Dobbs Ferry Historical Society

08/29/2026

Noted passings…
American foreign policy specialist Nancy Maginnes Kissinger was a 1951 graduate of the Masters School, returning to teach there for several years. She died on August 20, 2026.
Born in Manhattan in 1934, she grew up in White Plains. She graduated from Mt. Holyoke with a bachelor’s in history in 1955.
She served as a policy aide to New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller.
In 1974, she married former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger.

Bernice Friedman Gottlieb, an early advocate of transracial adoption, died on August 25, 2026.
Born in Brooklyn in 1931, she married architect Ferdinand Gottlieb in 1953, and later they would make Dobbs Ferry their home.
In 1969, the Gottliebs adopted a Korean orphan, being one of the first American couples of non- Asian heritage to do so. Bernice would remain actively involved in the adoption movement until 1980.
For more than 20 years she was the principal of Hudson Shores Realtors in Irvington.
She wrote several books including one on adoption and several murder mysteries that took place in the Rivertowns.

Photos:
Nancy Maginnes - 1951 Masterpieces, Masters School yearbook,
Bernice Gottlieb - Wikipedia

08/26/2026

On this date…
On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment giving women the right to vote was certified.
Dobbs Ferry resident F***y Garrison Villard (1844- 1928) was a campaigner for woman’s suffrage. Married to financial tycoon Henry Villard, the couple and their four children lived on their estate, Thorwood Park, in what is now the Villard Hill section of the village.
Although F***y’s activism came late in life after her children had grown and the death of her husband, she was raised in a family of active abolitionists, a cause she embraced and championed.
She was a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association, an organization that focused on the issue of getting the vote for women.
In 1909, at age 65, F***y was elected president of the Hudson Valley Suffrage Organization, a group formed as more and more local woman were advocating for the right to vote.
F***y was a lifelong pacifist. She participated in the 1914 Peace March in New York City and founded the Woman’s Peace Society in 1919.
She was one of the founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
F***y died at Thorwood Park and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery with her husband.

08/24/2026

Upcoming...

08/23/2026

Last day
Please join us…
Art for a cause

08/22/2026

Happening now…
Saturday/Sunday, August 22/23
Art Exhibit & Sale
at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society
12 Elm St. Dobbs Ferry
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Free
All are welcome
Come for the art… stay for the history
Photos by Carolyn White

08/20/2026

Available online now. Click the link below.

http://dobbsferryhistory.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Ferryman_###_no24-Summer_2026.pdf

08/20/2026

The Ferryman...
In mailboxes now, online soon

08/19/2026

08/16/2026

Clara Mead would be pleased an art show and exhibit is going to be held at her beloved family home (she was an avid potter and nature sketcher.)
Throughout Clara’s life, 13 Elm St. served as a gathering place for friends and neighbors…
charity events, holiday get togethers, all happened there.
Clara’s love for her family home led to her bequeathing it to the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society for its headquarters.
The mid-1800’s Mead house needs some tender loving care in order to continue serving Dobbs Ferry as a repository of the community’s story.
A portion of the proceeds will go to ensuring that happens.
Please join us on Saturday and Sunday, August 22 & 23 (10 am- 5 pm) for an art exhibit and sale at the Mead house. While there take a tour of the house and its lovely grounds! All works of art are done by local artists.
All are welcome to this free event.