Annual Reports
2006
2006 Annual Report (.PDF Format)
To view the 2006 Annual Report, you will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer. You can download this product free from Adobe.com by clicking HERE for a direct link. Once you have a copy of this program you can download the Annual Report by clicking the link below and choosing to save the file to your computer.
2005
To view the 2005 Annual Report, you will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer. You can download this product free from Adobe.com by clicking HERE for a direct link. Once you have a copy of this program you can download the Annual Report by clicking the link below and choosing to save the file to your computer.
2005 Annual Report (.PDF Format)
The First Annual Report of the North Tonawanda History Museum covers our first partial year from April 20, 2004, through December 31, 2004. However, volunteer efforts and donations began in September 2003. Our first 990 for our first year can be found HERE.
2004
NORTH TONAWANDA HISTORY MUSEUM
Telling the Story of Our City’s Rich Ethnic & Industrial Heritage
As a City Located on the Historic Erie Canal & Mighty Niagara River
314 Oliver Street
North Tonawanda, New York 14120
(716) 213-0554 or 692-2681 - e-mail: nthistorymuseum@aol.com
website: www.nthistorymuseum.org
A new museum of the rich immigrant heritage of North Tonawanda and its role as an important shipping and manufacturing center on the Historic Erie Canal and the Mighty Niagara River in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as the “Lumber Capital of the World” in the late 19th century.
2005 Office Hours: Mondays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursdays 9 to 5 p.m., Fridays 9 to noon
Also open by appointment
June 2005
To Friends of North Tonawanda’s History:
The North Tonawanda History Museum has already outgrown its start up facilities at 314 Oliver Street, the use of which has been donated since August 2004. The store front in which the Museum is now housed has been sold and the new owner has other requirements for the building’s future.
We are initiating efforts to negotiate a long-term lease and for the eventual renovation of part of the former Remington Rand printing plant on Sweeney Street. The portion we are interested in was originally part of our lumber history, the site of a shingle mill, with a red brick structure built in 1895 for the Buffalo-Niagara Electric Railway Powerhouse #4. This structure then became the home of Herschell-Spillman, a carrousel manufacturer, and eventually housed the various Rand entities.
The Board of Trustees has recently established several special funds: The Collections Acquisition & Exhibit Maintenance Endowment Fund, The North Tonawanda Heritage Program Endowment Fund, and The Future of Our Past Capital Fund.
The Future of Our Past Capital Fund has been established to provide seed money for our first year of operations in our permanent home and to enable us to prepare for the future conversion into an interactive museum which will be a tourist attraction and a history center for residents and students of all ages. It would be our intention to utilize the labor of volunteers and donated materials and services in the first year so that we could continue our present Museum operations, including our continuing growth and development. At the present time, we are utilizing storage space donated by the North Tonawanda City School District in addition to our space at 314 Oliver Street. We utilize facilities provided by DeGraff Memorial Hospital for our programs. The proposed permanent location would allow all to be housed in one location. The initial move will also require significant donated assistance to conserve funds.
Once we are housed in the structure we have determined is the ideal permanent home for the Museum, we will be in a position to pursue funding for the renovations required and the interactive museum components. We are presently seeking a grant in the amount of $7,500 for the beginning of a feasibility study for the project and another grant in the amount of $20,000 for the completion of the study to develop actual budgetary estimates and architectural plans for the future Museum. With $50,000 in seed money and the funding for the complete feasibility study, we will be in a position to raise the remainder required for renovations and creation of the interactive museum.
Clinton Brown is our architect and Hadley Exhibits will provide the Museum concept. The North Tonawanda Lumber City Development Corporation and the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency will be working with us. They will all assist us in procuring funding for the total Museum project.
We are working with the Niagara Frontier Antique & Classic Boat Society, which would has expressed the desire to be a tenant of the North Tonawanda History Museum, and will create a working boat museum.
We have been discussing the future of the remainder of the large structure with potential developers and investors. The proposal we find most appealing would include loft apartments, upscale apartments, a motel floor, and upscale shops to cater to residents and Museum visitors. There is also the possibility of an additional boat museum—a total of three museum entities.
We need your help at this time in spreading the word about the Capital Fund and the project as a whole. Ideally, we would like to see as much of the project as possible reflect the vested interests of residents and former residents of North Tonawanda. Donations of any size for this fund will entitle the donor to be listed on a plaque to be installed in the permanent Museum. Larger donations may justify the naming of exhibit halls, the reference library, the meeting hall, or even the entire building housing the Museum after or in memory of the people or families involved.
We will be most grateful for your recommendations of individuals with connections to North Tonawanda ’s history who you believe would be interested in knowing of the project.
Thank you for your continued interest and support.
Sincerely,
Betty A. Brandon, President
Barbara Wickman, Vice President
Judith L. Mittiga, Treasurer
Donna Zellner Neal, Secretary
NORTH TONAWANDA HISTORY MUSEUM
Telling the Story of Our City’s Rich Ethnic & Industrial Heritage
As a City Located on the Historic Erie Canal & Mighty Niagara River
314 Oliver Street
North Tonawanda, New York 14120
(716) 213-0554 or 692-2681 - e-mail: nthistorymuseum@aol.com
website: www.nthistorymuseum.org
A new museum of the rich immigrant heritage of North Tonawanda and its role as an important shipping and manufacturing center on the Historic Erie Canal and the Mighty Niagara River in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as the “Lumber Capital of the World” in the late 19th century.
2005 Office Hours: Mondays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursdays 9 to 5 p.m., Fridays 9 to noon
Also open by appointment
OUR FIRST YEAR
2004 was our first year as a Museum. We began as a grassroots interest group at a meeting September 10, 2003, in City Hall, hosted by Senator George D. Maziarz, Mayor David J. Burgio, and Niagara County Legislator William M. Davignon. Donna Zellner Neal was asked to coordinate the creation of a museum. A steering committee formed almost immediately and a Board of Trustees was created on October 9, 2003.
The New York State Board of Regents granted us a Provisional Charter on April 20. The Internal Revenue Service granted a 501(c)(3) designation retroactive to April 20. All contributions are tax-deductible, including bequests and other forms of planned giving. We are now able to seriously pursue funding for our future permanent home and will be able to continue and expand our preservation and educational efforts. On October 12, we received the Daniel B. Niederlander Award from the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society for outstanding accomplishment in programming of local history. You may see the award in our offices.
We began 2005 with many plans and programs underway and many accomplishments. Our first year was exciting indeed. There was an exhibit for the Tonawanda News Open House in February, we began a weekly column on Mondays in the Tonawanda News, “Remembering Yesteryear,” held a party for the City’s 107 th birthday and celebration of DeGraff Memorial Hospital’s 90 th anniversary in April, a day of auctions and antique appraisal and a wonderful concert in May, an open house in a historic home on Goundry Street in May, co-hosting of 16 weeks of Seaway Trail Walks with the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum from June through September, our first participation in Canal Fest in July (including a parade entry created with a historic theme by two NT youth groups, the Niagara County Fair in August, our first ethnic heritage evening and a celebration of the 25 th anniversary of the Carrousel Society of the Niagara Frontier in October, our first military heritage celebration in November, and a Polish Christmas evening in December. Our first public effort was our participation in Winter Walk in December 2003. We included an Open House at our offices and a gift booth on Webster Street in this year’s Winter Walk. In these efforts, we’ve learned to work together effectively as a team.
The museum established a website at www.nthistorymuseum.org in October 2003, which has reached people as far away as the Netherlands and England, as well as all over the U.S. Our oral history program began in the summer months. North Tonawanda businessman David Zobrist has donated the use of administrative office space and cataloguing and storage facilities in the historic Adams Bakery building at 314 Oliver Street. The office is currently open Tuesday afternoons from 1 to 5 p.m. and Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to noon. History walks are offered as field trips for teachers and their classes. Senator Maziarz obtained a grant for programming equipment and supplies. We have been able to purchase museum collections management software and needed items for cataloguing, accounting, administrative functions, and the oral history program, including a complete computer system. Our Board of Trustees met with a consultant twice through grants by the Western New York Association of Historical Agencies and the Upstate History Alliance for Board training and development and advice on planning.
We sponsored a logo design contest for city school students, with 4 winning entries from the 79 entries which came from all NT elementary and middle schools and St. Mark’s Lutheran School. This resulted in the theme, “The Future of our Past.” We are now sponsoring a second logo design contest to develop a permanent logo. Entry blanks are available at the office or will be mailed on request. We lent our support to the drafting of a Historic Preservation Ordinance for enactment by the Common Council, and we took an active role on the Tourism Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas.
The “North Tonawanda Ethnic Heritage Cookbook”was published and the first printing sold out within three days of arrival; a second printing was immediately ordered.
The North Tonawanda History Museum is proud to be a member organization of:
Cultural Alliance of Niagara
Canal Fest of the Tonawandas
Downtown Merchants Association
Niagara County Federation of Historical Societies
Oliver Street Pride
Erie County Historical Federation
Project Pride
American Association for State & Local History
Upstate History Alliance
Western New York Association of Historical Agencies
Thank you for your support in our startup phase. Your donations and membership contributions will enable us to continue building a strong community museum of our city’s rich immigrant and industrial heritage.
THANK YOU, NORTH TONAWANDANS EVERYWHERE FOR OUR FIRST YEAR AS A MUSEUM!
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
NORTH TONAWANDA HISTORY MUSEUM
Betty A. Brandon, President
Barbara Wickman, Vice President
Judith L. Mittiga, Treasurer
Donna Zellner Neal, Secretary
Paula Belair
Cynthia Fredricks
Joyce Santiago
Kay Learned, Trustee Emeritus
Paul A. Rumbold, Jr., Trustee Emeritus
North Tonawanda History Museum
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
2003 - 2005
Kurt Alverson
A. Daniel Bille
Elizabeth M. Brick-Schutt
Thomas A. Brick
Thomas A. Chambers
Penny Creasey, Charter Trustee
William M. Davignon
Randy C. Fahs, Esq.
John H. George, Ed.D.
Thomas M. Jaccarino
Daniel R. Killian
Dale W. Marshall
Michael Mroczka
John S. Olszowka, Ph.D.
Kenneth W. Pearl, R.A.
John W. Percy
Rae Proefrock
Lou Santiago
Brett M. Sommer
Leslie J. Stolzenfels
John Zaleski
Paul A. Rumbold, Jr., Founding President
2005
Margaret A. Waite
North Tonawanda History Museum
CHARTER HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS
For Outstanding Service and Contributions in our Crucial First Year as a Museum
Joseph P. Armenia, Jr., CPA
- Daniel Bille
John Borycki, Charter Trustee
Betty A. Brandon, Charter Trustee
Thomas A. Brick, Charter Trustee
Frank Budwey
David J. Burgio
Theresa L. Carpentieri
Penny Creasey, Charter Trustee
William M. Davignon
James Douglass
Dianne S. Flay
Gary Franklin
Cynthia Fredricks, Charter Trustee
John Fredricks, Charter Trustee
Carl Hoover
Thomas M. Jaccarino
John Kopczynski – deceased 2005
Alexandra Kopczynski
Christopher Lane
Jason Law
Thomas Lawrence
Kay Learned, Charter Trustee
Stephen Litwin
George D. Maziarz
Arlene Stocki McNair
Judith L. Mittiga, Charter Trustee
Ken Mountain
Michael Mroczka, Charter Trustee
Donna Zellner Neal, Charter Trustee
John P. Zellner Neal
Priscilla C. Zellner Neal
Timothy J. Neal, Charter Trustee
John S. Olszowka, Ph.D.
Lou Omel
JamiLee Piatt
Rae Proefrock
Paul A. Rumbold, Jr., Founding President
Lou Santiago
George Soemann
Marilyn Soemann
Valerie VanVoorhees
Sarah E. Walter, Charter Trustee
Barbara Wickman, Charter Trustee
David R. Zobrist
AdviceCreative – Tim Gerwitz
Tonawanda News – Terry Shaw
Wizard Communications – James Weber
MUSEUM VOLUNTEERS HONORED AT NORTH TONAWANDA’S BIRTHDAY PARTY ON APRIL 18, 2005
For Outstanding Volunteer Service in our First Year as a Museum.
Stephen C. Ash
A. Daniel Bille
John Borycki
Betty A. Brandon
Theresa L. Carpentieri
Donald Chretien
Penny Creasey
William M. Davignon
Joann Fearn
Dianne Flay
Cynthia Fredricks
John Fredricks
Marvin Fritz
Jane Garis
Jason Law
Kay Learned
Arlene McNair
Judith L. Mittiga
Michael Mroczka
Donna Zellner Neal
John Zellner Neal
Priscilla Zellner Neal
Timothy J. Neal
Lou Omel
JamiLee Piatt
Paul A. Rumbold, Jr.,
Heather Sowder
Sarah E. Walter
Barbara Wickman
CHARTER LIFE MEMBERS
Membership dues for this category of membership have created the beginning of an endowment fund, the earnings of which only will be used in the future for Collections Acquisition and Exhibit Maintenance.
We thank the following Charter Life Members for their early support.
Anthony Abdulla
Stephen C. Ash
John Bernhard Thuersam
Amy F. Zebulske
Katherine Ann Zebulske
Additional Donor to Collections Acquisition/Exhibit Maintenance Endowment Fund
Kenneth & Kathleen Nagel
DONORS TO OUR NORTH TONAWANDA HERITAGE PROGRAM ENDOWMENT FUND
Caroline Blondin Hamilton
In memory of
Peter E. Blondin and Gertrude E. (Brown) Blondin
Joseph and Angela Gunta
In memory of
William and Lucia McCarthy
THE “FUTURE OF OUR PAST” CAPITAL FUND DONORS
The Friends of the North Tonawanda Public Library
William R. Lewis
Thomas J. Love
Downtown Merchants Association of North Tonawanda
Michael Rand
GRANTS RECEIVED 2004 – 2005
Kopczynski Family Foundation - $1,000 – 2004
For Start-up Operating Funds
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation - $5,000 – 2004
For Programming equipment and supplies
Upstate History Alliance/ New York State Council of the Arts - $500 – 2004
“Get Ready” Consultative Services Grant for Long Range Planning
Western New York Association of Historical Agencies - $250 - 2004
Technical Assistance Consultative Services Grant for Board Development and Training
RealtyUSA - $1,000 - 2005
Major Sponsorship – Historic Treasures Tour 2005
HSBC Bank, NA - $350 – 2005
In recognition of Judith Mittiga’s volunteer services – 2005
Upstate History Alliance/ New York State Council of the Arts - $300 – 2005
GO grant to attend
April 24-26, 2005 UHA/MANY Annual Conference in Rochester, NY
New York Council for the Humanities.- Speakers for the Humanities Grant - $450 – 2005
For December 2005 Italian Christmas Program
New York Folklore Society/New York State Council of the Arts - $1,800 + travel expenses - mentoring grant - 2005
For consultative/mentoring services to plan First Ethnic Heritage Festival for 2006
Max & Victoria Dreyfus Foundation - $5,000 – 2005
For Oral History Demonstration Program
VOLUNTEER STAFF
Director – Donna Zellner Neal
Webmaster – John P. Zellner Neal
Archival Records Coordinator – Jane Garis
Curatorial Assistant – Arlene S. McNair
Staff Assistant - Betty A. Brandon
Staff Assistant – Judith L. Mittiga
Office Assistant – Priscilla C. Zellner Neal
Office Assistant – Mary Ann Rees
Office Assistant – Heather Sowder
RSVP Office Assistant – Joann Fearn
RSVP Office Assistant – Jane Garis
Summer Office Assistant – Michael El-Sharif
Summer Office Assistant – Ashley Herman
Summer Office Assistant – Kathryn Jordan
Research Technologist – Lou Omel
Technological Assistant – John P. Zellner Neal
Oral History Coordinator – Jason Law
Photographer – Betty A. Brandon
Photographer – Jacqueline Letke
Photographer – Arlene McNair
Photographer – JamiLee Piatt
Website Assistant – Dianne S. Flay
Maintenance Staff – JamiLee Piatt & Priscilla C. Zellner Neal
MUSEUM BANKING RELATIONSHIPS
First Niagara Bank – 100 River Road
Greater Buffalo Savings Bank – 107 Main Street
HSBC Bank – Mid-CityPlaza
Accountant of Record – Thomas A. Kurtz, CPA
James Amato & Company
Attorneys of Record – Michael A. DeFreitas, Esq. & Susan J. Facer, Esq.
Wm C. Moran & Associates
Insurance Agent – Mark E. Escott
Ralph J. Vanner & Associates
Architect – Clinton E. Brown
Clinton Brown Company Architecture
Museum Concept Consultant – Paul Warner
Hadley Exhibits, Inc.
Architectural Historian – Martin Wachadlo
NORTH TONAWANDA HISTORY MUSEUM
Telling the Story of Our City’s Rich Ethnic & Industrial Heritage
As a City Located on the Historic Erie Canal & Mighty Niagara River
314 Oliver Street
North Tonawanda, New York 14120
(716) 213-0554 or 692-2681 - e-mail: nthistorymuseum@aol.com
website: www.nthistorymuseum.org
A new museum of the rich immigrant heritage of North Tonawanda and its role as an important shipping and manufacturing center on the Historic Erie Canal and the Mighty Niagara River in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as the “Lumber Capital of the World” in the late 19th century.
2005 Office Hours: Mondays 9 to 9 p.m., Tuesdays 9 to 9 p.m., Thursdays 9 to 5 p.m., Fridays 9 to noon
Also open by appointment
NORTH TONAWANDA HISTORY MUSEUM ONLINE OFFERS VIRTUAL MUSEUM EXPERIENCE
The Board of Trustees of the all-volunteer North Tonawanda History Museum extends an invitation to all North Tonawanda residents and former residents who have access to the internet to visit the North Tonawanda History Museum Online.
Established October 15, 2003, with a donated site and a pledge of donated web services by Honorary Charter Life Member Theresa L. Carpentieri, a former North Tonawanda resident now residing in California, the response to the new site was immediate, enthusiastic, quite unexpected, and actually overwhelming.
The community of NT’ers around the world we discovered through the site was something we’d never anticipated. In addition to creating a brand new organizational structure for an actual museum which current North Tonawanda residents also responded to immediately and enthusiastically), we found ourselves with an ever-expanding site. We’d never done a web site before. We’d never done a museum before! People were asking for as much of North Tonawanda as we could share with them. We were not in a building other than our own homes until August 2004. We were, however, carrying out successful museum programming on the local level, earning us the prestigious Daniel B. Niederlander Award from the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society in October 2004.
It should be noted that we began as an idea in the imagination of a handful of residents in June 2003 and held our first public meeting on September 10, 2003. On April 20, 2004, the Board of Regents of the State University of New York recognized our accomplishments and proposed format by granting us a Provisional Charter. Soon after, the Internal Revenue Service granted us 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status, retroactive to the date of our Charter.
As an emerging fledgling grassroots all-volunteer organization, we had undertaken what has since been realized to have been an impossible amount of effort. By all rules of reality, the project we began on September 10, 2003, should have taken years to accomplish. Because we didn’t know it should have been impossible, we did it!
On June 16, 2005, we will hold our first Annual Meeting to honor our wonderful Advisory Committee members and those individuals we have extended Honorary Charter Life Membership to for their outstanding contributions to our new Museum, to distribute our first Annual Report and financial statements prepared by our accounting firm, James Amato & Company.
While accepting the unbelievable task of creating an actual museum, establishing start up facilities, and working to obtain a permanent future home, along with continuing our ongoing regular programming, we also realized we had created a web site that was only partially meeting our needs as a museum and the desires of our NT’ers around the world.
In the summer of 2004, we lost the services of our original web site creator due to personal and family health concerns. The web site had taken on a life of its own and required far more time and effort than any of us had envisioned or were prepared for.
From our inception as an organization, the Board of Trustees has requested, accepted, and acted on the input and suggestions of those we serve—NT’ers and former NT’ers around the world—and the general public with an interest in our City’s history. The actual existing Museum and its programming, the future permanent Museum plans, and the Museum Online have all been created around that input. It has never been “our” Museum. It has always been our objective to create the Museum desired by those who became part of the effort and those who it is meant to serve.
On February 1, 2005, after a transitional period of eight months, during which we evaluated what had been asked for by visitors to the site from October 15, 2003, through January 31, 2005, and our needs for sharing ongoing information, one of our younger members, John P. Zellner Neal, with a love for the newest technology and, as one of our Honorary Charter Life Members who has been an intimate part of the Museum creation and development from the beginning, was given the responsibility by the Board of Trustees to transform the existing web site into the Online Museum we felt was required.
As with our actual Museum and collections, the Online Museum will never be “complete.” We intend to always be growing, adapting to the needs and desires of those we serve. We proudly announced the re-launching of our site on March 8, 2005. It is now modified daily, with a regular daily schedule of additions and changes, a dedicated volunteer web master and a dedicated assistant, Dianne Flay, who has been a proof reader and reviewer since early in the creation of the original website.
John Neal, who is 24 years old, working closely with his mother, volunteer Museum Director, Donna Zellner Neal, has crafted the format the Board of Trustees felt was needed. Our web site at www.nthistorymuseum.org is not meant to be merely a promotional tool to inform visitors of our purpose and activities. It does do that. However, its purpose is to provide visitors with the experience of a real visit to our Museum and to provide the history and even current information on our wonderful “best little city in New York,” North Tonawanda, to people around the world.
Since March 8, we have had regular contact with visitors who reside in Germany, England, Poland, the Netherlands, Russia, Canada, and nearly every state in the United States. We’ve had occasional visits from individuals living in 41 different countries.
So new that we aren’t yet listed in phone books, our actual start up Museum on Oliver Street has had visitors from all over Western New York and, although only open 23 hours a week, and in cramped quarters, we average 200 visitors a month. The Online Museum averages nearly 1,000 visitors a month.
The North Tonawanda History Museum Online offers a variety of information not normally available from such a fledgling organization. Present and prospective members and donors can see the by-laws, collection management policies, 990’s and annual reports, our Provisional Charter, our 501(c)(3) determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service. Interested individuals may download deeds of gift forms for donations, membership and volunteer applications, applications for our contests, may shop in our online gift shop.
A history of the Museum’s creation is being archived by news releases, our weekly “Remembering Yesteryear” column and copies of major news articles about our progress.
There are numerous galleries of photos of Museum activities and related to the historical material found under the Collections section. Visitors to the site can see our Museum volunteers at work in our activities and programming in these photo galleries. Visitors may also take a virtual visit to our actual Museum by visiting one of these galleries.
New additions to the collections and their potential future use are the focus of another gallery. The Museum staff is unable to display all of its rapidly-growing collections in the actual Museum because of limited space. We include a sampling in the actual Museum and a sampling in the Online Museum as well. We have been fortunate to obtain safe and secure temporary storage space at another location for the rapidly accumulating larger items in our collection which just will not fit in our start up location.
Scheduled events, interactive forums, links to most of Western New York’s cultural and historical venues, and many other features are included in the site.
Visitors to the North Tonawanda History Museum Online will require many repeat visits to experience it all. Because it is updated daily and expands daily, it will always have something new to view. Our intent is for visitors to the Online Museum to feel that they are a real part of our ongoing effort to create the actual permanent Museum, as well as to feel that they are part of our daily ongoing activities.
Admission to the North Tonawanda History Museum Online is free, as is admission to the start up actual Museum at 314 Oliver Street. We believe, however, that those who visit either the Online Museum or our actual Museum – or both – will realize that our all-volunteer effort is deserving of their membership and support.