Hinesburg Historical Society

Minutes for April 23rd, 2009

Present: Gill Coates, Marshall Delaire, Maggie Gordon, Aaron Kimball, Kitty LaClair, Jean Miner, John Roberts, Ann Thomas

Gill gave an update on applying for 501 (c) (3) nonprofit status. He has printed out the application, but still needs the 70-page guide to filling it out. The first step is to apply for a Federal ID number, and for that we need a phone number, address, and contact name of a principal officer. Maggie offered to be the contact name, and will ask Missy Ross if the HHA can use the Town Hall address for official business.

We still need the mission and the bylaws of the society. The mission from the January, 2009 minutes was voted on and approved by all members present: “The Mission of the Hinesburg Historical Society is to preserve the history of Hinesburg, to collect and organize any artifacts and written or oral statements pertaining to the history of Hinesburg.”

There was some confusion as to the whereabouts of the bylaws, which had been discussed in the October, 2008 meeting. Aaron will mail a copy to Ann, who will go over them to make corrections and then distribute them to the group. At the May meeting, the group can discuss and approve the bylaws and appoint a working group to fill out the application.

John gave an update of Sue’s mission to contact the New Milford Historical Society about a possible sister-society relationship. No one from the NMHS has responded to her inquiries yet, but Sue provided photographs from their web site as well as a list of names from their town that matches names from Hinesburg. 

John also said that his contact in Plainfield regarding a book of photographs produced by that town declined to come speak to us on the topic, saying that he didn’t feel that he was that instrumental to the project. Marshall said that a book would be a lot of work, and Gill mentioned a few other contacts in towns that have published books of historic photographs. No further action was taken.

Aaron mentioned a possible town project in the works that would combine the police and fire departments together in an expanded Fire Department building. This would open the current Police Department building to other uses, and offer a great opportunity for the HHS to have a room of its own. Aaron pointed out that it’s not too soon for the HHS to express interest in the space to members of the selectboard. Jean suggested that doing some research on the history of the building might make it less likely that it would be torn down. Aaron said that a renovated historical building would be a more appropriate gateway to Hinesburg than a Kinney drugstore that was likely to go up. Aaron asked if there was space in the community room of the library for the HHS to place a display cabinet. Jean said that when last she talked with them folks at the library said that there was not much room available, but that it would be worth asking again. No further action was taken.

In the few minutes remaining, Gill asked if anyone was working on Howard Coffin’s Vermont Civil War Sites project. Howard is looking for stories or homes of families of veterans. Jean had a couple of ideas that she shared.

The next meeting of the Hinesburg Historical Society will be held on Thursday, May 20th from 7-9pm in the Town Hall.

- Maggie Gordon, Secretary