Long Beach Island Historical Association Spring 08 Newsletter
President’s Message:
As I write this as the new president of the LBI Historical Association, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who supported me for this office. There is a lot to do in this job. Suzette has done a fabulous job as past president, and I am trying to continue this….During the winter we have been making sure the building and exhibits are protected. The fire sprinkler system and alarm was malfunctioning. It has been repaired and we have a contract for regular service. A new fire/smoke/burglar central alarm system is now installed and operational. It has 24-hour monitoring! The burglar alarm turns off automatically during the hours that we are open to stop false alarms, and none of the volunteers need to remember a code! Giglio’s shade behind the movie screen has been repaired and set up with a wall switch – no more remote! We have done even more this winter, and you can read about it later in the newsletter…. Speaking of doing more - our mission is to preserve LBI history and we now have a chance to save a very original, old fisherman’s cottage from the late 1800s by relocating it to our lot. We are honored to join forces with the Beach Haven Historic Preservation Advisory Committee to save and restore the old cottage behind Julius Robinson’s house on 2nd Street. The family is willing to give it to to us. With the joint effort of the two historic groups we can make this project possible. We already have some professionals who are willing to donate their time to make this happen. This will be a wonderful project to benefit the Island and LBIHA. Our goal is to have this house restored and furnished as it would have been when used as a fisherman’s cottage in the early 1900s. Anyone who wants to help please call me…. We have many new ideas for fundraisers this year. Our first fundraising event is our Spring Dinner. This year we are “stepping it up,” including a wine tasting and auction at Buckalew’s. For this to be a success we need items to sell. Please contact me or Floss Boulden. Our Porch Party this year will be a little different also. We are going to have Richard Plunkett and two friends there to host our own version of “Antiques Road Show”. Items will be appraised for a fee which will be donated to the Museum.
I hope to see you at some of these events... Jaime Ciardelli
Financial:
The Museum’s Centre Street lot mortgage was paid off in April ‘07 by liquidating CDs. This was done to eliminate the $15,000+ annual mortgage expense. This left about $30,000 cash in our accounts. This is not very much, considering that our annual operating budget is over $60,000! A $50,000 credit line was established with Commerce Bank (they offered very favorable terms) in case of major emergency repairs being needed. In 2007 we essentially operated at “break-even” as a result of paying the lot off. However, several major repair items have come due in 2008: deferred maintenance on the fire sprinkler system, new fire & intruder alarms, the building’s porches and doors, electrical work, permanent floor reinforcement, insulation to reduce heating/cooling costs, and exhibit repairs. This will make it difficult to remain “in the black” for ‘08 without significant additional donations.
Winter 08 Activities:
The Fortuna exhibit has been completely redone by the Hampsons. David Allieri is coordinating a new, improved Baldwin/Grand Hotels exhibit based on some original Baldwin furniture donated through him. Gail South has redone and updated the scrapbooks. The Whale Shop has been expanded with more display space and improved lighting. The expanded shop sold over $500 at the League meeting (see below)! David Allieri and Din Saunders coordinated a large group of volunteers to really clean out, sort, label, and store in plastic boxes everything in the big closet except the clothes on the racks. We have installed a new Fire/Intruder central alarm system, made needed electrical repairs, plus repaired the sprinkler system and the window shade. On March 8th we (LBIHA) hosted the League of Historical Societies of NJ winter meeting. More than 80 people attended from all over the state despite rainy/foggy weather. After the business meeting and tour of our Museum, we took the attendees on tours of the Beach Haven historical district and library (hosted by Jeanette Lloyd and others), the Barnegat Light Museum and Viking Village (hosted by Karen and Marian Larson), a drive-by of the Bible Conference, and finally the NJ Maritime Museum (hosted by Mary Gruber and Rita Kuhn).
Fall ‘07 Museum activities:
The September Flea Market and Bake Sale realized over $1700 profit with over $400 coming from concessions and the Bake Sale which sold out. The Fall membership dinner at Howard’s only had 78 people this year. The Raffle earned about $4000 after expenses. During “Celebrate the Season” we were open the three weekends from Thanksgiving until mid-December for the CAP outside tree lighting, for the Museum tree lighting (thanks to the Jacobsen’s for donating a nice BIG artificial tree), for a December 8th Holiday Bake Sale, for Santa’s arrival, for the gingerbread House competition, and for Museum tours. Several hundred people used the Museum and we realized more than $250 in admissions/donations and more than $300 on the Bake Sale, plus substantial Whale Shop sales. “Celebrate the Season” gave us a donation of $1700 after their bookkeeping was finished. Historic Homes of LBI was taken over by the Museum. Richard Plunkett wants to “retire” but will continue to assist us. Six plaques were awarded this fall by a temporary committee headed by Richard and Jaime. We are considering having a showing of the historic homes CD and presentation of new plaques as one of the Monday Night Talks. The Museum Auditorium was used twice this year for private events: Julius Robinson’s 100th Birthday in August, and a wedding in September for both of which the Museum received donations. Julius Robinson was one of the 10 original incorporating members of the LBI Historical Association in 1975. Unfortunately, later last fall he died.
August ‘07 General Membership Meeting:
Attendance was 51 members out of 618 in good standing. Proposed Bylaw changes to stagger elections of Officers, provide specific voting procedures for the disposal of Museum property, and define voting rights of new members, were passed unanimously. Five Officers were elected unanimously: Jaime Ciardelli – President, Ron Marr–Vice President, Brenda Griffin–Corresponding Secretary, Florence Boulden–Recording Secretary, and Dick Saunders–Treasurer. Six trustees were unanimously elected also: David Allieri, Janet Duke, June Hampson, Roger Hampson, Diane Roy, and Rosemary Stabile.
Spring-Summer ‘07 Activities: The Spring Dinner at Bistro 14 had about 100 attendees . The June Bake and Trash & Treasures Sale earned nearly $1500, a big increase over last year. June 24th Porch Party ($1000). July 4th B&B Tour and July-August Walking Tours earned over $2300 (attendance and income was up 10% from last year). August: our second Chocolate Fair earned over $2000 (twice last year’s). This year we were much better organized – thanks to Ursula Nouvel, Brenda Griffin and many volunteers! The Whale Shop netted over $3000 for the entire year.
Newsletter Items: Please send any information for inclusion in the next Newsletter to Ron Marr, 13610 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach Township, NJ, 08008-2644, or to LBIMARR@AOL.COM. Items may also be left in the Museum kitchen in the VP mail slot.
Museum Office Hours: Hours are “by appointment” although people are frequently there Tuesdays. The answering machine is checked daily.
