Wellsville Historical Society Meeting - 9/15/09

The Wellsville Historical Society resumed their regular monthly meetings this past Tuesday evening at the River Museum. President Robert "Brassy" Beresford announced that three new members have joined since last meeting in July.

Beresford also reported that the bell that originally was in the old Central School will soon have a permanent place for display. When the first school was built on 9th Street it was first called Central. Later on it was renamed McDonald. That first building was razed in the 1950s and a new one was built in the same spot. The bell from from that first building was then placed in front of the new one. When the School District sold McDonald earlier this year the new owners donated the bell to the Historical Society.

The bell will be displayed in front of the museum's Country Store in front of a wheel that was part of the bell assembly when it hung in the old building. The wheel is already mounted on the Country Store wall. Beresford related that as a youngster he used to get delegated to climb into the bell tower to grease those wheels so the bell would swing freely when the rope was pulled.

Beresford also announced that a large number of loose photos were found in desk drawers in the museum's office. Efforts to organized them into photo albums are currently taking place. When completed the albums will be accessible for viewing.

Member Bob Lloyd reported the tale of the museum getting a treasure trove of railroad pictures. Totaling 725 photographs the pictures were found in plastic bags on the caboose. It is not known where the pictures came from or who put them there. They are believed to be a collection of the late Bucky Moore. Moore was a retired railroader that lived on Main St. He was noted for always having a camera with him whether working or just going around to different places in his free time. We have shown some of those photos of scenes of what Wellsville looked like in the 1950s. Several of them were used for the program on railroads at the museum earlier in the summer. Lloyd said he has scanned all 725 and now has the collection on discs.

Susan Haugh, shown above, and Jeff Haugh explained the mission of the recently organized Wellsville Digital Archive Group (WDAG) to the membership. That group is made up with the Haughs, Charles Franklin, James "Sparky" Miller, Bob Lloyd and Mike Lynn. The goal is to digitally archive and chronicle all the items in possession at the River Museum and therefore have a history of everything. By doing that future generations will have a record of the historical significance of the museum's possessions. One member related that a fire in Salineville some time back destroyed everything they had and it is now all gone.

The members of WDAG met with the Society's trustees in August seeking their approval. The proposed program is in the early stages. All records will be the sole possession of the Historical Society and different ideas were exchanged on possible commercial ideas to benefit the Society. Once digitalized DVDs could be produced for sale, advertising CDs and other possible applications would be possible. It appears it's going to be a busy winter on Riverside. It is hoped to have something ready in time for next year's 5 Year All Class Reunion.

Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 20 at 7:30 P.M.

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