Once again, it’s my pleasure to look back at our past year and see how far the Pioneer Valley History Network has come.
- We began the year by securing our own corporate identity and tax-exempt status.
- We hosted our First Annual Meeting in May at which we elected our first members of our Board of Directors: Julie Bartlett, Sheila Damkoehler, Margaret Humberston, Betsy McKee, Barbara Pelissier, and Cliff McCarthy.
- That meeting was also our Ninth PVHN Gathering and the theme for this event was “Discovering and Presenting Women’s Histories,”building on PVHN’s 2011 theme of “Remarkable Women of the Pioneer Valley.” At the Gathering, presentations were made by:
- Autumn Haag, Librarian/Archivist at Roxbury Community College,
- Joshua W. Lane, Curator of Furniture and Curator of Academic Programs, Historic Deerfield, Inc.,
- Michele Plourde-Barker, Preservation Massachusetts,
- and panel consisting of Julie Bartlett, Coolidge Museum, Forbes Library, Northampton; Penni Martorell, Director, Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke; and Guy McLain, Director of History Museums, Springfield Museums.
- We established our “Remarkable Women of the Pioneer Valley” website which, so far, has biographical entries for 43 different women from 22 different Pioneer Valley communities. Contributing to this website have been a litany of local historians and authors: Ralmon Jon Black, John Demos, Daria D’Arienzo, Marge Bruchac, Robert Romer, Megan Olver, George Ashley, Royal D. Colle, Sara Campbell, Tzivia Gover, Joe Manning, Penni Martorell, Dennis Picard, Paul Anthony, Barbara Pelissier, Betsy McKee, and Margaret Humberston. (John Demos’ “Eunice Williams” continues to be the most visited.) There are more profiles in the works and we will continue to update and add to this popular website. Check it out at: http://pvhn2.wordpress.com
- Sometime during our “October Surprise” snowstorm, we received our 10,000th “click” on our Pioneer Valley History Network website. We’ve also established a new section on our website called the Pioneer Valley History Market, where you or your group can post information about history-related books, souvenirs, and other products you have for sale. The PVHN website is at: www.pioneervalleyhistorynetwork.org
- We posted more than 183 events on the PVHN Events Calendar; that’s an average of an event every two days! And we continue to email our members with each event as it comes to us. The number of history-related things to do in the Pioneer Valley is just incredible, so get out and support your local historical society — and visit your neighboring towns, as well!
So, what about the coming year? Our theme for 2012 is Disasters and we’re making this the theme of our Spring Gathering, as well. This past year was a heady one as the region saw a bizarre series of disasters, from Hurricane Irene and an “October Surprise”, to even weirder events like a tornado and an earthquake. We think it might be useful to take stock and put these events in perspective by looking at the other disasters that have had an impact on our usually quiet spot on the globe. What Pioneer Valley town hasn’t experienced some disaster? Through your submissions to PVHN’s “Disasters in the Valley” webpage, we can all learn more about the calamitous events that affected and shaped the Pioneer Valley and how our various communities responded to them. In addition, we hope you all will consider developing exhibits, displays, and/or events that highlight this theme.
We are also looking forward to an event in April which we are calling “East Meets Western Mass.” which will explore our region’s interesting and unique relationship with China. The Pioneer Valley has contributed mightily to the history of U.S.-Chinese relations, from the earliest American missionaries to the Chinese Educational Mission to the China Trade. This project is in collaboration with the “Big Read” initiative of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, which is sponsoring a community reading of Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club”. This will be a very interesting event, not to be missed. Look for more information coming soon!
BREAKING NEWS!!!!
PVHN has just learned that we and the Coolidge Museum at the Forbes Library in Northampton have been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to host a workshop in 2012 called “Preservation Issues for Small Museums” for representatives of 20 to 25 historical organizations in the Pioneer Valley. We will contract with the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), of Andover, Massachusetts, who will deliver the training workshop. This grant will enable us to offer the day-long event at NO COST to the participants. More information to come.
The PVHN continues to operate without membership fees or dues and has charged only the most modest fees for our programs. It is a struggle to make this work, but we all recognize that each of our museums, organizations, and sites faces the same struggle. As much as possible, we have tried not to compete with your institutions for limited resources. If this is the “giving season” for you, please first think of your local historical society or museum, and then, if there’s something left over, please consider supporting the PVHN with a donation.
As we enter our sixth year of existence, I am astonished at how much we’ve accomplished over the years on our perpetually meager budget. And there is so much more we can do. Thank you, one and all, for your good work and support. On behalf of the PVHN Board of Directors, we wish you a wonderful 2012.
Cliff McCarthy
President
P.S. To see PVHN’s Treasurer’s Report for 2011, please click here.
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