Livingston County Historical Society
30 Center Street
Geneseo, New York 14454
(716) 243-9147
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Livingston County Historical Society Fall 2001 Newsletter: By Alberta Dunn, PresidentAs I write this letter, September is rapidly approaching ending one busy season of the year and beginning another even busier one. The past few months have seen this historical society forge ahead in many ways with a small group of very dedicated people to thank for these efforts. Several groups have visited our museum over the last few months , including school classes, a summer enrichment Civil War class, Geneseo Eastern Star, and the Livingston County Red Cross who held an awards ceremony here in March. We encourage groups to call us and schedule visits any time. FALL SEASON 2001 Our 125th ANNIVERSARY YEAR continues with several events planned for the next few months. In September, there are already four big dates on our calendar beginning with our September 16 program about the Genesee Valley Canal. Many of you know Fran Gotsik from Lima who is Director of the Genesee Valley Greenway. She is a knowledgeable and vivacious speaker on the canal's history. Let's really turn out to make her welcome at our museum. On September 19, I will again be working with two college classes taught by Professor Erol Putman of the Education Department. We use our museum displays and original documents we own to make these future teachers aware of the use of such items with their students as a part of the new state curriculum standards. September 21 we will welcome a group of 35 students and adults involved in home schooling throughout our county. There are many ways we can help such groups and individuals to gain a well rounded education. On Wednesday, September 26th, our museum will be the first stop on a bus tour being sponsored by the Tourism Committee of the Livingston County Chamber of Commerce. This tour entitled "HISTORY, HOUSES AND HORSES" will take participants to visit attractions on the western side of this county. Lunch at Caledonia Country Club and an afternoon refreshment break at Allegiance Bed and Breakfast in Mt. Morris are included in the trip price of $37.50. Watch for newspaper publicity or call Alberta at 243-2281 to get a reservation form. This should be a day of fun for anyone interested in our county's attractions. One date, October 25, has already been scheduled for a visit from a group from a nursing home in Brighton. If you know of any other group who would like to visit in October, please have them call soon. NOVEMBER 2001 will be a very important month in the history of our historical society. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW so you remember these dates NOVEMBER 3 and NOVEMBER 10. Both of these dates are SATURDAYS. NOVEMBER 3, 2001 6:00 P.M. 125th ANNIVERSARY DINNER Our 125th ANNIVERSARY DINNER will be held at 6:00 P.M. at Peter's Party House in Leicester. Tickets cost $21.00 per person which includes a great buffet dinner, tip and tax, a very interesting speaker, reminiscences of our past accomplishments, and a take home souvenir. Tickets are available at the museum during our regular open hours and September program. You may order tickets by mail by tearing off and returning the form at the end of this newsletter. Deadline for purchase will be October 27 as we need to give the restaurant a final number by then. Speaker for this event will be Curt Smith, presently a commentator for WYSL radio 1040 AM. Mr. Smith has, among his other accomplishments, been a speech writer for 2 U.S. presidents. Originally from Caledonia, he will be giving us highlights of "Livingston County history - the last 125 years". NOVEMBER 10, 2001 1:00 P.M. WINTHROP ALDRICH We will have the honor of hosting at our museum Mr. Winthrop Aldrich, Historian with the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. This program, co hosted by APOG (Assoc. for the Preservation of Geneseo), will be of great interest to everyone who appreciates or hopes to help preserve historic structures. I certainly hope that means all of you. ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 2002 As you probably are aware, we need to elect officers and members for our board for 2002. If you are willing to become an ACTIVE participant by serving in any way, please let Alberta or any other board member know of your interest. We really do need YOU. Board meets the second Monday night of each month at 7:30 PM. Yes, we do cancel meetings if the weather is too bad for driving !!! SUMMER 2001 Although attendance at the museum during open hours has been a bit below par this summer (I think largely due to the extreme heat), we have reached out to the public in many ways. In May we co-operated with the committee to build a statue of Civil War General James S. Wadsworth by participating in a window display on Main Street, Geneseo. In July, we set up our usual booth at the Geneseo sidewalk sales for two days then went directly to Hemlock Fair . Our booth in the Grange building there featured "SOME HORSE HISTORY IN LIVINGSTON COUNTY". We had many visitors and positive comments on this display. Some parts of it are still on display at our museum. We also set up the display about the history of this society and had a sales booth a couple days in the commercial building. It was a long week, especially due to the heat again. We had intended to move on to Caledonia Fair also but we ran out of energy. A handful of us can only do so much. PUBLICITY Two newspapers took time to send reporters to visit our museum this summer and to publish articles about us. They were CITY NEWS from Rochester and COMMUNITY NEWS from Ontario County. We thank them both for their interest in and good reviews of our facility. LOOKING AHEAD As you know, February has traditionally become our month to hold a musical event at the museum. David W. Parish, our program coordinator, has already been at work lining up a wonderful afternoon of World War II music to be performed by Jeff Clough on keyboard. More details will be forthcoming in your next issue in the winter. Conservation work on our artifacts is important to the well being of our museum collection. We have recently made some strides toward this end. Our 2002 efforts will be aimed largely in this direction. You will be hearing more about this also. THANK YOU I mentioned at the start of this newsletter that a small handful of very dedicated workers keep this organization alive and well. I wish to publicly recognize their efforts here in hopes that you as members will take time to thank them too. 125th Committee - Larry Turner, Tom Roffe, Andy Ryan, Valentin Rabe, David A. Parish and Alberta Dunn Sidewalk sales, Fair booth, and historical displays: Pat and Dave Harter, Larry Turner, Wilfred Roffe, Andy Ryan, Val Rabe, Dave Parish, Marie Nelson, Barbara Koschara, Doug and Sandra Morgan, Chuck Lyons, Scott Canaan, Dorothy Rosenberg, Rita Griffo, Margie Wallin, Pat Schaap and Alberta Dunn. Many of these same people museum sat during our open hours. A special thank you to Tom Roffe who tended the museum so some of the rest of us could do the fair. THANK YOU ONE AND ALL. Thanks also to Doug and Sandy Morgan for donating our new OPEN flag. This attractive red, white and blue flag now calls attention to our visiting hours with style. WEB SITES As many of you know, we have had a home page on the internet for the last few years with the address of http://www.rootsweb.com/~nylchs. Our present web committee consisting of Doug Morgan and Tom Roffe has been attempting to simplify this address to livingstoncountyhistoricalsociety.org. Doug updates our information regularly so check it out if you need answers about dates, times, open hours, programs, etc. We also have a presence on the web at www.FingerLakesWest.com through the Livingston County chamber of commerce tourism group. Pull up this site to check the pages it provides for attractions, events, lodging, restaurants, antique shops, etc. in our area. NEEDED ITEMS We have some items of clothing we would like to display that will not fit on mannequins. One of the is a World War II naval uniform recently donated by Richard Dudley. We own a couple wooden forms (in Use) that could be used as an easy pattern for building others. Is there anyone out there who would be willing to make two or three of these forms for us ? If you are not a wood worker yourself, do you have a friend or relative who might do this with a little encouragement from you. SALES ITEMS When you begin thinking of your Christmas shopping (sooner than you think) please remember that we maintain a stock of sales items. Geneseo coverlets still sell well ($35) but we also have new items such as our T-Shirts at $10 and our magnets at $1.50. Note paper ($2.00) is a great stocking stuffer or grab bag item. Our Big Tree pieces are also popular keepsakes ($12 framed or $5 in a small bag). REGRETS We all have to face, at some time or other, the fact that we have not succeeded as well as we hoped in some project we have undertaken. Unfortunately, our new garden in front of the museum has not been our best effort. After weighing several possibilities, we made a very poor choice in hiring David Spencer of Spencer Landscaping working out of Strawberry Hut at East Avon to design and prepare our garden. He has dragged his heels for the past 4 months and has not completed the project as per contract. In addition, the intense heat this summer has made care difficult. Frankly speaking, our garden is not beautiful. Is there anyone out there who would like to donate and/or plant some spring flower bulbs ? On a positive note, however, Larry has moved two large boulders of the committee's choice to the site to be used for mounting memorial plaques. We have received a generous donation from a member toward one plaque and would gratefully accept others also. The 125th committee has chosen the size and wording for the plaques which will be ordered soon. Each bronze plaque will cost in the vicinity of $330 plus a mounting charge. Since it will take 6 - 8 weeks to make the plaques, we probably won't dedicate them until spring 2002. COMMENTS AND IDEAS Your ideas for projects, programs, displays, or any other things we do are always welcome. Send them to us in the mail or tell us in person anytime. This is your historical society with elected officers and board members who need your help and direction . We need to know what will keep you interested and attending regularly. THANK YOU FOR WHATEVER HELP YOU ARE WILLING TO GIVE US. Alberta PROGRAM REVIEW PAGE SAVE FOR REFERENCE SEPTEMBER 16 2:30 PM Genesee Valley Canal program Speaker: Fran Gotscik NOVEMBER 3 6:00 PM 125th Anniversary Dinner Peter's Party House in Leicester Tickets $21 .00 each Speaker: Curt Smith - WYSL radio NOVEMBER 10 1:00 PM Historic Preservation program Speaker: Winthrop Aldrich |