March 2014 Newsletter
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Palmer Historical Society Preserving Our Past * Sharing Our Stories * Making History for Future Generations Volume XXX No. 3 March 2014 Newsletter (mail) PO Box 1935 Palmer, AK 99645 * 316 E. Elmwood Ave. (facing the Colony Inn) [email protected] (email) * 907-745-1935 (message) Greetings from your PHS President: March is here! It feels like spring has been awakening since January this year! We anxiously watch our beehive for signs of life – bees have been out buzzing around now and again. Like us, they anticipate the longed for signs of spring. Your PHS Board The Colony House Museum roofing found in the back yard and silt blown through the cracks and crevices of the museum prove once again that Palmer does get its fair (?) And Support Team share of windy days. Sheri Hamming 746-1295 With springtime and sunshine on our minds we plan and look forward to Tent City President/Secretary Market. Tent City Market, held on the lawn of the Colony House Museum, is our PHS annual fun (d) raiser! If springtime weather has got you doing some cleaning and Barb Lentz Thomas 376-5802 clean-out please consider a donation of your antiques, collectibles, and treasures to VP/CHM Docents the Palmer Historical Society. Contact a PHS Board member for donation details and Joan Campbell 745-4157 keep watch in upcoming Newsletters for more info! Treasurer/Membership Mark your calendar for the first weekend of June! Come visit the Colony House Gerry Keeling 745-3703 Museum during Colony Days for our annual Open House and the Tent City Market! Trustee/CHM May your March into Spring be a historic one! ~ Sheri Hamming Carol Strouse 745-3532 We are saddened by news of the loss of June and Clyde Oberg’s barn to fire this Trustee week. Our thoughts are with the Oberg family in their loss. The “Fishhook Dairy” barn played an essential role in their family and livelihood, and rural beauty of the John Stuart 745-3462 Palmer-Fishhook area. We shall miss it! Trustee/Go-To Dude Carol Lombardo 745-3118 Trustee/Archivist Jean Krupa 746-5770 Program Chairperson JoAnn Utt 376-4938 When inviting our readership to submit memories inspired by simple themes, it never Door Prizes fails to surprise me that no two interpretations share the same perspectives, much less Sharon Benson 745-4913 the same details or emotions. I’ve heard people agonize that they forgot or Publicist procrastinated, and missed the deadline for submission. A secret tactic? Write it out while you’re first thinking about it – in the time you drink your morning cup of coffee. Clyde & June Oberg 745-3567 Hospitality Come back to it during your next break to add to it, tweak it here or there, wrap it up and send it on. Do it now. That said, here are themes for the next three months: Barbara Hecker 746-0545 Please email (or send) your paragraphs to [email protected] by April 7. Newsletter April: Spring Cleaning May: How Green Is My Valley June: Mothers and Fathers Palmer Historical Society Newsletter * Vol XXX * No 3 * March 2014 P a g e 1 | 8 Girl Scout Cookies had their earliest Colony House Museum beginnings in the kitchens and ovens Second Annual Docent Gathering of girl members, with moms volunteering as technical advisers. In Mark your calendars: the Second Annual July 1922, this recipe was distributed Docent Gathering will be held at 1:30 p.m., with the approximate cost of Monday, April 14, at the Colony House ingredients for six- to seven-dozen Museum. We will be organizing for the 2014 cookies to be 26 to 36 cents. The season and putting together our docent cookies could be sold by troops for 25 schedule. It will also be a time to share tips or 30 cents per dozen. and stories, and to learn what’s new (and old) at the Museum. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have been recruiting volunteers during the off season, but we can always use more. Our goal is to have two docents for each 3 hour shift. It is always more fun and interesting to volunteer with a buddy. We also try to use the buddy system for new docents. If you are thinking about being a docent and would like to learn more about it please come join us on April 14. I will be sending out a postcard reminder the end of March. In the meantime, if you have any questions you can give me a call. (376-5802) ~ Barb Thomas, V.P. “Temporary Custody Receipt” What Is It? You may well wonder what a Temporary Custody Receipt is and what it has to do with you. Don’t let that official-sounding title fool you. It is merely a piece of paper to be filled out when an item(s) is brought to Colony House Museum and donated to the Collections. It is a very important document. By signing the Temporary Custody Receipt, you transfer ownership of your donation to the museum. It offers you choices regarding that transfer. Is the transfer unconditional? Do you want your donation back if it is not accepted into the permanent collection? Can the donation be sold to benefit the museum? Is it a loan to be utilized by the museum for a specified period then returned? Any of these and other choices can be selected, or you can write in your own conditions. You also have the opportunity on this receipt to describe your donation, and detail any interesting notes about it. If the donation is an artifact, information such as what it is, who used it where and when make the donation more “valuable” to our collections: If you’re donating photos, we’d like names, places, and dates (if possible.) If it’s a document, who wrote it and under what circumstances? You may not know all of this information, but the more you can share the more we like it. The Temporary Custody Receipt will ask for your name and contact information (kept private, not shared), so we can reach you if we have questions later. If you give your email address we will add you to our newsletter list. You may request a copy of the Receipt to take with you. All this will take a little more of your time; but it’s worth it. Remember, you are donating to the Museum, not dropping something off at the thrift store! And if you’re not sure whether we’d like it or not, bring it anyway. That old mule shoe from the shed? Mysterious trunk in the attic? Aunt Fannie’s corset? Let US decide! ~ Carol Lombardo, Archivist Sadly, this will be the last printed newsletter some of our longtime members will receive as we have not heard from them or received dues since 2012 (FYI, if you are among those, a separate reminder will be slipped into the envelope with this newsletter.) If you are on the e-newsletter list, you will continue to receive it free of charge. If you have an email address and would like to receive the e-version of the PHS newsletter, please email your e-address to [email protected], or me at [email protected] with your request. Dues cover the calendar year from January through December. You may pay by check through the mail at PHS, PO Box 1935, Palmer, AK 99645, c/o Joan Campbell, Treasurer. You may pay by check, credit card, or cash at our monthly programs. ~ Joan Campbell, Treasurer/Membership Individual Dues: $25.00 Household Dues: $40.00 Patron (business): $100.00 Lifetime: $500.00 Please don’t miss out on the opportunity to support your Palmer Historical Society! Palmer Historical Society Newsletter * Vol XXX * No 3 * March 2014 P a g e 2 | 8 Emma and Ingrid with their babies on the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer. http://www.muskoxfarm.org/history/ Please join us Wednesday, March 19th, at 7:00 pm at the Palmer Library. Musk Ox Farm director, Mark Austin, will give background on the domestication of the Musk Ox. He’ll speak to recent developments at the farm and what is happening to sustain this long term project. Mark will share information about three important upcoming anniversaries. Lynn Follett, President of the Wasilla-Knik Historical Society, Encourages Collaboration February speaker, Mr. Lynn Follett, President of the Wasilla-Knik Historical society, discussed potential projects which would invite area historical society volunteers to work in tandem promoting the history, wildlife, recreation, and beauty of the Matanuska Valley. The history area of the Wasilla-Knik-Willow Creek area is interwoven with that of Palmer’s. Sophomoric rival attitudes that generationally separate the two towns must be dispelled as we forge a united front in sponsoring projects that not only stimulate learning about the Valley, but summon the prospering of our historical societies, our cities, and our society. Follett did not call us to compete with the tourism industry. Rather, we must find our “niche.” What is missing in the local scene that draws tourists and visitors from near and far? Ideas considered included: Providing signage along historic trails Sponsoring active events (for example, the Wasilla-Knik Historical Society, during the Ididasport, opened their museum free of charge to all visitors) Undertaking projects such as the Iditarod Trail Invitational, a triathlon of running, biking and walking from Knik to McGrath; or walking tours of the Palmer Hay Flats for bird-watchers, etc. Follett was especially keen on connecting with history through reclamation (from the wild,) signage and promotion of evident and not-so-evident historic native trails.