Each year at this time, we APPEAL to history lovers to donate to assist us in presenting the exhibits, lectures, tours and reenactments which bring Yates County's rich history to life. If you enjoy our many offerings, please consider a donation to our Annual Appeal. You may click the Donate button or mail appeal contributions to 107 Chapel Street, Penn Yan 14527. As a not for profit organization, we appreciate every contribution. A community museum where every story matters!
The Healers
For 100 years the Oliver doctors treated injuries from train, sawmill and farming accidents, burns, and diseases such as dropsy, catarrh and apoplexy. The exhibit focuses on their training, treatments and daily life as highly respected members of the Yates County community. On display are Dr. Andrew Oliver’s desk with daily ledger, the medical library, and examples of tonics and treatments used to heal the sick. The doctors’ legacy as noble benefactors of a suffering humanity lives on in this extensive display.
Hear Our One Voice Suffrage Exhibit
Using images and costumes from the archives of the YCHC, Hear Our One Voice presents topics such as dress reform, Native American influence on women’s rights campaigns, women’s work, and the campaign itself. View the rare Yates County petition boards carried by women in the final New York City Suffrage Parade in 1917. Hear the stories of remarkable women of Yates County. As a virtual extension in the celebration of women, visit our collection of first-person recordings of Women Who Made A Difference.
New at the Spencer Research Center!
Yates County History Center members can visit Ancestry.com for free by using our guest computer in the Spencer Research Center, Caroline Underwood Museum.
Discover your family's history! Become a YCHC member today!
History Meets Media
Yates County History Center often helps local students with their local history research projects. Did you know that for a few years now, thanks in part to a grant, AP History students from Penn Yan Academy have had the learning opportunity to select a local history subject of their choice, research it and create a documentary? Below are a couple examples.
"Over There" and Over Here: Yates County In The Great War (1916-1919) is the newest addition to YCHC Heritage Books & Gifts.
Inspired by the 100 year anniversary of the Great War, each chapter is a bimonthly look at the progress of the war and how the local community reacted to it starting in November of 1916 when the United States was trying to maintain neutrality. The final chapter describes the enthusiastic welcome home celebration for local servicemen on the 4th of July 1919.
Don't miss this great opportunity to add the freshly reprinted atlas, New Historical Atlas of Yates County New York Illustrated Everts, Ensign & Everts 1876, to your historic library. Enjoy the look of the original with the strength of a newly created book!
Nearly identical to the original, this 114 page hardcover book is slightly smaller at approximately 14" x 17", contains 28 individual colored maps of each of the townships, villages and hamlets within Yates County's borders and many line drawings of places and people as they were in 1876.
Yates County History Center helps people come to understand and appreciate the importance of local and family history. Our work and present level of programming is supported largely by financial support through membership and contributing donors. Become involved!
Check us out Amazon shoppers! AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Yates history! Every time you shop at smile.amazon.com, with Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society as your charitable organization, Amazon will donate a small percentage of your purchase amount to the Yates County History Center.
NYS Historic Newspapers has become the repository for over 100,000 pages of YCHC's historic newspaper collection. In the coming months more and more of them will become available at NYS Historic Newspapers for searching
George S. Sheppard and his son Oliver meticulously saved newspaper clippings over the span of approximately fifty years - 1903 through 1953. The Sheppard Scrapbooks, as they are fondly referred to, have been digitized and are available for your researching and reading enjoyment.
"Over There" and Over Here: Yates County In The Great War (1916-1919) is the newest addition to 
