2023 Spring Newsletter

Continued from pg. 5 Miniature Art Show: The Museum will again host the Miami County Art Guild Miniature Art Show this July. Paola Craft Show: Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 17 craft show at Paola’s Park Square sponsored by the Museum. Stop by our booth and say “Hello”! Technology Upgrades – QR Codes, “Talking Heads” and Audio Visual Equipment: Have you ever wondered what those small squares with strangely arranged black boxes were in mag azines, posters, etc? You will now see them at the museum! Given upgrades of very old, out-dated and vulnerable computers were a primary focus in 2022, 2023 brings more technology upgrades to enhance visitor experience, such as the small squares, known as QR codes, which, when scanned by a smart phone, will take the visitor to a website containing more in formation regarding the item. Additionally, “talking heads” or computerizing facial characteristics of fa mous historical figures where they appear to “speak” to the viewer on a large electronic screen have been implemented. Finally, to support our monthly speaker events, a microphone system was purchased and an outdated laptop updated in order to display the pre senter’s slides on a large TV screen. Building Repairs Long identified and now urgently needed building re pairs to our 138 year old historic buildings are moving to the forefront. As a non-profit entity, the cost of these repairs does reduce our ability to meet stated goals. Any monetary donations toward this effort would be greatly appreciated!

Indian Room Improvements: If you haven’t visited the Indian Room in the past few weeks, another gander is in order as many improve ments were recently completed. Preserving Local Knowledge: Our members have been busy video recording local historians as they share their unique and vast knowl edge of Miami County’s people and events. These videos are being placed on our website for public viewing. Lloyd Peckman, our Indian subject matter expert, gra ciously lead the Museum Board on a tour of Beaver town, the cave on Cold Water Springs and to visit a local resident’s artifact collection, Lloyd will be con ducting more tours in the future as he has meticulously documented these locations during his decades-long volunteer career at the Museum, and we are indebted to him for his preservation of this history. Patterson Circus Book “Hot off the Press”! Learn more about Paola’s own circus via a picture filled color booklet. Copies are available for purchase at the Museum! Media Outreach : As you may have noticed, the Republic is now pub lishing a weekly museum column, abbreviated board minutes, and special articles. New Volunteers: We are thrilled to welcome Diane Hanson, volunteer ing to document newly accessioned items, and Kristy Curtis, volunteering to assist with computer input. We are calling all computer skilled residents to aid in documenting new collection items. We hope some can join us in preserving Miami County’s history! KEYBOARD PEOPLE WANTED We are trying to copy all of our obituary card files into a computer data base. Presently There are over 30,000 scanned obit cards that need to be renamed with the persons info on the card. The museum will provide USB thumb drives to volunteers who could take the drives back to their computers and rename them at their own pace.

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