The Historical Society of Walden and the Wallkill Valley has long served the local community with the preservation of local history and spreading knowledge of rich artifacts. In order to continue doing so, they’re asking the community for donations.

Last year the society wrote a letter asking for help and decided to follow a similar path this year. During donations last year, they kept a flag outside on the front porch of the Jacob T. Walden House demonstrating the amount they’ve raised and the people who donated. They ended up raising just under $10,000, which they used to fix the six pillars on the porch as well as the corner of the building. This year, the letter emphasizes that they rely solely on the community’s support, and that they do not receive funding from any local municipalities or the state.

The society preserves and maintains the Jacob T. Walden House, a more than 230-year-old building that is home to many miscellaneous items of history and previously owned by the Jacob T. Walden family. Historical Society President Barbara Imbasciani mentioned that the exact date the two story house was built is unknown, but sometime in the 1730s. Nowadays, it’s full of paintings, antiques, artifacts, etc. Imbasciani noted some items original to the house, like crown moldings and fireplaces.

This year, they’re focusing on repairing and replacing their roof and getting a central dehumidification system set up for their building. However, the organization also could use the funding in general. “Our membership is aging out and we don’t have as many people joining,” said Imbasciani. The Society also maintains the Shafer house just around the corner.

Like everyone else, the organization has bills to pay as well. Imbasciani noted that maintaining the house is roughly $10,000 a year. Their stretch of members, which she mentions is around 30, on top of various events isn’t enough to sustain this.

“We have been very lucky over the years. We have had some money left to us from various members and that has helped sustain us, but there are a lot of projects that need to be done and things are more expensive,” said Imbasciani.

In an ideal world, Imbasciani said $20,000 to $30,000 would be great for everything they want to do, but realistically thinks another $10,000 would also be fine. “Ideally if we could raise $30,000 I would be delighted. If we raised $10,000, that’s probably more realistic,” Imbasciani said.

Imbasciani also doesn’t want people to think they’re just asking for money and not doing other things to raise it on their own. Throughout 2022 they held various fundraisers and events to try to bring more money in. “By no means do I ever expect people to think that we’re just asking for money and not trying to raise money and do things. The idea is not just to ask for money, so we are continually having fundraisers and trying to be creative like every other organization,” said Imbasciani, who also mentions that many historical societies are going through the same problem.

Society Trustee and Archivist Lisa Melville-McIver discussed the misconceptions people might have about funding for their society. “A lot of people think there’s a Jacob T. Walden society that helps. There’s just nobody,” said Melville-McIver.

Imbasciani and Melville-McIver both encourage locals to care about the house because it’s where Walden began. “This is their start. Jacob Walden came to Walden as a businessman to create business in this town and he brought businessmen with him that created this town. Would there have been a knife factory if Walden hadn’t come?” Imbasciani asked.

Unfortunately if the historical society runs out of money, which Imasciani mentions could happen in a few years, they’d hand over the house to the state since they’re chartered with the state as an educational institution. Years of rich history would no longer be preserved by a board made up of local community members.

Imbasciani talked about some strategies to get some more members and people interested. “I think it’s important to get families involved, both children and parents. We’re trying to become very child focused this year; the fourth graders are all coming here again for a tour [stopped because of COVID]. We’re trying to change the displays, because the displays did get very stagnant. We’re having social events that will attract a variety of people,” she mentioned.

Locals are encouraged to join the society or participate in programs that they put on every year. In the meantime, the society is focused on making the Jacob T. Walden house the historic place to be.

“We’re working hard to maintain the building and make it so people want to come see us. We want children to come and we want to be a friendly, open environment for the village to come,” said Imbasciani.

Monetary donations can be mailed to the Historical Society of Walden and Wallkill Valley, P.O. Box 48, Walden, New York 12586 or given to a trustee. They also have a Venmo account @waldenhistoricalsociety.