Minutes of The Windsor-Severance Historical Society
January 24, 2022
The Windsor-Severance Historical Society met in person on Monday, January 24 at 10:00 a.m. In attendance were Kristie Melendez, Laura Browarny, Dan Meyers, Elaine Schlotthauer (via telephone), Marcia Will-Clifton, Marcela Johnson, Ruth Brunner, and Judy Firestien.
Call to Order – Kristie Melendez called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m. Monthly Reports/Approvals
November Minutes – The Minutes from the previous meeting on November 22, 2021 were reviewed and approved as presented.
Treasurer’s Report – Elaine reported the balance in checking was $14,711.10 and the balance in savings was $23,521.15.
Membership Status/Update – Sue was not in attendance. Kristie reported there had not been any updates on new memberships received.
Old Business
Marge Straube Donation – Included in the checking balance was a $5,000 donation from Marge Straube. This donation will be forwarded on to the Town of Windsor as a donation on Marge’s behalf for the window project on the schoolhouse at Boardwalk Park. It was thought maybe a plaque could be included that recognized both Marge and the Historical Society. Hopefully, that project will be happening this year. Funds could be forwarded at any time via check to the Town of Windsor with the memo line noting “Museum Donation”.
PDC Energy Donation – This donation had also been received and was included in the checking balance. This might be a one-time donation and could be moved to savings.
Update from Town on video indexing – The project is at a standstill for now and they are still looking for volunteers to watch the videos and create transcripts. There was some discussion over the possibility of summer interns or students from a high school class doing the transcribing. Laura also mentioned the Town is hiring a volunteer coordinator. Software for transcribing might also be available and Laura would look into this further. Twelve videos have been completed. Other ideas would be to create a campaign for doing the transcribing by putting information on the website home page and posting on Facebook and asking the Chamber to publicize or include with Muse News. There might also be some cross over with other organizations such as the Poudre Heritage Alliance and their volunteers. Laura would ask their communications person to create a flyer with messaging to start with.
Laura also mentioned an open house event that would occur in April at the Museum where people can bring old family photos, especially related to Windsor, that could be scanned. They will be scanned and indexed and returned to the owner. WSHS had many old photos that were given to the Town and the Society still has right and access to these photos; still owns them but have signed them over to the Museum to use. It would be good to know what we have access to. Ruth suggested calling Johnny Fritzler as he has a big collection of photos. Photos have been cataloged by the Museum and will hopefully be moved to the Cloud in the
future for public access. The Museum currently sells files or prints. A future fundraiser might be to sell or take donations for some old photos. It might be nice for the WSHS to have a presence at this event. Rack cards could be there and books available to sell also. Severance residents would also be invited to share photos. Dan would be happy to share the information on the event also with the Town of Severance.
Severance Update – Dan shared an update on the reprinting of Tails of Tailholt mentioning he had sent a few more emails to the family offering help and support once they make a decision. There is still the idea of taking off where that book left off in 1986 and creating Tailholt II. Kristie would contact Lou Ann Kadlub to see if she might be interested in doing some writing. Sandy and Connie Lindblad might also be interested in helping since Sandy wrote part of the original book. There might be a fee for their time or they might receive something from sales. This could all be explored. Stan Everitt also has a lot of Severance history he might share. Dan also mentioned a Farm Tour that could include farms in Windsor and Severance that could be visited via van tour. This might even be coordinated with Severance Days or could be held in August or September. Judy’s farm might be a stop on the tour or place for lunch as well as the farm just purchased by Martin Lind and the tour could end up at the Museum or at the Halfway Homestead. One tour could be offered for adults and another for parents and kids; so kids could learn where their food comes from. Windsor might have a couple of 10-15 person buses available for use. There could be a charge for a half day tour with lunch included. Agriculture and water education could be included; people don’t know where their water comes from. This could be advertised at the Farmer’s Market. Dan would start looking into this. He would also check with the Town Council on their ideas.
New Business
2022 project/event ideas – After the above discussion, it was apparent there were three events that could be focused on for the year: (1) the Town’s event to collect old photos in April, (2) exploring Tailholt II, and (3) creating a history farm tour for August or September. A booth could be done at Severance Days or instead the Farm Tour could be coordinated with the event. Other ideas include a presence at Severance Days, continuing and building on the Legends and Lessons event, partner more with the Town on the Cemetery Tour or trick or treating. This year is the 100th Anniversary of Windsor’s Harvest Festival. Kristie asked the Board to think about ideas for the anniversary.
2022 Video Projects – Kristie asked everyone to think about the projects planned and see if there are people who should be videotaped in relation to these projects and where we might have gaps in information. Suggestions also were to get information on Hispanic migrant workers those who were here before the Germans from Russia in addition to water issues, commerce people; all to educate people. There might be a way to connect with the Poudre Learning Center also. Ruth mentioned Colorado Water Law started at the Whitney School House in Windsor when there was a dispute between Greeley and Fort Collins. Judy would send some information on water resources. Kristie asked everyone to bring ideas to the next meeting on Harvest Festival Anniversary and people to be videotaped or video topic or theme.
Name Tags and Business Cards – Kristie planned to give a nice thank you note to PDC Energy for their donation. It would be nice to have business cards or name tags to share with people. There would be a set-up fee of $100 and then each name tag would be about $15.
For business cards, 250 cards would be about $42 plus some set-up fees. Ruth moved and Judy seconded that the Society move forward with business cards and magnetic name tags not to exceed $500. Motion carried.
Meeting with Commerce City Historical Society – Kristie had been in contact with the Chair of the Commerce City Historical Society and they both thought it would be great to have a joint meeting to compare notes on how the Societies do things. It was agreed the regular meeting would be held on March 21; WSHS could meet at 10:00 a.m. and then Commerce City could join us at 11:00 a.m. followed by lunch and possibly a tour of the Museum.
Marcia mentioned she had resigned from her position as representative for the Sante Fe Trail to the Partnership for the National Trails and wanted to mention she would have more time for volunteer work. She thought people were really wanting to get out and do things and have social interaction.
Next Meeting – The next meeting will be February 28th, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. The meeting was adjourned at 11:14 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Firestien, Secretary