The history of the Empire State Kiwanian can be traced to the district's 1924 convention in Buffalo, when the delegates approved mailing a bulletin to each Kiwanian in the district. Previously a bulletin which had been prepared by the district secretary was mailed only to club officers.
The first issue of the "Kiwanis Courier" was edited and published by District Secretary Robert C. Hyde in Binghamton. The Courier was published until 1931.
On Jan. 12, 1931, a committee of three lieutenant governors appointed by Governor Franklin C. Huntington of Oneonta recommended that the district enter into a one-year contract with Kiwanian/Printer George H. Prout of Troy to edit and publish a newly-formatted, approximately 6-inch by 9-inch district magazine titled the "Empire State Kiwanian". The first issue was mailed on Jan. 30, 1931, at which time there were some 5,000 members in 69 clubs in 7 divisions on the mailing list.
That one-year arrangement with George Prout continued for 42 years, until 1973, and for an additional nine years, until 1982, with his son Kiwanian W. Harry Prout also of Troy, for a total 51 years with the Prout family. For this extraordinary contribution to our district, George Prout was named an Honorary Past Governor in 1963.
The five decades of the Prout/ESK era ended in late 1982 with the appointment as editor of Kiwanian Richard Trupkin of Woodside, DPLG of the Queens West Division. He introduced a larger, tabloid format. With the exception of one administrative year, 1993–94, when the editor was David Gallagher of Hamburg, Trupkin edited the ESK until his tragic death in December 1996.
Answering the call to complete the 1996–97 administrative year was Kiwanian Maureen Neuringer.
For the 1997-98, 1998-99, and 1999-2000 Kiwanis years, Gallagher served as editor.
Neuringer once again became editor in the 2000-01 Kiwanis year. She continued in the job through the 2008-09 year.
At the start of the 2009-10 administrative year, the ESK editorship was assumed by Martin Toombs, who had been the district webmaster since 2001. At that time the format was changed from a tabloid newspaper to magazine-style, with 8.5 by 11 inch pages featuring color pictures throughout.
The last printed ESK issue was in October of 2017. Increasing costs along with the increasing use of the district's web site led to the decision to eliminate printed copies in favor of an online edition. Toombs remained the ESK editor until September of 2023 when the job was assumed by Seth Blau.
Much of this information came from an article written in 2004 by Tony Kaiser, Past International President and Past District Historian.
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated