October 2009 Newsletter

                   

Dear Community Members,

    The October 4 Moon Festival was a great success. Thanks to all who attended and volunteered! I included some photos of the event below, and you can find more on the Pearl Buck House’s Facebook page. After the cider pressing, there were enough apples left over to offer them to the commuity for FREE. We left them in a pony cart at the parking lot of the Pearl Buck House. Get them while they last!

    In other news, the Board of Directors is steadily working toward its goal of raising $100,000 for critical repairs to the historic buildings. The Snowshoe Foundation generously donated the first $5,000, and discussions are underway with the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development Division to provide 15%, or $15,000. Only $80,000 to go! ;). For more information or to get a copy of the list of needed repairs contact VISTA Stacie Gilmore at stacie.gilmore@gmail.com or (304) 653-4328.
                                      
    The weekend of October 10-11 the Birthplace Foundation held its annual membership meeting, with elections for president and vice-president. The board elected Visitors and Convention Bureau CEO Abbey Winthrow for president and Hillsboro resident Michael Condon for Treasurer.

    Board member and West Virigina Poet Kirk Judd reported on the Pearl Buck manuscripts stored in a locked room in the rare book section of the library at West Virginia Weslyan.  The collection includes approximately 260 manuscripts, numbered, labeled and stored in protective portfolio boxes.  There have been previous appraisals made but none recently, so the Board voted to look into having another completed.  Judd also noted that there had interest expressed from US Senator Rockefeller’s office to have the collection, or portions of it, digitized for easier access for archival and research purposes.  Members of the Board are following up on that possibility.

    The same weekend, Ms. Cara Seitchek, Foundation Relations Officer for the Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C., visited to complete a peer-review of the museum through the American Association of Museums’ (AAM) Museum Assessment Program (MAP). She toured the Birthplace Museum including the outer buildings and met with several board members. She has written up a confidential peer-review based on her visit, and the museum will soon receive a copy from AAM.

The Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Museum, (304) 653-4430, offers guided tours May 1 to Nov. 1 from 9 am to 4:30 pm. Individual memberships are $10 and give you voting rights at the annual membership meeting and unlimited free tours of the house.

Visit the Pearl Buck House on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hillsboro-WV/The-Pearl-Buck-House/109980752939

Official Website:
http://www.pearlsbuckbirthplace.com


                                                            Sincerely,
                                       
                                                            Stacie Gilmore

                                                           AmeriCorps VISTA
                                                           Pearl Buck House
                                                           (304) 653-4328
                                                           stacie.gilmore@gmail.com