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Winter 1983 Annual Report 1983 Annual Report 1983 Report of the President Much important material has been added to our library and the many patrons who come to use our collections have grown to the point where space has become John Diehl quite critical. However, collecting, preserving and dissemi- President nating Cincinnati-area history is the very reason for our existence and we're working hard to provide the space needed Nineteen Eight-three has been another banner to function adequately and efficiently. The Board of Trustees year for the Cincinnati Historical Society. The well docu- published a Statement of the Society's Facility Needs in December, mented staff reports on all aspects of our activities, on the to which you responded very helpfully with comments and pages that follow clearly indicate the progress we have made. ideas. I'd like to have been able to reply personally to each Our membership has shown a substantial increase over last of you who wrote, but rest assured that all of your comments year. In addition to the longer roster, there has been a are most welcome and carefully considered. Exciting things heartening up-grading of membership category across-the- are evolving in this area. We'll keep you posted as they board. Our frequent and varied activities throughout the develop. year attracted enthusiastic participation. Our newly designed The steady growth and good health of the quarterly, Queen City Heritage, has been very well received.Society rest on the firm foundation of a dedicated Board We are a much more visible, much more useful factor in of Trustees, a very competent staff and a wonderfully the life of the community. generous, interested membership. We are sincerely grateful to each and every one of you. am t John Diehl was elected to the Board of Trustees (I to r.): Fran Rawson Collins, Treasurer; Richard R. Deupree, Jr., Vice Board of Trustees in 1962 and Elder, President of the Women's Louis Nippert, Vice President; President; Dr. Warner A. Peck; has served the Society as its Association; William D. Gale E. Peterson, Director; and William S. Rowe, Secretary. president since 1974. Aeschbacher; Paul G. John Diehl, President; Thomas Absent: Vicent H. Beckman, Sittenfeld; Gilbert Richards; E. Huenefeld; Robert M. Vice President; Elsie Laura Chace, Librarian; Galbraith III; Frank G. Davis; Warrington; Blair Fleischmann; Rosamond Wulsin, Ashley L. Wallace T. Collett, Chairman of Ronald J. Temple; and Joseph Ford, Robert H. Allen, J. the Executive Committee; S. Stern, Jr. 74 Queen City Heritage Serving Clio/Serving Cincinnati community—in whose heritage they had great pride. Over the past few years, the venerable Cincin- nati Historical Society has set upon a new course. By offering Gale E. Peterson more services and activities for the enjoyment and edification of the general public, it has sought to obtain increased resources to care for the collections and to pay the staff that The wisdom of serving two masters has long worked at the caring. By 1983 that redefined Society was been doubted, but the challenge to the Cincinnati Historical largely in place. In addition to a quarterly journal and Society is to do just that. Our purpose for existing—our occasional lectures, the outreach of the Society had come to raison d'etre—is history. For us, this means collecting ma-include an ongoing exhibition program, sponsorship of an terials that document elements of the region's history, caring annual history fair in the schools, studies in community for those materials, and helping researchers find and make histories, weekly television exposure, and more. Meanwhile, effective use of them. As a practical matter, however, such in a five year span the Society's membership had grown work can only be done if the institution serves the larger seventy-five percent and its endowment had increased by a community sufficiently well that people are willing to support similar margin. these specialized and expensive activities. Clio might be especially pleased with one result Rather illogically, those to whom the Society of this expanded public programming. The Society's dedicated looks for help are almost completely separate from those the and hard working staff assisted more people who came in Society serves. Professional historians, hard working and person to use the library than ever before. frequently impoverished graduate students, talented and This report describes some of the events that highly motivated undergraduate and high school students— occurred during 1983 and also provides a little perspective these are the people the Society endeavors to assist every way on the road we have traveled in recent years. We hope that that it can. Our efforts to do so absorb the lion's share of the you are proud of the results we have produced thus far. We institution's budget each year as the staff collects, organizes, hope, too, that you are challenged to consider what we catalogs, and microfilms materials while also helping re- might accomplish in the years ahead when we begin to searchers locate and utilize everything from letters and ledgers collect three-dimensional objects systematically and create to books, maps, and photographs. Few of our patrons can be exhibitions for Cincinnati's residents and visitors to enjoy expected to pay a "fair share" of the costs involved in making and learn from. research materials available. Even in our library—which is about as busy as the state institutions in Ohio, Indiana or Kentucky—the approximate cost-per-research visit exceeds $50. How many students or professors could afford to pursue their research objectives if such fees were levied? Thus, the Cincinnati Historical Society seeks help from people who will rarely, if ever, come to make personal use of the collections. We hope that these people believe that caring for the community's heritage is a worthy endeavor and that they enjoy the products of serious historical research—whether by reading a journal article, watching a television program, or viewing an exhibition. Having survived for more than 150 years, the Cincinnati Historical Society has always managed to attract a certain amount of support from Cincinnati's citizenry. But not enough. The collections deteriorated. The pay of the professional staff lagged ever further behind that of the personnel of other library and historical agencies. And, rela- tively few residents of the Queen City had an opportunity to learn something meaningful about the history of their Gale E. Peterson, Director of In 1983 the Society's journal Society Bulletin in 1943 and and graphics, the editorial the Society since 1978, re- received the prestigious with the Spring 1983 issue policy remains unchanged. ceived his M.A. and Ph.D. in Ohioana Library Association's revised the format and retitled history from the University of "Award for Editorial Excellence" its quarterly. Queen City Maryland. for a magazine published in Heritage. Although the new Ohio. The Society began pub- format permits greater flexi- lishing The Cincinnati Historical bility in the use of illustrations Winter 1983 Annual Report 1983 75 Report of the Treasurer Endowment Income for the Fiscal Year Ending Dollars in millions June 30, 1983 4.0 3.5 3.0 General Special 2.5 Receipts: Fund Projects Total Investment Income 247,988 247,988 Membership Dues—Individual 78,023 78,023 Membership Dues—Corporate 21,525 21,525 Gifts and Grants 67,302 202,138 269,440 Reproduction Fees and Services 7,518 27,625 35,143 Sales 1,089 211,885 212,974 6/30'76 '77 '78 '79 '80 '81 '82 '83 8,156 8,979 Special Events 823 Market Value Operating Transfers 10,425 (10,425) Book Value • Miscellaneous 5,330 5,330 $ 440,023 $ 439,379 $ 879,402 Investment Income Disbursements: Dollars in thousands Administrative 250 Personnel 110,252 14,768 $ 125,020 225 • Building 29,328 314 29,642 200 |m Office 23,569 1 15,017 38,586 175 Capital Acquisitions 161 8,868 9,029 11 Development/Communications 5,936 9,069 15,005 150 Professional Services 6,276 2,079 8,355 125 • 1 Other 1,691 2,139 3,830 100 $ 177,213 52,254 $ 229,467 75 50 I Library/Collections Personnel 164,118 53,880 217,998 25 Office 3,584 3,229 6,813 0 | Capital Acquisitions 8,335 39,526 47,861 '73 '74 '75 '76 '77 '78 '79 '80 '81 '82 '83 Preservation 2,980 10,940 13,920 m\\\\\ Professional Services 782 186 968 Membership Income Other 1,932 68 2,000 $ 181,731 $ 107,829 $ 289,560 Dollars in thousands 110 Programs 100 Personnel $ 31,606 44,935 76,541 Office 68 81,769 81,837 90 Capital Acquisitions 368 368 80 Research and Publications 39,939 179,360 219,299 70 i Professional Services 8,375 9,298 17,673 60 Other 525 21,850 22,375 50 _ •I •• 1 $ 80,513 $ 337,580 $ 418,093 40 • I 1 1 II 1 1 Total Disbursements $ 439,457 $ 497,663 $ 937,120 30 1 1 1 20 Excess lncome/(Deficit) $ 566 $ (58,284)' 10 Cash Balance, July 1, 1982 14,306 108,307 1 0 - Cash Balance, June 30, 1983 14,872 50,023 1 1 1 11 1 1 '73 '74 '75 '76 '77 '78 '79 '80 '81 '82 '83 Corporate §| Individual • (Gifts and bequests to the Endowment Fund are not included in this report. In addition, the Women's Association reported income of $7,829 and expenses of $4,683.) "Note: The deficit in Special Projects during fiscal 1983 resulted from expenditures made from assets accrued for restricted purposes in previous fiscal years. J. Rawson Collins, Treasurer Graph 1: Principal additions to estates of Waymouth Finn and Graph 2: With a substantial Graph 3: After several years the Society's Endowment Mrs.