In 1939, the League of Women Voters founded the Rensselaer County League. Beulah Bailey Thull was elected as the first President and is recognized as onw of the founders. She was one of Governor Franklin Roosevelt's speechwriters at that time. She was born and raised in Troy and did graduate work in Library Science. She worked for many years as the special librarian of the NYS Tax Department and wrote and spoke on tax issues for governors of various party affiliations. 

After retiring she devoted herself to local history working with the Rensselaer County Historical Society and in 1967 she was appointed the first official historian of Rensselaer County.