Historical Society Minutes - June 17, 2009 The Warwick Historical Society met at 7 p.m. on June 17, 2009 in the basement of the Town Hall. There were 13 in attendance. The business meeting was called to order by Larry Carey. The secretary's report was accepted as read. Arline Lincoln reported that we have a total of $16,512.03 in the society's checking, savings, and two CD accounts. A motion was made and passed to accept the treasurer's report. NEW BUSINESS: The newly designed T-shirts are now available in a variety of colors, selling for $10 sizes small to large, and $12 extra large. The supply of old T-shirts are priced at $6 and $8. Curator: a motion was made to nominate Ed Lemon as curator of the Historical Society. The motion passed with enthusiasm and gratitude. Larry reported that a $1,500 grant is available from the Massachusetts Humanities Society. Martha Kitchen volunteered to be the grant writer for this proposal. Larry reported that the porch and post of the society building have been repaired, and that more painting needs to be done, including the porch floor. It was suggested a work party be arranged, with no decision reached on specifics. Ed Lemon reported on meetings he and Larry had in May with Peter Weis, archivist for NMH and Robert Cox, Head of UMASS Archives and Special Collection regarding inventorying, cataloguing and preserving the WHS collection. Ed's notes on his meetings are attached to these minutes. Ed noted in particular that Mr. Cox remarked on the extent and value of our collection. A motion was made and passed that an Archival Committee be formed to meet when necessary and make decisions regarding finances incurred as the archival project progresses. On the committee are Ed Lemon, Martha Kitchen, Beverly Shepardson, Freddie Fellows, Calvin Fellows, Arline Lincoln, Larry Carey, and Martha Morse. A motion was made and passed to keep $10,000 in the 7-month CD when it matures on 6/22/09 and that the approximately $1,805 be transferred to the checking account. Ann Miner said she has many scrapbooks of articles and materials about Warwick, and will donate them to the Society. It was suggested that Charlie Morse's interviews be transcribed and that the society buy a digital recorder and camera to so that Warwick's residents can set down their memories.. The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m., followed by refreshments. Our next quarterly meeting is scheduled for September 17, 2009. Respectfully submitted, Martha Morse, secretary Notes concerning the WHS Collection - Ed Lemon Larry Carey and I met with: Peter Weis, archivist for NMH on April 14 at NMH in Gill Robert Cox, Head, University of Massachusetts Archives and Special Collections on May 21 at the WHS building Mr. Weis was helpful in giving an overview of what an archive consists of, storing records, preservation of photos and docs, what to archive and what not, suppliers of archival needs, boxes, plastic sleeves, etc. Mr. Cox came to Warwick from New Salem and toured our building, remarking on how wonderful the collection was, and how some of the objects were quite valuable. We then discussed procedures for inventorying, cataloguing and preserving the collection. The UMass archive uses free blogging software (CMS) from WordPress for its inventory programming. The backend of the software is customizable, and can be transformed into quite a nice database program, or catablog, as they call it. The advantages of using a blogging program are many: 1. Entry of data can be done by anyone using a laptop in the WHS building, assuming we can get the wireless signal from the town hall. 2. The collection would be immediately available and searchable - even by the public. Or not - it's our choice. A hard copy printout can be made of the inventory. 3. We can start with a rough inventory and refine it as we get volunteers. 4. The software is not platform dependent. 5. Ed Lemon can probably figure out the software (!) We discussed the steps in the process - high priority must be given to preservation of materials: scanning, copying, photographing items, removing items from storage albums that do more harm than good and placing them in archival containers, etc. The safety and security of the more valuable items in the collection must be assured. Inventory - label and locate each room, floor, closet, cabinet, etc. what's in every room, i.e. rough inventory of items on walls, in drawers, etc. what's in boxes, albums, collections templates for each stage: collections, documents, photos, objects (more precise descriptions as time goes on) Questions for the Society: Who's adding materials now? Clippings, photos, etc? As we get started on this project should there be more frequent meetings of the society? Getting some of the older residents to set down their memories of Warwick. Recorders? Video cameras?