Henry County Presservaiton Commission report

The Henry County Historic Preservation Commission met Wednesday afternoon, June 19, at the Henry County Courthouse. The meeting was brought to order by Chairman Joel Garretson with Todd Barton, Caroline Lehman, Johanna Crawford, Martha Francy, Faye Heartsill, Larry D. Roth, and Mary Savage present, along with guests Pat White and Judy Rawson. The minutes and bills were approved as well as a motion to provide a limited amount of funding to the small Henry County museums for disaster preparedness and miscellaneous operating expenses.

Commissioners Heartsill, Lehman, and Roth attended the Iowa Preservation Summit in Newton in June required for the commission to retain its Certified Local Government status. They were pleased with the variety of interesting topics and workshops at this year's summit. Geared toward small museums, the topics included museum disaster preparedness, use of technology, mobile apps and social media to enhance museum attendance, photography, and guidelines for collecting and inventory of artifacts.

Caroline Lehman shared an inventory of country schools that was published years back in one of Don Young's history calendars. Larry D. Roth shared his work in compiling information on the country schools in Jefferson Township. Pat White brought in a very interesting book published in 1957 containing many aerial photographs and maps of Henry County.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, July 17, 2019, at 1 p.m., at the courthouse. The public is invited.