Greater Dover Historical Society

November 15, 2007

 

 

The regular meeting of the Greater Dover Historical Society was called to order by President Madelyn Shermeyer at 7:08 p.m. at the Dover UCC.  Members present were:  Lori Koch, Madelyn Shermeyer, June Kinsey, Jeff Koch, Larry Law, Joyce Law, Ted Zeigler, Norma Botterbusch, Ron Botterbusch, Lucia Hrinyak, Harry Shermeyer, Jo Ott, Dr. Charles Drawbaugh, Duane Hull, Lisa Byerts, Judy Worley, Randy Worley, Kay Stitley, Zita Smith, Lois Slothower, Melanie Green, Cindy Snyder and Gayle Heagy.

 

President Shermeyer presented the October minutes and asked for any additions or corrections to the minutes.  There are two corrections:  page 1 under Treasurers’ Report, second paragraph should read “$140 cash” and page 4, third paragraph should read “President Shermeyer stated that we acquired information to begin the process…”  A motion to accept the minutes as corrected was made by Judy Worley and seconded by Larry Law.  All voted in favor and motion passed.

 

 

TREASURER’S REPORT

 

The treasurer’s report for October was presented by Joyce Law:

 

Balance as of October 1                         $8,933.60

Deposits for October                                1,617.35

Expenses for October                                  915.31

Balance as of October 31             $9,635.64

 

Joyce reminded all members to pick up a volunteer hour sheet and return to her in January.  There was a motion by Harry Shermeyer to approve the Treasurer’s report as presented and seconded by June Kinsey.  All voted in favor and motion passed.

 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ REPORT

 

In the absence of Marty Green, President Shermeyer gave a brief summary of the Board of Directors’ meeting on November 1.  Gayle Heagy will be working with Joyce Law to complete the 501(c)(3) form to meet the compliance items to change our status from temporary to permanent.  June Kinsey reported that Marty Green will be installing a motion sensor light at the blacksmith shop and storage shed.  The remaining bricks behind the blacksmith shop will be moved to the Shermeyer’s property once the ground freezes.  Kay Stitley took care of filling out the necessary paperwork for us to hold our meetings at Calvary starting in January 2008. 

 

Archivist Report -- Dr. Drawbaugh reported he has archived all the membership buttons and membership cards that have been issued for the GDHS from the first year to present 2007. 

 

Gayle Heagy reported she has created a new category for the archives entitled “Future Historic Material” for items that are not old at this point in time, but will be important historic materials in the future.  This is where the buttons and cards will be placed.  Dr. Drawbaugh asked Gayle if she saw the program on PBS on the intelligent design issue and he felt the articles we have archived are better than how it was presented in the program by the attorneys.  Joyce Law has a copy of the program recorded on tape and will give it to the archives after she reviews it.  We will try to get it copied onto a DVD.  Gayle said we do have a tape of the entire trial in the archives also. 

 

Gayle reported that in the last month she received several school books that once belonged to Mr. Morgan Moul, a teacher in the Dover area from the 1930’s to 1960’s.  Although there isn’t any proof, Gayle believes the books, donated by Nancy Murphy, came from the Harmony Grove School.  

 

Norma Botterbusch brought in the original toolbox from the blacksmith shop which had been in Flossie Little’s house and is donated by Bob Little.   The box contained old music books, a description of the Dover Coronet Band, and its 1873 by-laws with original signatures. 

 

Webpage Report – Brett Pfleiger was not present at the meeting.  President Shermeyer stated we had discussed putting a clause on the website links so no one can copy the information.  She spoke to Maureen who will add the clause to these links:  Landmarks, Biographies, Family Research, Hysterical Historicals and History of Website (previously Recent Updates).  President Shermeyer reported Maureen will also make the following changes:  update meeting location on home page, and remove the old blacksmith shop photo.  

 

Historian Report – Cindy Snyder arrived late for the meeting and did not have a report.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

President Shermeyer did not have any updates to report on the Blood Root books but said she and Mr. Botterbusch hope to get started on this in January.

 

Lucia Hrinyak reported on the Adopt-a-Highway litter clean up.   The last pickup for the year was held on October 27 by 10 volunteers who collected approximately 14 bags in 2 hours.  Lucia reported there will be one final pickup in April 2008 to fulfill our current 2-year commitment.  A new 2-year commitment will begin thereafter so Lucia will need to notify her PennDOT liaison of our plans to sign up again once the new Board of Directors makes a decision at their January meeting. 

 

Lucia reported on the final meeting of the Landscape Committee.   The committee met and did a year-end cleanup at the storage shed as well as made some plans for next year.  Lucia and June also planted 60 bulbs of narcissus and hyacinths. 

 

Interview/Video Committee – Kay reported that an interview was done with Louise Kroft and other interviews will be scheduled. 

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

Jailhouse marker – President Shermeyer reported that Ted Ziegler installed the fence to go around the marker and it looks very nice. The marker is not ready yet. 

 

Name stone – President Shermeyer reported she spoke to Vince Rice a week earlier and he will get his men to move the stone.  No set time has been determined yet. 

 

Status of banner – President Shermeyer contacted Mrs. Koch about this issue.  It was reported the banner replacement project in the Borough was put on hold. 

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

President Shermeyer reported the Board of Directors met to compile a proposed budget for 2008.  The grant funds are listed on a separate page from the general fund budget per the request of President Shermeyer.  President Shermeyer asked if there were any questions on the budget from the membership.  President Shermeyer stated she asked the Board if 75% of any fundraising monies can be placed into a capital reserve account.  President Shermeyer also reported there is a line item for “Unreserved Fund” to balance the budget. 

 

Joyce Law reported the proposed budget shows total income of $4,600 and total expenses of $4,600 with the $2,023 in unreserved fund to balance the budget.   Joyce stated if this unreserved fund is not used, we could put this into the capital reserve account.  Joyce reported the grant fund budget has spent $614.66 to date out of the $5,000.  This leaves a balance of $4,385.34 and the proposed expenditures for 2008 is $2,105.  The grant money must be spent in three years.  Judy Worley suggested the first column of the budget be changed from a balance of $5,350 to the actual $5,000.  Therefore, the following amounts were changed:

 

bulletStorage Shelving Archives Building -- $300 to $200
bulletLandmark Committee – supplies & website educ. -- $550 to $400
bulletOffice supplies for archives -- $500 to $400

 

President Shermeyer asked for a motion to adopt the 2008 general fund budget and grant budget.  There was a motion by Gayle Heagy to adopt the budget as corrected and a second by Larry Law.  All in favor and motion passed.

 

 

 

 

OLD BUSINESS UPDATES

 

Calendars -- President Shermeyer stated that Kay Stitley has been working on getting estimates on the calendars with photos of historic homes in Dover.   Kay said the prices she has received so far are very high. 

 

Safe from Don Baughman – no change to date.

 

Pen/ink drawing – no change to date.

 

Cook stove – the stove needs to be taken to Bob Stitley’s shop.  Duane Hull said he will take a look at it. 

 

Proposed annual craft show – no change to date; we will have to begin planning in early 2008 if we want to hold it in June or July. 

 

Joyce Law asked Ted about the status of the items which were ordered at the dedication last June.  He said it has been too cold to work in the blacksmith shop so the items are not done yet.

 

Larry Law reported on the November open hours at the blacksmith shop.  There were between 20 and 22 people who attended and signed the guestbook.  Ted Ziegler said many of the people showed a lot of interest in the blacksmith shop and his work at the forge.  President Shermeyer said some folks had difficulty finding the blacksmith shop since there are no signs.  We have the a-frame signs that Bob Stitley made for the dedication and perhaps we can set them up at key intersections (Butter and N. Main Street and on Butter Road at the park) for the next open hours in the spring.  Perhaps we can post directions on our website.  We also need to discuss volunteers to set up the tables for the items we sell.  Ted said it was very cold and damp in the blacksmith shop and the heater was turned on for 2 hours before the people arrived.  But all the heat escapes through the roof eaves.  We may need to rethink the months we have open hours if the weather will be too cold and will discuss this issue at another meeting.

 

Gayle Heagy asked to return to Old Business to report that she and Joyce Law have been working on an inventory of historic buildings in Dover and completed it as far as it can go.  Gayle said she thought Joyce had a complete set printed but Joyce said she has to check some on South Main Street and there is one side of North Main Street to be done.  Gayle spoke to Sheila Arnold at Historic York who did the original survey in 1983 who will help go through all our records once Gayle and Joyce have it all compiled so it can be submitted to the state for inclusion in the historic registry.  This project will also help us meet compliance for our 501 (c)(3) status.  Gayle said there are some records missing for some houses due to poor copies, some words are indecipherable and sheets are missing for one side of homes in Bantytown.  Gayle reported she will hold a committee meeting in December so it can be determined which 10 homes will receive the historical plaques.  Records have been kept for everything pre-1860 so there will be no problem picking out 10 homes.  Gayle believes it would be nice to visit each homeowner to ask about any unique historic features of their home and include photos of the inside features to accompany the historic plaque, e.g., the walk-in fireplace at Dolores “Tut” Krone’s house on South Main Street.  

 

Joyce Law reported she received an email through the GDHS website inquiring about a name from the Stouch diaries, but unfortunately it was not what the individual was looking for. 

 

President Shermeyer reported that there was a lady from Dover, Kent England who was doing a research project on all the Dovers in the world.  She asked for information on Dover, PA and Maureen from the Township responded with information.  President Shermeyer will be contacting this lady from Kent, England to provide her with information on our form of government from the state level, county level and local municipal level.  She would like to include information on our historical society and asked permission from the members to do so.  It was approved.

 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

 

The secretary passed out the ballots to all members.  President Shermeyer asked for nominations from the floor for each office:

 

President – none

Vice President – none

Secretary – none

Treasurer – none

Historian – none

Board of Directors – Norma Botterbusch, Melanie Green (Lucia Hrinyak and Randy Worley were nominated but declined)

 

Nominations were closed and voting commenced.  Ballots were collected.  President Shermeyer appointed Randy Worley and Dr. Charles Drawbaugh as ballot tabulators.   The following are the ballot results:

 

President – Madelyn Shermeyer

Vice President – Kay Stitley

Secretary – Lori Koch

Treasurer – Joyce Law

Historian – Cindy Snyder

Board of Directors (2) – Jeff Koch, Melanie Green

 

Questions/Miscellaneous:

 

Duane Hull asked what we can do to get younger kids or adults involved.  President Shermeyer said we do have young families whose children do volunteer for our events (Kochs, Byerts), but the individual must be a member to volunteer.  Judy Worley said she felt we can reach out to young adults at the Dover carnival and at the open hours at the blacksmith shop.  Jeff Koch stated if you look at our full membership list, there are a lot of members around his age who do not attend any meetings.  We need to get more members involved and interested in attending our meetings.  Lucia Hrinyak suggested that perhaps we could research into any credit study or senior focal project at the high school that may require historical research and get high school students involved in our society.  Judy Worley suggested that we could speak to someone in the History Department at the high school or even Cindy Snyder could pass out information on the GDHS to her advanced placement class. 

 

Kay Stitley reported that Jeff Holder will be speaking at the West Manchester Historical Society meeting on November 19 @ 7:00 pm at the Township building on East Berlin Road. 

 

Norma Botterbusch reminded members that the Borough is holding its Christmas tree lighting ceremony on November 23 @ 7pm.  We will have hot chocolate, coffee and hot cider as well as cookies by the Women of Today.  The band Crossroads will perform and Santa will drop by for a visit.

 

President Shermeyer reminded members again to pick up the volunteer hour sheet and return it to Joyce Law.  These hours are very important to our 501 (c)(3) status.    She also reminded members our January meeting will be held at Calvary Lutheran and she said she will leave it up to the Board of Directors to set up their next meeting in January. 

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:40pm by President Shermeyer.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lori Koch

GDHS secretary