Becket Historical Commission Meeting Minutes: 4/25/12
Present: Rob, Rita, Aaron, Paul Campbell (guest)
Meeting called to order at 7:00pm
Paul Campbell of the Becket Arts Center spoke to the Historical Commission about an event to be held at the Arts Center in September of 2012: “Insight into the Building of our Community: Becket and Washington”. He asked the Historical Commission to think about any items of historical significance that we may want to display and asked us to think about how else the Commission may want to be involved. Rob and Rita agreed to serve as contacts for Paul as the event takes shape.
The minutes from the March meeting were read and accepted unanimously
Treasurer’s Report: no change since last meeting
COMMUNICATIONS
- Received notification of a MA Humanities conference
- Ron Simon from MA Historical sent a housekeeping document regarding the Center Pond project addressing a change in language
OLD BUSINESS
- Rob attended the MA Civil War Sesquicentennial kick-off event at the State House on April 9 and reported that there were several ceremonial events and that more info can be found at: www.ma150.org
Rob located some Civil War pictures and discharge papers relevant to Becket
There was a discussion about the Gift Account and the need to dissolve it. It was reiterated that we cannot sell items. As such, it was decided to give the maps and walking tour pamphlets to Rita as a private individual
- Rita mentioned that the committee formed for the 150th Anniversary of Becket’s founding may become a Society after the anniversary. The society could sell the maps and pamphlets
CIVIL WAR MONUMENT
- We will use the remainder of the money in the Gift Account (approx. $140) toward the purchase of the granite for the Civil War monument
- There was a discussion about a Civil War monument for Becket. Based on information from the Becket History book,102 men from Becket served in the Civil War.
- There was a discussion about how best to display the names. We will try to separate out those who died and will order the names alphabetically.
- We discussed creating a small display next to the monument (similar to map of historic places display) with the names on some kind of UV-resistant paper or under some kind of UV-resistant Plexiglas
- We discussed having some simple lettering etched on the granite monument
- We discussed looking for a piece of granite that is an obelisk-shape (like Washington Monument) approximately 6 feet tall
- We also discussed dedicating each of the four sides of the monument to the Civil War, War of 1812, Spanish-American War and Revolutionary War, respectively
- Rita will price the granite and etching and get back to the Commission.
NEW BUSINESS
- Rob will check with Nina regarding the Boston Post Cane file
- We will all be on the lookout for glass display cases
Meeting adjourned at 7:45pm
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