The founding events of the Hilbus chapter are receding into the mists of time. There
is some discussion about when the chapter was founded, but it appears to have been
in 1970. This makes the Hilbus chapter the second oldest of the Organ Historical
Society, as the NYC chapter was the first chapeter, founded in 1969. Among the founding
members of Hilbus were Jim Baird, Ben Faidley, Carol Fix, Pat Heflin, Cleve Fisher
and others. By 1971, the membership was at 28 members and counted in its ranks many
young organ enthusiasts eager to explore the rich organ heritage of the Washington/Baltimore
area. The earliest news letter was published in July, 1971, listing among other things,
that the officers were re-elected for another year. The group had already been arranging
monthly organ crawls for some months by that time.
The first chapter newletters were created on typewriters and memograph machines,
that being the state of the art technology at the time. Here (in two files) is a
copy of the Hilbus Chapter's first newsletter:
