Local History

Marbletown hosts Historic House Tour to benefit the Ulster County Historical Society

Marbletown hosts Historic House Tour to benefit the Ulster County Historical Society

Saturday, April 28: All the historic houses on the tour started as one- or two-room houses. Most of them were constructed of stone, while others had stone foundations and were built of clapboard. Over the centuries, the houses were expanded. The houses on this tour reflect a range of the decisions owners had to make: how much of the original house should be preserved, what features should be kept, what features could be added. 

WWII poster exhibition at FDR site in Hyde Park

WWII poster exhibition at FDR site in Hyde Park

Saturday, April 21: The show spotlights more than 150 colorful World War II posters drawn from the Library’s enormous collection of more than 3,000 wartime posters. Among the talented graphic artists who created these posters for government agencies were Norman Rockwell, N. C. Wyeth, Ben Shahn and Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss).

“Hudson River and Its Canals” exhibit at Maritime Museum in Kingston

“Hudson River and Its Canals” exhibit at Maritime Museum in Kingston

Opens on Saturday, April 21: Visitors will have the opportunity to hear the voice of a woman who grew up driving a mule along the D & H Canal from the interior of a canalboat cabin. Children can operate small canalboats through a scale-model canal with mechanical locks and an aqueduct. A large 3-D topographical map showcases how the geography of the state influenced canal routes.

Tim Youd retypes Mary McCarthy’s The Group in Vassar performance piece

Tim Youd retypes Mary McCarthy’s The Group in Vassar performance piece

Thursday, 4/19 and several dates afterward: In his ongoing 100 Novels project, Youd specializes in retyping novels (with the same make and model typewriter used by the author) from beginning to end in locations that are charged with literary significance in the author’s biography. The retyping of Mary McCarthy’s The Group will constitute the 56th novel that Youd has typed, and is one of several titles that he will undertake in the Hudson Valley in 2018.

Sound & Story Project of the Hudson Valley hopes to strengthen community through the power of listening

Sound & Story Project of the Hudson Valley hopes to strengthen community through the power of listening

“I think we’re in a particular moment right now, with all of the young entrepreneurs coming to live here and revitalizing a lot of the Hudson Valley. They’re doing so many interesting things, all connecting to our past, in a way: They’re bringing back chicken farms, working with bees and there’s even somebody in Accord beginning to make barrels again – a trade that went on there for years. There is so much happening here now, and I would love to record some of their stories, and capture this moment in history as it’s happening.”