Otis Historical Commission
April 9, 2024
ATTENDANCE: Diane Provenz, Gail Gelburd, Geoff Pigman, Joel Myers, Celeste Watman, Hal Kobrin, Tricia Smith, Stephanie Skinner. The meeting began at 4:40 pm.
MINUTES: The minutes of March 5, 2024 were approved with changes.
PRESERVATION ACTIVITIES:
Otis Cultural Center at Historic St. Paul’s: The area behind the building will be graded. This building needs to be worked on before the East Otis School House, and these phases need to be completed by June 30 to meet the requirements of the grants.
East Otis School House: There was a discussion pertaining to the relocation of the school desks from Melva’s house. There are 20 desks that need to be stored, and Hal Kobrin mentioned that he might have room in one of his pods. A motion was made and approved to store the desks, and to pay for the storage. The Commission will pay the storage fees.
Knox Trail: It was suggested that signs be installed to designate various points on the Knox Trail. The video of the Knox Trail is undergoing a final edit.
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES:
Archives and Museum: We received a donation from Jeanne Randorf of approximately 25 architectural drawings of Otis homes. We thanked her for the generous, and historically significant gift.
Mr. LeBeau completed his inventory of the museum collection, and submitted a bill for this work. We are waiting for his written report containing the inventory, and an appraisal of the collection.
After a pleasant conversation with Jim Crandall about a previous donation of a rifle, he was reassured that there was no intention of selling it, and that an appraisal of the entire museum collection was done because none existed before. From the conversation with Mr. Crandall, he mentioned that the display cabinets in the museum were from a former store in Otis.
Notice Otis: The program in March was held at the Monterey Library. Gail Gelburd presented a detailed account of the life of Otis resident, Sue Moody White. The program was very well attended by over 30 people who came from Otis and Monterey, and 26 participants on Zoom.
250th Anniversary of the United States: It was mentioned that our nation’s anniversary will be forthcoming, and that perhaps, the Select Board could organize a committee to plan for the celebration.
Hal Kobrin sent a draft of an agreement to Steve Abdow (Springfield diocese) about the return of the St. Paul’s organ. We are waiting for Steve to review, and then sign the document. In the future, Hal will try to negotiate the return of the chandelier.
Stephanie Skinner mentioned that she learned about how the site, Bloomerang offers digital promotions. Furthermore, she thought that OHC consider a newsletter for the purpose of publicizing our progress in restoring the Otis Cultural Center at Historic St. Paul’s, and the East Otis school house.
UPDATE on GRANT SUBMISSIONS: It was agreed that we will apply for the MPPF, Round 31 grant and the Fitzpatrick grant in the Fall.
NEW BUSINESS: The next meeting will be May 7, at 4:30 pm. The meeting adjourned at 5:30 pm.