The Portland Foundation has awarded us a grant of $4000.00 to help with enclosing the carport at the Gilpin Annex across the street from the museum.  This will provide us with an additional 500 sq. ft. of storage space.  We will need at least $2000.00 more to complete the construction.  If you would like to help with the project, please send your donation to us at Jay County Historical Society, 903 East Main St., Portland, IN, 47371 and mark “carport” on the memo line.  Thanks again to the board of the Portland Foundation for helping us preserve and protect our history.

After several false starts due to the challenges of working with outdated computers and software, we finally have our new scanner up and running.  Our first project will be to scan our collection of Graphics.  The Graphic was a weekly photo journal published by the Graphic Publishing Co. in Portland from late 1949 to 1962.  Each issue is a wealth of photos, stories and advertisements from the period and we have collected a nearly complete set.  We have had a partial index for some time but are currently enhancing the index and beginning to scan every page and store the scans in a separate location for safety.  Our new scanner scans a full page in 10 seconds and automatically stores the data in a digital file, all at the push of a button.  Now when anyone wants to research a story from a Graphic they can go to the scan, copy the page or photo without having to shuffle through a box af rapidly deteriorating newsprint. We are in need of volunteers to help with this project.  Please contact Tom at 260-726-7168 or email: research@jaycountyhistory.org,  if you would like to participate.

The Annual Dinner Meeting of the Jay County Historical Society will be held on Monday, November 8 at the Asbury United Methodist Church in Portland. Registration will begin at 6 p.m. with dinner served at 6:30. The cost is $10. Reservations must be made by 4 p.m. on Wednesday, November 3. As a courtesy to the cooks, no meal reservations will be accepted after that time. Payment must accompany reservations and may be dropped off or mailed to the museum. The meal will be served by the Joy Circle of the church and will consist of perfection salad, cube steak, roast potatoes, green beans, rolls, and dessert. Please enter the church through the north handicapped entrance.

Kevin Stonerock of Knightstown, IN, who portrayed Billy Yank, a Civil War soldier at last year’s annual meeting, will be returning to present the program. In A Visit with a Pioneer, Mr. Stonerock portrays the Pioneer, a character compiled from many different accounts of the period 1770-1810. The program centers around the life of Andrew Amonett, a true-to-life frontiersman of the Indiana Territory. The presentation, complete with tall tales, deals with various aspects of frontier life and dangers faced in the Indiana Territory just prior to the War of 1812. Topics include trapping, militia service, Indian affairs, tools, weapons, and frontier clothing.

Members of the board of directors will also be elected at the Annual Dinner Meeting. John Lingo, whose term expires this year, and Larry Paxson, whose term ends in 2012, have asked to step down from the board. Other board members whose terms expire this year and who have agreed to serve again are Dave Frasher, Ralph Grapner, Jim Miller, and Tom Young. Agreeing to run for the two vacant positions are Phil Rager and Judy Zearbaugh.

Phil is a graduate of Ball State University with a history major. He taught at Redkey High School and recently retired from Createc after working there for about 30 years. He attends the Church of the Brethern in Portland and also belongs to Circus Model Builders, Inc., which relates to his hobby of building a large model circus layout, complete with a big top, model trains, and circus wagons. Phil has become a regular on the newsletter mailing crew and also has been doing other volunteer work at the museum.

Judy began working in the office of the Haynes Milling Company after high school graduation. She recently retired when Mars Pet Care, the last owner of the former Haynes facility, left town. Judy has been a faithful volunteer at the museum and has also helped with the relocation of the genealogy library into the museum. She also volunteers at the Jay County Humane Society and is a member of Asbury United Methodist Church where she is president of the United Methodist Women, sings in the choir, and plays handbells.

Don’t miss your opportunity to vote for directors, enjoy an educational and historic presentation, and have a delicious dinner. Make your reservations at the museum by Wednesday, November 3.

A display honoring the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America and an outstanding collection of Indian artifacts will be featured for an open house at the museum on Sunday, August 22 from 1 to 4 p.m.  You may also visit us during regular hours, Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm.

Barry and Elizabeth Hudson and family prepared the display commemorating the anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. Also on display will be part of the extensive collection of Indian arrowheads and artifacts from the late Frank Cline, which is on loan to the museum for a month. All of the arrowheads are identified and labeled and come from Indiana or Eastern Ohio, many from the Fort Recovery area.

If you have been reading the Journal over the past several months, you know that the Locker family has offered to fulfill the wishes of Kay’s late father, Bill Gilpin, by donating his home and grounds across the street from our museum. Although the process has taken several twists and turns along the way, the Lockers have now formally presented us with the deed to Bill’s house. We have gratefully accepted and will be making some repairs and planning for the best use of the space.

It seems to be a straightforward transaction to transfer title to a piece of property, and the paperwork is relatively simple. But as I held the signed deed and prepared to have it recorded at the courthouse, I was aware of the loving gift the Gilpin-Locker family is making with this transfer. The signatures on the deed of Kathryn (Kay), Sarah, Scott, and Sue are a personal statement of one family’s continuing commitment to help fulfill the goals and mission of the Jay County Historical Society. We are hoping to have a small celebration to recognize the donors, but for now the Board of Directors and all the members of the Jay County Historical Society say, “Thank you, Kay, Carl, and the rest of the family.”

A new display in the library cases at the museum highlights the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. Among items included in the display are uniforms, badges, awards, pennants, derby cars, pictures and many other items.

Thanks to Barry and Elizabeth Hudson and family for preparing this attractive display. Their son, Aaron, recently became an Eagle Scout.

The museum will be open on Sunday, July 25 from 1 to 4 p.m. for visitors to view displays. The museum is also open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The Jay County Historical Society’s open houses for 2010 are in full swing. Thanks to a recent grant from the The Portland Foundation and donations from members and friends, the society was able to purchase 11 lighted showcases. Volunteers have filled the showcases with interesting displays, and various rooms at the museum are sporting new looks since last season thanks to many volunteer hours. Among the new displays at the museum are Indiana glass items, bonnets, a common school display, items from the Bimel family, and an exhibit featuring Redkey’s John Shambarger. Also scattered throughout the museum are beautiful period wedding gowns worn by Jay County residents. June open houses are Saturday, June 19, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, June 20, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Monthly program meetings have also commenced again. The subject for the June 22 meeting at 7 p.m. will be a presentation by Jay County Historian Jane Spencer on the postcard collection of George and Alta Cull, which was loaned to the society by their daughter, Mrs. Bill Davis.

We welcome everyone, members and non-members alike, to attend both our open houses and our monthly program meetings. The museum is also open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Come see all the changes we’ve made!

Janice Stucky, our intrepid librarian and resident author was surprised one day last fall when a camera crew from PBS station WIPB at Ball State University showed up at the museum to do an interview about the Jay County Historical Society.  Janice had to think fast and pull together a presentation while the cameras were rolling and the result is an interesting and informative video which you can see by clicking on the link below.  You will have to follow instructions and load “Silverlight” and it may not work with slower connection speeds.  The spot has aired on WIPB and we are told that they will run it again in the future. We will let you know the time and date as soon as it is published.

http://www.bsu.edu/wipb/community/Natparks_Webisodes.asp

Here is a recap of some of the things which are going on at the end of East Main Street:  Some of you will have had a chance to get the latest newsletter, The Jay County Journal by email on the day it was printed and “snail mailed” to all. We currently have an email list of about 30 pioneers and it is growing daily. Our hope is to gradually cut down on the number (now about 900) newsletters we must print and mail each month. This is a substantial expense in paper, printing, postage, and volunteer time to staple, fold, label, tape, and mail.

Although the first time around had a few glitches, all we heard from were pleased with the results. The pictures in the email version are much better and the print can be as large or as small as you want by changing your computer settings. We are working on using full color pictures in the email version, another incentive for you to send us your email address and agree to receive the Journal online.  Of course you need to be a current member to enjoy this service.

Another way we are working to move into 21st century technology will be our meeting on Saturday, May 8th with Connie Rendfield who manages the Indiana Memories project for the Indiana State Library.  Ms. Rendfield will talk with us about adding our digital collection to their website. If you’d like to check out the Indiana Memories  project go to: http://www.in.gov/memories/.  If you are interested in helping us scan pictures into our digital files please contact us at: research@jaycountyhistory.org.  Join us on Saturday, May 8, at 11 a.m.

We want to thank the Portland Foundation for the $2000 grant we recently received.  The money will be used to purchase several beautiful display cases which will enhance our growing collections.

Although we had requested $5000 to add to other anticipated donations, totalling $7000 to purchase 15 cases (10@ $400 and 5@ $600) we will now need to ask all our members to step up to help us complete this phase of our museum renovation.

Larry and Sandy Bubp have offered to sell us these lighted glass show cases for $600 for the all glass model and $400 for the glass front-solid side model. They are virtually new and 1/2 the cost of new cases, plus we will have no shipping since they are in Portland.

If you would like to help us by purchasing a display we will gladly install a placque on the case with your chosen wording.  You could make a memorial or honorary dedication to a loved one or simply have your name as donor.  Simply send us a check or money order indicating your preference-$400 or $600 and the wording you would like and we’ll take care of the rest.  Of course we welcome any gift, large or small which will help us to better do the work of your Society.

Feel free to contact us with any questions and thank you for your support.