Greater Dover Historical Society

November 19, 2009

 

The regular meeting of the Greater Dover Historical Society was called to order by President Madelyn Shermeyer at 7:12 p.m. at the Calvary Lutheran Church.  Members present were the following:  Lori Koch, Jeff Koch, Jo Ott, Madelyn Shermeyer, Bill & Chris Coleman, Jerry LaRussa (guest), Norma Botterbusch, Mel Miller, Gayle Heagy, June Kinsey, Zita Smith, Lois Slothower, Kay Stitley, Larry Law, Grace Trimmer, Doris Burger and Melanie Green.

 

President Shermeyer introduced Mr. Jerry LaRussa, a licensed tour guide at Gettysburg, and he is doing research related to the Civil War.  He is a resident of Dover Township.

 

President Shermeyer presented the October 2009 minutes and asked for any additions or corrections to the minutes.  Jo Ott stated on page 2, first and second paragraphs should read the name “Becky Roberts, no Grove”.  There was a brief discussion about the quilting frame donated last month.  Doris Burger stated the frame could be one that was used by the church quilters.   A motion to accept the minutes as corrected was made by Larry Law and seconded by Bill Coleman.  All voted in favor and motion passed.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT

 

The treasurer’s report for October 2009 was presented:

 

Balance as of October 1, 2009                           $13,162.19

Deposits for October                                                 1,624.70

Expenses for October                                                  964.21

Balance as of October 31, 2009                         $13,822.68

 

Lori Koch reported the cash reserve balance increased to $4807.14 due to the deposit of profits from the Fall Fest.  There was a motion by Lois Slothower to approve the treasurer’s report as presented and seconded by Jeff Koch.  All voted in favor and motion passed. 

 

Assistant Archivist report – Gayle Heagy reported the following donations:  3 Memoscope yearbooks and a 1936 pennant from Romaine Walton; Dover Township (from Leon Lankford) donated a photo of the original Dover trolley with an advertisement on it for the Red Cross, along with other trolley-related items & photos; several items from the public sale of Reba Gross brought in by Jo Ott, including UCC church items – Gayle stated she did visit Reba and had her sign the donation forms; photos of her homestead donated by Marvene Todd Covert; and 4 blacksmith tools donated by Phil Crone of Rohlers Church Road. 

 

Historian report – no report. 

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

Bloodroot – no report.  President Shermeyer stated she did meet with Sallie McCarthy who was the high school librarian and played an integral part in the bloodroot project.  President Shermeyer has several boxes of items related to the bloodroot project in her car which Ms. McCarthy has donated.  President Shermeyer and Gayle Heagy will go through these items to properly catalogue them.

 

Adopt-a-Highway – Melanie Green reported the last litter pick-up for 2009 was held on October 31 after many rain delays.  It took the crew about 2 hours and 9 bags were collected. 

 

Landscaping Committee – no report. 

 

Board of Directors’ report – Ron Botterbusch was absent.   President Shermeyer reported a BOD meeting was held after the budget meeting on Tuesday, November 17.  Jeff Koch reported the Board discussed the membership badges and how to save money by reusing leftover badges from previous years.  Stickers could be printed using a software program to make generic badges to use at GDHS events or a limited number of generic badges could be ordered.  President Shermeyer reported the Board took action to refund monies to the grant fund from the general fund in the amount of approximately $359; these were funds for the Blacksmith Shop mistakenly used from the grant fund.  President Shermeyer stated she and Mr. Botterbusch had a discussion today regarding the membership badges, and Mr. Botterbusch suggested an article be put into the newsletter advising members to pick up their badges at our regular membership meetings.  Norma Botterbusch stated they never mailed the badges out but kept a bag of badges at their store for people to stop by and pick up.  President Shermeyer suggested the Board have further discussion on this issue at a meeting in January.   Melanie Green asked the members present if they had any preference whether or not the GDHS provides badges.  There was further discussion by the membership concerning the badges and Mel Miller stated that the GDHS is the only society to which he belongs that issues membership badges.   President Shermeyer asked for a raise of hands to vote to eliminate badges for the GDHS and a majority of members present voted yes.  The membership cards will still be issued and the generic volunteer badges will be made available for any GDHS events using the software by Marty Green. 

 

Jeff Koch stated the Board discussed the Blacksmith Shop replicas, the need to sell more in order to break even, and how we should increase advertising the replicas for sale.  President Shermeyer stated we did sell the replicas last year at the holidays for $14 each and we may need to lower the price in order to sell them.  We began with 330 replicas and there are approximately 221 replicas left in stock which cost us $10.10 each with the gift box.  The membership agreed to lower the price to $12 and advertise the replicas for sale in the newspaper weekly.  

 

Landmark Committee – Gayle Heagy reported the committee held a meeting on November 4 and revised the wording for the historic house plaques.  It will now read “GDHS, Inc., designated historic site”.   The committee also discussed the first 5 sites to receive the plaques and Gayle will continue working to get the plaques approved and ordered.  

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

Website – President Shermeyer said she had not heard anything to date from Brett Pfleiger. 

 

Larry Law stated the display rack for Blacksmith Shop items is missing from the shop.  Melanie Green stated it was used at the Dover Fair display and she has the rack in her garage.   She will bring it to the January meeting and give to Larry or Ted. 

 

President Shermeyer stated that she confirmed with the Executive Staff that they are willing to serve again in 2010 – Editor, Lucia Hrinyak; Assistant Archivist, Gayle Heagy; and Photographer, Jo Ott. 

 

President Shermeyer reminded members to submit their volunteer hours for 2009 to Lori Koch at today’s meeting since we do not have a meeting in December. 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

President Shermeyer proceeded with the election of officers and asked Gayle Heagy to handle the nominations from the floor.  Ballots were distributed to members.  Gayle Heagy opened the nominations from the floor for officers and 2 Board of Directors.  There were no nominations from the floor for any position; ballots were marked by members, collected and counted by the committee.  The following are officers and Board of Directors for 2010:  President, Madelyn Shermeyer; Vice President, Kay Stitley; Secretary, Lori Koch; Treasurer, Bill Coleman; Historian, Cindy Snyder; Board of Directors, Jeff Koch and Melanie Green.   Vote counters were appointed by President Shermeyer – June Kinsey, Zita Smith and Chris Coleman. 

 

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS

 

President Shermeyer stated Jo Ott brought up the issue of the York Heritage Trust consortium.  Jo stated the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg is approaching and the Commonwealth is making plans to include all local historical societies in the celebration.  The Commonwealth plans to produce a “moving road show” of historic archives to travel across Pennsylvania (2011 through 2015).  The York Heritage Trust (YHT) has submitted a request for this road show to make a stop in York County.  The YHT would like all local societies to get together to coordinate what they would like to do for this anniversary celebration.  Jo Ott stated she received a call from Becky Roberts asking her to participate in the consortium meeting.   The YHT does not understand why societies from the northwestern part of the county are not participating in the consortium efforts.   President Shermeyer stated she did not recall exactly why the GDHS decided not to participate in the YHT consortium.  Gayle Heagy stated at the time the issue was brought up, the Gettysburg anniversary was not an issue.  Gayle said it was simply a request from the YHT for all societies to meet together and at the time, the GDHS felt we had a lot to offer the YHT but does not seem to return the favor when the GDHS asks for assistance.  Gayle did state we do not want to snub our nose at the county and say we don’t want to participate in it.   Vice President Stitley stated she felt it would be important for us to participate since we had Civil War events take place in Dover.  President Shermeyer asked Mr. LaRussa, a guide at Gettysburg, for his comments on the issue.  Mr. LaRussa said he is more involved with the “March through Hallowed Ground” which the Commonwealth is undertaking to trace the migration of the Union and Confederate soldiers from the Shenandoah Valley to Gettysburg.  Mr. LaRussa stated he is in favor of anything that recognizes and preserves history.  Mr. LaRussa gave the members a briefing on his attendance at the dedication of Soldiers’ National Cemetery and the keynote speaker was Richard Dreyfuss, who is an advocate for the teaching of history and civics in our schools.  Continued discussion was held on the GDHS participating in the YHT consortium and the possibility of conducting our “craft show” during this celebration period.  Jo Ott offered to continue attending the meetings and President Shermeyer asked that she do so and bring back any information gathered from the meetings.

 

There being no further questions or suggestions from the membership, the meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lori Koch

GDHS secretary