Download - Greece Historical Society 2015 Annual Report
GHS 2015-1
Greece Historical Society P.O. Box 16249 Greece, NY 14616 (585)225-7221
Located at: 595 Long Pond Road, Greece, NY 14612 [email protected]
http://www.greecehistoricalsociety.net
TOWN OF GREECE, NY - HISTORIAN'S OFFICE
and the
GREECE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2015 ANNUAL REPORT
The Greece Historical Society was formed in 1969 and received its absolute charter from the New York State Department of Education Board of Regents as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation on November 21, 1974. Concerned and interested community volunteers of various backgrounds and education lend their talents to
govern the organization as the Board of Trustees. The all volunteer Society’s purpose is to collect, preserve, research and share local history with the Greece
community whose population is approximately 95,000. We strive to provide the community with an awareness of the past, an appreciation of the present, and a vision for the future, giving a sense of “roots” and a
greater feeling of belonging. To accomplish its purpose the Society offers:
- free public programs - newspaper articles about local history - group and school programs
- free docent led museum tours, especially to school groups and scouts - resource materials and books to area schools and libraries - a resource library at our History Center
- special events - a web site and Facebook page informing people of coming programs and events
- DVDs, videos and Power Point shows of various history subjects, sites and architecture - a museum shop selling a variety of local history books - the services of the Town Historian’s office, maintained at our history center
Beginning in the mid 1970's the Greece Historical Society shared space with the Town of Greece Historian in a Town owned house on English Rd. In 1988, with the encouragement of then Town Supervisor Don Riley, the
former home of Gordon Howe, Greece Town Supervisor for 26 years and former Monroe County Manager, was donated, to the Society by Wegmans. The 1855 farm house has been restored by the Society and sits on a
one acre parcel of land leased from the Town of Greece on the Greece Town Campus. The Campus includes the Town Hall, Town Justice Court, Public Library, Community & Senior Center, a Kiwanis Club play ground and other recreational amenities. The house, which the Society owns, is the home of the Society’s
administrative offices, research library, museum shop and the office of the Town Historian. An added wing houses our exhibits.
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Alan Mueller
Docent led tours are held Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:00 p.m. or by appointment. Office hours are
Monday and Tuesday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to noon, or by appointment. Special events exhibits and programs are held throughout the year.
TOWN HISTORIAN
The Greece Town Historian has been located with the Historical Society for
approximately 40 years. For the past 20 years the Greece Historical Society has
contracted with the Town of Greece to provide the space for and services of the
Town Historian. The GHS Board of Trustees has appointed Alan Mueller, a long
time Greece resident and Society member with the title “Town Historian.” The
majority of the historic documents, files, books, maps etc. from the Greece
Historian's Office are considered the property of the Town of Greece. One room at
the Historical Society’s home is dedicated as the historian's office and not part of
the Greece Historical Society. The Greece Historical Society accessions
household, farm, business, objects, photographs, etc. for their collection and
collects local genealogy information when available. There is reciprocation between the two entities, but
each remains separate, although society volunteers do carry out some responsibilities (i.e. education and
programs) of the Town Historian. (NOTE: On December 28, 2015, the Town of Greece notified the
Greece Historical Society that the historian's office would be moved to the Greece Public Library by
January 1, 2016.) The following information about the Historian's Office in this report was written by
Mr. Mueller.
In 2015 the historian's office had about 40 outside inquiries for
various information. I also supplied information and select
photos to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper
reporter's. Nearby towns of Gates and Irondequoit called for
information. One of the largest and most successful exhibit's
the Greece Historical Society has mounted in many years was,
Greece during World War II. Many file folders from the
historian office were perused for information about local service
personnel, civil defense, rationing, The Odenbach Shipbuilding
Corp., planting of Victory Gardens etc. The office also supplied
various documents and wartime booklets for the display cases in the exhibit.
The Greece Historical Society publishes the Corinthian newsletter six times a year and I submit a
full page column with text and photos for each issue.
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle daily paper asked local Monroe County historians if they
would submit a column with several relevant photos three times yearly. My three columns this
year appeared in March, August and December. The first told a brief history of the William
Mitchell farm, the former land is now part of the western half of The Mall at Greece Ridge; the
August column was about the Lay Family, very early settler's (1808-1812) of what would
become Monroe County and the Town of Greece. The final column traced some of the history of
the former thriving hamlet of West Greece.
The Monroe County historians meet two times yearly. The Spring Meeting was at the former
Fairport Library, which now houses their historical society. We met this Fall at the Parma
Historical Society Museum. The Spring meeting of the GAHWNY (Government appointed
Historians of Western New York) was again at Bohn's Restaurant in Batavia, NY.
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On October 17th the Greece Public Library and The Friends of the Greece Public Library held a
three hour "How to Festival". Twenty some tables of interest, including; How K9 Dogs Do
Their Jobs, How to tell if Fruit is Ripe and How to Research Your Home. This last one was my
contribution to the well attended, first ever event.
My able assistant, Betty Fetter (some 90 plus years old) and myself continue to refine and add to
the files and various collections that demand easier access and proper preservation. In the
process we occasionally find photos or paper items that have no significance to Greece History,
but have relevance to other communities. A few such items from the collection were donated to
the historian offices of Irondequoit, City of Rochester and Interlaken, NY.
Lastly, along with fellow Greece Historical Society volunteers I attended the annual conference
of The Museum Association of New York - "Museums in Conversation", held in Corning, New
York, April 12 - 14 at the Corning Museum of Glass.
GREECE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MUSEUM EXHIBITS
Besides maintaining and updating the permanent exhibits in our
Museum Newcomb exhibit hall we started the year with a
"History of Uncle Sam” and in May opened a seven month
exhibit "Our Town in World War II." This was our major
exhibit for 2015. It was an unqualified success as we attracted
record crowds to the museum and the programs done in
conjunction with it. It was a bit of a departure for the Society as
for the first time we mounted an exhibit that took over large
portions of the house and museum and used the exhibit as the guiding theme for our
programming over the year. Attendance at the museum went up by 300 percent; there were
many first time visitors, and we garnered new members and volunteers through it. We also
published three booklets related to the exhibit. As a result of the exhibit the Society now has an
oral history and documentary archive of World War II veterans preserved for future researchers
VISITORS During 2015 approximately 900 visitors signed in at our museum.
(not including school tours.) We are sure that more than half the
visitors do not sign in, so it can be assumed that we had well over
2000 visitors.
Besides individuals and families, tours included nearly
600 children from five Greece Public and private schools. Tours
also included groups from the Greece Chamber of Commerce,
several senior and church groups and Scout groups.
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COMMUNITY EDUCATION The Greece Historical Society continues to provide local history information to museum visitors
and students of Greece Central Schools, private schools and home-schooled children and scout
groups. We had approx. 600 students tour our museum in 2015. Kathie Firkins and Linda Evans
did presentations for both Longridge Elementary School and also a home school group. Several
students from the area high schools volunteered to be Sunday afternoon door greeters to fulfill
their Community Service requirements.
GHS ON THE ROAD During 2015 Members of the Greece Historical Society
presented programs at dozens of venues including the Village
at Unity, Legacy, Fleming Point, St. Mark's R.C. Church,
North Greece Fire Department, Historic Brighton, Charlotte
Branch Library, Hilton Historical Society and St. John's
Meadows in Brighton. We conducted tours at Holy Sepulchre
Cemetery and the former Hamlin CCC-POW Camp. We also
had information tables at the Winter Harborfest in Charlotte
and the Charlotte Farmers Market and conducted a "How to Research you House History" at the
Greece Public Library's "How to Festival"
COMMUNICATION & PROMOTION The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, the Greece Post, and
GreeceNewsNY.Com magazine have featured the Greece Historical
Society in several articles and columns during the year. Kathie
Firkins and Maureen Whalen appeared on Channel 10 TV news
with Rebecca LeClair to promote the "Our Town in World War II"
exhibit and Marie Poinan was interviewed by Time-Warner about
the Odenbach Exhibit"
Our Facebook page, started in 2011, now has over 450 “friends” and a monthly e-mail blast is
sent to over 600 people. Our web site http://www.greecehistoricalsociety.net averages many
visits per week. Our bi-monthly newsletter, the “Corinthian,” is mailed to all our members,
distributed at the museum and our monthly programs, and is available on-line. We also
occasionally mailed additional promotion material nearly every other month.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
During 2015 members of Greece Historical Society attended the
Museum Association Annual Conference in Corning, NY with
funds provided by a grant from the New York State Council on
the Arts (NYSCA) and the New York Family History Conference
in Syracuse. We also conducted a Staff Workshop with
professional consultant and met with Museum Association of
New York staff locally.
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GOVERNANCE In 2015 the governance committee completed work on a conflict of interest policy, code of ethics
policy, and whistleblower policy. These policies were presented and approved by the Board of
Trustees.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Tuesday Evening Lecture Series
Our eight monthly lectures featuring local historians, authors, and humanities scholars have
again proven to be very popular with the community. During 2015, attendance varied from as
low at 55 to as high as 175. (total 785). Nearly 350 showed up for our September program on
the history of the Odenbach Shipbuilding Corp. (Because of the room capacity a second program
was presented two weeks later). Our programs have earned a reputation throughout the region for
providing high quality, professional, and entertaining history lessons. Besides Greece residents,
our guests regularly come from Victor, Henrietta, Hamlin, Chili, Spencerport, Irondequoit, and
the City of Rochester. The monthly lectures are held at the Greece Public Library. We would
like to thank library director Cassie Guthrie and her staff for being so supportive and
accommodating to our needs.
Sunday Programs at the Museum During 2015, the Greece Historical Society hosted several informal programs on Sunday
afternoons in the museum. These programs were varied with the intent to interest a wider variety
of people and ages. The programs included "A Biography of a Neighborhood", talks from World
War II veterans, and the story of Koda-Kids the English children who come to Rochester during
World War II.
PUBLICATIONS
GHS member Marie Poinan wrote and
published "The Story of the Odenbach
Shipbuilding Corporation" and along with
Maureen Whalen published "Our Town in
World War II"
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PUBLIC RECOGNITION
Alan Mueller - Our historian Alan Mueller’s love
of history made him the ideal person to be honored
with the Greece Chamber of Commerce's first-ever
history award on April 23rd. For the past 15 years, he
has served admirably as the Town of Greece Historian,
under the helm of the Greece Historical Society. Prior
to his association with the Town of Greece and the
Historical Society, Alan volunteered for over 20 years
at the Strong Museum and is a charter member of the
Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse, where he served as
curator for many years.
Maureen Whalen - On August 15th the Greece
Community Partners held a recognition ceremony and
reception honoring community volunteers Greece
Community & Senior Center. One of the honorees was
our very own Maureen Whalen. Besides volunteering
at the Greece Historical Society, she has been a docent
at the Seneca Park Zoo for many years and is currently
researching the history of the zoo. She retired as the
branch manager of the Charlotte Branch Library where
she started and still leads the oldest monthly book
discussion group in the Monroe County Library system. She initiated a children's story time
program and helps coordinate a monthly program on local history at that library's "First
Thursday History Series." In January she also received the 2014 Volunteer of the Year Award
from the Greece Historical Society.
HOLY CHILDHOOD PROJECT The Greece Historical Society was pleased to partner again
with Holy Childhood Development Center in a project to
record what the Society owns or presently has on loan in the
house. The students take turns entering information in a
spread sheet designed by the project’s supervisor, Patrick
Worboys. The students are assisted by a life coach from the
school. Working as volunteers for the Society offers these
students training and experience and the Society benefits
from their dedicated efforts and is very grateful.
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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS It is imperative that the Greece Historical Society maintains a relationship with professional and
community organizations. The following are the organizations that the Society is a member of, or
has a working relationship with: The Association for Public Historians of New York State,
Greece Chamber of Commerce, Landmark Society of Western New York, Museum Association
of New York, American Association of State and County Historians, and the Rochester Regional
Library Council. We also maintain a close co-operation with local historic societies, especially
the Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse, and meet regularly with local historians. Our society president
is a member of the Town of Greece Historic Preservation Commission.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
After several years of fund raising we had a new roof installed by
American Custom Exteriors & Interiors. The project was funded
entirely by donations from the community. A new refrigerator was
purchased from Charlotte Appliance with a portion of funds
provided by the Friends of the Greece Public Library and the
museum gift shop received a fresh coat of paint.
BOY SCOUTS For the past several years we have sponsored Boy Scout Venturing
Crew #1910. The group has used our house for a meeting place and
they were a tremendous help at the Strawberry Festival.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION The Greece Historical Society provides information to the Greece Historic Preservation
Commission and one GHS trustee is a member of that commission.
TECHNOLOGY
Thanks to a Rotary Club of Greece grant of $500.00 we were able
to purchase a new high speed scanner and have now begun
scanning documents and photographs making them more
accessible to the public and older office records to free up filing
space. In addition we purchased a video camera and have begun
recording various programs and exhibits. (Photo: Al Meilutis,
president of the Greece Rotary and president elect, Patricia
Anthony presenting check to GHS president Bill Sauers)
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FINANCIAL REVIEW Gary Krauss, CPA, conducted a review of the Greece Historical Society financial statements for
2014. A financial review was completed in the spring of 2015, with no adverse comments from
Gary. The GHS treasurer transitioned from Betty Tudisco to Bill Peeck in mid-year 2015 due to
Betty's getting a full time consultant's job. A review of past years documentation was conducted.
Old unneeded receipts from the 1970-2000 time frame were destroyed. A review of the
electronic finance records maintained by the society for 2000-2013 was also conducted. Back up
paper files for 2000-2013 were also reviewed, and some unneeded documentations for years
prior to 2007 were also eliminated.
RESEARCH In the past year Greece Historical Society volunteers have continued their research on early
settlements in Greece, have begun researching early area agriculture and have made plans to
interview members of long-time farming families in Greece. Also extensive research was made
by volunteer Marie Poinan into the Odenbach Shipbuilding Corporation (a World War II
complex in Greece) using primary source materials provided by the Odenbach family and the
historian's office. The research resulted in the publication of the research and a major display in
our exhibit hall, along with public programs that were attended by over 500 people from our
community.
FUNDRAISING Strawberry Festival – this year’s annual Strawberry and
Dessert Tasting Festival included five area vendors offering samples
of their dessert products, entertainment, and information displays
from several local non-profit organizations. Nearly 600 of our guests
enjoyed what we consider the Town’s best neighborhood festival.
Community Yard Sale - In July we hosted a Community Yard
Sale, organized by Trustee Cynthia Shevlin. Rented spaces were
offered to any member of the community to sell their wares.
Museum Shop - Our museum gift shop continues to sell a large
selection of books, locally made quilts, Greece coverlets and tee
shirts along with a variety of items of local interest. In 2015 the shop
was repainted and reorganized.
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VOLUNTEERS
Board of Trustees - The current Board of Trustees
of the Greece Historical Society is entrusted with the
stewardship of the society's artifacts and provides
valuable guidance for the staff and volunteers. Board
members participate in developing new ideas, plans and
events that contribute to our organization's continued
growth.
Individuals who currently serve on the Board of Trustees
bring a wealth of knowledge of local and WNY history,
community, business & government skills/contacts and philanthropy. Board members receive no
reimbursement for their participation. Board meetings are held 7 times a year.
Vital to any not-for profit organization is the tireless dedication, energy and support of its
volunteer board of trustees. Our nomination committee is always on the lookout to fill vacant
positions with individuals interested in joining this dedicated team. Student Assistance
The Greece Historical Society was pleased this year to have helped several local Greece high
school students fulfill their "Citizens in Action" requirements. They served as door greeters on
Sunday afternoons, guiding visitors to the exhibits, counting attendance, and helping with
computer data entry. .
During the past year several college students assisted us doing research for our exhibits and
helped with the newsletter mailing. One student, an American History major at Elmira College
spent part of her Christmas break helping to plan our next exhibit and plans to be a museum
docent in the summer.
Another student currently attending St. John Fisher, volunteers as a museum guide and another,
a graduate in American History and Library Science, volunteers two afternoons a week, doing
research and helping to plan exhibits. We are grateful to these students for their enthusiasm,
assistance and bringing fresh ideas to our organization.
Volunteer Reception - In appreciation to our
volunteers a reception was held November 16 at our history
center followed by a program by Jane Grant about last year’s
barn project she created. State Senator Joe Robach attended
the entire event and thanked the volunteers for their
commitment to the Community. Deputy Town Supervisor
Michele Marini had some kind words about the importance
of volunteers.
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Thank You! - It takes countless volunteers to run
our organization. Some may loan us a treasured heirloom,
repair a broken light fixture, help with a single event or
guide visitors through our museum on Sunday afternoons.
Still others of our loyal volunteers spend hundreds of hours
during the year to keep the place going. With so many
volunteers throughout the year, it is just impossible to list
everyone, especially with all the help we received in 2015.
Other exhibits, events and projects each took many hours
of volunteer time. Let's not forget the many school and
scout tours that were conducted by several retired
teachers from our education committee. Then there were
our Sunday docents and Sunday program presenters, the
museum shop committee, finance committee, the
governance committee, the regular Monday morning
group, the guys helping to photograph, scan and
inventory our collections, and assist the Town Historian
and our Board of Trustees. We also can't forget the
Greece Garden Clubs who maintain our gardens.
Thank you to our volunteers, members and community for your
continued support in preserving the past for the future ! 2015 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: William M. Sauers (President)
Sandy Peck (Vice President)
Paula Smith (Secretary)
Bill Peeck (Treasurer)
Cynthia Shevlin (Newsletter Editor)
Jack Wallenhorst
Ruth Curchoe
Betty Tudisco
Tom Sawnor
Gregg Redmond
Pam O'Sullivan
Donald C. Newcomb (Honorary Trustee)