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.
Main Street Walking Tours
Spend a Saturday this summer learning about the amazing history of Penn Yan's Main Street!
Tours start at the Oliver House Museum at 200 Main Street and last for about 90 minutes.
Spencer Center Family Research Extends Hours in August
Are you interested in learning more about your Yates County family tree?
Researching locally using donated genealogies, vital records, Bible records, maps, local newspapers and images can produce unique and valuable family information not found online. While the majority of the resources concentrate on Yates County, there are publications dealing with other counties in NYS and Rhode Island, Michigan and New Jersey.
The Yates County History Center is offering additional hours at their Research Center during the month of August for geneaological researchers. The Spencer Research Center, located within the L. Caroline Underwood Museum at 107 Chapel Street in Penn Yan, will be open Tuesday through Friday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm with additional Saturday hours offered on August 4, 11, and 18th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Members of the History Center use the Research Center at no charge.
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.
Admiral Frank H. Schofield: A Portrait In Letters of An American Navy Family (1886-1942) is the newest addition to YCHC Heritage Books & Gifts.
The book came about because of a long-forgotten stash of letters found in an upstate New York barn and recently retired history teacher, Rich MacAlpine, had the curiosity and time to weave them into a wonderful story of a struggling farm family and a son who went on to become the Commander-in-Chief of America's fleet.
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.
Admiral Frank H. Schofield: A Portrait In Letters of An American Navy Family (1886-1942) is the newest addition to 
