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Central Rappahannock
Heritage Center Newsletter
 
A place that loses its history loses it soul
Volume 7, Issue 6
June 2017
In This Issue
 

The Heritage Center gladly provides research services.  Please contact the center for rates.
 
Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to
4:00 p.m., the first Saturday of each month, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or by appointment
 
Location: 
900 Barton Street #111 Fredericksburg, VA  22401
(540) 373-3704
 
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Message From The Chairman
 

Last year, because of a generous Duff McDuff Green., Jr. grant awarded through the Community Foundation, the Center was able to contract a local professional marketing company to create a strategic outreach and marketing plan for the years 2016-2021.  The plan is broken down into four phases, each with a specific goal:
  • Phase 1 - to grow the name recognition and awareness of CRHC within the surrounding community
  • Phase 2 -  to enhance fundraising efforts
  • Phase 3 -  to grow membership and those actively utilizing the Center's resources
  • Phase 4 -  to develop a unified message and brand for the Center.

The grant completely covered the cost of the first three phases but was not enough to fund the fourth phase, developing a unified "brand" for the Center. Brand attributes are a set of characteristics that identify the physical, character and personality traits of the brand, similar to the attributes that allow us to consistently identify individuals.  So, a brand is important in stating what the essence of the Center is and what makes CRHC unique.

 
The Board of Directors approved proceeding with the first three phases of the marketing plan, with the thought that we could pursue the branding phase at a later date when additional funding might be available. I'm not going to divulge all the details just yet but, with one of our Board members taking the lead,  a generous benefactor, who is a well known professional brand and identity consultant, stepped forward and agreed to provide his services, pro bono!!  Needless to say, we were thrilled!
 
Since last fall, with input from several committees comprised of staff and Board members, our consultant has developed a new look and brand identity as the Center enters the 20th anniversary of its founding. We are getting very close to the Big Reveal!  So stay tuned for the rest of the story!


      
Meredith Beckett
CRHC Chairman  

Become a Member Today  
 
 
CRHC memberships support the important work done by the Center.  The Center fills a unique role in the region, the preservation of our people's history, which we make available for research.  We are a 100% all volunteer, non-profit organization.

Please join us as part of the Heritage Center's preservation team!  As a CRHC member, you will be helping to preserve our priceless local history.  Click here to become a member today! 


Thank you for your support,

The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center


Heritage Center Resources

 
 
The Heritage Center has thousands of documents, photos, and other ephemera. Do people really use this material?

The Center was established to preserve the past, and to make information available to researchers. The Center has extensive genealogy records. The Wermeyer Collection, donated by the estate of Isabel Martin Wermeyer was a life time's work.  Mrs. Wermeyer had roots in Caroline County.  Center volunteers looked up Caroline court records, certified them (two volunteers are deputized by Caroline and can make official copies with the county seal) and sent them to Mrs. Wermeyer in Colorado.  The entire collection was done "boots on the ground," by writing for records, visiting courthouses, not online research. When the collection arrived in 2005, it was already sorted by family names (hundreds of them).  The Center volunteers only had to remove the pages from the binders, put them in acid free files and boxes, assign cataloging numbers and enter names and terms into the data base. Many researchers have used the Wermeyer Collection to trace their ancestry and prove eligibility for organizations like the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Recently the Center was contacted by a representative of the Virginia State Parks system.  The newest park, Widewater State Park is located in Stafford County.  The staff is developing an education and history module for the new Park's visitors' center.  The Center has numerous photos and images, oral histories and other information depicting life in Widewater which will help develop this module.

The Free Lance-Star has been using "Mystery Photos" for several years. Readers often recognize the people in the photos.
They enjoy identifying people and thus contribute names to the database.

Come to the Center, find your "roots," research a topic, write an article or even a book.  Please look into your closets and drawers.  If you find photos, records, books (anything paper) relating to the central Rappahannock area, consider donating them to the Center. Your items will be carefully preserved and then be available to researchers.


Beth Daly 
CRHC Member

Newly Acquired Collections

  
Acquired collections for the month include:

  • Photographs, and booklets about the Fredericksburg area
  • 1955 Spur magazine; 1984 map of Fredericksburg; undated Kenmore brochure; 1968 Aquia Church program; pamphlet, "Landmarks of Historic Virginia"
  • African-American history of King George County; King George Chronicle, 1997
  • Rappahannock Rotary Club materials, 12th installment
  • History of Katherine Haymes "Reading Group", 1987
  • Letters of William (Billy) E. Biscoe; dance cards; and assorted other material documents
  • Scrapbook of Taylor Rowe and a photo album
  • Downtown Retail Marketing, Inc minutes and reports
  • Wings (Women In The Giving Spirit) materials, 1997-2002; scrapbook, 2014-2015
  • Booklets, letters, newspaper clippings
 
We often say at the Heritage Center, "history is made every day". Sure, but have you ever stopped to consider by whom?  Briefly, any one of us can contribute. Driving around the area, old signs, with still legible names, get noticed on old buildings. One is "Blanton Motor Company" in Post Oak and another is "Woolfolks Garage" on Lawyers Rd.  Ever hear of the Margo School? Our archives contain virtually no record of these places; all are being lost through time, and yet the ones to preserve their place in history could be any one of us. So let's not leave it up to the "other guy".   Consider an examination of your attic or garage and help preserve "what is made every day", our history. You may be surprised. 
 
   
 
John Reifenberg
CRHC Collections Manager
 
Can you help identify this photo?


 
Fredericksburg Cub Scout Troop 171
June 15, 1957
 
(click on photo to enlarge)

Please contact Sharon Null at snull@crhcarchives.org




The Circle Unbroken: Civil War Letters of the Knox Family of Fredericksburg

On sale now at the Heritage Center 
$29.70 for members 
$33.00 for non-members 
You can also purchase the book online from the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation
   (click on image to order online) 
  
Daisy Turner's Kin
An African American Family Saga
 
Jane C. Beck

On sale now at the Heritage Center 
$25.00