Bruce Museum Is Growing

On behalf of the Waitsburg Historical Society board, I would like to thank all those who have helped us to restore, maintain and operate the Bruce Memorial Museum. This is a great source of pride for all of Waitsburg and we all have a stake in its preservation.

We will again need volunteers to help conduct tours next year. Volunteers work in pairs, on Friday and Saturday afternoons. You meet nice people from out of the area and learn the nature of their interest in the museum, which helps us to make it better.

If you can volunteer, or if you are interested in joining the board, please contact a board member. Our current board members are Bruce Abbey, Anita Baker, Kay Baker, Tom Baker, Bert Baxter, Jeff Broom, Jane Butler, Bettie Chase, Pam Conover, Dorothy Hall, Linda Hermanns, Doris Hulce, Deanne Johnson, Martha Kenney, Jim Leid, Bob Patton, Mary Phillips, Jack Roberts, Dona Jean Smith, Sandra Torres and Andy Winnett.

We would also like to take this opportunity to update the community on our recent activities, as follows: We have just received, and are in the process of installing, a spectacular pump organ that came to us from southern California. It belonged to the Bruce family and was in the Bruce House.

We are also working on setting up displays in our new property, the adjacent Wilson-Phillips house, and we plan to have it open for visitors next spring.

Other projects include working on further documentation of the society's collection, a website that will include virtual tours and a mobile website and Facebook updates for those who wish to follow progress.

Thanks to the ongoing generosity of our donors, we have a large collection of artifacts so large that we have had to become much more selective on which items we accept for donation. In many cases we must replace existing items if we accept new ones. The Wilson-Phillips House enables us to show more of the collection, but we still have more than we can display all at once.

As we set up the Wilson Phillips house, we find that we need dress forms or mannequins, display cases, hat mannequins, an anvil and a few handmade harness items. We have an old wooden washing machine that we would like to display, but it needs restoration, so we would like to hear from someone who would like to undertake this challenge.

Recent discussions have centered on how we could make the Fall Festival easier to produce and more inclusive of the rest of the town. One idea is to make it a Waitsburg History Day and provide an opportunity for local restaurants and shops to participate as visitors cover Main Street all the way to Preston Hall.

The day could also include walking or wagon tours of other historic sites and buildings. We have a draft list of Waitsburg historic properties that could be included as part of the tour. We plan to publish this list and ask for corrections and additions. For now, we will try to focus on anything that was built before 1920.

Please provide feedback or other ideas for improvement to board members.

We thank you for your continued support and interest.

Jeff Broom For the Board, Waitsburg Historical Society