Little do we know what time, the essence of age, affords us. Age brings us wisdom and thus historical perspective. If we ponder this subject, our conclusions give us great hope and inspiration to continue gathering facts, ideas and truths so essential to our well-being and growth. The resulting intensity brings about change which is, of course, what moves us forward. The Deposit Historical Society this year, through the fresh new volunteers for and of the board of directors has brought about a wonderful positive future.
This year, many changes have been made to improve our society and our visibility. These new offerings include a possible house museum, children's activities, organized and more frequently available events, creating a local historic district and upgrading our present displays. The future holds many opportunities for our growing society.
The make up of board members has changed in the last six months. The retiring members,the bedrock of our organization did a great job - the new promise to bring fresh ideas in an organized array of committees. This, our newly formatted bulletin will be brought to you four times a year. We encourage you to visit our museum and take part in our programs to enjoy all the benefits of a great, fun-filled institution of Deposit history!
"Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be!"
Richard S. Axtell
President, Deposit Historical Society
The Deposit Historical Society's calendar year began amidst the expected icy cold blast of an upstate New York January. But the DHS calendar season got off to a warm and friendly start with the annual Dish-to-Pass supper. Held on January 21st, the event featured delicious home-cooked dishes and, in the absence of the scheduled program for the evening, impromptu comedic entertainment courtesy of the Mother and Son team of Doris and Smitty Axtell - a delight for all in attendance! An affectionate thanks to "Axtell & Axtell" for saving the day!
In April we were favored with our first annual program, History of Fishing on the West Branch presented by Jim Serio of Gray Ghost Guides and the Chairman of the Delaware River Foundation. This fascinating program proved once again that a good history lesson not only reveals the past, but brings us to the present and makes us intelligently look to our future. Our thanks to Mr. Serio for his informative presentation and to John O'Connor for making the event possible.
May proved a busy month for the museum, kicking off on the 5th with a pre-opening reception for Michael Musante's new photographic art exhibit, "Deposit: Time and Time Again" courtesy of Kay Hoban's efforts and a generous grant awarded to Mike by the Roxbury Arts Group, Inc. Three days later, members of the community, the Historical Society, and the Promise Keepers, volunteered their Saturday morning to pitch in for what we hope to become a bi-annual event - Clean Up Day! The lawn was mowed, the leaves raked, the trees pruned and the museum was looking her best for the 4th Annual Old Time Folk & Craft Fair held on May 15th! Growing as it does every year, this year's fair featured some 20 different vendors, a bake sale, folk music and (a first for the fair) Chicken BBQ. The fair was a great success, and would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of many, in particular Joan Axtell, to whom we owe our thanks.
In addition to these special events and programs, members of the society have been working behind the scenes on an array of new and exciting projects. With Richard Axtell in the lead, the society is working towards acquiring the Dr. Bundy House, adjacent to the museum. This acquisition would allow for expanded exhibit space and a period house museum. Peder Hansen has been chairing exploratory committee meetings to investigate creating a local Historic District here in Deposit and members are strongly encouraged to get involved with this project. The formation of the Education Outreach committee co-chaired by Mary Colvard and Tammy LaGraffe, has created a wonderful liaison with our local schools in an effort to encourage student interest in the community's rich history and culture. On the current agenda this committee is organizing an historical essay contest to be held in the fall and are exploring the possibility of offering a kid-friendly folk music concert come the new school year. In addition to these exciting projects, Elaine Reinhardt has stepped up to the plate to chair the Publicity & Advertising and Sales & Marketing committees. These committees are intended to foster a growing public awareness of and interest in the Historical Society.
These are big projects, to be sure, and by their nature require the efforts of individual members to make them happen. If you think you might be interested in lending a head and hand to any of these new efforts, please contact the appropriate committee chair (care of the Historical Society) and come aboard; your assistance is necessary and will be greatly appreciated.
Well, this update is ended but the season is just off and running. So 'til October's newsletter, here's to a great summer season for the Deposit Historical society!
The Museum Needs Your Help!
The Historical Society is a wonderful organization, but there is absolutely no way it can meet its aims or be its best without help from its members.
We currently have a membership of around 250 - - Almost one hundred of them are local! If these local members would donate just an hour a month we would have ONE HUNDRED HOURS PER MONTH OF CONTRIBUTING MANPOWER to this organization! And, frankly we need every minute members can spare. Please consider volunteering your time and talents to the museum.
Here are a few of the areas in which we need your assistance:
Program Committee - We have scheduled programs through the remainder of this year but beyond that, we have no organizer, chairman or committee to pick this up. If the status quo stands, we have no programs for next year or the year after that or....
Publicity & Advertising - At the moment we have one person valiantly trying to get all of our programs & events listings published in local venues. DHS needs some volunteers to take this venture on.
Membership committee - In formation, this committee is looking for a chairman and committee members to find and implement ways to increase society membership and to utilize existing membership to increase volunteerism in the organization.
Museum Sitting - Museum hours are currently Thursday & Sunday 2-4 and we are discussing the idea of expansion to future Saturday hours as well; but we can't be open even during existing hours without members to host the museum and an individual or two willing to coordinate this schedule each month.
Sales & Marketing - We need to maintain and inventory the stock we have and we are looking to expand our current sales items into the beginnings of a viable gift shop. We currently have only one person tackling this while taking on other areas as well. DHS needs your assistance.
Education & Outreach Committee - Committee chairs, Mary Colvard and Tammy LaGraffe, would appreciate assistance in this endeavor which seeks to foster and encourage interest in our local history among our community's young people.
Building Maintenance -
Grounds: We held a clean up day in May in preparation for the Old Time Folk & Crafts Fair - with just six people in attendance - - - and now we're looking at the approaching Fall. We need people to coordinate and participate in such clean up days.
Structural Maintenance: We have a laundry list (or is that carpenters list?) of small maintenance projects that need addressing just to keep our museum "status quo". As we are looking to expand our facilities this area becomes even more vital in our immediate future.
Museum Cleaning - The museum needs a good Spring (Fall) Cleaning to make her shine. Our museum facility is the face we show to our community and to visitors, and we need her to sparkle!
Historic District Committee - This committee is exploring the concept of creating a local Historic District through which we may encourage community pride in our local historic homes, create a destination for historic minded tourists, and gain potential legal, financial, and tax benefits. But this project will remain a "concept" without active participation from DHS members.
Newsletter - This is an experiment. If you think this format has potential, we need ideas and volunteers to make it the best it can be. From writing copy to typing, lending a hand with layout to creating graphics, and everything in between, help and input would be greatly appreciated.
Refreshments - We're looking for a member or two to coordinate refreshments for our programs and special events. For example, Octoberfest is right around the corner. Our theme for this event is a Harvest Pie Sale. DHS needs people not only to bake for this event, but to coordinate the overall effort and make calls to our members asking them to "bake" a contribution.
These are but a few of the exciting projects in the works and necessary ideas on the table - and we can't do any of it without the active participation of our membership!
So please give us a call at 467-4422 or drop us an e-mail at dephistsoc@aol.com <mailto:dephistsoc@aol.com> and let us know how you'd like to pitch in!!
You'll be helping not only the organization, but the greater community as well. Thank you!
In launching any new endeavor - in this case a new quarterly newsletter format - there are bound to be missteps along the way: the unintentional omission, the slip of grammar, the "what-should-be-obvious-but-somehow-wasn't-included" bit of information or acknowledgment of a job well done. With that in mind we ask of our readers two things:
Patience. Input!
The goal of this new format is to provide the DHS member with a useful, accurate, timely and (hopefully) entertaining means of communication. But communication is a two way street. We need to hear from YOU, the DHS member, as to how we can make this format better.
If you have ideas, suggestions - and yes, even constructive criticisms - we want to hear from you!
Please send any correspondence to:
Kendra Hansen
c/o the Deposit Historical Society
145 Second Street
Deposit, New York,13754
or e-mail directly to: khansen@usadatanet.net
Thank you for your time and input!
The Deposit Historical Society wishes to offer a warm welcome to our newest members:
Life membership:
George DeNys
Ray Hathaway
John Margolies
Annual Membership:
Susan Bishop
Harry and Becky Dilello
Harry and Lynn Hartz
Colleen O'Connor
To Become A Member:
Annual Dues: $10.00
Life membership: $50.00
Annual & Senior Rate: $5.00
Checks should be made payable to:
"The Deposit Historical Society"
and submitted to
145 Second Street, Deposit, NY 13754
to the attention of "Membership".