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Volume 12, Issue 12

December 2021

Central Rappahannock Heritage Center

Newsletter

A place that loses its history loses its soul

Message From The Chairman

A Time for Thanksgiving

Even though we were unable to meet in person for the Annual Meeting, the Board did meet in person on 16 November 2021. It was a bittersweet moment in some ways. Doug Cooper and Patty Davis were no longer in attendance. And it was the last meeting for Kitty Farley who has served six years as secretary. John Reifenberg, although no longer a board member, will remain an active volunteer as the Collections Manager. Four outstanding individuals were elected at the Annual Meeting as their replacements: Denise Benedetto, Yvette S. Blake, Philip N. Jenkins, and Carol G. Walker.

We are pleased to report that the Board unanimously approved the purchase of a server and four computers as part of our upgrade of IT equipment. The Center is currently open for volunteers on Thursdays from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Although still short on volunteers, we are making great progress. Researchers by appointment have been helped on four Saturdays in the last two months. And of course, electronic research is always available.

The Heritage Center has survived. We have some specific challenges in the new year, but we will meet them with vigor and strength. We have a great Board and are in good shape financially.

By the time you read this message, we will have celebrated Thanksgiving. But now we can look forward to the excitement and good cheer of the Christmas season.

The next Board meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. on January 18, 2022.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

Jack A. Apperson, Chairman

The Heritage Center

Welcome New Members!

Kathy Wirtala

Heritage Center memberships support the important work done by The Center.

The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center is a non-profit, all-volunteer archive whose mission is to preserve historically valuable material of the region and make it available to the public for research.

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

Click here to become a member today!

Membership

Thank you for your support,

The Heritage Center

MANY THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS

2021 HERITAGE CENTER SPONSORS

Barbara Barrett

Barbara Hicks Cecil

Dovetail Cultural Resource Group

Kitty Farley and Vic Ramoneda

Jim and Betsy Greene

Mary Katherine Greenlaw

Lucy and Wayne Harman

Mary Jane O'Neill

Hon. and Mrs. J.M.H. Willis

To become a Heritage Center Sponsor, please visit our website. If you have any questions, please contact The Heritage Center at (540) 373-3704.

Returning

Two years ago, no one could have imagined life as we knew it would come to a halt, that we would be sequestered in our homes, that all normal activities would cease. We could not go to stores, eat in restaurants, travel, visit museums and libraries, attend sports events and concerts, gather with relatives and friends for holidays or enjoy our favorite volunteer activities.

As 2022 approaches, life is returning. This fall, children went trick or treating on Halloween. People had Thanksgiving dinners with families and friends, took trips, attended weddings, graduations, sports events and social gatherings. Real holiday parades, not the “reverse” parades of last year, are planned; Fredericksburg – December 4, Spotsylvania – December 11, and Stafford – December 18. Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. will have its 51^st Candlelight Tour, with four homes (1108, 1112, and 1114 Charles Street and 307 Lewis Street) decorated for the holidays on December 10, 11, and 12, instead of the virtual tour of 2020. The Fredericksburg Area Museum, the Washington Heritage Museums, the James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library, the Central Rappahannock Regional Library and other facilities are once again open, all with safety protocols in effect. Soon, the Heritage Center will once again welcome researchers and visitors.

It is a different world, but with care, wearing masks, using hand sanitizer and limiting numbers of people, we can once more enjoy the many resources of our vibrant community. We are resilient.

Beth Daly

Volunteer

Remembering

Elizabeth Lee

Elizabeth Lee was a founding member of the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center. After retiring as a physicist from the Naval Surface Weapons Center Dahlgren she immersed herself in history and preservation. She lived in King George County where she collected and preserved historical and genealogical material and authored several books. Elizabeth was the Co-Curator of the King George Museum. Elizabeth Lee, who died in October, was the go-to expert for history and genealogy in King George.

Wayne Harman

The Central Rappahannock Center lost one its most faithful volunteers when Wayne Harman died in November. After Wayne retired from the Naval Surface Weapons Center Dahlgren, he spent hours preserving the history of the NSWC, helping to establish the Dahlgren Heritage Museum. At the Heritage Center Wayne served on the board of directors and volunteered weekly, cataloging various collections.

Collections Update

At the November board meeting, I reported that the number of collections received in 2021 was down from pre-Covid years. In a way this is not surprising given the magnitude of the pandemic's impact on our daily lives. Now that we are slowly returning to a more "normal" post-pandemic time, I urge our readers to consider what family records they have, taking up space in attics or basements, that could find a climate controlled and archivally safe home at the Heritage Center.

Board members had several good ideas for flushing out collections at the November meeting, including:

Partnering with companies that hold estate sales or assist with downsizing prior to moves, to recruit ephemera.
Providing packets of information on the Heritage Center to area storage facilities, as family paperwork is often tossed out at these facilities; in addition, the contents of storage units are sometimes sold for lack of rent payment.
Reaching out to prior donors.

All of these are good plans that we will look into implementing in the New Year. We may also have a collections drive.

Please remember that we are always accepting collections. Contact me at jreifenberg@crhcarchives.org for more information. Your contributions are important!

Thank you for your interest in the Center's collections.

John Reifenberg

Collections Manager