OVHS NEWSLETTER

January 5, 2006

In an effort to keep the members informed of the development and activities of the Oro Valley Historical Society, the following items are provided for your information.

1. At the last meeting the OVHS members established the third (3rd) Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM as the normal meeting time of the Society. The January and February meetings will be held at the Sunshine School in Oro Valley at 9000 North Oracle. Starting in March 2006, the meetings will be held in the large meeting room at the Oro Valley Library. While the meetings will officially start at 6:30 PM, we will have the room from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM. This will allow time to 'setup' and 'cleanup'.

2. The March 16th meeting is the official annual meeting of the Society at which time the members will elect additional members to become part of the Board of Directors and vote on any proposed changes to the Bylaws and on any other Society operating procedures. The current Board has formed a nominating committee. Before the March meeting a list of the nominees will be mailed to the Society members. The members will also be allowed to make additional nominations from the floor. The bylaws state that the Board shall consist of no more than nine (9) and no less than five (5) members.

3. The Board of Directors will meet following the March general membership meeting and elect Society officers.

4. A priority for the OVHS is to obtain information about the history of Oro Valley through oral interviews. The Town Manager Chuck Sweet and the Town Public Information officer Bob Kovitz are making arrangements for oral and video interviews with Henry Zipf and Jim Kriegh by a professional firm to document the history of the Steam Pump Ranch and the beginning of the Town of Oro Valley. The OVHS strongly supports this Town project and we hope it will provide the basis for additional Society projects to acquire information on the people and places important in the community's past.

5. The Society now has over 55 members and we are fortunate to have so many enthusiastic members really interested in preserving the history of the greater Oro Valley area.

6. The Museum Past Perfect software has arrived and Joe Frannea has installed it on a laptop computer for our use, so work with archiving the historic data will soon be started.

7. At the next meeting we will select committees and committee members. Please review the list of committees which follows and determine which one or ones on which you would be willing to serve. The suggested list follows:

a. Archival

b. Membership

c. Fund raising

d. Public relations

e. Grant application

f. Interview: (Oral and video)

g. Student educational

There is nothing new to report concerning the Town's effort to acquire the Steam Pump Ranch.

Any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at (520) 297-4161

or by email at Jim @ OVHistory.org.

Jim Kriegh