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Opening for the season on July 18
The Harding Museum will open for the season on Saturday, July 18. Saturday hours will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
As you can guess, we have new safety policies in place to keep docents and visitors safe: Please use a mask if possible, if you don’t have one, we can provide one. Practice social distancing. Please help us adhere to a limit 4 people at a time in the museum.
Hand sanitizer is available and upstairs rooms have been roped off to protect artifacts.
Also, we are currently unable to take artifact donations due to lack of quarantine space.
We've missed seeing members and friends, and look forward to reconnecting! You'll receive newsletters more frequently, too, as our activities resume. If you have a story idea, let us know.
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Timeline of the Franklin East School Building (Wildcat Country since 1921!)
The Franklin Junior High School is located at 136 East Sixth Street in Franklin. The original portion of this building was constructed in 1921 to accommodate the students in all classes from sixth through twelfth grades.
These students had been previously taught at the West School located at 517 Pine St., which had been constructed in 1893. The new education building was officially named the “East” School, but it was much more popularly called “The High School (HS)” and later the “Junior High School (JHS)” after the senior high school classes were moved in 1969 to the “new” high school complex located at 750 E. Fourth St.
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School Daze ...
The Historical Society has several boxes of Franklin school records covering miscellaneous years. A volunteer has been working to put the information into spreadsheet form and has completed the work on several of the registers.
The registers completed cover school years from 1931-34 and include all grades. Information included in the records shows name of student, grade, address, parent or guardian, teacher, grades and attendance. Textbooks used and poetry memorized are some of the miscellaneous items noted.
We are developing a plan for on-line and museum access to the records and will be making the information public soon.
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Museum repair update: chimney completed!
Thank you to FAHS Board member Sharon Gambill who handled all the logistics of getting bids and working with the contractor.
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Veterans Wall Display project
Community member Heather Faulkner asked us to share info about a project she's working on:
"I am currently working several projects near and dear to my heart. My father, Thomas Hazlett, is a veteran of the Vietnam War. I wanted to do something that would honor him and the many other veterans that have attended Franklin High School over the years. I am currently collecting names and information about veterans and compiling a database of information and for a large plaque, that can be added to annually. I have started researching information back to the 1800's. I am also working on this project in conjunction with a possible book and film project. These projects would include veterans all over the Miami Valley. These projects would include photos and personal stories of local veterans. Sadly, we are loosing this valuable history every day."
If you have information for Heather's project, let us know and we'll pass it along to her.
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Treasures Wanted
FAHS is having an online auction as a fundraiser. The auction will go live Sept. 14-21, and we're counting on members and friends to donate great items that they no longer need that we can auction.
To allow plenty of time to get items photographed and posted on the auction site, we need them by the end of August. We will accept items on Aug. 21, 22, 28, & 29 between 11 and 3 at the Harding Museum. Please do not leave items on other days. Questions? Call (937) 746-8295. Many thanks to board member Amy Bridge for organizing this auction.
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FAHS is on Amazon Smile!
Are you an online shopper? Are you familiar with Amazon Smile?
Amazon Smile donates 0.5% of qualified purchases to a charity of your choice. We hope you will choose FAHS! You must designate Franklin Area Historical Society as your charity and begin your shopping at smile.amazon.com
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Organize your books with style
Our lion bookends have proven to be extremely popular and we recently restocked the Harding Museum gift shop.
Cost is $42 plus tax; shipping is extra if you're out of town.
If you'd like a set, please call (937) 746-8295 and leave a message to arrange for purchase, pickup, or shipping, or email [email protected].
We will be adding concrete lions for landscaping use soon. Stay tuned.
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FAHS Trivia was cancelled, but let's make a deal ...
Our extremely popular annual trivia fundraiser was cancelled due to the Ohio stay-at-home order; we can't reschedule and still maintain recommended social distancing. We're sad because we'll miss the fun and also because this is a major fundraiser to support the Harding Museum and Log Post Office.
But, we have a proposal: We're challenging all players to donate the $20 entry fee you would have paid to the Franklin Area Historical Society. Look what you'll get in return:
-- a one-year membership to FAHS AND
-- your trivia team will earn 1 point per paid team member (up to 5 points per team) for the 2021 Trivia extravaganza. What team wouldn’t want to start the game with FIVE bonus points?
Didn’t have a team together yet? No problem! You can still receive points toward your future team. Donating is easy: Use Paypal or Google Pay (payments can be made to [email protected]), or write a check and mail it to FAHS, 302 Park Ave., Franklin or drop it in the Elm Street mail slot.
We appreciate the support and look forward to battling in 2021.
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Memorials, Donations, and Grants
Thank you to members and friends who've recently supported the Society with their donations!
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In memory of Leatha Stewart from Bruce and Robin Stewart
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In memory of Weesie Polley from Dick Tracy
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In memory of B. Frank Chapman from Frank and Martha Chapman
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In memory of Loved Ones from Peggy Darragh-Jeromos
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From Thomas Wortley, Julie Kellis, Peggy Darragh-Jeromos, Ruppert, Bronson, and Ruppert, Mary Nenninger, Richard Robinson, Rob Pleak, Wilson Wilson, and Dan & Lynn Darragh for general support.
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Membership update
Thank you to these recent new members: Robyn Donisi (new life member), Quenton Richards, Kim Flach, Amy O'Neal, Rick & Tami Chamberlain, and Vicki Becraft; and recent renewing members: Ruppert, Bronson, and Ruppert; Frank & Martha Chapman, Jim & Susie Mears, Matt & Amy Wilcher, Nancy Sharts Hopko, MaryAnn Gartrell, Robin & Bruce Stewart. Tommie Stukuls, Richard McLaughlin, Sheila Gorkis, Charles Maloney, KathyMaria Badalamenti, and Joyce Ehlert.
Membership dues help maintain the Harding Museum and the Log Post Office. Memberships preserve artifacts that tell the story of Franklin. Memberships allow the Society to offer educational programs that benefit local schools. Plus, members are the first to know when special events and programs will take place, and may give you a member discount on certain ticketed events.
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Instagram!
Are you on Instagram? So are we! Follow us at fahs1796.
We are on Facebook and Twitter, too. See the buttons at the bottom of the email for links.
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Log Post Office damage
The Log Post Office recently sustained some damage. We're working with Architectural Reclamation to repair or replace the back door.
Of course, repairing items on historic structures is neither simple nor inexpensive. We've received a repair estimate that's between $1500 and $2000. Insurance will cover the cost after we pay the $1000 deductible. If you are interested in assisting with the repair costs, please mark your donation "Log PO repair."
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Thank you to our staff and board members!
Museum manager: Julie Kellis
Board of Directors: Bob Bowman, Amy Bridge, Sharon Gambill, Peggy Darragh-Jeromos, Gwen Motley, Mary Nenninger, Justin Rossi, and Tom Wiggershaus
Long-time board member Liz Buchanan recently resigned. Many, many thanks to Liz for her years of dedication to FAHS!!
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"History is who we are and why we are the way we are." ~ David McCullough
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