Rogue Valley Genealogical Society
Members Meeting & Program Minutes
May 18, 2021    Via Zoom

 
CALL TO ORDER:  President Kim Thurman called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. via Zoom; a quorum was established.  Kim welcomed everyone to our April Members’ meeting.  Kim encouraged the many non-members attending this meeting to check out our website and to discover the advantages of becoming a member.
MINUTES APPROVAL:  The minutes of the April 20, 2021, Members Meeting were presented by Secretary Loretta Barker.  There were no corrections.    Motion:  Pat Jenkins moved that the minutes be accepted as presented; Katie Haugse seconded.  Motion passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT.  The Treasurer’s Report dated April 30, 2021, was presented by Kim Thurman in absence of Treasurer Barbara Shrewsberry.
                                General Income                                                                        $ 1,259.00
                                Program                                                                                          1,452.94
                                                                Total                                                                 2,711.94
                                General Expense                                                                          2,694.61
                                Program Expense                                                                       1,167.99
                                                                Total                                                                 3,772.60
                                Interest                .94
                                Endowment Donations                                                                300.00
                                                                Net Income                                               $  -733.06
It was noted that the Library was closed the entire month of April 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Member Sharing.  Rich Miles said that he has been slowly increasing our social media accounts.  We now have an Instagram account.  He said we should all check the links at the top of our Society webpage.  Kim Thurman said the library reopening committee is working to get our library open as quickly as possible.  She will check with groups like ours to see how they are handling the situation.  Katie Haugse said that this subject was the topic of discussion at the NGS Delegate Council yesterday.
Board Actions.  Pat Jenkins stated that the Education Committee has planned a special free program on June 3 on using Power Point.  She also requested that when we attend a class to make sure that we complete the evaluation form that Rich sends out immediately after the class.  The information on these sheets has been valuable to the Education Committee.  Stephen Kazar stated that we will be kicking off our Annual Fund Drive soon.  Kim stated that our membership stands at 710 individuals.  Rich Miles stated that our subscription websites are still available from home.  Anne Billeter noted that we made $325 from the sales of our excess books and that our library books are still available for curbside checkout.
Program.  Anne Billeter introduced Ben Truwe, of Southern Oregon History Revised.  Ben has been locating and transcribing resources from the Medford and Southern Oregon area for many years.  The information on his site spans over 120 years and, according to Ben, is pretty much local history containing myths and an oral infusion of stories.  For example, the 1912 local crop failure was covered in the news-papers; however, historians have proven that there was no crop failure!  On Ben’s website there is a site map listing all the pages, such as a list of jurors from 1900-1952; heavy real estate tax payers (where you can get an idea of who was rich or who was not); Who’s Who Women of Oregon; Medford name index up to 1900; and a Business Bibliography, to name just a few.  He further has indexed pictures from the Mail Tribune from 1892-1963; there are many, many more that need to be identified.  Ben has transcribed the 1854-55 diary of James Mason Hutchings, who wrote about his trip through this valley.  It was a very wet year in the Rogue Valley and his descriptions are extremely realistic.  There are still many things that need to be transcribed and Ben is always looking for help with this.  If you are interested in helping with this project, please contact Ben at http://truwe.sohs.org.  Anne Billeter thanked Ben for this very interesting program regarding Medford and the Southern Oregon area.
Kim Thurman also thanked Ben and reminded everyone that our next meeting will be June 15, 2020, via Zoom, the program will be “History of your House and Neighborhood,” by Betsy Green.
 
Loretta Barker, Secretary