After several months of recovering from severe carpal tunnel syndrome. I've decided to resume my blog. In the past, you the visitors have been kind to me and I miss interacting with you and telling you stories. My capacity is still diminished. But after a meeting at the Mill House last night we decided to launch a campaign to increase our visibility to the community. Our blog was an important tool. Although my capacity is still diminished I will be getting help from my co-author Judy, who frankly will be picking up the majority of the work. Judy has done an exquisitely professional job on our news letters and has expressed an interest in doing more which we so much need and appreciate. It will be my job to be the conduit of information and post the articles on this blog site for your pleasure and viewing. We also have our Facebook page which is doing quite nicely with your support. You have submitted photos and stories to share with us, the very purpose the page in itself. Your interactions and contributions are what we are all about and it has been immensely appreciated.
We are grossly understaffed and have an abundance of material to process. If you have an interest in community involvement and would like to share in the spirit of camaraderie among historical buffs such as ourselves. Please feel free to get involved. As we barely have enough financial means to stay alive, your reward will be in the satisfaction of your work. Too often our over micro managed, and over automated jobs are tied to time constraints and productivity quotas. We have a state of the art database management system with a relatively user friendly interface. Your work will be at your own pace and will most like involve more drinking of coffee that anything else. Kindly please refrain from applying sugary soft drinks to keyboards.
Note: We do not endorse the use of stimulants for recreational use: Decaf prefered but not mandatory.
Your requirements will be a minimal amount of keyboard skills.
( The average 10 year old may already be over qualified).
A desire for community involvement.
A love for or at least an interest in our heritage and history.
A need to fulfil a desire of selfless sharing and to broaden your insight
to our city around you.
A desire to interconnect with other entities of our community.
Being open to the idea that, although our coal history has been a major part of who we are,
there is so much more to learn and share.
Your benefits will be being part of something special and perhaps being the catalyst that
will take our organization to the next level.
An opportunity to cultivate your own potential: College students: this will look great on your resume.
We have a rich library of information and as a Society we have an obligation to share that with you.
To restart the process over I am reposting a short story written by our VP about the origins on HNS. Enjoy.
A number of years ago, in the pre-Google world, I stopped into the Mill Library to obtain some information on Nick Adams, actor and television star of the 1960’s. This information was for a friend in New Jersey who had a picture taken with Adams when he was a child. I asked if the library had a local history section or something similar and I was told that they did not. I obtained the information elsewhere and sent it to my friend.
During the ensuing years I often thought about the lack of a repository for the history of Nanticoke. The celebration of Nanticoke’s 200th anniversary in 1993 brought more thoughts of preserving Nanticoke’s History.
In my office I had hanging on my wall a display of a number of old Nanticoke post cards. Mark Regulski , visiting my office one day, noticed the cards and he told me of his collection of Nanticoke artifacts. The conversation then turned to the need to have some sort of an organization to collect and preserve Nanticoke History. The seed had been planted. Mark and I decided that we should make an attempt at organizing such and call it the Nanticoke Historical Society.
We had a notice printed in the paper stating that anyone interested in forming a Nanticoke Historical should meet in my office in the Nanticoke City Building.
That first meeting was attended by Mark and I, Julianna Zarzycki, Helen Buczkowski, , Martha Price, Celia Zeedock, and Lynn Maulbeck. Georgetta Potoski, President of the Plymouth Historical Society spoke to us on the formation of her organization and what we would have to do to start a similar group.
In addition to the fact that all were in agreement that we should go forward in the formation of a Nanticoke Historical Society, it was agreed that from the onset, it would be a first class organization with a Constitution, By-Laws, elected officers, and compliance with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations. It was also agreed that we had no intention of becoming a museum but merely a repository for information.
The Constitution, By-Laws, and other legalities were established and Attorney Bernard Kotulak agreed to work pro-bono for the organization in filing the necessary legal documents such as the Articles of Incorporation. In addition to becoming a Pennsylvania Corporation, the Nanticoke Historical Society also has 501 c (3) status with the I.R.S.
Our birthday is June 26, 1995.
The first elected slate of officers were: President-Mark Regulski, Vice-President-Julianna Zarzycki, Treasurer-Janine Whittaker, and Secretary-Chet Zaremba.
With all the “t’s” crossed and the “I’s” dotted, we had a group of enthusiastic people all ready to go, but without a place to meet.
The first few meetings were held in my Police Chief’s office in the Nanticoke City Building through the graces of Mayor John Toole and City Council. The Mill Memorial Library was gracious enough to allow us to hold a few meeting in their facility.
We then rented the “Log Cabin” on Shea Street and set up operations there. We worked out of the cabin for a while until it was sold to a new owner who had other uses for it in mind.
Founding member Martha “Becky” Price then arraigned for us to rent a section of the home next to the First Presbyterian Church on Main Street. We operated out of that facility for a good number of years. As we continued to grow, we needed more space for our operations. Coincidental with the appointment of a new pastor at the First Presbyterian Church who needed our office space as living space, we were offered the opportunity to rent a portion of the historical Mill Homestead next to the Mill Memorial Library. We didn’t realize how much “stuff” we had until it became time to move it to our new quarters. The move having thus been made, we are now operating very successfully out of this most historic building.
NHS
The Nanticoke Historical Society is as much about our present day community as it is of our past. In my limited capacity, when opportunities present themselves, I try to look around myself for new and interesting activities around me. It's important to keep an open mind that others who may not necessarily share our opinions or beliefs still have much to contribute. We are a nation, a state and a city of many all as a whole, whom make up who we are, to all our greater good. Whomever we are, we still are one a community each, with our own stories and history that I welcome and invite you to share your stories and history with us. If they be different, that is even better.
