Olde Ulster: An Historical and Genealogical Magazine was the brainchild of Benjamin Myer Brink (1847-1915), a historian and author from Saugerties who descended from the earliest Anglo-Dutch colonists of Ulster County. In 1904 a decision was made by Brink to commence publication of a history magazine to fill the conspicuous void in local historical scholarship left by the collapse of the original Ulster County Historical Society following the death of Society Secretary George W. Pratt in 1862. The magazine's specific aim was to collect and disseminate both interpretive material as well as transcriptions of primary sources deemed rare or otherwise threatened, and the first edition was released to the public in January of 1905 as a subscription publication.
The magazine endured for ten years, publishing a wide variety of articles, genealogical summaries, transcriptions, and solicitations for research materials by Brink and a cadre of other historians and enthusiasts eager to support the effort. The final run of the magazine was published in December 1914, and Brink himself passed away the following October at the age of 67. Olde Ulster endures today as a fascinating testament to the efforts of the history community in Ulster at the beginning of the 20th century, and covers a wide array of subjects with varying degrees of success while also preserving the evidence of historical resources now lost or unavailable to the modern researcher.
Scope of Collection
Collection comprises scans of a contiguous, uncirculated run of Benjamin Brink's Olde Ulster magazine discovered in the basement of the Kingston Area Library and donated to the Ulster County Clerk's Office in 2023. Included in the collection were nine additional index volumes published as an aid for discovery of articles and subjects covered in back issues of the magazine annually during its publication run.
