Planning your visit. How we can help you:
We get many requests for onsite visits and have found that the most effective and efficient way to address enquiries is to have the requests submitted in writing in advance.
DCHS is located at 6282 Route 9, Rhinebeck, New York and, in general, is open to the public Wednesday to Saturday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm excluding holidays. Because we rely so much on volunteer help, it is important you reach out to us in advance to confirm what you are looking for.
We do not always have information on the topic that is of interest. Or it may take some time to establish if we do. That’s why writing down requests is so important.
If you are onsite you may:
- Take a self-guided tour of the Firefighting exhibition on display through March of 2025 (except for Dutchess County Fair week).
- After we have established if we books related to the topic of interest, you may consult our research libraries: the general research library or the Kelly genealogical library.
- Examine collections items through appointment allowing for approximately one week for DCHS to establish what may or may not be in collections relate to the topic.
This last item, collections items requires great care. Once we establish that we do indeed have relevant items, there are instances where we are able to create digital copies at a reasonable cost. In general, it is best practice with collections to minimize the physical handling of photographs, documents or objects.
COSTS: The Dutchess County Historical Society is a non-profit 501c3 depending entirely on annual memberships and donations, and does not regularly receive any taxpayer monies for its operations. We have built some endowment funds to cover the costs of our sacred trust in professionally caring for nearly 5,000 square feet of archives. But activities beyond this require funding to be identified.
Membership (or donation) of $100 or more allows us to do a high-level survey across publications, collections, photographs, oral histories and other miscellaneous items but beyond that a fee of $50 per research hour is required ($25 for $100 members/donors).