We hosted the Fenton History Center Volunteer Picnic at the end of July. We had 32 attendees and an amazing amount of fantastic food. Currently, FHC has 70 active volunteers. Those who attended learned that every volunteer hour worked is worth $31.00 per hour. Our year-to-date total volunteer hours are 2487.75 (I know it should be more because not all of you are good about turning your hours in), which means that as a group you are donating your time worth $77,120.25 to the Fenton History Center. Your volunteer time are hours that we might have to contract out, which is not economical or feasible for us or any other non-profit organizations. Many grant applications will ask about volunteer hours and the $31.00 per hour can count as a 1:1 match, which grants frequently ask for. Now you know why it is important to record your hours and hand them in at the end of every month. By the way, if you have not received your volunteer pin, please stop by my office to pick one up.
Voices and Votes is our temporary exhibit in the front vestibule featuring the Suffrage Movement and Jamestown’s own Automatic Voting Machines. The exhibit will be up through November 7th and corresponds to the Voices and Votes exhibit at the Robert H. Jackson Center September 6th through October 18th. The exhibit at the Jackson Center will feature a 1920s AVM voting machine from our collection. The Voices and Votes exhibit at the Jackson Center was made possible through MANY (Museum Association of New York) as the statewide organizer for the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service’s Museum on Main Street Program. There were 12 New York State museums chosen for this special exhibit. I looked into hosting the exhibit at the FHC, however, the exhibit required a large exhibit space, so, instead, we collaborated with the Jackson Center. If you get a chance, go see this spectacular exhibit at the Jackson Center and come see our Voices and Votes exhibit.
The Underground Railroad exhibit in our lower level has a large portrait of Catherine Harris on loan to us from the Blackwell Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church of Jamestown. The five foot pen and ink drawing had been on loan previously to the Love Elementary School, where it hung in a stairwell until it was placed in storage due to construction work. We are grateful to have it on loan for the next year as an addition to our Underground Railroad Exhibit. There will be an upgrade on our AV equipment in the UGRR exhibit where we will once again be able to show a short educational video. The new video monitor will bear the name of “Brian Rapp” who graciously donated the funding for this project shortly before he passed away.
