Historical Society Minutes

December 15, 2010

The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m. The secretary's September
report was accepted with two corrections: in paragraph #3 change
"appoint the current slate of officers .." to "elect the current slate
of officers..." Also, in the Curator's report, change "unearthed" to
"opened" under bullet #3.

The treasurer's report was approved as read.   The CD balance is $10,
015.57; savings balance is $4,040.58; and checking balance $1,612.53,
for a grand total of $15,668.68.

Larry Carey urged WHS members to think about possible new fundraising
ideas for the WHS.  One suggestion was the production of a calendar or
date book featuring Ralph Witherall's paintings. It was noted that this
would involve obtaining permission from the Witherall family. All of
Ralph's paintings of Warwick sites are on display at the Library.

The next order of business was a report from WHS curator, Ed Lemon. His
report is attached.

Refreshments and the "Yankee Gift Exchange" followed. The next quarterly
meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 16, 2011.

Respectfully submitted,

Martha Morse, secretary


Curator's Report

We were still working in November, continuing the second level of the
inventory project, when the cold weather finally shut us down.  It was a
wonderful and productive season, with many changes and improvements and
new exhibits, including garments.  Almost 800 objects, photographs,
books and documents were catalogued and photographed and are now
available on line, including the entire Cook and Goldsbury collections
and most of the Wheelock collection.

Once again I'd like to thank the many people who worked with and for the
society museum this year:

First, Larry Carey, for all he does, too much to summarize here, and
Michael and Cathy, his support system!

All the people who sat for 2 hours or more (or less) in the society
building this past summer: Barbara, Freddie and Cal, Rod and Liz, Clare,
Patty, Case and Arline, Martha Morse, Pat Johnson, Charlie and Elaine,
Dave and Bev.

The members of the inventory project team: Cal and Freddie Fellows, Bev
Shepardson, Deb Paulson, Nadia Marti, Liz Whipple, and the invisible
lady who helps with the software, my daughter-in-law, Andrea Lemon.

Deb Paulson, whose expertise in dating and describing older garments was
a blessing when we unearthed a large collection of clothing from the
1870's to modern times in an upstairs closet. She also dressed the two
forms now exhibited on the ground floor of the museum and, using
cardboard and duct tape, fashioned a hoop skirt to display one of the
dresses correctly.

Barb Walker for making the building look beautiful. She also obtained
the plexiglass for the Iversen dollhouse, which Cal Fellows then
installed. Elaine Brown for rearranging the furnishings in the Iversen
Doll House.

Martha Kitchen for donating the beautiful framed replica of the Blake
map, two portable heaters (that came in handy in late Oct and early Nov)
and for helping to support Nadia Marti's online preservation course.

Brian Miner for landscaping around the building and for leading the
volunteer firemen who moved some heavy furniture for us.

Beth Gilgun for lending a dressmaker's form and for giving an
entertaining look at colonial kitchens, and David Young for supplying
and troubleshooting our in-house wireless router and for providing
another dressmaker's form.

Plans for 2011

Deb Paulson has suggested we create a book: Treasures of Warwick, to
raise some funds. We should continue transcribing the Cobb diaries,
digitizing out of date tapes and floppies, as well as our historic
texts. Rediscovered items, such as the hearse lamps,  a box of
daguerrotypes, etc. need to be catalogued. Should we add an archive of
maps, texts, pictures of buildings, sound and video components to our
website?