New NHS Board Members Meet for the First Time in 2006 and Jump In Head First!
There has been so much happening at the Historical Society our heads are all spinning in unison! This past Monday the new Board of Directors met for the first time and REALLY rolled up their sleeves, making some tough but exciting and very bold motions.
The board unanimously approved the construction bid for the renovation of the store and installation of the new Northfield History exhibit space. This could not have been done with out our generous contributions from the Rotary Club of Northfield and our Capital Campaign donors and members!
Renovations will start in the store and exhibit space soon and should be done in late June. The new store will have a brand new look but it will keep its old-time dry goods store theme.
The new exhibit space will overtake the reception area. This space will house our BRAND NEW founding of Northfield exhibit. That’s right I said BRAND NEW!! The exhibit will chronicle the founding of Northfield from pre-1855 to the late 1880s. This will be a permanent exhibit and will be of the same state-of-the-art quality as the Bank Raid exhibit.
We have been working on the exhibit text for the past year and are in the final stages of writing. We hope to have the text and visual materials off to our graphic designers within the next few weeks. We hope to have the exhibit done by September if not earlier. This exhibit has been really fun to work on and it will be the pride of NHS and Northfield.
The board has also unanimously approved the hire of Marybeth Luing (current NHS book keeper) as Store Manager and Grants researcher/writer.
Marybeth has been our bookkeeper for the past 8 months and done a wonderful job updating our financial systems.
Due to the growth of programs, exhibits facilities, outreach and fundraising, we have found the need to increase staff support in these vital areas.
Marybeth’s experience in retail management began in the early 1980’s as a buyer and in-store merchandising manager. This was followed by her ownership of a very successful combined coffee and gift shop in Hutchinson, Minnesota.
Marybeth’s grant writing expertise began in 1984 with a proposal for the Crow River Arts Guild in Hutchinson netting $100,000 over three years for the funding of the Art Center and general its operating budget. She is currently working on a series of NHS grants including, a WINGS grant for gathering and preserving personal histories from local women of historical note, The State Captial Projects Grant in-aid a huge potential resource designated for capital improvements and restoration of the Scriver Building. She is also writing a grant for Target Corp. for the perpetuation of our popular educational cemetery tours as well as the Save Our History grant by way of the History Channel in support of our Northfield Interactive Timeline project.
Don’t forget, with all of our recent expansion we have plenty of opportunity for volunteers and internships across all areas of academic disciplines. Get out. Get involved. Get your history on!