Ripon’s second graders compare life now with life
at the time of their great great grandparents

All seven sections of Barlow Park’s second graders (about 150 children) visited the Ripon Historical Society on November 24 and 25, a learning activity designed to give them some hands-on experience as they study local history. They compared food preservation and preparation, sanitation, entertainment, clothing styles, and home decoration of their great great grandparents’ time with that of today. Twenty-four volunteers teamed up to keep the visit focused and running smoothly. The children, teachers, and parent chaperones appeared to enjoy the event, and a number of kids returned to bring their families to the Christmas Open House on December 6.

Our capital funds drive, which opened in November, has had a highly successful beginning and continues to move in the right direction. As of December 31, 2003 we had collected a bit over half of our goal and we are now passed 60%. The campaign will continue throughout the coming year and we hope that members and friends of the Society who have not yet had an opportunity to contribute will consider doing so, possibly after we are passed the tax season.

The stockings were hung by the mantle with care…

The Christmas Open House at the Historical Society saw the best attendance ever for an event like this. In particular we were gratified to see so many of the second graders who had visited the Society on a field trip in November return with their parents and families to view the entertaining "Night Before Christmas" theme found throughout the beautifully decorated house and to view the special Father Christmas exhibit lent to us by Marylin Shaw. In the meeting room visitors enjoyed home made cookies and hot cider and viewed the Christmas tree decorated with antique ornaments from the Society’s collection. Maurice Morgan, Ed Biedron, Dino Zei, and Karl Beres provided music for the event. We sincerely thank these gentlemen for willingly offering their time to make this event a success.

At our Annual Meeting in November the following officers were unanimously elected: President, William Woolley; Vice President, Todd Berens; Secretary Nedra Martz; and Treasurer, Harry Heileman. Several of these officers have served for a number of years and have shown dedication to the Society in terms of time devoted to its activities.

Bonnie Brooks, our Program Chair, has put together a set of interesting and educational programs for this coming spring. On March 18^th the Society will sponsor a presentation on "Past Celebrations in Ripon of the Birth of the Republican Party" as part of the Sesquicentennial celebration of that event being carried out in town. On April 15^th, Todd Behrens will continue his fascinating analysis of the "Myths and Misconceptions of the Lewis and Clark Expedition" as part of the two-year national celebration of that event. On May 20^th, Frank Farvour will do a presentation on "Barns in Ripon" as a revision of the highly popular program he did last fall in connection with Wisconsin’s "Barn Again" celebration last year.

Jean Woolley works on the website at home.
This is one of a number of Society activities
members can do in their own homes.

Late this past year the Society officially launched its own website at http://my.core.com/~riponhistosoc/. This was a major project involving lengthy policy discussions by the Board and well over a hundred hours of work on the part of Jean Woolley who designed and developed the site. Mary Brandt and other Society members made major contributions in editing and providing suggestions for the project while it was under development. The site is designed to provide information about our Society to interested members of our community and to those who might want to make use of our extensive research resources. Nedra Martz, Associate Archivist, has contributed index lists, which she continues to update. Despite the time already invested in the project, Jean says that she considers it to be still a work in progress and would appreciate comments and suggestions. Jean can be reached at woolleyj@charter.net.

"ADOPT-A-PROJECT" AT THE RIPON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Looking for a "time-out" change of pace? You might consider adopting a project at the Ripon Historical Society. One of the wonderful things about our Society is that members can adopt their very own project and work on it at their own pace even if that means only a couple of hours a month. No special knowledge is needed beyond the capacity to get interested and even excited about your project. Some projects can even be done at home. Examples of some of the projects currently available would be researching and organizing the Society’s collection of purses, its collection of eyeglasses, or its collection of umbrellas. Members can also undertake to create a user-friendly index of the Pedrick Papers, the backbone of our archives, or take personal ownership of one of the plots in our historic house gardens. Any member who would be interested in adopting a project can call me at 748-2260 and I will put you in touch with one of our curators.

Barbara Scott, the Society’s Membership Chairperson, announced that the following people had recently joined our Society: Maggie Brandt and Bert Lyons, Eileen Hall, Sue Marvin, Arlynn and Bonnie Sanders, Emily Stovel, Ruth and LeRoy Yeomans, Shirley Hayes, Scott and Kyle Guyette, and Tom Worrall. We welcome all new members. We hope we will see you as a volunteer on one of our projects, as a docent at one of our events and hope to see you at our programs, or just as part of the audience at some of our programs. There is something here for everyone.

In writing the enclosed portion of the Annual Report of our Society for the Wisconsin State Historical Society I was, again, impressed at how active and successful our Society had been this past year. Even a quick perusal of the Report will show progress and success in an extraordinarily wide range of activities and projects. Hence, on behalf of the Board of the Ripon Historical Society I would like to thank all the members and friends of the Society who helped make this success possible. You all have great reason to be proud of your achievements.

At the same time, most of those achievements last year were parts of works still very much in progress so that 2004 will surely be even busier than last year. Again, our success next year will depend on members who can support us as volunteers. But members can also help by bringing in new members. If you know someone who you think would enjoy being part of our Historical Society invite them to join or, at least, introduce them to our new website. Also, let me know at 748-2260 and we will invite them to join.