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Central Rappahannock
Heritage Center Newsletter
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A place that loses its history loses it soul
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Volume 6, Issue 12
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December 2016
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Quick Links
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The Heritage Center gladly provides research services. Please contact the center for rates.
Hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to
4:00 p.m., the first Saturday of each month, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or by appointment
Location:
900 Barton Street #111 Fredericksburg, VA 22401
(540) 373-3704
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Click here to join the CRHC mailing list and stay up to date with what is happening at the Center!
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Message From The Chairman
As of December 1, the Center welcomes three new members of the Board of Directors, who will begin their first year of a three year term: Jack Apperson, Kevin Jones and Ed Overton. We appreciate their willingness to serve and look forward to their participation and fresh perspective!
A heartfelt thank you from the Board and Center staff goes to outgoing Board members Barbara Barrett, Beth Daly and Wallace Morton for the many hours of service they have each devoted to the Center, both as members of the Board and as volunteers. Their hard work has greatly contributed to the continued success of the Heritage Center and their valuable input on the Board will be missed.
As 2016 draws to a close, it's time to reflect on the past year at the Center. Fundraising activities, especially through the Community Give in May and the 6th annual Rappahannock Repast in October, were very successful. The Center has also been fortunate to be the recipient of grants through the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region. Made possible with support of the Virginia Heritage Fund of the Community Foundation, the Center has been able to have the cost of expensive archival defrayed with these funds, helping to protect valuable documents from deterioration. Through the generous support of the Duff McDuff Green, Jr. Fund of the Community Foundation, the Center has been able to hire marketing professionals for a strategic outreach plan to increase awareness of the Center in the area and in the research community, as well as purchase equipment that will help our volunteers add collections to our database more quickly.
I would like to thank you, our devoted members and volunteers, for your continued support of the Center and of its mission to preserve this area's rich history. Without you, it would be impossible to do what we do! I wish you all the happiest of holidays and look forward to a successful 2017!
Meredith Beckett
CRHC Chairman
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Welcome New Members
Mr. Philip Hornung
CRHC memberships support the important work done by the Center. The Center fills a unique role in the region, the preservation of our people's history, which we make available for research. We are a 100% all volunteer, non-profit organization.
Please join us as part of the Heritage Center's preservation team! As a CRHC member, you will be helping to preserve our priceless local history. Click here to become a member today!
Thank you for your support,
The Central Rappahannock Heritage Center
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One Hundred Years Ago
Sometimes the Center is given items which seem mundane. But, we are about preserving the history of ordinary people. The 2008 Liebenow Collection contains a dozen pocket diaries. William F. Liebenow was born in Wisconsin in 1882 and came to Fredericksburg around 1900. He farmed in Spotsylvania for ten years, then worked for J.W. Masters for nearly 40 years.
In 1916, he kept daily notes in a small notebook imprinted with "Compliments of Hirshberg, Hollander & Co., Paint Makers, Baltimore, MD." Most of the entries were simple and repetitive. Sundays were "Sunday school," week days and Saturdays - "usual work." After Sunday school, Mr. Liebenow went to the Eastburns for dinner. He also noted the weather, "cold, 4 degrees," "snow" or "rained all day." Sunday, May 7, "Sunday school, mother sick." The following Sunday, "mother better, Eastburns' for dinner." Then, Wednesday, May 24, "To office as usual, mother dies." May 25, "At work for a few hours," May 27, "Mother's funeral."
The United States had not yet entered World War I, "the Great War." In addition to "Usual work," he made the following observations:
July 11, "M.W.A meeting at night. German submarine Deutschland arrives at Balto with 750 tons of dye-stuff (very hot)." Nineteen sixteen was a presidential election year. Tuesday, Nov. 7, "Pres. Election Day, Mr. and Mrs. Eastburn in for the night. Ben goes back." November 8, "Early reports - Hughes elected - later - Wilson." November 9, "Ohio for Wilson. California goes the day for Wilson, close vote." November 10, "Parade & bonfire for Wilson's reelection." November 11, "parade to celebrate Wilson's victory over Hughes."
Holidays were spent at Sunday school and church, except Thanksgiving and New Years which were "Usual work."
Liebenow was a member of the Methodist Church, Knights of Pythias, and a two-term member of City Council. He married Mary Eastburn, (Sunday dinners at Eastburns). The Liebenows had two sons and two daughters. Frances was a teacher and Franklin started Liebenow's Hardware.
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Newly Acquired Collections
Acquired collections for the month include:
- Booklet entitled: Dahlgren's Participation in the Development of Computer Technology
- Record of Jane Beck's presentation, in DVD format, describing her writing of the book Daisy Turner's Kin
- 2015-2016 yearbook of the UDC, Fredericksburg Chapter #163
- Various battlefield brochures and programs, beginning in 1922; UDC applications beginning in 1865; various directories
- Book entitled; Dear Old Ellwood; A Home in the Wilderness
- 13 ledgers from the FPD, beginning in 1926 and continuing until 1942; two city code binders, volumes I and II
This small collection of new material really illustrates the Center in a nutshell. Older primary documentation coupled with "newer" history, and all that enriches and cements our sense of community and provides an opportunity for research.
John Reifenberg
CRHC Collections Manager
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Can you help identify these photos?
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Update!
From L to R: Gerald Snellings, Donna Deats Haney, Reggie Phillips, Rolf Lenzch, W. Ernly Chewning and James Q. Watters, III. Thank you Donna Haney and
Dot Curtis!
(Click on photo to enlarge.)
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Unidentified photo from the Dandridge family photo album.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)
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The Circle Unbroken: Civil War Letters of the Knox Family of Fredericksburg
On sale now at the Heritage Center
$29.70 for members
$33.00 for non-members
You can also purchase the book online from the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation
(click on image to order online)
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