Ripon in World War II is Subject of April Program at Society
Zack Chitwood and Jessica Owens
The program for the April Meeting of the Society will deal with Ripon in World War II. It will feature the research carried out this past summer by our two Ripon College interns, Zachary Chitwood and Jessica Owens. Zack interviewed a number of Ripon citizens about life in our community before and during the war and has completed a study of the impact of the War on our community. Jessica studied letters written by Samuel Pedrick to his children during the War and noted his observations about how Ripon responded to the demands of the War. The meeting will take place Thursday, April 21st at 7:00 p.m. at Pickard House, 508 Watson. Refreshments will be served. Members and non-members are welcome.
If you see a red dot on your mailing label it means that your 2005 dues ($10.00 individual, $15.00 family) are payable now. Dues should be sent to Treasurer, Ripon Historical Society, Box 274, Ripon, WI 54971.
Summer Open House to Feature Lawson House
Your Society’s annual summer open house will be held on Sunday, June 19th, from 1:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon. As usual in the summer, all three of our buildings will be open and there will be music and refreshments. Our special attraction this summer will be the Lawson House, which we are able to open only during the summer. The Lawson House has been furnished to represent a Ripon home in the late 19th century. Its development took a number of years, and it contains some of our oldest artifacts. The summer open house will also feature our gardens, which are extensive and faithfully represent gardens that would have been found at historic Ripon homes. Finally, our special attraction last summer, a walking/driving tour of architecturally distinct homes in the new Southwest Historic District was so popular that we are reprinting the guide brochure. New copies will be available for Open House visitors who were not able to do the tour last year.
Franklin P. Farvour: The Man and the Builder is Subject of May Program
Frank B. Farvour will be back in May to present a program regarding his grandfather, Franklin P. Farvour. The older Frank Farvour was one of the principle builders of Ripon homes in the late nineteenth century. Some of the most impressive older homes in Ripon are ones he built. During his time home building was more a craft than a science. Neither architects nor blueprints were much used. Instead builders were given only pictures of desired homes and had to work out the design and engineering themselves as they went along and as they were supervising the carpenters and other workers. The older Franklin Farvour was a master of this craft. However, he was also a devoted grandparent and the younger Frank Farvour has published many of his memories of growing up with his “Grandpa” several of which have appeared in past issues of this newsletter. All in all, this will be an interesting program bringing to life a person who was responsible for much of the character of Ripon’s historic neighborhoods.
March Program Features “Tools Through the Ages”
Covering more than 6000 years of tool technology in the Ripon area in just one hour, Frank Farvour and Bill Woolley presented a program on continuity and change in tools used in the Ripon area. Frank presented pictures of stone-age tools that he and Jack Steinbring found in their fifty years of scouring sites in the Rush Lake area. In his presentation, Frank pointed out the careful craftsmanship in the tools as well as the fact that some of the stone used came from sites over a hundred miles from Ripon, indicating the existence of a flourishing regional trade in the Stone Age. Bill presented a program developed by Jean Woolley that featured mostly 19th century tools from the Society’s collection. It was designed as an interactive learning activity for fourth graders studying the development of tool technology. Frank Farvour’s great grandson, Aaron Shaw, was present and an active participant in this part of the program.
North Wisconsin Home Schoolers Visit Society
Eleven elementary home school students and six of their parents from the northern Wisconsin communities of Pound, New Berlin and Gillette visited the Society on April 7th for an hour and a half as part of a tour of Wisconsin. The students had already stopped at Ripon’s Little White Schoolhouse and were headed to Madison after they left us. At our Society they were given a tour to show them what an historical society such as ours is. They had an opportunity to see the historically furnished rooms in the Pickard House, our recently-mounted exhibit on Scouting in Ripon, the library, and the archives.
New Audio System Installed in Meeting Room
After several years of discussion and a few experiments, and thanks to a generous grant from Ripon’s own Webster Foundation, your Society has purchased and installed a voice amplification system for our meeting room. It received its baptism at our March meeting and worked extremely well. The system is of greatest benefit to our senior members, many of whom have hearing difficulties, but everyone appreciated the greater clarity it gave our speakers. The Webster Grant covered a bit more than half of the cost of the new system. We are prepared to squeeze the rest of the cost out of our budget, but any special donations to help cover that cost would be greatly appreciated.
New Computer Equipment
Thanks to a generous donation from donors who chose to remain anonymous, your Society now has a new Dell computer in the Meeting Room. We have long had a need for a computer on the main floor for electronically recording the records of both our artifact and library holdings. Unfortunately, we will not be able to make this computer available for random use by visitors since it will have open access to our records. We also received a donation of two high-quality used monitors that will upgrade our computers in the Archives.
Historic Place Settings Needed for the Dining Room
In order to vary the dining room place settings more often during the year, Mary Brandt, our Collections Curator of Artifacts and the Museum, would like place settings for four. Parts or whole sets in fours including cups and saucers, dinner or luncheon plates, butter plates, dessert plates, soup and cereal bowls are welcome. Sets dating back to the 1950s or earlier with a local history would be the most desirable additions to our collection. Please call Mary Brandt at 748-5354, if you have questions or want to share a personal treasure with the community.
“Adopt-a-Plot” Gardeners Needed
One of our Society’s unique and treasured features is our set of historic gardens. We have a number of these gardens in small plots around our two houses and they are maintained by volunteer gardeners, each of whom has adopted one plot. At present we have seven volunteer gardeners but we still have three plots needing adoption. If you like gardening and would enjoy the special challenges and pleasures of creating and maintaining an historic garden plot please call Mary Brandt (748-5354). Mary will be glad to show you what is available and what is sought in maintaining a plot in our gardens.
Memorial Opportunity at Your Society
One of the trees in our front yard is dying and will have to be replaced this year or next. This could present a memorial opportunity for anyone wishing to have a tree planted in honor of a family member or friend. The cost of an appropriate tree, including planting, would be around $325. A suitable permanent plaque would cost about the same. Anyone interested in creating such a memorial should contact Bill Woolley at 748-2260.
Corrections
Two corrections need to be made in regard to the story in the February Newsletter regarding the exhibit on Scouting in Ripon. First, John Craig was a Cub Scout in 1957 and not a Boy Scout in the 1930s under Harold Banville. Second, the song book “Sing Together” belonged to Mildred Schwiesow, whose name was misspelled in the article as “Schierson.”
New Board Members
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Bev Christ |
Michelle Benson |
Two new members, Michelle Benson and Bev Christ, were added to the Board of your Society at the beginning of this year. Michelle has recently returned to Ripon after a career in the Army. For the past year she has been actively involved in the Society as a volunteer working largely with exhibits as well as a number of other jobs. Several of the Christmas exhibits at the Winter Open House were hers. Bev is a long time resident of Ripon. She works at Video Age and has long been the videographer for the evening programs offered at the Society. The programs from the Society that you see on the local channel have been her productions. She has also been a long time member of the Society and has now has taken charge of publicity for us.
Dues and Donations
Our Treasurer and Membership Chair have had a small problem determining whether checks received from members marked “donations” are actually meant to cover annual dues along with donations. It is our policy now to assume that a check received with a memo noting “Donation” is meant to be a donation only. As a result, you may have gotten a “red dot” reminder on your last issue of the Newsletter even though you assumed you had paid your dues. So, it would be helpful to our officers if you mean to have a check cover both dues and donations to mark it accordingly. Both dues and donations are tax deductible.
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RIPON HISTORICAL SOCIETY |
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President |
Bill Woolley |
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Vice President |
Todd Berens |
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Secretary |
Shirley Williams |
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Treasurer |
Harry Heileman |
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Newsletter Editors |
Bill and Jean Woolley |