Over the last several months,
our Roundtable accomplished some thing never attempted in its 48 years of existence:
Operate a museum.
Commander Barry Arnold
Of course, this couldn’t have happened without a LOT of hard work by several Roundtable members, especially Jack Stanley, who negotiated an agreement for the space and, with little help—and a fair amount of personal funds—set up a professional-looking museum that largely incorporated items from Jack’s collection.
Ed Root leveraged his contacts from both the Bethlehem area and elsewhere to garner support. Twenty-six Roundtable members, a few friends, and 17 students donated their time to serve in multiple capacities, including greeters, docents, reenactors, and presenters.
Several members were also involved in behind-the-scenes efforts, both prior to and after opening day.
All of which all brings me to what might be the most satisfying ending to any event I’ve ever been a part of. First, circa 5,200 individuals visited the museum during operating hours. Second, our Roundtable will likely see proceeds that look reasonably close to the number of visitors the museum attracted!
Jack Stanley
Our Preservation Committee will soon begin its work to identify preservation efforts that fit our criteria for funding. Following our Board of Directors meeting, scheduled for late January, I’ll have more to share as it relates to the funds that our Roundtable will receive from this venture and what we plan to do with these funds.
I want to thank Jack, first of foremost, but also the rest of the team members who helped to make this event an amazing success. You’ll find a listing of volunteers in the February newsletter on page 4.