OCONOMOWOC HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Board Minutes/June 11, 2007

Museum

OHS Members Present: Marjorie Day, John Fishleigh, Pam Thomas, Duane Hoffmann, Terry Ladwig, Tony Thorsen, Hilton Neal, Nancy Lins, Betty Hancock, Ed Johnson, Don Wiemer, Barb Hirsch, Bill Marris, Margie Krauski, Ray Maurer, Mike Schutz, Chuck Herro, Ann Zimmerman, Mary Hart, Doug Stern, Valerie Davis and Ruth Behling.

President Hilton Neal opened the meeting at 4:03pm.

Secretary’s Report: Ed Johnson moved to accept the minutes of the May 14, 2007 Board meeting and Margie Krauski seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report:

• The P & L Budget vs. Actual for November 2006 through May 2007 was distributed.

• P & L for May 2007, showed total income of $2,301.23 and expenses of $2,709.31 for a net income of -$408.08. Checking account balance as of 5/31/07 was $737.69, Savings Account $47,936.32; Certificate of Deposit as of 5/31/07 was $63,040.80 and the Vanguard Total Index Fund was at $8,167.91 for total cash assets as of 5/31/07 was $121,182.17. Question was asked about how come a non-profit can have this much in the bank. Ed Johnson explained we collect most of our money the first part of our fiscal year and then run operations through it all year. It is also good practice to keep a few months operating money available so you are not worrying each month if the bills can be paid.
• Margie Krauski moved to accept the May 2007 financial statement. Betty Hancock seconded the motion. Motion carried.

President Hilton Neal introduced Tony Rajer to the Board. Tony has been working on the murals along with students since June 6. On June 7, 85 high school students visited and on June 30 a delegation of college students from Beloit will be coming in. Tony has display boards on site and is developing a post card to be used as a thank you card and for the museum to sell. An article regarding the restoration of the murals will be in the Thursday Enterprise and articles have already been in the Focus and Milwaukee newspapers. Restoration work is ongoing daily from 9am-5pm. Please stop and help when you can. Volunteers are needed to maintain security at the front door while they work. Saturday, June 30 from 1-5pm we will hold an open house to view the restoration. Tony will also speak at the Quarterly meeting and dedication of the installed murals on July 21.

Administrator’s Report/Museum Operations:

• Visitors: 95 people visited the museum since the last board meeting.
• Correspondence: Wisconsin Historical Society sent a survey questioning the methods used to manage the records of the collection but they didn’t give a reason for the survey.
• Programs: May 20^th open house held with 6 docents but no children attended so did not do readings.
• Volunteer/Committee Meetings:

Exhibit committee: met on May 30^th. Ten volunteers attended with others expressing interest and ideas for new exhibits. Would like to develop a 3-year exhibit/tenure plan for the committee. They will meet again in September.

Operations/Maintenance: met on May 19^th moved board table and removed flag for mural restoration project.

New volunteer in the office: Anna Ehler, a college student, will assist with data entry and accessions with Marjorie.

• Exhibits: Munger Studio sign was added—hand painted by Dennis Siehr. Placards for Questers to be added.

• Repairs/Maintenance: Hazardous materials have been disposed of. The Fire Department inspected the museum. We had no violations!
• Misc.: Because of the Tony Rajer project we need a liability document for underage volunteers to sign and Chuck was asked to come up with the document. Chuck Herro made a motion that underage volunteers must sign the document to be able to volunteer. Margie Krauski seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Membership:

• Barbara Elwood-Goetsch emailed a report that the Historical Society now has 369 members, 15 organizations and municipalities, 40 free memberships and 40 delinquent members.

Artifacts:

• Marjorie reported donation a from the Behlings of 1918-1923 issues of the Prairie Farmer and the Waukesha Farmer.
• An Edison record from the 1920’s.
• Men’s shaving items from the 1920’s
• We own pictures of silver pieces that were made for the Aeppler family and are currently on display at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Should we send the pictures to Milwaukee museum on permanent loan? Ed Johnson made a motion to offer the pictures on a permanent loan status to the Milwaukee museum. Betty Hancock seconded the motion. Motion carried.
• Nancy and Marjorie are looking at comparing the accession list with the database.

Local History Committee:

• Betty Hancock reported the committee is still working on gathering information and artifacts for a display about activities on our lakes. They now have the 100^th anniversary book from the Nagawika Yacht Club, LaBelle Yacht Club and Lulu VanAntwerpen presented them with one from Pine Lake.
• Betty got an estimate from Leitzke Printing for $14 per book for the printing of 1000 copies of “When Midwest Millionaires Lived Like Kings”. Leitzkes felt the cost would be under that amount. The focus groups said they appreciated all of the publications the Historical Society has and hope we continue. This book is a great representative of the era and the same disclaimer from the Historical Society would be included in this book as it was in Illustrious Oconomoowc. Ed Johnson made a motion that the committee continues working on a final price from Leitzkes to bring back to the board. John Fishleigh seconded the motion. Motion carried.
• Bill Marris arranged for the Historical Society have a site outside the gate at the Festival of the Arts so we can sell our books and posters.
• Currently seven local vendors are selling our books with five additional possible. Margie has framed prints of the Doorways of Oconomowoc at each of the current vendors and they are happy with the profit split.

Education Committee:

• Last week the committee gave a tour for 3^rd graders from Meadowview with very positive responses from the children and teachers, but they found they needed more than 10 minutes at each station and they needed more docents.
• Survey from UW Madison/Professor Sike on volunteer and paid employees will give the committee ideas they hadn’t thought of.
• Committee wants achievable goals and a list of the local school district’s retirees to recruit new members.
• Next meeting will be June 18.

Report on Lichtner Mural Restoration:

• Tony Rajer is off and running. We need security volunteers until mid July while the crew is in the building working on the murals. Let Nancy know if you can take a shift.
• Beloit College will be visiting on June 30. On June 30 the mural will be stretched. One is almost finished and they will be through before the July 21 Quarterly meeting.

Elk Project:

• Elk is standing without his head. Robb is currently in the process of filing down the excess epoxy. Head will be reinforced and epoxy will be put on the hairline cracks. Rods will be placed inside for additional reinforcements.
• Movers suggested using scaffolding to move the elk. Elk needs to be out of the building by July 1^st as the building has been sold. Robb will paint the elk in a week and the paving blocks and fence needs to go in before the elk is moved. Ed Johnson will check to see if an insurance rider is needed. Thank you to Duane for all the work he has done on behalf of this project.

Posters:

• Posters are on sale for $25.

Board Profile:

• Terry Ladwig went over the current board’s profile information. It captured the existing expertise and will help us to plan for future nominations. She said we would benefit from help in fund raising, grant writing, marketing/PR and succession. We currently have only one board member under the age of 40.
• The focus groups had a total of 13 members represented at 2 meetings. The board was presented with a final report from Terry to be used as a guide in soliciting new board members.

Speakers:

• July 21, 2007— Tony Rajer
• October, 2007—Chuck Herro “The Gilded Age-Extended”

OLD BUSINESS:

• The board went over changes to the rental policies and agreement they were sent. Don Wiemer will email the final copy. Margie Krauski moved to accept the policy as presented. Ed Johnson seconded the motion. Motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS:

• Hilton brought up that the Historical Society has an opportunity to apply for a grant with OAF. Our request has to be in by Friday, June 15^th in order to be considered. Several items were suggested for Hilton to ask for. At the Executive Board meeting previous to this meeting it was suggested that approval from the full board be asked for. Margie Krauski moved and Terry Ladwig seconded a motion to apply for the grant. Motion carried.
• Terry Ladwig will write a brief description of what each of the suggested committees are expected to do. It will be available at the next board meeting.
• Newsletter: June 25^th is the deadline for articles for the July newsletter. Terry mentioned that the focus groups loved the newsletter. Thank you Ruth.

Ed Johnson moved and Margie Krauski seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 5:30pm.

Next meeting will be Monday, July 9, 2007 at 4pm at the museum.

Respectfully submitted,

Pam Thomas/Secretary