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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After several false starts due to the challenges of working with outdated computers and software, we finally have our new scanner up and running.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.