Rotary Chips 7/30/2014
Vermont Granite Museum Field Trip
A delicious lunch was provided by Bag Ladies
Fines- Tony strangely enough proposes a fine of $2 on himself for quote “Falling on his own knife.” The fine was brought up for appearing in a photo of that day’s edition of the Times Argus. As most fines brought up against Mr. Campos go, the motion carries.
Ron P made the club aware that we had 1,326 visitors to our Annual Rotary Breakfast. Up from last year. Perfect weather on Saturday helped to make it a great success. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen. Kudos
The club was then introduced to Patti Meriam the board chair of the Vermont Granite Museum, who explained to us that the building is currently going through several modifications to the building. Areas of renovation include the doors and roof.
We were then introduced to Scott A. McLaughlin, who was recently appointed to the position of Executive Director of VGM. One of his very first goals is to collect photos from various sources to help piece together the history of the museum. Scott presented us with a slideshow of over a thousand photos that were collected, some dating back to the turn of the century. Scott is requesting the communities help to decipher some of the unnamed people and places.
Many of our Barre Rotarians were able to call out names to several of the photos shown. Going down memory lane was indeed fun and very engaging.
We then went on a tour of the museums multiple existing exhibits. The unfinished exhibits will include the history of the shed, the geology of granite and their importance-relevance to the community, life as a quarry worker, how an artist conceives their work, different granite associations located in Barre. Also, a history of the Unions and consequential strikes that followed with well known granite artists/sculptures, and machinery which was used to create fascinating works of art.
If you would like to reach out to Scott to help with this project his contact info is 802-476-4605. Vtgranitemuseum@gmail.com