WCHS Annual Meeting Planned

An annual meeting is planned for the Williamson County Historical Society and its members to be held on Sunday, October 25, 2015 at 2 P.M. The meeting will reflect on the previous year and detail future plans for the organization. Election of upcoming 2016 officers will be held and a nomination committee has been formed for the event, nominations for board positions will also be entertained from the floor on the day of the meeting.

Board positions for president, first vice president, second vice president, secretary, treasurer and one director will be determined at the meeting by a vote of those present. All active members in good standing are eligible for nomination to a board position or may suggest a potential nominee by contacting us at the museum, by email at wchsmail@yahoo.com or from the floor at the meeting.

Further details on the meeting will be released as soon as they are worked out as to the program and location. This is an opportunity for all members to become more actively involved in the society and voice your opinions on the future direction of the organization.

New Laptop Added and Media Database Grows

A new HP laptop computer was added to the museum’s library last week for the use of the public and volunteers. This now makes two public computers that are available for research at the library and two dedicated to volunteers only. With more records being converted to digital formats it has been made necessary to enable access through the use of additional computers.

A digital media project that began last fall has now been completed and is in use at the museum. The media project involved scanning every photo, painting and drawing in the museum to create a searchable database in which surnames or key words can be input to search for related photos or drawings. In addition to the museum’s photos, the photos found in local history books are also being added to the database which now tops over 5, 200 entries. Original photos will no longer be accessible to browse due to wear and tear.

All of our original county records have now been indexed and made available in spreadsheet form. These additional records which extend up to around 1963 will be made available on our website in the records section as soon as time is made available to post them.

A Chance to Own a Piece of History

Vent stack

The vent stack shown in this photo was part of the original installation on top of the Williamson County Jail when it was built in 1913. The jail was vacated in 1971 and deeded to the Williamson County Historical Society in 1972. As part of the renovations to the old jail to convert it to a museum, a new roof was installed in the 1980’s or 90’s and the vent stack was removed.

The vent is made of solid copper and is approximately 30” in diameter and about 36 to 40 inches in height. In order to make room at the museum and raise money it was decided to just sell it for scrap, however it occurred to me that it might be appreciated by someone as a piece of history or the metal could be turned into art pieces with a story to tell.

If anyone is interested in buying this piece we can be contacted at the museum at 997-5863 from 9:30 AM to 3 PM or through our website contact page at this link. https://www.wcihs.org/contact-us/