Tax check-off legislation

Museums across Ohio would be thrilled if you contacted your state representatives and urged them to vote YES on a new tax check-off bill that would allow individuals to donate money from their tax returns to museums!

Click here to visit the blog of the Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums to learn more. There is even a neat tool to help you find the addresses for your representatives!

This legislation is known by two different names: Senate Bill 60 and House Bill 75.

The money collected from the tax check-off will be used to fund a local history grant program to be administered by the Ohio Historical Society. OHS will not be eligible for grants. Museums like ours will be able to apply for much needed funds to keep programs afloat or even start new ones.

Please take a minute to write or call your representatives! In this economy, every little bit helps as we strive to provide our communities with quality exhibitions and programming.

THANK YOU!!

All done!

Here's what it looks like now, after the purses have been re-housed in acid-free boxes! There are 3 stacks of boxes this high, each containing anywhere from 3 to 18 purses, depending on their size.

Curators just LOVE how things look, all neat and stacked and labeled... :-)

Re-housing the purse collection

I spent the past two days re-housing our amazing purse collection into acid-free boxes!

I have everything repacked. Tomorrow I will transcribe the handwritten post-it notes about what's inside each box into the label template on my computer. Then we will put them all away!

I thought you might like to see just a few highlights:

Blacksmith Shop

Gary Brown wrote a great article highlighting the Museum's Blacksmith Shop in the Street of Shops in the Repository this morning.

Click here to read it!

This weekend the Repository is publishing a tab on the Stark County Bicentennial. Look for it!

Attention Crafters!

Do you like to sew?

Would you like to share your time and talents with the Museum? Or do you know someone who would?

We are looking for individuals who would like to volunteer to make padded hangers for our textile collection.

The museum will provide all the materials and a two-page instruction sheet. You can make as many as you’d like, on your own time!

If you are interested, please call me at 330-455-7043 to arrange a meeting.I will have an example for you to look at, as well as all the materials you’ll need.

History Day winners

A group shot of the winners who will be going on to the Ohio State Competition in Columbus!


What a fabulous event!

As always, the kids really brought some fantastic projects to Region 5 History Day!

Here are just a few of the projects we saw:



An exhibit about Madame CJ Walker



An exhibit about William McKinley



An exhibit about Ronald Reagan


All of this year's finalists were listed in the Repository yesterday. Click here for the link.

We had a great time, and were really proud of the caliber of projects we saw this year. Congratulations to all the participants!

And thank you to all of the judges who volunteered their time again this year.

Here are a few more photos of the event:


Judges looking at projects in the Street of Shops


Me and my judging team looking at projects in the Industrial Hall


Chris presenting the awards

History Day is tomorrow!

I haven't been posting much this week because I have been fighting this stupid stomach bug. YUCK!

I'm feeling much better today. I was home sick Tuesday, and then again for Thursday morning. It has NOT been fun.

Anyway, I think I will be in tip top shape for History Day tomorrow!

Everything is all set, of course, because Chris has done this for so many years, it runs like clockwork.

I'm judging junior individual exhibits, and I am looking forward to it. It always amazes me how seriously these kids take their topics, and how hard they work on them! It is great to see a new generation carrying the torch for history!

It is also extremely draining...

Tomorrow at this time, I will have completed all my evaluations. The kids who are moving on to the state competition will be known. And I will be dog tired.

I've already told Chris we have to get a pizza for dinner!

If you're in the neighborhood, stop in and see the kid's projects. They will be on view through the awards ceremony, which should be over by 3:00. The public is invited to see the exhibits, which will be set up in the Street of Shops and the Industrial Hall. I have no idea what we'll see tomorrow, but I do guarantee you will be amazed too!

Summer camps!

The weather is feeling a little warmer here in Canton, so why not start thinking about summer camps?!

We have three great camps this year: 3x3 Science Samplers for grades 1-3 and Lights! Camera! Action! Movie Camp for grades 6-9.

Check out the flyer below for more info on all of them, and click here for the registration form to fill out and send in!

(Click on image to enlarge it)

Numbering continues...

This isn't a very exciting week to write about (or to read about!).

But I am really thrilled about getting so much cataloging done! It has been on the back burner for so long, since I was busy with other projects. So far, we have cataloged and put away two dollhouses, a phonograph made in Canton, a bassinet, a doctor's scale, 43 ladies hats (that took awhile!), and lots of other small donations too.

Also, since we're talking about artifacts, I saw the plans for our new storage facility this morning!

IT IS SO EXCITING!

I've already started planning what we'll move into the new space. Textiles will be the first to move in. Currently, textiles are stored in 5 different locations. This will bring them all together into one space!

The storage room that has the flat boxed textiles also contains our glass & china collections. Which means that we can spread out the glass & china onto the vacated shelving, without risking a big move of something so fragile!

Most of our glassware is on open shelving, but about 1/3 of it is boxed up in regular boxes (not acid free). Unpacking the wrapped up glassware is difficult, so I am glad we will have extra shelving to unbox all of it. I am nervous every time I open one of those boxes, because I have to handle almost everything in it just to find the piece I want. Having them on shelves will make it so much easier.

And I found the "global update" button in our database, which means following up the move in our computer will be simple!

There is much more advanced planning that I need to do before we finish this building. But that's OK, because I have plenty of time to figure it all out!