Newsletter – December 2012
Dear Members,
It has been a great year for the Hilda Hoffmann Memorial Archive. In mid January we were able to fulfill Hilda’s dream of having her collection open to the public in the city where she grew up and loved. We have had close to 300 visitors since opening, and expect a lot more in the coming year.
On entering 301 Williams Ave, guests are guided through a maze of pictures on free standing boards in the center of the room, over 150 in all, surrounded by four display cases filled with hundreds of artifacts from our past. As one passes through what was the living room and kitchen, four shelves of research journals, and an 8’ x 6’ shelf of cemetery books come into view.
Passing through the hall door, another museum display can be seen in the bathroom. To the left is the Hilda room where 138 boxes of family history files are located, the coup-de-gras of Hilda’s collection. There are also boxes of Obits, births, and marriage. If your family is from the region, chances are you are part of the files.
On leaving the building, to the left, are new shelves filled with local and family history books. We have an office in the middle room and outside in the hall a copy center.
Open, Monday – Friday, from 10am – 3pm, there are ten wonderful volunteers to greet our guests. Between visitors we are organizing unfiled material such as birth and death notices, Censuses, marriage files and material that Hilda couldn’t file in her last years. We are also scanning pictures and photographing surname files to assure their preservation.
On December 1st we completed an extensive election process, choosing 11 board members and approving a revised set of by-laws. We took great pains to make sure that each member had a chance to vote. Our Nominating and Election committees did a great job in assuring a secure and free process. Results are presented below by our Committee Chairman, Marilyn Weston.
On January 5th, the new board will meet to choose officers, and later in January, we will hold our yearly meeting to inform the membership of our physical and fiscal progress. I will remain on the Board but will be stepping down as Chairman, allowing others to lead us into 2013. The cause is great, preserving and making available to the public, the largest collection of local family histories in Mississippi. I only ask that you continue your support and ask that you encourage others to do so. We wish to thank all members for voting and congratulate the 2013 board members. We need membership fees to pay our bills and hope each of you will help us expand our archive by sharing your family research with us. Here’s wishing that each of you and your family has a Blessed Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.
PS: HHMA has several old and very slow computers. If any of you are upgrading, or have a relatively new computer console (we have monitors, keyboards and mice), please consider us for a donation. We will be glad to pay shipping costs.
A total of 48 votes were cast for the following eleven Board Members:
Helen Clunie
Gloria Penton
Sara Shelton
Marilyn Weston
By-Laws was passed 42 – 01
We wish to thank all 15 Candidates for participating.
Marilyn Weston, Nominating Committee Chairman