Historical Commission

Sterling Heights Historical Commission February 2, 2023 6:00 p.m. Meeting Meeting held at the Upton House Museum Minutes 1. Call to order Meeting was called to order by Bryan Wojciechowski at 6:02 p.m. 2. Roll call Present: Cynthia Appleton, John Connor, Douglas J Harvey, Theresa Krol, Stanley Ortwein, Bryan Wojciechowski, Tammy Turgeon, Garrett Gaina Excused: Nicholas Cavalli 3. Approval of Agenda Motion to approve agenda was made by Appleton, supported by Ortwein. Motion carried. 4. Minutes of December 1 , 2022 Motion to approve the minutes of December 1, 2022 was made by Appleton, supported by Connor. Motion carried. 5. Communications/Reports/Correspondence a. Activity report from Garrett Gaina, PT Librarian-Local History/Archives Visitors totaled 22 regular and 338 for Sterling Christmas in December and 4 visitors for January. Finished the archival inventory project. Have not received the report from the Save Michigan History visiting archivist from the State of Michigan. In the process of reviewing all of the photos and determine order to scan. Had a reference question from the city about the first land purchase. Garrett is providing information to Community Relations. 6. Unfinished business a. Historical Marker No applications received b. Upton House Tours i. February 12- Connor and Ortwein ii. March 12 – Appleton and Harvey iii. April 16 – Wojciechowski and Krol  iv. May – there will be no tour in May due to Mothers Day and participation in the Treasure Hunters Market on May 6th c. Historical Display Case in Community Center i. Wojciechowski and Krol installed the exhibit and it will be up until later in March. ii. Harvey and Connor will install the next exhibit of old tools for April – May. iii. Turgeon and Gaina will install the Holcombe Beach exhibit for June – July (assuming the new marker is installed at that time. iv. Wojciechowski will create a google doc to keep track of the display case activity with pictures of each one. v. If items are borrowed from the Upton House Museum, a loan form needs to be filled out. The forms are in Past Perfect and you can get this from Gaina. d. Holcombe Beach Marker No new information has been received regarding shipment of marker. When we receive notice, then we will organize installation with Facilities Maintenance of the City and with Utica Community Schools. We will also hold a ribbon cutting. e. Fundraising i. December 2023 event Turgeon found out that Parks & Recreation uses a photography studio for all photos at their events and is charged a per photo fee. ii. Treasure Hunters Market This event is May 6 from 9am-2pm. Turgeon has secured a spot in the Dodge Park parking lot. Appleton and Turgeon have sorted and priced all of the items that are for sale. Facilities has stored them in the Upton House Museum basement until we need them for the sale. Commissioners will need to load them up the morning of the sale to take them over to Dodge Park. When Turgeon is assigned a setup time she will let the Commissioners know. Wojciechowski and Ortwein will work setup/first shift. Wojciechowski, Turgeon and Appleton have tables they can bring. Wojciechowski has a tent. Appleton will stay all day, but we need assistance during the middle of the event. Turgeon will do last shift/clean up. iii. Flower Sale Appleton provided information about a vendor we can use, but we are too late to schedule a delivery for this year. The Commission decided to hold this event next year so that there is time to plan and promote it. f. Sterling Christmas  Everything went well. Sold approximately 40 ornaments. Stanchions helped with flow. Organ/music playing was wonderful. Need address from Connor so can send thank you. g. 2023/24 Proposed Budget Turgeon requested $2,000 to purchase outside sign for the Upton House Museum in next year’s budget. $880 left in this year’s budget. Appleton provided suggestions of small items to purchase to make the house more authentic to when the Uptons lived there. Turgeon will buy what she can after purchasing gravestone cleaning supplies. h. City Magazine Summer Article Krol has written the article on the Holcombe Beach marker and will submit to Turgeon by February 10th. 7. New Business a. Accessions Connor purchased a washboard and it is waiting to be catalogued. b. May Historical Program at Library The date for the program is May 17th at 6:30 p.m. Gaina will contact the Detroit Historical Society about an Underground Railroad program or Belle Isle program. If those do not work, Turgeon will contact Yankee Air Museum about a program or a women’s hat history program. c. City Magazine Fall Article Suzanne Graham, previous intern, wrote an article about the Upton clothing that we have on display. This will be used for the Fall magazine. d. Completion of Annual Report Appleton walked the Commissioners through the completion of the annual report. Commission discussed changing out the lighting in the anteroom as a big project for the following year. Turgeon will ask Facilities about getting a quote. 8. Communications from Citizens Commissioners discussed participating in the Memorial Day Parade. Right now there are only two commissioners to walk with the banner and hand out candy, which won’t work. This will be discussed at the next meeting. Appleton received thank you notes from Millers and Eckerts regarding the articles in the city magazine. 9. Adjourn Appleton motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:49pm, supported by Krol. Motion carried. Next meeting April 6, 2023