A Letter from President Drew Saur for 2024

January 1, 2024

New Year Greetings to Members & Friends!

Happy New Year! For the Historical Society, 2023 was another very good year. Our Annual Christmas social, which is fresh in my mind, continued with new highlights and music acts. Our Museum volunteers’ pace didn’t slow down. Our collections continued to grow in meaningful and significant ways. We re-engaged with the students of the Honeoye Falls Lima School District. Our program committee has done another bang-up job planning for 2024; please have a look at the enclosed brochure. There is something for everyone.

I must appeal to you, however, for something that concerns me: like many communities, we are having a difficult time getting people to volunteer with our organization. Will you please consider stepping up? In particular, we need:

  • Volunteer Museum docents to host our Museum every Sunday afternoon. Can you spare just two hours every month or two? Please call me at 585-281-0014 if you even think you might be interested.
  • To keep the Annual Christmas Social running smoothly for 2024, we need to line up volunteers well in advance, including music teachers who are willing to bring students to perform a recital. Please contact me if you or someone you know is willing to do this.

Here are some Museum highlights from 2023: We received many donations from donors near and far who found us via our Facebook page. In addition to donations, we search local garage / estate sales and purchase items off eBay. The most significant additions to the Museum’s collections during 2023 were:

  • From Kathy Gilda: Numerous Falls Dairy items, including a 12-foot-long sign that hung on the front of the dairy.
  • From Bill Lane: Three Greenleaf dollhouse kits
  • From Tracey McGrath: An Estelle Toy Company tom-tom drum.
  • From Sylvia Michel: Her complete 1943 – 1946 HFHS cheerleading outfit.
  • From Debbie Moffitt: A pass to the 1946 Sectional basketball tournament.
  • From Karen Schiedel: A Star Headlight & Lantern Co. flashlight.
  • From Lynne Menz: Several American Legion Post 664 Auxiliary items.
  • From Wayne Menz: His mother’s 1946 wedding dress, his Navy uniform and several military awards (including a Bronze Star) given to his uncle, Donald Menz.
  • In addition, we added several archival (paper) items and postcards purchased off eBay.

The Museum floor saw the following in 2023:

  • Cataloging of the collections continue.
  • The library in the schoolhouse has been reorganized, and we’ve finished sorting the Museum library that people can visit and read from (local history books and reference material)
  • We’ve sorted and cataloged our historic ledgers;
  • The Mendon Ponds exhibit has come down and, in its place, is an exhibit showing the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR) depot over the years – from its use as a railroad station, its renovation, its subsequent use for restaurants, art gallery, antique shop and a home and business site;
  • Many of the exhibits in the Mantegna Room were created with the 4th graders in mind. Because of a change in Curriculum, the 4th graders no longer routinely visit the museum. Some of these displays have been removed as we begin a transformation of that room.
  • We’ve started a plan to re-imagine all the exhibits in the Museum in the months and years ahead.

Thanks once again to Gary Albright, Kathy Eastman, Bill Lane and Charles Woolever for all they do to curate, cultivate, and document our collections each week of the year. Special thanks also go out to Denise & Cliff Dickinson for continuing with their initiative to photograph thousands of items in our collection, which is the beginning of a long preservation journey that will take several years. Please be sure to take a Sunday afternoon between 2–4pm to stop by and see the fruits of our labor!

Our goals for 2024 include:

  • Continued work with the Village of Honeoye Falls to determine how to stabilize temperature and humidity on the second floor of the Museum, and to make structural improvements to the Museum building.
  • Continued indexing and photographing our archival materials and donations of artifacts to the Museum.
  • Continued development of our new website, which we hope you bookmark and visit often.

New for 2024: We have an online membership renewal form at https://hfmhistorical.org/membership-donation/ – we prefer that you use this to renew if you can. If you lack Internet access or just prefer paper, please fill out the printable membership renewal form and return it with your dues payment. Remember to include your e-mail address to receive timely and detailed notices of Historical Society program meetings and other events of interest. Any questions, please call me at 585-281-0014 or e-mail me at president@hfmhistorical.org.

I am grateful for your ongoing support. We hope to see you on the first Thursday of each month to enjoy our programs, and on Sunday afternoons for Museum hours from 2–4pm. May your 2024 bring health, safety, and joy, and I hope that your upcoming holidays help you find ways to reconnect with your loved ones.

Sincerely,

Drew D, Saur, President
president@hfmhistorical.org • 585-281-0014