Meeting Minutes

February 7, 2008

Starksboro Historical Society’s
Annual Meeting Minutes
February 7, 2008
Starksboro Town Offices
7:10-8:50 pm

Members Present: Jim Lockridge, Sarah Adams, Kevin Hanson, Robert Stokes, Cynthia Kling, Elsa Gilbertson, Emma Lou Craig, Linda Barnard, John Burbank, Judy Burritt, Ruth Beecher

1. Minutes from 11-29-07 SHS meeting accepted.

2. Treasurer’s Report: Sarah reported that we have $1,334.24 in the bank with 27 members since August of 2005. 14 members are life-time and 13 are regular members. We have recently paid for storage boxes, VHC program fees, and postage. An ‘itemized categories report’ was distributed to interested members. Sarah agreed to send an updated membership database with contact information to Ruth, who will send it out to members.

3. By-Laws: we voted to amend Article 4, Item 1 regarding meeting on the fourth Thursday of every other month beginning in January to include “unless otherwise announced”. We also voted to amend Article 4, Item 2 regarding having our annual meeting in January to include “unless otherwise announced”. Amended By-Laws are attached to this email. By-Laws are also available on our website which is maintained by Kevin Hanson http://www.starksborohistoricalsociety.org/. If you are not on email and want a copy of the By-Laws, please let us know and we’ll get you a hard copy.

4. Elections of Officers: we voted in the following slate of officers for 2008:
President: Jim Lockridge
Vice President: Robert Stokes
Treasurer: Sarah Adams
Secretary: Ruth Beecher (bribed for a second term with chocolate)
Corresponding Secretary: Cynthia Kling
Trustee: Emma Lou Craig
Trustee: Linda Barnard
Many thanks to Emma Lou for two fine years as President giving this fledgling organization strong wings! Standing ovation!

5. Public Relations: Cynthia agreed to post notices of SHS events and doings in the Gazette. Emma Lou put a report in the Town Report. Robert wondered if we asked the town for money; perhaps this should be a future request as we benefit the whole town? Jim mentioned the local channel 16 “black t-shirt crew” who record public events for public access TV – located downstairs at Art on Main in Bristol, we agreed it would be good to pursue this. Contact info: North East Addison Television 23 Main St. PO Box 262 Bristol (802) 453-8562 neattv@adelphia.net www.neatv.net

6. Kevin’s Technology Workshop: on a cold night in January, 7 members (Kevin Hanson, Olive Phillips, John Burbank, Gerald Heffernan, Elsa Gilbertson, Sarah Adams, and Ruth Beecher) trekked to the Robinson Elementary School’s technology lab to become acquainted with Kevin’s amazing online database that he created to benefit SHS. With this program, we will be able to upload member information, archival acquisitions, projects, and much more. For almost 2 hours, we practiced entering data using some old tools to get used to the program which is very comprehensive and user-friendly. Elsa mentioned what a great model this was for other organizations to teach a group of interested folks all at once and to connect with the local elementary school. We decided subsequent workshops would be beneficial (see #11 below) to begin uploading archival acquisitions. This prompted the following discussion…

7. Vemont Museum and Gallery Alliance: VMGA is inviting Vermont historical societies and organizations to apply for a unique program (a national model!) to learn about how to assess and plan for collections, organize and store collections, plan for exhibits, and more. This would really help us in learning how to upload archival acquisitions into our online database. Accepted applicants would go to a series of workshops throughout the year, and an intern would be provided for 2-3 weeks. The cost is $300 which could be split if Bristol Historical Society wants to apply WITH us... John will connect with Gerald and other BHS folks and get in touch with Jim to pursue this golden opportunity. If accepted, the program would begin in the spring of 2008 and run through 2009. Deadline to apply: March 1st. [update since our meeting: SHS is being encouraged to apply without BHS at this time]

8. Community Connections: if SHS is accepted for the above VMGA program, Jim pointed out there is a component of sharing knowledge learned with the community. Jim also mentioned the possibility that the L.S.Gordon Store, future home to a music archive, could have a museum in the front of the building.

9. Speaker Committee Update: programs lined up for the year include the following:

MARCH 28 (Friday) at 6pm in conjunction with the Jerusalem Schoolhouse Lecture Series: Maple Sugaring Event. A catchier title and exact details will be determined, but we will begin with a maple-themed potluck dinner at the Starksboro Baptist Church assuming the church available (John will be in touch). This will be followed by an event at the Starksboro Public Library involving a panel of sugarers to discuss old-time and current sugaring methods and memories. We will gather sugaring props to put on display in the library, assuming the library will want this (Linda will be in touch with Lisa Daudon). A number of local sugarers were mentioned to invite including (but not exclusively!) Dave Follino, Kurt Kling, Steve Wilsey, Dave Mason, Kelly Norris, Henry Emmons, Duff Doliver, Eugene Orvis. Members present said they would invite various folks.

APRIL 18 (Friday) at 7pm at the Starksboro Public Library assuming it’s available (Ruth will be in touch with Lisa Daudon): Kitchen Tunks and Parlor Songs. This is a Vermont Humanities Council sponsored event with speaker Mark Greenberg. In the 1980’s, the speaker interviewed and recorded old-time, grassroots Vermont musicians and produced a video documentary, The Unbroken circle (1985), and a CD anthology, Kitchen Tunks and Parlor Songs (2003). In this presentation, he will discuss collecting oral histories in Vermont and examine how earlier music survived in the twentieth century and how it was affected by social and technological developments. If you have any props from this area to display such as photographs and musical instruments, please let Ruth know.

JUNE 11 (Wednesday) at 7pm (is that the time?) at the Jerusalem Schoolhouse in South Starksboro in conjunction with the Jerusalem Schoolhouse Lecture Series: Farming with Carroll Stokes. This program is still in the developmental stages, but that is the plan so far…

SEPTEMBER 7 (Sunday) at 1pm at Lewis Creek Farm with Hank Bissell. We will have a picnic potluck at the farm, tour the property including the site of an old ironworks, and stroll up to the old L.S. Gordon Store site which is currently being renovated to be a music archive for Vermont music.

NOVEMBER 21 (Friday) at 7pm at the Starksboro Village Meeting House: Sprightly Steps: Vermont’s Contra and Square Dancing Tradition. This is another Vermont Humanities Council sponsored event with speaker with Adam Boyce. From fancy balls or cotillions to kitchen junkets or tunks, people of all ages and backgrounds fell under the spell of the fiddle. Changes of musical styles and culture have made old-time dancing nearly extinct, but some practitioners keep the old styles alive. Please let Ruth know if you have any related photographs to display.

10. Business Meeting: we realized that all of our 2008 meetings are programs, with little time for business. John shared that at the Bristol Historical Society, they have a program and then do ‘business’ afterward, inviting all folks to stay but usually only members choose to do so. Other options discussed included scheduling a business meeting in October and/or doing business via email.

11. Technology Workshop #2: March 6th at 6:45 at the Robinson School Tech Lab. Please join us if you’re interested in learning Kevin’s online database program. We will attempt to upload SHS archival information and artifacts. Emma Lou will bring the artifacts. All are welcome – there are plenty of computers in the lab.

12. Jerusalem Schoolhouse Lecture Series: Linda mentioned that on Wednesday, February 13, Dr. Wendy Puls will be presenting a “Heart Healthy” discussion to promote healthy habits for men and women. Just in time for Valentine’s Day!

13. Next Meeting: March 28th Maple Sugaring Event: potluck at 6pm, sugaring event at 7pm (see #9 above for details!).

Respectfully Submitted,
Ruth Beecher