Becoming a member is a very straightforward and rewarding process that can be completed in person during any visit to our facility or through our secure online portal. Members receive a wide variety of exclusive benefits including early-bird access to special events, a subscription to our detailed quarterly newsletter, and unlimited, priority access to our research archives for personal projects. Your membership fees are a vital source of funding that goes directly toward the professional preservation of fragile artifacts and the development of new educational programs for local schoolchildren. We offer several different tiers of membership—from individual and student to family and corporate—to ensure that everyone in the community can find a level of support that works for their budget while contributing to the important work of safeguarding our shared heritage. Membership is more than just a subscription; it is a statement of support for the cultural health of our town.

The safety of our visitors and the long-term physical integrity of our collection are our absolute top priorities at all times. We utilize sophisticated, climate-controlled environments for our most sensitive documents and textiles to prevent deterioration from light, heat, and humidity. We have also implemented strict, museum-grade handling protocols for all archival materials which our staff and researchers must follow. Our facility is equipped with modern, 24/7 security and fire suppression systems, and our staff is regularly trained in emergency procedures and artifact conservation techniques. Visitors are provided with clear, friendly guidelines on how to interact with exhibits to ensure that nothing is damaged while still allowing for a meaningful, hands-on experience. We strive to find the perfect balance between the need for public accessibility and the absolute, non-negotiable necessity of preserving these irreplaceable items for the next century.

Our educational curriculum is carefully and professionally designed to directly complement the New York State social studies standards for a wide variety of grade levels, from kindergarten through high school. We provide hands-on, inquiry-based lessons that focus on local history, the evolution of agriculture, industrial changes, and civic responsibility. Teachers can choose from a menu of pre-designed thematic programs or work directly with our Director of Education to create a completely custom experience that meets the specific learning objectives of their students. Each session typically includes a mix of guided exploration, primary source analysis, and interactive, tactile activities that make history come alive. We also provide comprehensive pre-visit and post-visit materials to help educators seamlessly integrate the historical society experience into their broader classroom learning plans. We want every student to leave our facility with a better understanding of how history is “made.”

While we do not have a full-service cafeteria or restaurant on-site to protect our collections from pests and spills, we do provide a comfortable, designated “clean zone” area where researchers and visitors can take breaks and enjoy their own snacks or packed lunches. There are also several wonderful, family-owned local eateries and cafes in the village of Barker that are within easy walking distance of our location. For our special large-scale events and group tours, we often coordinate with local caterers to provide refreshments and full meals in our outdoor pavilion area. We fully understand that historical and genealogical research can be a very long and intensive process, and we strive to ensure that our visitors are comfortable, hydrated, and have the resources they need to sustain their important work throughout the entire day. We are always happy to provide a list of local restaurant recommendations to our guests.

We maintain an incredibly busy and diverse calendar of events throughout the entire year, with activities purposefully scheduled for weekdays, evenings, and weekends to accommodate as many different residents and schedules as possible. Our regular, recurring programming includes monthly guest lectures, quarterly family-focused discovery days, and our major seasonal heritage festivals. To stay fully informed about all of our upcoming activities, we strongly encourage everyone to sign up for our digital email newsletter and follow our active social media pages on Facebook and Instagram. We also post a large, physical calendar of events in our lobby and distribute flyers to various community locations throughout Barker and the surrounding towns. Our goal is to ensure that there is always something interesting, educational, and fun happening at the society for everyone in the community to enjoy and participate in.

We highly and enthusiastically encourage parent involvement and offer many different ways for families to engage with our mission on a much deeper level over time. Parents can volunteer to help facilitate our youth programs, serve on our various event planning committees, or even contribute their own family stories and digitized artifacts to our ongoing local history projects. We believe that when parents are actively and visibly involved in the preservation of history, it sends a powerful and lasting message to their children about the importance of heritage, community, and service. We also host specialized evening workshops for adults on topics like advanced genealogy and home archival preservation, allowing parents to develop their own historical skills while supporting the society. We view the historical society as a partnership between our staff and the families we serve, and we are always open to new ideas for family engagement.