veteran – Historical Society of Riverton, NJ

You ARE in the right place, but our friend Will Valentino of the Palmyra Historical and Cultural Society asked that we remind you of this upcoming presentation. Local history buffs, genealogists, family tree makers, and Civil War fans will not want to miss this timely presentation that compliments our nation’s celebration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial , or its 150th anniversary.

P R E S S R E L E A S E

FOR GENERAL PUBLICATION

For additional comments /questions /photos

Contact: JIM MAY, PHCS President @ 856 829 6725 or JAY HOWARD @ jp912@hotmail.com

PALMYRA HISTORICAL & CULTURAL SOCIETY REMEMBERS

THE CIVIL WAR AND OUR LOCAL VETERANS

The Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society and The Palmyra War Memorial Committee invite you to revisit The Civil War and its local impact on society, culture, economics and politics. A recent donation to the Historical Society of Civil War era Muster sheets and diaries by Virginia Harding has sparked renewed interest in Palmyra’s role in America’s only Civil War .

Join Jay Howard of The Palmyra War Memorial Committee and The Palmyra Historical Society’s Genevieve Lumia in this unique free presentation.

The evening will feature Mr. Howard’s presentation on his research on the War’s effect on our local residents, and Genevieve Lumia will discuss her involvement in transcribing these historical documents that lend greatly to the understanding of Palmyra’s contribution and sacrifice to this struggle. Come discover what we have learned through this important donation to our archives !

The free event will take place at 7PM on Thursday January 9, 2014 at Palmyra’s Community Center located in the heart of Historic Palmyra at 20 West Broad Street. Light refreshments will be served.

Residents are encouraged to contact Jay Howard at the above email with any information on local veterans and to bring any artifacts or photographs on Palmyra they wish to donate to The Palmyra Historical Society for preservation. Become a part of Palmyra History…TODAY!

After more than 20 years, the Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society is still going strong vitalizing and instilling pride in our community through free events and the conservation of local history. In addition, every month, join trustee Will Valentino as he journeys “Back In Time” in the pages of THE POSITIVE PRESS exploring our towns unique contributions to the local historical tapestry.

For more info go to www.boroughofpalmyra.com Help us in making Palmyra a better “Place to live and grow”. Permission is granted to copy , distribute and post the attached flyer on our event. Thank You.

Commemorative Abraham Lincoln postcard, 1909. courtesy Mary Flanagan

P.S. SAVE THE DATE FOR A VERY SPECIAL HSR PRESENTATION ON FEBRUARY 12.

Mr. Bob Gleason, a highly regarded historical interpreter associated with the American Historical Theater will visit the HSR in the Bank on Main as he channels one of his most complex and fascinating historical figures on the very anniversary of the Great Emancipator’s birth.

Once a real bank, built in the late 1920s, The Bank on Main is on the United States Federal Register of Historic Places and is a marvelous venue for such an extraordinary Society meeting. More details to follow. – John McCormick

Aggie Kennedy clothes a dressmaker’s form.

Susan Dechnik took most of the photos here.

Cheryl Smekal, closest; Aggie Kennedy, at right; Susan Dechnik, back

The reason for the recent inactivity here on the website is that we have prepared for our display of artifacts that we call our Museum for a Day at the New Leaf Tea Room in cooperation with the Riverton Free Library’s biennial Candlelight House Tour.

The items come out to play for a day, then are packed away until we get another offer for some free exhibit space.

Once every two years we get to break out of storage some choice HSR treasures to exhibit to the public. Afterwards, the items get packed away, and until the next time, this online virtual museum will have to do until we get a real permanent one.

We brought out some familiar chestnuts such as some Dreer’s Nursery items, our vintage clothing, and the Riverton Gun Club history book.

New additions to our exhibit repertoire include displays about Riverton’s War Memorial and Riverton’s military veterans, Riverton Yacht Club, and Anne Knight Ruff.

I only just found a box postmarked 2011 in our storage space full of donated items relevant to the Yacht Club, particularly the Duster, that former resident Marty Carhart donated.

More details of the remarkable contents will be forthcoming in a later post, but for now, blueprints for building a Duster and two reels of 16mm movie film taken of the 1949 Duster Championship race were just two of the more notable items.

Also in that box, a 1965 book published for the 100th anniversary of the Riverton Yacht Club now serves as a startling reminder that 2015 will be their 150th anniversary. I made a poster outlining some of the milestones in the RYC’s history to go with the table display.

“Tempus fugit,” as my Latin teacher used to say. Tempus fugit, indeed. I think time has even picked up more speed after I passed sixty.

HSR Board Member Bill McDermott also pitched in as a Museum Guide. Turns out he had never heard the story about how Ed Merrill built the Duster in a workshop on the third floor of a house at 301 Main Street. There are probably many things we could all learn from each other if we could pool our resources. We have the bandwidth here if you have something to share.

Readers, please search those boxes tucked away in attics and basements for anything you may have that would help to piece together a history of the RYC’s last half-century. Something spectacular is sure to be planned to commemorate that milestone, and with so many knowledgeable people now living far afield the internet is a great place to collaborate.

I made another poster that explained about Anne Knight Ruff’s book, hoping it would result in some sales, but no luck. This book is a treasury of Riverton history c.1890-late 1900s and should be required reading for anyone living in this zip code.

An exhibit about Riverton’s veterans included a poster with all the original names plus the names added since 2011. Longtime Riverton resident Daniel Goffredo lent us his World War II service uniform for the day.

Earlier this year the HSR bought a presentation projector that we could use for just this type of situation, so we set it up with a screen to show the much expanded Riverton Veterans Album.

Those old hometown newspapers that we got online in late 2012 have yielded a lot of anecdotal information about the people mentioned on the original War Memorial Honor Roll. Additionally, the newspaper files have been the source of many more news clippings about military personnel whom they described as being from Riverton.

That might be the reason if you were to find a person mentioned in the pages of the Veterans Album, but their name is not on the War Memorial Honor Roll.

I showed the presentation to our own HSR Board members Nancy Hall and Elsie Waters, but the best part was listening to them give the color commentary as they watched. – John McCormick

revised 12/22: added ten photos to gallery below