Historians seek funds to fix aging Bovina Museum

Vicky Klukkert, The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
·3 min read

Jan. 20—The Bovina Historical Society is raising money to stabilize the Bovina Museum.

The building, which has been closed to the public since 2016 due to safety concerns, needs a new foundation and repairs made to floor joists, a media release said.

"One day I had started walking across the floor and things were bouncing," Bovina Town Historian Ray LaFever said. "That made me concerned."

He said a contractor was consulted and there was a dust trail under the floor joists made by powder beetles. The contractor also told the historical society that the foundation needed work. LaFever said the building sits on an incline and the organization had an engineer draw up plans for a new foundation.

The work will include installing a beam and column across the joists and pouring a new concrete foundation wall. The cost of the repairs totals $57,000.

LaFever said the society received a grant from the O'Connor Foundation and needed to match the $28,500 given to fund the repairs to the building. He said a member had read an article in The Daily Star about the Jefferson Historical Society receiving a $100,000 grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation. LaFever said he knew the foundation underwrote the publication of a historical newsletter in Schoharie County and he knew Kevin Berner, the president of the Jefferson Historical Society.

"I contacted the president of the Jefferson Historical Society to see how I could get in touch with Nicholas Juried and he gave me his email address," LaFever said. "I emailed him and told him about our project. On New Year's Day, I received an email that he was giving us $15,000. I was thrilled."

Thanks to the donation, the organization is now three-quarters of the way to its fundraising goal, LaFever said. Juried has been generous to a number of historical organizations in Schoharie, Delaware and Greene counties region, the release said. Juried grew up in Gilboa, attended Cornell University and though he now lives in Austin, Texas, the charitable foundation he started continues to benefit his native region.

LaFever said the building was built in the 1850s and was a tinsmith's shop. The building had a wing on it and owner J.W. Coulter offered the wing of this building to serve as a library in 1910. At his death in 1917, he bequeathed the entire building to the recently chartered Bovina Public Library, along with funds to convert the shop into the library. LaFever said the building was remodeled and the wing was removed. The building served housed the library until it moved to the Bovina District 4 School in 1970. The old library building was turned over to the Bovina Historical Society in 1975 and in 1978 was opened as the Bovina Museum.

LaFever helped set up the museum in 1978 and said some of the tags he wrote then were still attached to the exhibits. He said once the repairs are made, he hopes to update the exhibits and paint the interior of museum.

The goal is to have this project completed before July 30 and 31, so the museum can be open when Bovina holds its belated bicentennial celebration. The town was scheduled to celebrate its bicentennial in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic canceled those plans.

Anyone wishing to donate can contact the Bovina Historical Society at bovinahistoricalsociety@gmail.com

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.