Warwick Historical Society Minutes
September 21, 2011

The WHS quarterly business meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m.
Present: Rod Whipple, Bev Shepardson, Dave Shepardaon, Calvin Fellows,
Freddie Fellows,  Kady Woods, Charlie Brown, Clare Green, Pat Johnson, 
Ann Miner,  Martha Morse, Ed Lemon, Martha Kitchen, Larry Carey

Secretary's report was approved as read.

Treasurer's report: CD $10,082.58;  Savings $4,048.17; Checking
$1,459.95; TOTAL $15,130.75
Report approved as read by secretary in the treasurer's absence.

Auditor Rod Whipple reported that on Sept. 20, 2011 he examined the
books of the Historical Society and "found them to be accurate and all
accounts are in good standing."

New Business
A suggestion was made that rooms in the WHS museum be named after
prominent Warwick citizens. Discussion followed. Larry asked members to
bring suggested names to the next meeting. 
Discussion on how better to display the scales kept in the cabinet in
the downstairs room of the WHS. 
Larry showed a note card from the past with drawings by Jeannette
Fellows. Jeannette has given us permission to use her art work to
produce new cards. Thanks to Clare Green who has donated a new set of
note cards, some of which were sold at Old Home Day. Clare said she will
be making a card with a photo of the new school. 
Larry asked if anyone was willing to set up a WHS table for selling
items at the Sept. 24 "Route 78 Farm Day" event. Ann Miner agreed to do
this with Kady's help.
Larry Carry asked Martha to send a thank you card to Lena Cary Rogers
for her donation of the Mary P. Wells Smith book collection.
Membership dues were paid by Larry and Cathy Carey, Rod and Helen
Whipple, Calvin and Freddie Fellows, Dave and Bev Shepardson, Charlie
and Elaine Brown, Michael Carey and Martha Morse. Others will have the
opportunity to pay at the December meeting.

REPORTS
Kady Woods reported in wonderful detail on her experiences in a two-week
"Exploring New England" program sponsored by Smith College. The program
focused on objects from the 18th and 19th centuries and included visits
to Old Sturbridge and Old Deerfield, as well as a lot of time spent in
the Archives at Smith College.
David Shepardson  brought to the meeting samples of footwear produced in
the boot shop formerly located where the town hall now is, employing at
one time about 40 people. .These boots were recently found among items
kept by the Shepardson family.
The report of curator Ed Lemon is appended.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m., followed by refreshments.  Next
meeting is Dec. 21, 2011

Respectfully submitted
Martha Morse, secretary 

Curator's Report
September 21, 2011

1. General Thanks:
To Barbara Walker, Patty Ernest, Clare Green, Cal & Freddie Fellows,
Martha Morse, Martha Kitchen, Bev & Dave Shepardson, Ann Miner and Kady
Woods for museum duty. Weather this season affected attendance
adversely, but there were still plenty of visitors. Special thanks to
Brian Miner for cutting the privet bush and repairing the granite fence
in front of the building, and Barb Walker for the lovely flowers in
boxes and beds around the museum. Thanks to Cal and Freddie Fellows for
help with the exhibits, and extensive donations of time and materials.
To Jillaine Smith, genealogist from Washington, DC, for her updates to
God, Love and Lust in old Warwick, and her researches on the Allen
family sampler. And finally, many thanks to Larry Carey and his family
for all they do!

2. Inventory Project:
Thanks to Cal & Freddie, Bev, Deb Paulson, Liz Whipple, Martha Morse,
Nadia Marti, Kady Woods and Pat Johnson for data entry and much good
conversation. Over 1000 individual items have been catalogued,
photographed and put online. We have three dress forms in garments on
display and more to come, the Blissville Scythe exhibit has been updated
and is now much easier to see, a Civil War exhibit has been arranged and
will be augmented next year.

3. New Acquisitions:
Thanks to A. George Day, Ann Miner, Lena Carey Rogers, Lois Macy, Pat
Johnson, Bev Shepardson for donations of historical materials.

4. Library:
After some frustrating efforts with online companies, we're now buying
our archival supplies through the Warwick Library. Thanks to Nancy
Hickler for suggesting this and making it possible. We get a discount
and free shipping by buying through the library consortium.

5. Arts Show:
We need volunteers to staff the museum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday,
October 8.
 
6. Photography project:
I'm still working on making new, color photos of Warwick's oldest or
most historic buildings as listed in the MHC Register and the
Hawes/Morse book. If you see some stranger outside your house with a big
camera, it's probably me.  Again, thanks to Cal & Freddie and Martha
Kitchen for transport.

7. Security, Keys & Materials:
There are lots of keys out there. If you don't need them, please turn
them in to Larry or me.
Please do not borrow materials without checking first with Larry or me.
There are important materials missing, such as Patty Leland's
Autobiography, and pictures from various albums. We are currently
sorting out Charlie Morse's files, and there are often folders with
tempting titles, that contain nothing. So if you have some of our stuff,
or know where it is, please return it.

8. Help!
We still need long term residents to come forward and help identify
photos and mystery objects.
We need people to do interviews and be interviewed. We have an audio and
a video recorder available.
Please look at our website, and correct errors! We are fairly careful,
but mistakes do slip through. Someone with the exotic name of
bisontrainer92 from somewhere out West sent me an email correcting one
of our civil war records that was just recently put on line. Bad news
is: we make errors. Good news is: people all over are looking at our web
page!

Respectfully submittted
Ed Lemon, curator