Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507280012
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Barbara Dillon, president of the Vinton Historical Society, which operates the Upson House Museum at 210 Jackson St. in downtown Vinton, said the group's ways and means committee has begun studying the financial situation.
To raise money, the historical society has increased its annual dues from $5 to $10. Also, the group plans to stage a womanless wedding in October to raise more funds, Dillon said.
One of the reasons the money situation is in the forefront now, she said, is because the group failed to get additional funds from the town.
The museum directors had asked Town Council to include $10,000 in its 1995-96 fiscal budget so a part-time museum director could be hired. But town officials, faced with money shortages of their own, could not find funds for that and included in the budget only about $2,000 for the museum, the same amount as in the previous year.
However, Dillon said, the question of funds for a director is not a dead issue with the town. She said the town manager has asked for a written proposal for a director. Dillon said town officials told her the question will be studied again and that maybe funds could be found later.
Dillon said the town government is doing other things for the museum, such as mowing the grass and doing repairs and upkeep on the outside of the building. It also installed a new furnace last year.
The town's latest gift to the museum, she said, is a telephone, which the museum directors have wanted for a long time. The town will pay installation costs and the monthly bill.
Dillon said the museum is not in a financial crisis but would like more money to do some of the things it has never been able to do.
"We have lots of needs, wants and desires," she said, "and our finances are very tight."
The museum costs between $2,000 and $2,500 a year to operate, she said, but that amount covers only the routine operation.
"We need office equipment badly," she said, "and also more display cases."
Dillon said most of the work at the museum is done by historical society members on a volunteer basis.
The historical society was organized 10 years ago and created the museum shortly after that when the town government gave it the Upson house, which had been willed to the town by the Upson family.
Today, the museum is the historical society's major project.
by CNB