NEWSLETTER

Summer Open House Features Tour of Ripon’s New Historic District

Fern Huebl, dressed for the occasion, sits with Frank Farvour and the map and pictures he constructed for the open house

A walking/driving tour of Ripon’s new historic district was the highlight of our Open House on August 1^st. Frank Farvour and George Miller selected 32 houses and other buildings in the new district that were considered of particular architectural or historic significance and organized them into a mile and a half tour. Jean Woolley then took Frank’s descriptions of the buildings, map, and pictures and created an 8-page tour pamphlet. Copies of the pamphlet are still available at the Society.

As in the case of past summer open houses, the Pickard and the Lawson houses, the barn, and all of our historic gardens were open to the public. Our exhibit on past celebrations of Ripon as birthplace of the Republican Party was also featured. Shirley Williams’ gooseberry jam, made from fruits from our own gardens, was a unique addition to the many delicious refreshments served. Overall, President Woolley was particularly pleased with the fact that over 70 people attended the open house and that a large number of them were first-time visitors. We were happy to welcome a number of children, some of whom were introduced to the Society when the second graders visited in November.

Summer Interns Work on Ripon in World War II

Our two student interns from Ripon College, Zachery Chitwood and Jessica Owens, participated and studied at the Society in a College sponsored summer program called the ProCollege Experience. Ripon’s ProCollege program allows students to engage in professional work with mentors from the faculty. Both of these students are contemplating a career in historical or archival work. They were mentored by Russell Blake of the History Department and Valerie Viers, College Librarian and Archivist. Dr Blake is a specialist in American History and teaches a course at Ripon dealing with the history of the College and the community. Approximately half of the students’ time was spent at our Historical Society and the other half at the college library.

Both worked on projects related to Ripon’s participation in World War II. They first catalogued our military history collection. Zack then went on to do oral history interviews with local citizens who served as combatants in the War or who were involved in home front work, including working on army contracts at Speed Queen and the Ripon Knitting Works and cultivating needed crops. Jessica concentrated on the letters written by Samuel Pedrick to his children during the World War II period. The Society plans to have both students present programs on Ripon in the War sometime this spring.

Also note that the Ripon Historical Society has tapes of all four programs Wisconsin Public Television produced related to the experiences of Wisconsin citizens during the War. Three Ripon veterans were interviewed for these programs: George Miller, Arden Gatzke, and Gladys Hritsko. People wishing to see these programs may borrow the tapes from the Society.

Fall Programs

Programs for the fall season, all beginning at 7:00 P.M., include the following:

September 16^th 2004. Dr. John Steinbring will discuss his restoration of the Octagon House at 610 Liberty Street.

October 28^th, 2004. Dr. Barbara McGowan, a professor of American History at Ripon College and a recognized specialist on the American presidency, will present a program on presidential elections. Please note that the date for this program will be the fourth Thursday of the month, rather than the third.

November 18^th, 2004. This will be our Annual Meeting at which we hold elections. The program will deal with the history of our Historical Society with recollections from Mary Brandt, George Miller, and Frank Farvour.

Fall Exhibit to Feature New Acquisitions

Our Curator of Artifact Collections, Mary Brandt, has announced that the fall museum exhibit will feature new acquisitions. The exhibit will include a wide range of artifacts from clothing to toys, as well as one item that will mark our new policy of collecting artifacts from contemporary life as well as from the past.

May 2004 Program is “Barns Again” With Frank Farvour

At our Program on May 20th, Frank Farvour did a revision of the program that he presented last fall on Ripon barns. This time he showed slides of over 80 barns located inside or within a stone’s throw of Ripon city limits, most of which were built around the beginning of the 20^th century or before. Frank noted in his presentation that, just like houses, barns have a number of architectural styles, many of which are represented in this city. In his work he has also distinguished between regular barns that supported farm activity and what he called mini-barns. These small barns may have been used only to house a horse, buggy, and fodder. The more elaborate carriage houses often included living units. Ripon’s barns are artifacts that help us to see ourselves as we were a century ago.

Obituary Index in New Format

Computer wizard Andy Lyke created a new Microsoft Access database from Fred Flickinger’s existing Microsoft Word documents

Samuel Pedrick diligently collected obituaries in his “Necrology” files. After his death, efforts to save obituaries were sporadic until Mary Brandt systematically took it up again. We now have more than 3600 obituaries on file. Fred Flickinger has been typing an index of them in Microsoft Word. Now, through the combined efforts of Nedra Martz, Andy Lyke, Audrey Lyke, and Jean Woolley, the index of obituaries has been converted to a new Microsoft Access database that offers more information and flexibility. In the future, Mary Brandt will continue to clip obituaries from the Oshkosh Northwestern in which the word “Ripon” appears anywhere in the text and Nedra Martz will continue to clip all obituaries from the Ripon Commonwealth Press. Audrey Lyke will make new entries into the database. As time permits, Mary Brandt and Barbara Scott are using the files at the Ripon Public Library to fill in gaps from the missing years. A print copy of the index, as well as a copy of the complete text of each obituary, is available for viewing by contacting George Miller at the Society. Special requests for queries can be addressed to Jean Woolley at 748-2260.

RIPON HISTORICAL SOCIETY
President	Bill Woolley
Vice President	Todd Berens
Secretary	Nedra Martz
Treasurer	Harry Heileman
Newsletter Editor	Shirley Williams

Society Fundraising Campaign Continues to Make Progress

Your Society continues to receive gifts to its fundraising campaign to build the endowment. At present, the total received is within a stone’s throw of $70,000 which is very gratifying to all of us. These gifts, together with highly positive investment results and careful monitoring of expenses, have produced a growth in our endowment of nearly $100,000. The campaign still has four months to run and is still $30,000 short of its final goal. Therefore, we can still very much use support from members who have not yet been able to make a gift. To make your contribution, send your check to Treasurer, Ripon Historical Society, Box 274, Ripon, WI 54971.

Pickard House Repainted

Ralph Quinney does much of the maintenance himself

The public has surely noticed the fresh new look of the Pickard House at 508 Watson Street. Our Society’s Building Director, Ralph Quinney, contracted John Brink to do the work and announced to the Society’s Board on August 3rd that the work was completed. The Society also plans to have John keep up annual painting maintenance and repair.

In addition, the sign in the front of the building has been replaced by a new and more durable one thanks to Ralph, who did the work himself.

Service Donations

Several businesses in Ripon have helped our society enormously by donating services to help maintain our buildings. Most recently we have received donated services from Heatley Electrical Company, a frequent contributor to our Society, and from Becker Cleaning Service, who washed all the windows in Pickard House in time for the Summer Open House.

Volunteers needed: No Experience Necessary

Any member able to give your Society an hour can be of great help to Nedra Martz in the archives. One of Nedra’s long-term projects involves a great deal of photocopying. The work is easy and many of the documents are interesting. All those interested should contact Nedra or leave a voice mail message at the Society, 748-5354.

Green Lake to Host East Central Regional Convention

Our neighbor, the Dartford Historical Society in Green Lake, will be hosting the annual East Central Regional Convention for the Wisconsin Council of Local History on Saturday, September 18. Members will recall that Ripon hosted the convention two years ago. This year’s convention program includes discussions of several timely issues in local history as well as presentations on the history of the Thrasher Opera House and the Dartford Society’s own oral/video history program. There will be a tour of historic places in Green Lake in the afternoon. Cost for attending the convention is $15.00, which includes lunch. Copies of the program and registration form are available at the Ripon Historical Society.

President’s Corner

We are now two thirds of the way through 2004 and it is already shaping up to be another great year for the Society. The wide support we have received from inside and outside the Society in our endowment campaign has been gratifying. We have also found ways to institute some economies into our operations without any reduction in service. Our three programs this past spring were interesting and well attended and our current exhibit on past Ripon celebrations as the Birthplace of the Republican Party was deemed so interesting that it was filmed for local access television. A packet of teaching materials and suggestions for ways that the Society can support local history education in the schools has been sent to school principals to be shared with teachers and counselors. Pickard House has been repainted. And, finally, our index of obituaries has been transformed into an electronic database for greater ease in entering and accessing data.

That we can do all this on a budget as tiny as ours emphasizes the central role of volunteers in our Society. We are all volunteers. Some of us, like Mary Brandt, George Miller, and Nedra Martz, spend several hours at the Society almost every day of the week. Others can give only a few hours a month. While some volunteers serving as Board members carry out the vital administrative functions that keep the Society running, many others such as Alice Stroinski, Randallin Nichols, Fred Flickinger, Michelle Benson, Donna Marquart, Louise Schang, Evelyn Kain, Clarence and Diane Bemis, Sue McConnell, Linn Shaw, Bonnie and Arlyn Sanders, Lara Grant, Audrey Lyke, Andy Lyke, and Beth Howman--Combs have found their own special areas of activity. Beyond that there are over a dozen others we know we can count on to serve as docents at special events. Together, these volunteers enable our historical society to play the role it does in helping the citizens of our community appreciate its fine heritage. If any of our other members have some time and would like to get involved, give me a call, (Bill Woolley, 748-2260) and we will help you find a way to become part of our success.

RIPON HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD MEMBERS
Mary Brandt	Curator of Collections: Artifacts
Bonnie Brooks	Program Chair
Frank Farvour	Coordinator of Archeological Collections
Kent Gallaway	Coordinator for Special Projects
Mary Brandt	Curator of Collections: Artifacts Grounds Maintenance Supervisor
George Miller	Curator of Collections: Library and Archives
Nedra Martz	Associate Archivist
Harry Heileman	Society Historian
Ralph Quinney	Buildings Maintenance Supervisor
Barbara Scott	Membership Secretary
Shirley Williams	Newsletter Editor and Publicity Chair
Jean Woolley	Coordinator of K-12 Educational Programming Website Developer

NEWSLETTER: SUMMER 2004