The Historical Society of the Town of Middletown (HSM) held its annual meeting of members and friends November 2, when Gary Smith was re-elected to the Board and Iris Mead was voted in as a new trustee.
Their terms will run for three years. Mead fills the seat vacated by the departing Agnes Laub. Others on the HSM board are Pat Moore, Josef Schoell, Doris Warner, Eli Taylor, Michael Fairbairn and Diane Galusha.
The winner of the wooden bench made and donated by craftsman Mike Porter was Mary McGrane of Margaretville.
Trustee Eli Taylor shared his research on “The Lost Battalion” of WWI, and provided brief profiles of five Middletown men who served during the war in unusual units, ranging from balloon surveillance to Northwest timber harvesting. He appeared in uniform and displayed some of the accoutrements of the American Doughboy during the conflict.
Treasurer Pat Moore provided a report on the organization’s finances and noted that HSM is well positioned to follow up its recent building addition with the renovation of the Middletown History Center’s kitchen in 2025.
President Diane Galusha said the June opening of the Center and the Nicholas J. Juried Archives was “the embodiment of its founding members’ faith in this organization to save our history, explain what it means and why it matters, and to have fun learning about how we got to this place in time.”
Among the Society’s accomplishments over the past 20 years were the preservation of more than 80 years of the Catskill Mountain News which is available online for anyone anywhere to read and research; the presentation of more than 130 lectures, programs, history hikes, films, musical programs, exhibits and tours; the transcription of hundreds of headstones in many cemeteries, and the production of 50 issues of the Bridge newsletter as well as a dynamic website ”filled with stories and photos you won’t find anyplace else.”
Added Galusha, “I am proud to say that today we have an operational archives where thousands of items are protected and interpreted for posterity. Every month more people recognize the intrinsic value of historical items and entrust their treasures to our care. It is a big responsibility, but it’s why HSM was established two decades ago.”
She encouraged people to contact HSM at 845-586-2400 to discuss or arrange donations of historic materials to the archives.
For information on HSM, along with historical articles and photos and to join or donate electronically, visit mtownhistory.org.
