Tuesday, December 7, 2004.

The president called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM with 10 members present.

The minutes from the last meeting were read and approved.

The treasurer's report was given. A list of bills to be paid was given. A motion was made and seconded to pay the bills. Motion carried.

The president had written to the Indiana State Historical Society about getting some more local papers microfilmed. They sent back forms to be filled out. One of the forms was sent to the Journal-Democrat for them to agree to have The Democrat - 1971 and 1972 - microfilmed. They sent back a letter stating their parent company, Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc., was not in favor of releasing the papers to be sent off and microfilmed. They stated that anyone wanting to do research in the papers was welcome to visit their office and look at the papers. At this time the project to complete the microfilming of missing years is put on hold. It was mentioned that we contact a former employee of The Democrat and see if he would know of any copies of the paper.

Another letter was read from a person concerning the Santa Claus statue located on State Road 245 near Holiday World. The president mentioned that he would try to have someone attend the February meeting to discuss the statue. He also intended to ask someone from Holiday World to attend the meeting and give a brief history of how Santa Claus Land (now Holiday World) developed.

It was mentioned that a member had made a display for the Genealogy Room showing pictures of some of the local button factories and the shells that were cut in the making of the buttons.

A member asked about having a speaker from the Society of Indiana Pioneers for one of our meetings, possibly in March 2005.

A member mentioned the Huffman Bridge and the possibility of having a workday there to get the graffiti off the inside of the historic bridge. The commissioners get a yearly budget for upkeep of the bridge and maybe they would furnish the materials needed to do the cleaning. We would need to go to the commissioners to get their approval and the allocation of funds.

A workday at the Rockport Cemetery was mentioned. It was decided that the month of December is too busy and that the president needed to talk to the superintendent about the School Corporation paying for materials as the Society was doing the work.

There was a short discussion on several items of concern of the Society:

  1. The 14" x 19" plaque, to be placed on a pillar on the grounds of the old Rockport High School, has been ordered. It should be done in about four weeks. When and where would the program to dedicate it be held?
  2. Lincoln Pioneer Village and the work that has been done.
  3. Preserving local history as was done with items from the old Chrisney High School.
  4. What would be done with items donated to the Society upon someone's death?

A member had the wording complete for the plaque to be placed under the picture of Mrs. Bess Ehrmann in the Genealogy room. Everyone agreed that the wording would explain the many contributions that she had made to Spencer County.

A motion was made and seconded to give a Christmas bonus to the librarian in the Genealogy Room. The motion carried.

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn. The motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 8:05 PM.

There will be NO meeting in January 2005. The next meeting will be Tuesday, February 1, 2005 at 6:30 PM.