MINUTES OF THE DOGTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY
March 12, 2005

CALL TO ORDER: Vice President Virginia Lopez, in the absence of President John Corbett who is recovering from an automobile accident, called the meeting of The Dogtown Historical Society (DHS) to order at 10:10 a.m. at the St. James Rectory. Twelve people were in attendance: Bob Corbett, JoAnn Emmerich, Didi Gardner, Bob Howard, Louise Howard, Virginia Lopez, Bill Miller, Gerry Miller, Kurt Odendahl, Sally Sharamitaro and guests Dorothy and Verne Tarne.

Minutes of Last Meeting - – MINUTES of the February 12, 2005 meeting were not read. A motion was made by Gerry Miller and seconded by Bob Corbett that a copy of the minutes of the previous month’s meeting be placed on the table by the sign-in sheet for attendees to read and no longer read aloud. The motion was passed. All board members are sent copies of the minutes via email prior to the next month’s meeting.

Treasurer’s Report -– Didi Gardner read the treasurers report for February 2005. The beginning balance was $3865.76, as Didi had been out of town most of the month, there were no deposits and no checks written for the month. The ending balance as of February 28, 2005 was $3865.76.

1. Speakers Series Committee – Sally Sharamitaro reported on the Speakers Series event, February 20, 2005: “Letters from Dogtown”. Forty two people signed our attendance sheets.

   The program included readings from two historical sources on Dogtown, Father P.J. O’Connor and Mrs. Helen Scherzinger. Bob Corbett did the readings and added the commentary. The content and the commentator were excellent. A gift certificate to Cairdeas was given to Bob as a thank you from the DHS.

   Several members of the Scherzinger family attended the program and at times added a few comments of their own.

   A comment sheet was circulated to the attendees and 24 people responded as follows:
   

   92% circled 9 or 10 (top rating) that the presentation met their expectations.
   92% circled 9 or 10 (top rating) that they could see the presentation adequately.
   92% circled 9 or 10 (top rating) that they could hear the presentation adequately
   83% circled 9 or 10 (top rating) that the performance was of interest to them.
   

   The written comments were:
   

   “Excellent presentation”;
   “Good meeting but a little too long”;
   “Great, Thank you”;
   “Second session in back (?) a little too long”
   “Program too long. Topics were wonderful”
   “Bob does an excellent job and I appreciate his hard work”;
   “Might be better to limit presentations so questions could be asked (a little too long)”.

   The written recommendations and topics for the future were:
   

   “Personalities of Dogtown”;
   “Gangs, Mobsters, etc., that had roots in Dogtown”;
   “Sports Teams from Dogtown/St. James”;
   “Home Architecture of Dogtown”;
   “Forest Park Highlands”;
   “The lay of the land” (how things looked originally, when buildings went up, when streets were put in)”;
   “I would like to see some of the videotaped oral history interviews”;
   “Ghost Signs in Dogtown”.

   Bob Corbett and Bob Howard were reminded, at the mention of Gangs and Mobsters in Dogtown, of several stories about baby carriages and newspaper headlines which were enjoyed by all.

   Bob had several comments on the topics suggested for future programs. He is concerned that we will be hard pressed to find future topics that are Dogtown related. The dilemma, he says, is the time and effort and sometimes cost of organizing, collecting and researching a topic.

   Gerry Miller suggested a program of the videotape interviews done by the Living History Committee. Bob replied that again it would require at the very least the time to edit those 20 videotapes to prepare them for a DHS presentation. Yes, it could be done by a student, Bob said, but instructors in those type programs would be very selective in choosing projects for their students. He was concerned that the Living History videotapes wouldn’t fit their criteria.

   Bob did suggest that possibly the DHS could allot some funds for copying the Living History videotapes, and create a lending library program. Members could borrow a videotape interview for a certain amount of time. The DHS would not ever lend any of their original videotapes.

   Virginia Lopez, the DHS librarian for the Living History and other DHS videotapes, reported that the last filmed interview wasn’t able to be viewed. Somehow the copy made from the original didn’t copy well.

   Sally informed the members that Autumn Eakins, who videotapes our speaker series programs, will be contacting one of the film laboratory specialists to assist her with the “Founding of Forest Park” video. Somehow that original cassette was damaged in the process of copying it to the VHS videotape.

   Autumn researched for the DHS the cost of recording our presentations onto DVD from the video camera cassette. Autumn’s report said that it would take one and a half times the time and the current cost to put the presentation onto a DVD. She estimated that the cost to the DHS would be raised to $350 from the current $200, plus the cost of the blank DVD’s, which could run between $2.00 and $8.00 apiece, whether they could hold 2 hours or 4 hours of video.

   Kurt Odendahl accepted the invitation extended to him to become a member of the Speaker Series Committee. Kurt will be added to the Committee membership list.

2. Membership Commitee – Sally Sharamitaro read the report from Henry Herbst who was unable to attend the March meeting. Henry reported that 40 members have paid their 2005 dues.

3. Century Home Committee – Bill Miller reported that a letter has been sent to those that have purchased Century Home plaques asking that they display the plaques for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

4. St. Patrick’s Day Parade Festivities – Bob stated that he has the shirts for St. Patrick’s Day, but hasn’t opened the box. When John ordered the shirts he was told that to add the date “2005” to the shirts would require an extra silk screening procedure. Adding extra to the cost of the shirts. So he ordered the shirts without the date.

   A discussion followed about the set up in the event of rain. Weather will be the key to the success of the fund raiser. Bob said the forecast as of today is for rain and a high of 32 degrees! Possibly the worst weather in the history of the Dogtown St. Patrick’s Day Parade! Gerry Miller brought some “Irish” looking trinkets that she suggested could be sold along with the shirts, beads and pins that day. In the event of rain, John will have a tent in his yard, and the table with shirts and trinkets could be moved under the tent.



5. Archives/Donations –Bob has been busy organizing and re-organizing the DHS archives. He spoke as he laid out some of the many, many photos, etc., in their sturdy plastic sleeves which need a donor for the costs of framing. He also brought binders filled with newspaper articles and other memorabilia in their soft plastic sleeves.

   Bob went on to state that he wishes to store and save all the copies of the St. James the Greater “Let’s Go” parish bulletins in large binders each page in it’s own plastic sleeve. Bob will send a plea to the DHS email list for donors.

   He asked that there be a short intermission so that the members at the meeting could take some time to look through the material there. He explained that the school/class photos would be the priority, and that an 8 x 10 sized frame with aluminum frame and plexiglass (for safety) would cost approximately $40.00.

   Kurt and JoAnn both suggested that a “collage” could be made of the snapshots of the Civil War Days in Cheltenham and other groups of snapshots. Everyone agreed with their suggestion.

   Other Business –

   Nominations - Bob made the announcement that there were two board members whose terms of office had run out as of March 2005. Virginia Lopez, Vice President and Didi Gardner, Treasurer. He then asked for a show of hands to determine if there was a quorum for voting. As there was no quorum, he made a motion to table the vote until the April meeting. The motion passed. Proxies will be accepted from those that cannot attend the April 9, 2005 meeting.

   New Business - The St. James the Greater Alumni Dinner will be held on Saturday April 30, 2005. Bob said he will be setting up his computer as he did last year and wishes to take some of the DHS archives also to set out on tables. He asked for volunteers to help carry the bags to the School and set out the framed pieces on whatever tables are allotted the DHS.

Meeting adjourned 11:00 a.m. Next meeting will be Saturdy, April 9, 2005 at 10:00am in St. James Rectory, 6401 Wade Avenue.

Respectfully submitted
Sally Ryan Sharamitaro
Secretary, Dogtown Historical Society