Meramec Valley Historical Society

Notes from Historical Society Meeting July 20th, 2022 Jeff took role. Everyone was in attendance Voted on new President and Vice President. Jeff Titter is now President and Donna Graham is Vice President. Jeff asked the question “What is the Museum Society role?” Bonnie had a list of what she would like to see: Work with Senior Center, Library, School District, Etc to provide educational history related opportunities · Work with Museum exhibits & programs geared toward history & genealogy · Look for volunteers to help with programs, events & cataloging of materials (i.e. scanning of documents, photographs, etc) · Marketing the Meramec Valley Historical Society and Red Cedar Museum · Reinstate the cemetery committee under the umbrella of Historical Society? Or create a subcommittee? · RESEARCH! Directory of resources (i.e. people contacts or written materials) · Education for Newcomers to the area. (Railroad, Rt 66, River, 3 counties, etc) · Promote local authors. i.e. Sue Reed, Schlemper, Winchester, Pauline Masson, etc in regard to historical subject matter · Create a mission & vision statement for Meramec Valley Historical Society. Logo would also be great. Also mentioned in discussions: -Promotion of history of Pacific and surrounding areas. -Advisory and help take care of collections -focus on museum/genealogy Wayne asked if Will we take loans? At one point, the museum would not take loans. He has some items he would like to loan the museum when we have certain exhibits. Answer was “We believe it is Victoria Eudy’s packets on how to properly take care of loans and what is needed to be signed to allow loans.” It was asked if we could look over Victoria’s draft again and make a mission and vision statement for the society. There is a mission statement for Red Cedar Museum but has not been voted on by the committee. Jeff Titter said Jennifer Blakely was interested in getting more information on the building history of the Cigar Vault. Donna Graham said she would get with Janet Daniels and Sue Reed to see what she can find. Question was asked when Red Cedar plans to open. Steve Myers responded with soft open in November and be ready for Ulysses S. Grant exhibit in December. Steve stated that Kelly and he would be visiting the Ulysses S. Grant reenactor this upcoming Friday at the Campbell house for punch and pictures. Steve Myers gave update on the Red Cedar Inn. Said that we had some concerns with toilets being low in women’s restrooms, but they are on the lower end of what is acceptable. Solution is to get a higher seat for them. He mentioned the urinal being extremely low, but still within standards. Said it is going to stay that way. He mentioned the flooring is on the way, and that painting is 95% complete. He said that parking lot is still scheduled to be completed in August. Dennis had the idea of moving the “Welcome to Pacific” sign before Red Cedar. That way it will be on city property versus loaned property. He understands that is not the city line, but it is getting closer to the city line. Talk on Red Cedar digital sign. Steve Myers mentioned we had talked to 3 sign companies, and all are getting bids on replacement parts of old sign, what the old sign is worth/could it be sold, and a new sign. Discussion was held about placement of sign as a sign expert mentioned we should look at moving the sign to where the current “Coming Soon” sign is currently located. Everyone was in agreement we should follow the expert’s advice and move sign. Steve is going to have the electric run to where sign will be placed prior to lot being redone. Steve mentioned that we are looking into having either a boarder or something above the electronic sign to help the look of the sign go with the building. Tourism Director report: Kelly asked about who may have the Past Perfect information as she had been told it was Brenda Wiesehan who told Kelly it was Donna Graham. Donna stated she gave the CDs to Steve Roth. Kelly asked if that was the system we wanted to stay with for accessioning as we will need to update it. Kelly mentioned Victoria Eudy stated “The Museum System” is also a great program to go with and is nationally established. She said Past Perfect is good, but The Museum System is what most museums now go with as it is a cloud-based system. She said having a system will allow us to have loans from other museums including the St. Louis Museum. If they see we have a good system in place, they know we are established enough to take care of the loans. Donna stated that our Past Perfect is approximately 15 years old and does not have enough information to justify an upgrade it if we can get another system for around the same cost. Kelly is going to get a cost on the programs and bring back to committee. Kelly mentioned the idea of moving the Red Cedar Inn Restaurant inside and use it as a photo op, rather than hang it outside due to no restaurant inside as it is misleading to those who drive by and attempt to stop to eat. Mentioned the sign expert said he would “absolutely not” hang a sign that had the word restaurant on it if there was no restaurant inside. Sign guy is going to draw up a replica of the current sign without the word Restaurant on it/give a quote to Steve Myers. He stated he could make it look as though it was neon through some LED lighting to help replicate the look of the sign. He also said he could get us neon if we would like but it is pricy. He will be sending drawings to Steve Myers. Kelly mentioned Chris Fowler said during COVID, when city employees worked out of the Red Cedar, people would pull up to the building and go inside thinking it was a restaurant. Jeff followed up mentioning in our (Kelly and Jeff) meeting with Derek Pryor, that Derek had the idea of putting the sign on the back wall instead of outside. Jeff also mentioned hanging it inside will preserve the sign longer. Jeff stated that the neon sign is not the original sign that hung on the building, as it was a white wooden sign. Dennis made a motion to move sign inside, Steve Myers stopped motion for a second and stated that Route 66 Association paid for the refurbishment of the sign with what he thinks is the intent of it hanging outside, and we would need to talk to them. Bonnie asked who would make the call. Kelly volunteered, and Steve stated Kelly and him would both make the call. Steve also mentioned that someone from the Route 66 Association will be at the Chamber luncheon on Thursday, July 28th and that Kelly will be talking about forming a committee for the 2026 anniversary. Dennis made the motion to move the sign inside once Route 66 Association agrees to move. Jeff seconded the motion, and all were in favor to move sign inside. Jeff Titter is going to add Kelly as an admin to the Historical Society’s Facebook page to help get Pacific out in the community more. Dennis mentioned that we need to make sure we deaccession things properly. Kelly mentioned that in her talk with Victoria, it was mentioned that we need to put out a public notice in a newspaper if we have items we do not have records of owners before “getting rid of” or donating to another museum. Approval was given for minutes of last meeting. Adjournment.