The Lebanon Valley Historical Society (LVHS) has been granted $225 from the Columbia County Board of Supervisors and the Columbia County Historical Society 2013 Re-grant program. These funds have been used to buy archival storage boxes and supplies for the LVHS collection of The ECHO, a now out of print weekly newspaper which covered towns in Columbia and Rensselaer Counties on the Massachusetts border.
Previously, the LVHS had an extensive but incomplete collection of The ECHO. Last summer, the Town of New Lebanon received a donation of a complete collection of The ECHO, and gave them to the LVHS. The LVHS requested funding from the Columbia County Historical Society to buy archival storage boxes and supplies in order to safely store this collection.
In January, volunteers from the LVHS sorted and collated the newspapers. The LVHS now has an almost complete collection of The ECHO from 1940 to 1996. They are archivally stored in the LVHS rooms at the New Lebanon Town Hall and available for public research by appointment.
Since many of the donated editions had multiple copies, extra copies were donated to the Stephentown and Canaan Historical Societies. Copies of The ECHO are also available for public perusal at the New Lebanon Heritage Center.