Historical Commission meeting

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Meeting of Historical Commission

Members: (Quorum)

• Absent: Edie Field, Honorary
• Present: Ann Tweedy, at 7:00 PM
• Present: Sara Robinson, at 7:00 PM
• Present: Susan Mareneck, Chair, at 7:00 PM
• Present: Carole Desanti, at 7:00 PM
• Present: Susan Lynton, at 7:00 PM
• Present: Anne Schuyler, at 7:45 PM
• Present: Eva Gibavic, at 7:00 PM

Also Present:

• Pleun Bouricius

See original Agenda Final Minutes

Meeting opened: 7:15 PM

Meeting closed: 9:10 PM

0. Meeting Preliminaries

   • Meeting Opened / Attendance Taken (see above).

   • Minutes Approved: Mon, Dec 12 - Historical Commission Meeting

1. Preservation Planning for Historical Assets

   • Digital Archives - UPDATE - report from the subcommittee on LHC digital archive needs. Could there be a ''town vault''?Potential for collaboration with Town Clerk for continuing the digitization of town records started in 2015? Conversations with tech consultant, Selectboard, Town Clerk, etc..

     General Discussion...
     Brian Cooke, Calm Computing, which gives tech advice to the town, is willing to meet us to have a conversation about the idea of a ''digital town vault'' before we present anything to the Selectboard. The question is raised of whether we should query other town boards about their views on a ''digital town vault'' before approaching the Town Clerk or Selectboard?
     
     The two main issues are ''storage'' and ''access''. When we queried the archivist at Digital Commonwealth, Alejandra, it was her opinion that access should be through the town's website. We have been told that Lisa (Town Clerk) is investigating hiring a company to scan the entire town vault. The Historical Commission, since we do not have a budget for such and want to be accessible through the town website, need to explore options. Pleun will talk to a person she knows who is the chair of the Town Clerks' Assoc. to find out if there are other towns that have digitized their archives that we could contact for comparison. Ann Tweedy will inquire of the town of Amherst. Eva Gibavic will be in touch with Brian Cooke. Pleun again shared her proposals regarding various aspects of how we would want to build access in a good search system for all approaches - even the person ''who has no idea'' how to begin searching.

     1. Web_Presence_Leverett_History_on_town_Website.pdf

   • Industrial History Programming - UPDATE - ''Sense of Where You Are: Getting to Know Leverett's Industrial Past'' 'Follow-up to 'Leverett's Charcoal Industry'' presentation. Preservation possibilities - steps to take? Date/time for first ''Embodied History'' conversation? Review invitation. Assign contacts. Plan event. Steps to initiate signage program.

     General Discussion...
     The first ''Embodied History'' conversation will pick up on the ''Charcoal Industry'' zoom presentation by LHC on 12/1/22. It is possible we will be able to hold it in the Fellowship Hall of North Leverett Baptist Church, a convenient and familiar location for those we are inviting to participate. We will develop some questions and prompts that elicit specificity about not just what it was, but how it ran, who were the suppliers of raw materials, where was it sold, who worked there, where did the families live, etc.. We will encourage folks to bring documents or photographs to share that we can photograph or scan and return that day. Eva says, two or three cameras. We want to create a comfortable environment (without an audience) for people to share their memories and stories. Sara Robinson, Edie Field and Susan M. will reach out to potential participants: Howards, LaClaires, Graves and any others who have knowledge and stories to tell.
     
     We will discuss initiating the signage program at the February 13 LHC meeting. RGT is interested in potential signage at ''Still Corner'' in East Leverett and cellar holes (on Brushy Mtn.?). We have spoken with two residents who have mill remains on their property about which a LHC zoom program has been created, who expressed an interest in signage, as well.

   • LHS Collection Inventory - LHS Collection Inventory - Moore's Corner Schoolhouse and Field Family Museum collections inventoried and digitized. Status? Next steps?

     General Discussion...
     Ann Tweedy will check in with the two UMASS Public History grad. students who have been scanning and cataloguing the LHS collections. The 3D artifacts have not been documented yet. A resident who works at Amherst College may be willing/able to assist with that process. We will check in with town accountant on state of the grant. It seems that more funding will be needed to complete digitizing the entire collection.

   • Preservation Planning Presentation - Preservation Planning Presentation by Jennifer Doherty, Local Govts. Coordinator at the Mass Historical Commission, on zoom, Thursday 12/15 @ 7pm, for the Historical and Community Preservation Commission members, as well as Leverett Selectboard members, on the ''Secretary of the Interior's Rehabilitation Standards...'' Feedback/discussion.

     General Discussion...
     Jenn Doherty's presentation was useful to those CPC and LHC members who attended live. We have her PDF of the PowerPoint presentation as well as a recording of her presentation to share with other town bodies. It is useful to understand that adaptive reuse of historic structures is often done under ''Rehabilitation'' standards. Questions about ''accessibility'' remain. Much depends on the ''use'' a historic building is going to be put to in the future. Jenn said variances from codes can be obtained if the town is united in its desire to see the building reused in a way that is strongly supported in the community.
     
     The Leverett Historical Society (LHS) is now applying to use CPA funding for planning how best to go about rehabilitating the Moore's Corner School House which has been used primarily as a museum and community center since the LHS acquired it from the town in the late 1960's. After inspection by several professionals, it appears that the foundation is not as bad as once feared, so taking time to figure out through collaborating with other interested parties in town, what best use the building can be put to in the future, is the next hoped-for step.
     
     The Field Family Museum Ad Hoc Committee is planning two forums to inform interested residents about the situation of the former Field Library building. They are planning to present facts in the first forum, then possible options as well as asking for suggestions from the public in the second forum. One will be on zoom, one in person. They will be moderated by a professional mediator who is a town resident and is donating his time. Before either forum can occur there are outstanding questions that must be answered: a survey of the current location is scheduled, then a wetlands expert needs to evaluate and finally a septic designer will give input. Depending on the timing of all these factual requirements, there may not be enough time before town meeting to come up with any realistic and thoroughly researched conclusions in order that a warrant article determining its fate can be presented at this year's town meeting.
     
     It was reported that the Friends of the North Leverett Sawmill (FONLS), ''Heritage Site & Nature Trail'' proposal for CPA funding is now being submitted under ''Recreation'', not ''Historic Preservation''.
     
     Edie Field, Judy Todd, Susan M. and Eva will meet at the Field Museum on Saturday, 1/28/23 to videotape Edie explaining what the collection consists of and how she has organized it, as well as what still needs to be accomplished in her view. The idea is that the videotape of her explaining the collection will allow any interested parties a better understanding of her work there over several decades, as well as to assuage her concern that the items will not be accessible unless she is there in person to interpret.

     1. 2022-12-15_Leverett_Standards_ColorPresentation_JDohertyMHC.pdf - Sec. of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation

2. LHC Business

   • New Business - New Business - topics for future discussion

     General Discussion...
     This is the second time that using the town zoom account has encountered a problem. Though the LHC meeting was scheduled long before, for some reason the Con Com meeting had bumped it and had been scheduled on the town account the same time slot so we had to rejigger to the private zoom account used during the pandemic before the town acquired zoom. Susan M will check with Margie in hopes that we can avoid this happening in February!

   • Requests - Request from Town to reconsider the letter of support for rehabilitation of town hall grounds.

     General Discussion...
     Ann Tweedy reports. that Margie McGuinness has not been able to find any example of CPA funds being used to restore plantings and town owned grounds.

   • Town website - Redesign Historical Commission page: add timeline and mission statement, links to programs, etc.. Possibility of using the ''Leverett History'' page as the interface for links to the LHC programming? Reference to ''places of interest'', such as mills, museums, Peace Pagoda, etc..

     General Discussion...
     Carole DeSanti suggests that LHC consider using the ''Leverett History'' page on the town website, in addition to other links, to connect to research on the religious entities in Leverett from the Indigenous to European to the current Peace Pagoda, etc..

3. Meeting Wrap-up

   • Next Meetings:
     1. Mon, Feb 13, at 7:00 PM "Historical Commission Meeting" -- Town Hall & online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85720560676?pwd=bThuajB1LzFWTG9ndU51WUhGZks1QT09
     2. Mon, Mar 13, at 7:00 PM "Historical Commission Meeting" -- Town Hall & online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85720560676?pwd=bThuajB1LzFWTG9ndU51WUhGZks1QT09
     3. Mon, Apr 10, at 7:00 PM "Historical Commission Meeting" -- Town Hall & online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85720560676?pwd=bThuajB1LzFWTG9ndU51WUhGZks1QT09
     4. Mon, May 8, at 7:00 PM "Historical Commission Meeting" -- Town Hall & online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85720560676?pwd=bThuajB1LzFWTG9ndU51WUhGZks1QT09
     5. Thu, May 25, at 7:00 PM "LHC Web Subcommittee" -- Town Hall & online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85720560676?pwd=bThuajB1LzFWTG9ndU51WUhGZks1QT09
     6. Mon, Jun 12, at 7:00 PM "Historical Commission Meeting" -- Town Hall & online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85720560676?pwd=bThuajB1LzFWTG9ndU51WUhGZks1QT09

The listing of matters is those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.

Minutes prepared by SM

Minutes approved on Tuesday, Mar 7, 2023