John Paul Wolfe - Chautauqua County Historical Society

 

John Paul Wolfe spoke on behalf of the Chautauqua County Historical Society.  Founded in 1883 as the Chautauqua History and Science Society the organization has adapted to meet the growing needs of the county.  The Society was originally housed in Mayville, New York and moved to Westfield, to the current location, the McClug Museum in 1951, saving the building from demolition.  The Society had purchased the Peacock Inn in Mayville but relented to local pressure and sold the building to private investors.  Unfortunately the Peacock was eventually lost to the wrecking ball but through artful negotiating on the part of the Society the Land Office vault was saved and survives today.  The McClurg Museum recently went through a Historic Structures Report process and is currently under renovation for necessary repairs.

 

The Chautauqua Country Historical Society is governed by a fifteen member working Board of Directors representing all areas of the county.  All directors are volunteers and each is assigned a specific duty, Mr. Wolfe is the McClurg Museum curator.  The museum collection includes massive amounts of paper and portraits.  In all it is estimated there are 400,000 to 500,000 items in the collection.  In addition to maintaining and preserving the collection the Historical Society publishes a newsletter quarterly, offers a speakers series during the summer and has undertaken the daunting task of digitizing thousands of letters and documents and making them available to the public.

 

New members are always welcome and membership information can be found here.

 

Mr. Wolfe is a graduate of Jamestown High School, Allegheny College, University of Gugarat, and the University of Buffalo.  He taught High School Art at Cassadaga Valley Central School for thirty years.  He has served his community on the Palace Civic Center Founding Committee, as Board President of the Patterson Library, on the Village of Westfield Planning Board, as Chairman, Supervisory Committee Inner Lakes Credit Union and as a volunteer for the Northern Chautauqua Canine Rescue.  He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Chautauqua County Historical Society, the Westfield Antique Show, and as Curator for the McClurg Museum.  Mr. Wolfe is also a Paul Harris Fellow.

 

Photo: Speaker John Paul Wolfe, curator of the McClurg Museum and Rotarian John Lloyd.