The Museum at The Creamery THE SKANEATELES HISTORICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER Jan-Feb 2012 Vol. 27, No. 1 Laurie Winship, Editor ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS ARE DUE! JANUARY PROGRAM Railroads SEE PAGE FIVE In the early 1900s, 14 passenger trains passed daily over the Auburn branch of the New York Central. This year will mark the 175th anniversary of the completion of the Auburn & Syracuse Railroad. Richard Palmer will focus on these trains during his program at the January 24 meeting at The Museum at The Creamery at 7:30 p.m. He will also discuss the Skaneateles Railroad. Palmer was a reporter for the Herald- Journal 28 years and was with Eagle Newspapers 11 years. He has written several books on area railroads over the years, including Shortlines of Central New York. He is archivist-librarian and serves on the board of the Central New York Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, and is a member of the New York State Canal Society. His other transportation-related interests include steamboats and the stagecoach and tavern era in upstate New York. He also maintains three blogs - one for railroads, one for trolleys and the other for the stagecoach/tavern/turnpike era. The purpose of the Skaneateles Historical Society is to conduct and encourage historical research and to collect, preserve, and exhibit historical material in connection with the Town of Skaneateles.
SHS NEWSLETTER! PAGE 2 CREAMERY HOURS, JAN-APR Friday, 1-4 p.m. Or by appointment ATTENTION! We d love to have a complete collection of all the Christmas ornaments our gift shop has sold. We re missing only one, the 2001 St. Mary s Church ornament. If you have one that you d like to donate we d be very grateful. Call us at 685-1360. JOIN US FOR WINTERFEST 2012! The museum will be open special hours on Saturday, January 28, from 11:00-4:00, for Winterfest 2012. The photo at the right shows ice being harvested on the lake around 1900; we won t be cutting ice, but we will show you a saw that was pulled by horses to cut ice that was stored for use in warmer months, as well as other photos and artifacts. Please join us to see a special ice sculpture, have a cup of cocoa, and shop in the gift shop. FROM THE GIFT SHOP by Barbara Patrick Congratulations to Nina Pittard of Skaneateles. Nina was the lucky winner of the raffle for the Margaret Manring painting. Thank you, Margaret, for donating the painting and to all who participated in the drawing. With the holidays behind us, it is time to curl up with a good book during these cold winter nights. After all, history is often best presented in books. Stop in the gift shop on a Friday and select one of the many historical books we have for sale. Also, all Christmas items are 20% off. We have a new print and note cards of the Lyric Circus for sale. Many of us remember the professional musicals done under the big tent east of the village during the 1950 s. The original watercolor was lent to us for copying by Judy McGinn of Skaneateles.
SHS NEWSLETTER! PAGE 3 FEBRUARY PROGRAM An Artist on the Lakeshore In August of 1944, an Army doctor s wife sent a letter from a cottage on Skaneateles Lake s west shore to her husband, a surgeon serving near the front lines in war-torn Europe. In part, it read: The painting of Nancy is going to be superb. Nothing has thrilled me so much in months. Just knowing Mrs. Trump is something special a highlight of this summer. Her personality is as warm and understanding as she is beautiful. You would love her and that painting. Who was the artist known as Mrs. Trump? The search for her has brought to light a beautiful collection of portraits, two amazing families, and stories of The Birches, their extraordinary home on the lakeshore. The Skaneateles Historical Society is pleased to announce that they have received a $1,000 grant from the Skaneateles Area Arts Council (SKARTS) to be used toward the creation of an interactive model of Skaneateles Lake for the exhibit area. As we work on updating our existing displays, a new, interactive lake model is one of our highest priority items. This proposed model would give visitors, young and old, the ability to press buttons and see what areas of the lake are known for, how the On Tuesday evening, February 28, at 7:30 p.m., Kihm Winship will tell the story of Rachel Bulley Trump, in a talk illustrated with her paintings as well as photographs from the Trump family s personal collection, taken during their summers on Skaneateles Lake. SKARTS GRANT RECEIVED lakeshore looked 100 years ago, history and information about water quality and milfoil, water sources, depth and flow, how the lake changes with the seasons, and its importance to us all. Fourth grade students come each spring as part of their local history curriculum to tour the museum; this display would be an engaging addition for them. We have an estimate of $30,000 to complete this project. We are applying for a grant from the CNY Community Foundation in April 2012. They like to give matching grants, and the more money we have in an account for this display, the greater our chances will be of receiving a grant from them. We are excited about our plans for this new exhibit, and welcome any donations that will help us meet our goal. We would like to thank SKARTS for getting us off to a good start.
SHS NEWSLETTER! PAGE 4 MUSEUM EXPANSION UPDATE By Bent Thomsen, Steering Committee member After opening the new Connecting Wing and the restored Boiler Plant, we shifted attention to the original Creamery Building. Work has progressed steadily without disrupting our daily activities too much. After some modifications of walls and doors and a fresh paint job, the old gift shop is now an efficient office for our Museum Director. It also contains mailboxes for our Board members and wellorganized storage for supplies. Work counters have been installed in the old Cooler, and the adjacent office area has been rearranged to make room for multiple filing cabinets and office equipment to function as public research space, along with the room next to the new Cooler with our archival materials. All files were moved from the public meeting room into these areas, so our new research area is now officially open to the public. This research area has been dedicated to Architect Robert O. Eggleston in recognition of his probono services for the 1989-1992 restoration for the Creamery Building as well as the current Museum Expansion. A team of volunteer painters headed up by David Miller has expertly completed painting the Research Offices as well as the Meeting Room. With file cabinets, office equipment and some of the bookcases out of the Meeting Room, this space is now much more functional for conducting meetings and accommodating our new stacking chairs. A large pull-down projection screen has been installed on the west wall of the room. Over the winter, we will be working on plans to enhance and expand our exhibits. This will include production of plaques to recognize generous donors who subscribed to naming opportunities. Concurrently we will be focusing on fundraising. We still need to build the addition that is planned south of the Boat Museum and we need to complete parking and landscaping work. We had hoped to have some of the curbing for the parking area in place this fall. That would have allowed us to install the many tribute pavers provided by generous donors. This has now been scheduled for the spring. Parts of our new research area
SHS NEWSLETTER! PAGE 5 WHAT IS THIS? This piece of furniture, which may be an old church pulpit, has been owned by the Historical Society since they first renovated the old Creamery building. According to Beth Batlle, Town Historian, church services used to be held on the second floor of the Creamery; in addition to this pulpit, there was a large white wooden cross and several rows of pews. If anyone has information on these services, or the origin of this pulpit, we d love to hear from you. YOUR MEMBERSHIP DUES FOR 2012 ARE NOW DUE! Please send in your dues for 2012, unless you re a life member or joined after September 2011. Make check payable to The Skaneateles Historical Society, c/o David Bates, 5623 Mack Road, Skaneateles, NY 13152. THANK YOU! ---------------------------------------------Clip & return--------------------------------------------------------------------- NAME(S) ADDRESS email address Please print clearly. Emails are only used for notifying members about upcoming programs and other events. MEMBERSHIP $ SMALL JOBS FUND$ (Helps pay for work volunteers cannot do) ----------------------------------------------Clip & return-------------------------------------------------------------------- MEMBERSHIP LEVELS: Individual $15.00 Sponsor $250.00 Friend $50.00 Benefactor $500.00 Patron $100.00 Life $1,000.00 BOARD MEMBERS: President, Karlene Miller; V-P, David Bates; Secretary, Mona Smalley; Corresponding Secretary, Karen Lengyel; Treasurer, Betsy Foote; Town Historian, Beth Battle; Village Historian, Pat Blackler; Members-at-large, Robert Green, John Havemeyer, David Miller, Barbara Patrick, Susan Spalding, Bent Thomsen MUSEUM DIRECTOR: Laurie Winship
JAN-FEB NEWSLETTER Jan-Feb 2012 Vol.27, no.1 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. Postage PAID SKANEATELES, NY Permit No. 66 Special thanks to... Bill and Meredith Eberhardt for their generous hosting of the Veteran s Day reception; Kihm Winship for his interesting speech; and Micky Kringer and his singers for sharing their musical talents. Harold Leonard, David Bates and Lloyd Cline for helping Dave Miller paint the new Research Area and the Meeting Room. Loretta Marx for organizing the supplies in our new office space. Chip Davis for donating silver necklaces to be sold in our gift shop. Dick Lynch for volunteering to help with legal matters. FROM: THE SKANEATELES HISTORICAL SOCIETY 28 Hannum St Skaneateles, NY 13152