The James A. Garfield Historical Society enjoyed three rings of excitement—celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Open House(with potluck dinner) for the public and a slightly irregular monthly meeting for March, held on Tuesday, March 17, rather than on Monday, March 16. All in a good cause.
Dinner featured green punch, green veggie/bread dip, Irish lamb, Irish buns (nothing like those outside in the street), Irish butter and considerable Hibernian good cheer to go with all the rest of the victuals.
The business meeting featured an announcement of a special meeting to be held on Monday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m. to view and discuss samples of work produced by Microdata of Newton Falls as a possible solution to the problem of aging and failing technical equipment.
Upcoming programs were noted April will be a “Show and Tell” evening; May will feature a ”Pie Night”, using historical recipes, no doubt. June, weather permitting, will be an opportunity for a cemetery tour in the Maple Avenue oldest-in-town cemetery. Freedom West Cemetery may also be a venue for a cemetery tour at some date. Movie Night may also be on the agenda.
Gene Semplak gave a report on maintenance work to be done in the basement/cellar and was told to begin investigating prices on storm window installation and other window work as well. Julie Thompson continues working in the “Past Perfect” program to update the organization’s cataloging and indexing of materials.
The treasurer’s report indicated that taxes were done; the recent audit of the books was sparkling clean.
Also to be discussed at the special meeting on March 30 : taking on an intern from Hiram College to help organize collections, materials and documents owned by the society. The individual proposed for this position has experience in working with children and managing tech issues. Hours would run from 5 to 10 hrs. per week, from September 1 to December 15. The proposed stipend is to be $300.
The group voted to continue offering a $500 scholarship to a graduating senior at James A. Garfield High School.
Judy Thornton continues to seek information about barns in the district—how old, who built, type, tales about, all kinds of interesting things.
