An Interview With Geddy Sveikauskas
2026-05-10 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Sussman-Blythe Community Room, Woodstock Public Library, 10 Dixon Ave, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
On Sunday, May 10 at 3:00 p.m. in the Sussman-Blythe Community Room at the Woodstock Public Library, 10 Dixon Ave., Woodstock, the Historical Society of Woodstock will present pioneering local journalist and newspaper editor Geddy Sveikauskas interviewed by town historian Richard Heppner.
Geddy Sveikauskas founded the Woodstock Times as a bi-weekly in 1972. Shortly after that it became a weekly and was quickly picked up in a community that was experiencing and embracing change. Through the decades the paper has employed excellent writers and editors, and its brand of journalism became an important part of the glue that held this diverse community together. When the Covid pandemic came about in 2020 and the community needed its newspaper, Geddy consolidated what had become four separate weeklies and created Hudson Valley One to cover a wider region and to keep local journalism relevant.

Journalist and writer Brian Hollander, who was editor of the Woodstock Times for 19 years, reminisces about Geddy, who just celebrated his 87th birthday: “His last name is Sveikauskas, but for most people he’s simply Geddy, who has performed every task that is necessary in putting out a weekly newspaper—that is, writing stories and editorials, directing layouts, doing a publisher’s daily job…you get the idea. But it’s getting more complex…” he says. “I’m blessed with having a daughter who knows internet and AI.” His assistant publisher/daughter, Genia Wickwire keeps the administration on an even keel.”
Hollander also recalls that “for 19 years, my desk about 15 feet from Geddy’s, so I know what it takes to meet deadlines every week. Geddy and I never had a rift over anything newsworthy. In fact, when I was first hired, back in 2001, Geddy told me something that won me over completely. His only instruction was stated, simply, “make it the best paper you can…” I like to believe that I carried the flame.”

The Historical Society invites you to join in on what promises to be a lively discussion about Woodstock, journalism, and local history.
The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics, and local citizens. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House on Comeau Drive in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, correspondence, documents, film/sound recordings, and antique tools. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.

"Signs of the Times" - A New Exhibit
2026-05-23 - 2026-06-28
Signs of the Times
Dates: Saturdays & SundaysMay 23 through June 28, 1–5 p.m.
Opening reception SaturdayMay 23, 3–5 p.m.
Location: Historical Society of Woodstock
20 Comeau Dr., Woodstock NY 12498
Admission: Free
Featuring signage, posters and selected memorabilia from Woodstock’s collective past, the exhibit, through the use of signage, reflects on various chapters in Woodstock’s story. As artifacts of an earlier time, signage can offer a record of a town’s evolution over the years. They reflect how we once lived, the changing services indicative of a certain period, and the varied cultural and social changes we encountered over time. Even their colors, lettering and design can offer insight into a specific era.
Many of the signs in this exhibit, for example, present the types of businesses that once dotted Woodstock’s streets. The changing signs and their styles on display can also point to the decline of one era and the rise of something new. Some signs also remain iconic in Woodstock lore—such as the S.S. Seahorse or Joyous Lake signs—reminding us of where we once gathered and the collective experiences we once shared.
Signs, such as protest signs, posted notices on telephone poles, or even campaign buttons, also mark the changing political environment within a town. They too can reflect changes in a town’s direction, issues of importance at a certain time, and even our community values.
While we may not think of the historical significance of signs in our times, they offer a visual record not only of our lives but the lives of those who have come before. In many respects, they serve as a time capsule tracing where we have been and where we might be heading.

(Note: Due to limited parking, if able, please park in the Lower Comeau parking lot and take the path at the end of the lot to the Historical Society. Accessible parking is available at the museum.)
The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics, and local citizens. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House on Comeau Drive in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, correspondence, documents, film/sound recordings, and antique tools. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.

Talk And Book SigningBy John P. MurphyOn Woodstock Artists During The New Deal
2026-06-07 15:00 - 17:00
The Historical Society of Woodstock will host a talk and book signing by author and art historian John P. Murphy of Vassar College on “A New Deal for Woodstock Artists,” about the role of Woodstock artists in New Deal art. He will also be signing copies of his book New Deal Art: Culture and Crisis in the Great Depression. This will take place on Sunday, June 7 at 3:00 pm at the Historical Society’s Eames House Museum at 20 Comeau Drive, Woodstock NY. Admission is free.
At the height of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal turned crisis into opportunity. Through unprecedented federal funding for the arts, the New Deal launched the careers of artists such as Philip Guston, Jacob Lawrence, Alice Neel, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. State-sponsored murals, paintings, sculptures, prints, and posters appeared across the country in public buildings to nurture what FDR called a “more abundant life” for American citizens.
Compared to similarly sized communities, Woodstock enrolled a disproportionate number of artists on the federal art programs. Artists like Harry Gottlieb, Doris Lee, Eugene Ludins, Austin Mecklem, and Arnold Wiltz all worked on the New Deal programs, and many received high-profile commissions. This talk will consider the significant role of the Woodstock art colony during an unprecedented moment in American cultural history. The author will be signing copies of his recent book, New Deal Art: Culture and Crisis in the Great Depression, the first survey in decades of the New Deal art programs.
John P. Murphy is the Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. He received his PhD in Art History from Northwestern University, where he co-curated the exhibition “The Left Front: Radical Art in the “Red Decade,” 1929-1940″ at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum. Murphy is currently working with the Philadelphia Museum of Art on an exhibition exploring Depression-era prints and politics.

The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics, and local citizens. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House on Comeau Drive in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, correspondence, documents, film/sound recordings, and antique tools. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.

Glenn Kreisberg - On Esoterica America At 250 Years
2026-06-14 15:00 - 17:00
Historical Society of Woodstock Presents
Glenn Kreisberg
Speaking on
Esoterica America at 250 Years
Admission: Free
The Historical Society of Woodstock is pleased to present a talk by author Glenn Kreisberg on “Esoterica America at 250 Years.”
This will take place on Sunday, June 14 at 3:00 pm
at the Historical Society’s Eames House Museum at 20 Comeau Drive, Woodstock NY.
Admission is free.

Glenn Kreisberg is an author, outdoor guide, and radio engineer, who researches archeoastronomy and landscape archaeology in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains of New York. His books include Spirits in Stone, Mysteries of the Ancient Past, and Lost Knowledge of the Ancients. He served two terms as vice president of the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) and studied archeoastronomy at SUNY and archaeoacoustics on Malta. He is co-founder of the non-profit Overlook Mountain Center (www.overlookmountain.org) in Woodstock, NY, where he was raised and currently resides with his family. Glenn can be seen on The History Channel, as a guest on The UnXplained with William Shatner, and Ancient Aliens.

The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics, and local citizens. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House on Comeau Drive in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, correspondence, documents, film/sound recordings, and antique tools. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.

An exhibit "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Community" in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday
2026-07-11 - 2026-08-23
July 11 through August 23, 1–5 p.m.
Historical Society of Woodstock
Presents
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of community
An exhibit in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday
Opening reception riday, July 10, 6–8 p.m.
Curators’ Talk: Saturday, July 11, 3–5 p.m.
Admission: Free
In celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, the Historical Society of Woodstock is pleased to announce a new exhibit, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Community” open on Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. from July 11 through August 23. To kick off the exhibit, an opening reception is scheduled is for Friday evening July 10 from 6:00–8:00 p.m., and a talk with curators Deborah Heppner, Karen King, JoAnn Margolis, and Janine Mower will be presented on Saturday July 11 at 4:00 p.m. Admission to all events and the exhibit is free.
The new exhibit traces the story of Woodstock’s journey during the Revolutionary period from the wilderness years to its creation as a town in 1787, and its early years as a new town in a new nation.
The exhibit is supported in part by the Ulster County Rev250 Sponsorship Fund.

The Historical Society of Woodstock is located at 20 Comeau Drive. For more information on the Historical Society of Woodstock and Woodstock history, visit www.historicalsocietyofwoodstock.org.
The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics, and local citizens. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House on Comeau Drive in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, correspondence, documents, film/sound recordings, and antique tools. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.

Calico Rebellion
2026-07-19 14:00 - 16:00 | Tinker Street Cinema, 132 Tinker St, Woodstock, NY, 12498, United States
Historical Society of Woodstock
Presents
FILM
Calico Rebellion
The Anti-Rent War & the Second American Revolution
Directed by Victoria Kupchinetsky

See PDF of flier

Q & A with filmmakers and special guests
Tinker Street Cinema
Sunday, July 19, 2 pmDoors open 1:30pm
In the lush woods of New York’s Catskill Mountains, a mythical memory lives on. Of a time when men – armed with rifles and pitchforks, disguised in eerie leather masks and calico gowns – descended from the hills to stage the “Second American Revolution”.

Two hundred years ago immigrant farmers in the Catskills, fed up with oppression and exploitation by absentee landlords, staged a rebellion known as the Anti-Rent War. The uprising changed the course of history, paving the way to land rights across America and to the formation of a new political group — Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party.
Today, although largely forgotten, the historic uprising lives on through direct descendants of those rebellious farmers. CALICO REBELLION explores a pivotal moment in American history, and a community’s unique and enduring connection to the past through the songs, stories and costumes preserved from the 1840s.<
Part historical “true crime” story – part meditation on land and belonging in America – CALICO REBELLION is a meditation on small town American history, identity, idealism and the violence that percolates beneath the surface.
Advanced tickets $20
At the Door $25

The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics, and local citizens. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House on Comeau Drive in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, correspondence, documents, film/sound recordings, and antique tools. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.

HSW presents Ulster County Historian Eddie Moran
2026-08-01 12:00 - 14:00
Saturday, August 1, 12:00 p.m.
Historical Society of Woodstock, 20 Comeau Dr., Woodstock NY 12498
the Historical Society of Woodstock
will present Ulster County Historian Eddie Moran speaking about the county’s indigenous inhabitants, the Esopus, during the American Revolution.
Admission: Free
In the lead up to the American Revolution, Ulster County’s Indigenous inhabitants, the Esopus, navigated a world already transformed by colonization, diplomacy, and dispossession. As war engulfed the region, their community faced difficult choices, mounting violence, and profound upheaval that reshaped their lives and homelands. This presentation follows their story through the Revolution, tracing their forced relocation to Ontario, Canada, where their descendants remain today.

Edward “Eddie” Moran III currently serves as the appointed Historian for Ulster County, NY. Eddie graduated with a B.A. in history from SUNY New Paltz in the Spring of 2020 and began work as a tour guide at Historic Huguenot Street in New Paltz while still a student in 2017. He managed guided tours and historical interpretation full-time at Historic Huguenot Street beginning in 2022 and was appointed Ulster County Historian in September 2024. He is a lifelong resident of the Wallkill River Valley.
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The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics, and local citizens. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House on Comeau Drive in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, correspondence, documents, film/sound recordings, and antique tools. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.

Milton Glaser Poster Available at the HSW Gift Shop
2026-08-02 - 2026-08-12
Bicentennial posters signed by Milton Glaser are available for $150 each, and unsigned copies of the poster are available for $50 each.

Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929 – June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer whose most recognized works include the I ❤ NY logo, the 1966 Bob Dylan poster, and the Catskills Mountains posters. His work has been featured in numerous exhibits in the United States and internationally. He had one-man shows at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
In 2004, Glaser won a National Design Award Lifetime Achievement from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for his profound and meaningful long-term contributions to the contemporary practice of design. In 2009, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. Glaser is the first graphic designer to have received this award.

Milton Glaser maintained a home in Woodstock for many years. In 1987, when the Town of Woodstock celebrated its bicentennial, he designed a special poster for Woodstock. A limited edition of only 200 copies of the Woodstock Town Bicentennial poster were printed. A limited number of these posters are now available for sale at the Historical Society of Woodstock gift shop as a fundraiser for the Historical Society.

As the Historical Society of Woodstock celebrates our country’s 250th birthday with the exhibit Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Community, please come to see our exhibit and support the Historical Society with the purchase of a beautiful Milton Glaser poster.

The Lincoln Funeral Train Through the Hudson Valley and the Transformation of Abraham Lincoln
2026-08-23 15:00 - 17:00
Sunday, August 23, 3:00 p.m.
Historical Society of Woodstock, 20 Comeau Dr., Woodstock NY 12498
the Historical Society of Woodstock
a talk by Woodstock Town Historian Richard Heppner on the Lincoln funeral train through the Hudson Valley.
Admission: Free
In April of 1865, the Lincoln funeral train moved up the east coast, through the Hudson Valley, and into history. Offering an account of how the news of the assassination was greeted locally as well as detailed descriptions of the train as it traveled up the Hudson River, historian Richard Heppner will explore the ceremonies and emotions that awaited the train’s passing on both sides of the Hudson. In doing so, he will also examine the seeds of transformation that were sewn during that fateful journey from Washington to Springfield, Illinois; a transformation that elevated the slain President’s legacy far beyond what it was in life and secured for the 16th president the honored place he forever holds in the collective memory of our nation.

Richard Heppner has served as Woodstock Town Historian since 2021 and, in addition to his many talks on local history, has written extensively on the history of Woodstock and our region. His most recent book, Woodstock – From World War to Cultures Wars was the recipient of the Bronze Medal from the Indies Book of the Year Award in Popular Culture. In addition, he is the author of Woodstock’s Infamous Murder Trial exploring racial injustice in upstate New York.

The Historical Society of Woodstock is located at 20 Comeau Drive in Woodstock. For those who are able, parking is also available in the Lower Comeau parking lot where you can take the path up to the Society at the end of the lot.
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Rosella Hartman and The Animal Sculptors of Woodstock
2026-09-05 13:00 - 2026-11-08 17:00
Signs of the Times
Dates: Saturdays & Sundays Sep 5 through Nov 8, 1–5 p.m.
Opening reception Saturday Sat, Sept 5, 3–5 p.m. talk by curator Bruce Weber at 4 p.m.)
Gallery Talks: Sun, Sep 20, 1:00 p.m. Sun, Oct 25, 2:30 p.m.
Location: Historical Society of Woodstock
20 Comeau Dr., Woodstock NY 12498
Admission: Free
The Historical Society of Woodstock is pleased to announce its new exhibition, Rosella Hartman and the Animal Sculptors of Woodstock. The exhibition celebrates the life and career of Rosella Hartman (1894-1993), who, for almost seventy years, made her home in Woodstock, New York, where she became one of the most beloved artists of the famous art colony.
The exhibition also touches on the work of the Woodstock sculptors Grace Mott Johnson (1882-1967), Hunt Diederich (1884-1953), Carl Walters (1881-1955), John B. Flannagan (1895-1942), and Hartman’s husband Paul Fiene (1899-1949), who joined her as part of an outstanding group of twentieth century American artists who were devoted to depicting animal subjects.

Rosella Hartman and the Animal Sculptors of Woodstock features approximately forty paintings, drawings, watercolors, lithographs, drypoints and etchings from the course of Hartman’s successful career., and a small group of sculpture. The exhibition is curated by the art historian and board member Bruce Weber and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Dr. Weber, who during the course of organizing the exhibition associated with the artist’s great niece Suzi Van Ness, who generously donated a group of more than twenty stellar works by Hartman to the collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock. The exhibition has been sponsored by Sharon Fletcher, whose former husband Tom Fletcher was a close friend of Hartman, who played a role in inspiring him to open an art gallery in Woodstock that operated from 1992 to 2019 and specialized in the art of the colony.
There will be an opening reception on Saturday, September 5 at 3:00 p.m. and gallery talks by curator Bruce Weber on Sunday September 20 at 1:00 p.m. and Sunday October 25 at 2:30 p.m. On Saturday October 3rd at 2:30 p.m. Katherne Rangoon Doyle will be presenting the lecture “John B. Flannagan, Sculptor of the Maverick Horse,” and signing copies of John B. Flannagan: A Salvation in Stone, the first book to be published on this pioneering American sculptor, who was a regular visitor to Woodstock, and created the magnificent wooden sculpture of the Maverick horse, which resides in the Maverick Concert Hall. Admission to all events and the exhibit is free.

(Note: Due to limited parking, if able, please park in the Lower Comeau parking lot and take the path at the end of the lot to the Historical Society. Accessible parking is available at the museum.)
The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics, and local citizens. In addition to the exhibition space, which is located at the historic Eames House on Comeau Drive in the center of Woodstock, the Historical Society has an extensive archive consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, correspondence, documents, film/sound recordings, and antique tools. The archive serves as a resource for a wide range of exhibitions, public programming, and research.
