Minutes and agenda archive

Historic Shepherdstown

Minutes from the August 4, 2010 meeting

The August 4, 2010 board meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by President John Griffith.

Members present were: : A. Asam, J. Bock, F. Phillips, J. Griffith, B. Lowe, C. Moore, E. Moore, V. Smith, J. Thomas, A. Wayt.   

Members Absent were: E. Dunleavy, A. Levitan, and M. Austin

After adjusting the July 7, 2010 minutes to reflect that F. Phillips and J. Thomas were in attendance, the minutes were unanimously approved based on a motion from J. Thomas  and seconded by E. Moore.

Treasurer’s Report

The July 31, 2010 Treasurer's report (attached) was discussed at length.

Although the number of members and cash donations are down from last year Office Rents as well as public area rents is up so HS operated at a modest profit for the first 7 months of the 2010 year.  See the actual Treasurer's report for exact amounts in this regard.  After a motion by E. Moore and a second by A. Wayte the board voted unanimously to file the treasurer's report for audit.

Museum Report

A collection of Little House Memorabilia from the 1970's was donated to the Musuem by Henrietta Eby in honor of her late husband. Complete details regarding this latest accession are maintained in the museum archives.  See Vicky Smith or Suni Johnson to review the complete details of this latest accession. 

Suni Johnson is donating several hours of her time each Monday to record museum accessions and update this information using our computer system.  Suni recently began working for the HS Museum as a volunteer.  Prior to volunteering with us she had held a full time position with the Byrd Center on Shepherd University Campus as a paid Archivist.

Local building contractor, Jim Schmitt,  has offered to share a large collection of baseball memorabilia he has from a Semi-Professional Shepherdstown based Afro-American team.  This team was actively playing games throughout the region as late as 1970.  At the moment it is believed that some members of this team are still alive and living Jefferson County.  The museum committee plans to meet with Jim to review the collection and will report back to the board at a later meeting regarding the desirability of displaying these items in our museum.

New Business

1.)   Mr. Dan Tokar presented a talk regarding a collection of money he has that was printed in the 1861 and 1862.  Due to a large financial crash that started in approximately 1837 there quickly became a shortage of US minted money and coins.  This shortage of money in circulation reached a crisis point about the time that the war between the states started.  Local communities began to print their own script.  Dan has a collection of 7 bills printed during this period of time that he is offering for sale to Historic Shepherdstown for $2,500.00  Some of this script was printed in Shepherdstown, some in Boonsboro and some in Baltimore but all the script was actually issued by the government of Shepherdstown, Virginia.  The board took the offer from Dan under advisement and agreed to get back to Dan with an answer in the near future but no earlier than after our October board meeting. 

A research sub-committee of Vicky Smith and Fran Phillips was set up by President Griffith.   This committee was to investigate the possibility of having Jefferson Security Bank purchase this script collection from Mr. Tokar so that it might be displayed  in our museum and/or at JSB. 

The board believes that it is highly desirable to make the acquisition of this script and to  display these bills locally in time for the 250th Anniversary Celebration of the founding of Shepherdstown .       

2.)  The Fall Social/Fundraiser is set to be held on Saturday night September 25, 2010.  The hours of the event are from 6-9 pm and the cost per person is $40.00 per person attending the event.  The committee of A. Asam, F. Phillips,  E. Moore & A. Wayte is planning to have an Hawaiian Luau with special drinks, food and music.  In addition to the price of admission a series of paintings will be available for sale and a group of home-made cakes will be raffled off during the evening.

3.)  Carl Moore presented the names of the nominations to fill the 2010-2011 board openings.  Rick Horowitz, Harrison Lanham, Curt Mason & John Loeffler have agreed to serve on next year's board.  The election is planned to be held at the annual all members meeting set for September 8, 2010.  The first meeting for this new group of volunteers will at the October 6, 2010 board meeting. 

Old Business

1.  The rental of space at the Entler Hotel has been strong thus far in 2010.  Office rents are up $6,163 (+35%) thus far in 2010.  Public Area rents are up $5,745 (+154%).   If one were to back out the Visitor's Center rent of the Morgan Room for the first seven months of $4,900 there is still an increase of $845 for the use of the reception room and outdoor in 2010 over 2009. 

2.  The grant proposal made to the state of West Virginia has been rejected.  When questing the state regarding our grant proposal we were assured that the grant we submitted was done in an exemplary manner.  This year the state had only $500,000 to award for historic preservation but had grant requests from throughout the state for just over $3,100,000.  Nearly all the money awarded for this year went to historic preservation organizations that had partial grants awarded to them in 2009.

President’s Report

1. Phase one of the repairs to the building is completed, the chimneys have been taken down to roof line, sealed and then rebuilt, some beams in the attic over the Museum have been repaired,  a major support beam in the basement under the Morgan Room has been replaced and some chimney foundation work was done to stop the building from settling  and twisting.  Phase one has cost us $54,016.15 and the funds used for this were taken from the $60,000 loan provided to HSC by the Corporation of Shepherdstown. 

2.  A capital campaign to offset the major building repairs we face is to be started before the end of 2010.  The president is looking for 8 board and/or club members to serve on this very important long range fund raising activity. 

3.  Even though our administrator's hours of work have been reduced to three days a week, coordination of all activities done by HSC must be funneled through Cindy by calling (304)-876-0910 or stopping into the office.  The president and board continues to  rely heavily on our administrator to keep all building activities organized, projects prioritized and all members informed via e-mail and web page updats.  Please help the organization continue to be successful and run smoothly  by communicating clearly and in a timely manner with our Administrator. 

4.  Now that the leaks are fixed in the building we have some odds and ends of interior painting that needs to be completed.  Anyone interested in donating some hours to finish this painting should contact either John Griffith or Carl Moore. 

There being no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 9:17 p.m.

Carl Moore

In the absence of a Secretary