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Central Rappahannock
Heritage Center Newsletter
 
A place that loses its history loses it soul
Volume 6, Issue 10
October 2016
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
 

CRHC's annual meeting on September 20 was held at Shiloh (Old Site) Baptist Church.  Many thanks to Shiloh member, Mark Olson, and staff for coordinating with CRHC and accommodating our members for the meeting and for guest lecturer Jane C. Beck's excellent presentation immediately following.  Ms. Beck spoke to the 60 attendees about her book Daisy Turner's Kin: An African American Family Saga and was available to sign copies of her book for those who purchased them that evening. The Center has a limited amount of books remaining for purchase. The price is $25.00 (inc tax) and Ms. Beck has graciously donated the proceeds to the Center.  Please reserve one today!
 
The annual report included the following highlights:
 
  • Treasurer Dan Bender reported that the Center was currently in good financial shape, with a net increase in income over 2015
  • The Center continues to increase its collections through donations and gifts
  • Social media "followers", Constant Contact addresses and traffic on CRHC Website continue to increase
  • Outreach efforts through CRHC participation at events, expos, lectures and through the Center's newsletter are helping to raise awareness in the community about the Center
  • 42 current active volunteers have donated, to date, almost 5,400 hours in processing documents and photos and in helping maintain Center operations!!
  • The members elected three new board directors and 4 officers who will assume their duties December 1
      
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


October is National Archives Month
 
According to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, an archive is "a collection of historical documents or records of a government, a family, a place or an organization; the place where these records are stored."

Although The Center doesn't use the term "archive" in our title, it is an archive.  We collect, preserve (sometimes repair) ephemera, another mysterious word.  Ephemera means items that were not meant to last when created. This can encompass paper/parchment and photos. Paper covers letters, records, maps, books, periodicals, broadsides, the list is endless.  The Heritage Center has all of these and more.  Our motto is, "A place that loses its history loses its soul."  Our goal has always been to preserve the grassroots items that tell the story of our community.  Some people visit us to do genealogy,  historical research or are just plain curious about a particular subject, person, or family.

Each year The Center takes in 40 to 60 collections.  A collection may be only one or two items or boxes and sometimes, suitcases of material.  Each item is carefully examined and sorted into a logical order and cataloged.  Some collections are strictly genealogy, others cover a range of topics - personal collections of local publications, greeting cards, musical scores, studies of local industries, histories of organizations (churches, schools, clubs), and many more.

Some photos are 150 years old, dating to the Civil War.  Many individuals are not identified.  The Center has over 1200 unidentified photos.  Occasionally a volunteer makes a discovery, puts two and two together as was the case of Lucy Deane.  Lucy was a household servant who did laundry, among other things, for her employer.  A volunteer reading a diary written by the employer's daughter found a description of Lucy Deane and remembered a photo of a woman hanging laundry.  A puzzle solved.

Lucy Deane


Come visit The Center during National Archives Month or any other time to see if you can solve any mysteries.
 
Beth Daly 
CRHC Member

Newly Acquired Collections
 
 
Acquired collections for the month include:
  • 2015-2016 Town and Country Scrapbook 
  • 29th and 34th Candlelight Tour Books
  • 2016 History of the Washington-Lewis Chapter of the DAR
  • 1938 Fredericksburg City Directory, local papers and maps
  • Books: Justice Marshall's Decisions; The Wiatt Family of Virginia; early photos of CRHC Board of Directors
  • 92 volumes of bound Free Lance Star newspapers spanning the years 1933-1957
     
    As a member of the collections committee, I see every artifact that crosses our threshold, and the Free Lance Star's bound volumes are an exciting addition to our collections.  They are the actual pages of the papers of the time, bound in a hard cover format, and are readily available to interested researchers.  Beginning in January of 1933 and ending in December of 1957, the books offer a glimpse of past times.  We hope to receive additional volumes that cover the 1960's.
     
We are always pleased to receive new donations of photographs and other paper records that document the history and culture of the Central Rappahannock area.

John Reifenberg
CRHC Collections Manager
 
Can you help identify these photos?
Perry Collection

Unidentified photo from the Samuel Perry Collection. Fredericksburg Postal Service. Undated.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Please e-mail Diane Ballman at

Fitzgerald Collection


Unidentified photo from the Barry Fitzgerald Collection. 
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Please e-mail Diane Ballman at dballman@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)