Historical Commission

Sterling Heights Historical Commission June 6, 2019 40433 Utica Road Sterling Heights, MI 48313 Minutes of Meeting I. Call to Order Meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. by Mott. II. Roll Call Present: Cynthia Appleton, Nicholas Cavalli , John Connor, Douglas J. Harvey, Meghan Mott, Mark Schell Absent: Steven Pomaville Staff Present: Tammy Turgeon, Library Director III. Approval of Agenda Motion to approve the agenda was made by Appleton, supported by Connor. Motion carried. IV. Minutes of April 11, 2019 Motion to approve the minutes of the April 11, 2019 meeting was made by Appleton, supported by Cavalli. Motion carried. V. Communications/Reports/Correspondence A. Upton House Status The RFP has been issued to restore all of the windows. Bids are due back next week. The flooring will be replaced with reclaimed wood floors. Plaster work and painting will then be completed, using time period appropriate paint colors. The house will not be ready for Sterlingfest. We will need to purchase rugs next fiscal year. Mott suggested we have a sneak preview event as a fundraiser to support the Historical Commission, maybe $25/ticket. Once we are more comfortable with an opening date, then this should be pursued. The house should be open for Sterling Christmas. VI. Unfinished Business A. Names Project ongoing B. Oral History Conversion Project Intern is almost finished. She will also write an article for the Winter magazine about the project. Our intern will be leaving in July. She will be missed and did a great job getting this project completed and setting up the next intern for success.  C. Historical Display in Library There will be a Collections theme for August – January. Nick will have two shelves, Meghan will have a shelf, and John will have a shelf. Turgeon will send a reminder email in July. Mott is trying to get a display from UofM of photos of Holcombe Beach for the Feb 2020 – July 2020 display. D. Historical Marker Program No new applications. E. May Historical Program (May 9, 7pm) No books were sold. 40 people attended the program. F. Memorial Day Parade (May 27) Schell, Harvey, Connor, Cavalli, Tony Cavalli and Turgeon all attended. It was a great event. Thank you to everyone that participated. 1,200 suckers were handed out. We probably need 3,000 for next year. G. City Tour (June 8) Mott, Cavalli, Connor and Turgeon did a run through earlier in the week. Turgeon is fixing the script and will have it ready for Saturday. H. Cemetery Walk (October 19) Tours will be at 2pm, 4pm and 6pm, cost is $5 and limit of 20 people each tour, age 13 and older only. We will need an intro person and someone additional to walk with the group. The cemetery walk will talk about the history of Sterling Heights, headstone styles, and will have four individual characters that will talk about their lives. There will be two men and two women. Cavalli is interested in being one of the men and may have a friend that can also act as the other man. Mott is interested in being one of the characters and Schell will check with his daughter to be the other character. Schell will talk to the schools about costumes to borrow. Otherwise, Turgeon will check on costume rentals. This program will be finalized in August. We need to buy hand held lanterns, but Mott may have a few at her house. Appleton would also like to talk about Victorian funeral customs after the cemetery walk, but we may want to wait until the Upton House is open to do this additional part, maybe next year. Turgeon will book the Library’s Programming Center from 2-8pm on October 19th and October 26th as the rain date. I. Inventory / Policy Statement Commission began work on a procedures manual. We need to indicate how we are going to conduct our Inventory. There are forms in PastPerfect software that we can use for Acquisition, Thank You, and Donation letters. Turgeon will ask city attorney to approve.  In July we need to get diagrams of the rooms in the house done. We might need a subcommittee to review donation offers/purchases/gifts and someone to take pictures and interview the donor. Turgeon will get a list from Hannah of all inventoried items because the Commission wants to work on telling workers where to put everything when the house is ready. J. Purchasing Items for the Upton House Historical Commission supplies budget was not used for the porch, so Turgeon was able to take photos that were lost in the house and have them reproduced. Some frames have also been purchased. Some archival supplies have also been purchased with the remainder of the funds. VII. New Business Harvey brought up the fact that there is no WWII memorial in the city. Turgeon is unsure of who is responsible for this. She will ask the city. VIII. Communications from Citizens Turgeon indicated that Mr. Pomaville did not renew his appointment to the Historical Commission. Bryon who regularly volunteered during open house at the Upton House has applied. IX. Adjourn Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Cavalli, seconded by Harvey. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8 p.m. Next meeting: August 1, 2019 at 6 p.m. at Library September 5 ad hoc meeting at 6 p.m. at Library to finalize the cemetery walk