir: Why Gilboa? and include other research and period photographs from local sources.

Using that publication as a model, why not do the same for other thematic information from the Annual Reports, other research, and period photographs:

1. The Schoharie Reservoir: Why Gilboa, 1904–1914?
2. The Schoharie Reservoir: Infrastructure necessary for a public works project, 1915-1923
3. The Schoharie Reservoir: The Shandaken tunnel, 1916–1925
4. The Schoharie Reservoir: The Construction of the Gilboa Dam, 1919–1927
5. The Schoharie Reservoir: Eminent domain and compensation in the courts, 1925–1935
6. The Schoharie Reservoir: Maintenance of the Gilboa Reservoir, 1927–2025

• Beta versions of each of these books will be published (one per year) 2025–2030, and revised editions in 2031–2036.For the record, I will be an unpaid consultant for the early stages of this project.
  The length of each of these volumes is unknown, but will probably range from 200–460 pages, will have a 7 x 10 trim size.
  Each of the volumes will have individual authorship requiring royalty arrangements.
  As above, the relationship between manufacturing cost and list price is a linear tie of 5-times:25% of the profit will be earmarked to a general editor of project;
  25% of the profit will be earmarked to the author of the individual book;
  25% of the profit will be earmarked to the endowment;
  25% of the profit will be earmarked to the Gift Shop or marketing outlets the Gift Shop selects.
  We will work to get grants or matching grants from local nonprofits.Area governmental or non-profit agencies:
  Assembly’s Grants Action News: http://nyassembly.gov
  Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered in Schoharie County by Greene County Council on the Arts dba CREATE.The mission of Humanities New York is to strengthen civil society and the bonds of community, using the humanities to foster engaged inquiry and dialogue around social and cultural concerns. Funded by federal, state, and private sources, Humanities NY is a private 501(c)3 founded in 1975. The mission of Humanities New York, info@humanitiesny.org

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