Society notes

Tilton Historical Society Monthly Meeting Minutes – December 11, 2024

Meeting called to order at 6:00PM

Attendance: John Ciriello, Tim Rose, Patty Amora-Pender, Chuck Hussman, Vicki Hussman, Trish Basiliere, John Basiliere, Barbara Sullivan, Dan Jordan, Kathy Yeo. Via Zoom: Gregg DeVolder, Al Lockwood, Todd Piper, Kevin Murphy, Diane Jordan

Pledge of Allegiance

Minutes: November 10, 2024 minutes are approved as written

Recap of Tilton School's Holiday Event at the Mansion: The event was held December 7, 2024 from1:00PM to7:00PM and was well attended - estimated 100 attendees. Members of THS, John, Patty Amora- Pender, Janice Leighton- Boudreau and Kim Cilley conducted tours of the mansion hourly. This event was a food drive for local families in need. The school is talking about holding another event with the theme being a clothing drive - collecting hats, coats, mittens, scarves etc. Tim asked why the school is not advertising these events sooner. John felt this year was a more student run event with less experience. He will follow up with getting a date for the next event and posting on the THS Facebook page. Greg requested that along with posting on Facebook, an email be sent for those that are not on social media.

Black Swan Inn Tour: Scheduled for December 15, 2024 from 4:00Pm to 7:00PM. The tour is free and open to the public. Trish and John invite everyone to come learn the history of the building and grounds, listen to holiday music and enjoy some refreshments. John C. asked if the Tea Room would be open, and Trish said she would be talking to them about the possibility. John C. asked about parking and John B. said there is parking on site. John C. said he gets a sense that there could be as many as 50 to 60 people attending. Trish said she was thinking of doing a raffle to help draw in people and would let John C. know ASAP.

2025 Tours Planning: Planning sessions will begin in January for upcoming tours that will include a tour of Downtown, Park Cemetery and Trolley tour. A downtown tour could include stops at the Congregational Church inside, Town Hall including the jail in the basement and possibly get John Bruno to talk about the movie theater his family owned all to incorporate more than just the outside of a building.

State House Tour: Virginia Drew, State House Visitor Center Director attended the Mansion Tour on the 7th. She was very interested in the granite posts that stood outside the State Capital and are now at the Mansion. When Charles Elliott Tilton was 5 his father Samuel took him to Concord to see the President. To get a better view Samuel put Charles up on one of the posts. When Charles learned they State was removing the posts Charles purchased them! Virginia has offered to give THS a private historic tour of the building and grounds in the spring. She is working on an idea to incorporate the State house tour then bus the group to Tilton to see the posts and get a tour of the mansion. Virginia will be attending the Black Swan Tour!

Past Perfect: John explained the process for scanning for Past Perfect. - scanning the front and back of an image (about 4000 so far and only have about 3 draws done) at a high resolution which is eating up the Past Perfect memory. Kevin is of the opinion that he should meet the Head of School to explain Past Perfect and to try to enlist student help with the inventory/scan process. He feels that we should focus on inventory and taking a picture of the picture/artifact and do the high resolution scan after. Once there is an inventory then go back and do the high resolution scan. There is a concern that student/staff from the school go into the archives, remove pictures then not return them to the proper place then the inventory become ineffective. John said that Sarah will be back on the 18th and has expressed interest in the Past Perfect scanning. Kevin will contact the Head of School for a meeting to explain Past Perfect. Greg suggested that during that meeting Kevin suggest a discipline to be put in place for sign in/sign out every time someone enters the archives room. John suggested that the maintenance department get their supplies out of the room and make it the dedicated archives area. Kevin also suggested THS members could volunteer to help. 

John sent out an email to governing members and active members for anyone interested in filling the position.  Kathy was to only "taker". She already holds the Secretary position and is willing to do both. However, if she holds both positions it will be difficult to have a quorum of 7 board members to hold a regular meeting. Janice Leighton-Boudreau has expressed interest in the Secretary position. She is willing to step into the position immediately. Todd informed the group that Janice cannot currently  become Secretary because our Bylaws state that no publicly elected official serving the Town can serve on the Board of the THS. Greg added that he had been a member of the THS board but resigned because of this Bylaw stipulation. It was suggested that the Bylaws be changed to remove the wording about elected officials. There will be a Zoom meeting December 12, 2024 at 6:00PM to vote on the change. Vicki made a motion for Kathy to hold/do both Secretary and Treasurer's position temporarily. Dan 2nd. All in favor.

Yearly Dues: Raising membership dues has been discussed but the increase will not go into effect or announced until summertime. Members are already renewing now, and it would be unfair to raise dues for anyone that pays the increased rate after today.

Other Business: John showed the card designs he and his daughter have been working on printing and hand coloring. He said that they would be sold in bundles of 4 designs tied with ribbon and include a THS pen which is being printed.  All agreed the cards are beautiful. Trish asked for several bundles of cards to sell on behalf of the THS at the Black Swan. Thank you, Trish! Vicki suggested the Society send a card to Leslie thanking her for her work as Treasurer.  

Kevin announced that he will step down from his position on the Board. He is willing to stay on until a replacement is found.

Yearly dues are due now.

Adjourn: 6:49 PM

After the meeting adjourned, John Basiliere stated he was interested in taking Kevin Murphy’s vacated Board position.

THS Board Meeting Minutes December 19, 2024, via Zoom

Attending: John Ciriello, Roy Cilley, Todd Piper, Al Lockwood. John Basiliere, Dan Jordan, Tim Rose, Rob Clogston, Vicki Hussman, Chuck Hussman, Kathy Yeo

Meeting Called to order at 6:00PM

The following 3 things are up for discussion to be changed in our bylaws and then voted on Thursday and voted on again at the January Regular Meeting...

1.) Eliminate the "Paid public officials are not eligible for nomination to either the Board or Officer positions." Clause (Article 5 of the Bylaws).  Charitable Trusts confirmed that it is redundant and that our article dealing with Conflict of Interest already covers it's intent.  Motion made and seconded to remove the clause "Paid public officials are not eligible for nomination to either the Board or Officer positions."– all in favor.

2.)  Change the "30" days' notice to Membership for bylaw changes to "14" days (Article VI of the Bylaws).  It gives us and members plenty of time for meeting notifications and allows us flexibility with coordinating scheduling between our Board Meetings and Regular Meetings, as demonstrated by having to move January's meeting to the end of the month. Rob commented that this proposal made sense. Vicki asked when this would become effective. John explained it would be effective on Jan 22, 2025. A motion was made by Al and seconded by Rob to change the 30-day notice to membership to 14 days. All in favor. 

3.) Addition to Article XII of the Bylaws to read "Donated items must be accompanied by a fully completed donor form. This change is to become consistent with accepting donations. Other Societies use accession forms consistently making record keeping easier. Vicki asked if this would allow all members to accept donations. John replied yes. The accession form was attached to the email notice for this meeting and is also posted on the website. It is downloadable as a PDF file. Motion made by John B and seconded to add "Donated items must be accompanied by a fully completed donor form. All in favor.

John next asked for the Board to give Kathy authority to reorganize the numbering of the Bylaws, to insert the Bylaw change concerning Liability of Directors or Officers and putting it where it makes sense then renumbering the remaining Bylaws rather than just putting it at the end. This change will take effect after the January 22, 2025, meeting.  Motion was made by Dan and seconded by Rob to allow the renumbering of the Bylaws. All in favor.

Lastly, to appoint Janice Leighton-Boudreau as interim Secretary until we are able to hold another Board Meeting to appoint her secretary immediately following the January 22, 2025, Regular Monthly Meeting on the same night. Motion made by Roy and seconded by Al to name Janice interim secretary. All in favor. 

Meeting Adjourned 6:14PM