Location: Putney Cares Barn
Members present: Ruth Barton, Laurel Ellis, Barbara Taylor, Lindley Speers, Jane Rawley, Stuart Strothman, Tom Jamison, Jacquie Walker.
Also present: Laura Heller, Marilyn Loomis, Bill Darrow Jr., and about forty others.
Minutes
The meeting was called to order by president Ruth Barton, who began by mentioning the accomplishments, and sad passing of Elaine Dixon, whose loss we felt deeply.
The president called for the minutes of last year’s meeting, which were unavailable. Then treasurer Laurel Ellis gave a financial report, highlights of which included identifying profits made from sales of the history book, and the success of the soldiers’ memorial effort, which resulted in the granite memorial in front of town hall. Specifics of different accounts were shown, and overall it was a good report.
In reviewing the new slate of officers and members, it was noted that it had been a hard year in terms of the board. Former president Fern Tavalin had left for Savannah, Georgia, during the year, and vice president Lyssa Papazian had submitted her resignation due to her election to the Selectboard. In their stead, Ruth Barton and Lindley Speers were appointed to fill the respective roles.
The current board members were identified in their new roles: Ruth Barton as the new President, Lindley Speers as Vice President, Laurel Ellis as Treasurer, and Stuart Strothman as Secretary. Other board members included Barbara Taylor, Tom Jamison, and Jacquie Walker. Jane Rawley was nominated to the board; she spoke at the meeting, and then the motion was passed, giving us a new board member.
As the new President, Ruth discussed the situation at the Town Hall; the moving of our collections upstairs over the summer, the town’s considerations of feasibility for use of space at the town hall; and our current hope at the time, which was to implement a proposal put together by board members and Eli Prouty of the Grafton Historical Society to create a multipurpose space upstairs in the town hall. A model built by Eli was available for viewing at the meeting.
As no further business arose, presentations by Stuart Strothman ensued (first, on George Aiken photos and artifacts from the PHS collection used in a PBS video produced by Rick Moulton, and second, on our electronic archiving project). (The Aiken documentary was released last December, with Stuart and Laura Heller invited to the opening at UVM.)
Minutes respectfully submitted by Stuart Strothman.