• Winter 2002

• 2003 Membership Drive

• "Beary Happy Holiday" Celebration

• New Board Members

• Strategic Planning Review

• Western Gateway Project

• Christmas Ornament
   

• Read the newsletter here,
  or download it in WORD.

• Pratt reunion

• Historic Registers

• Platinum Business Membership

• Did you know ?  Zadock Pratt

• Wish List

• Corporate Matching Funds

• Please Remember us

• Mission

• 2002 Support

• 2003 Membership Form

Winter 2002

The Museum is closed until Memorial Day Weekend 2003, except for our "Beary Happy Holiday" Celebration December 13, 14, 15^th (see more below). 
This is our time to plan for 2003.  Starting in January 2003, you may phone us Monday through Friday to arrange group tours, by appointment.  In the meantime, visit us on our website, right here.
^Top

2003 MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

We need to raise at least $15,000 each year through memberships and donations to keep the Museum in operation.  This includes fuel, insurance, utilities, and maintenance.  This does not include programming events, conserving our buildings and collections, nor paying our staff (partially covered by grants from The Greene County Council on the Arts, The Bank of Greene County, and The O�Connor Foundation).   

Become a 2003 member NOW!  Your support keeps this Historic Homestead alive!  ^Top

"BEARY HAPPY HOLIDAY" CELEBRATION

For the 22^nd Year, the Pratt Museum opens it doors, free to the public, for its Annual Holiday Celebration.  This year celebrates the 100^th Anniversary of the Teddy Bear.  Open Friday, December 13, 7-9 pm; Saturday, December 14, 12 noon - 9 pm; and Sunday, December 15, 1-5 pm.  Refreshments will be served throughout.  Friday night there will be music by Claudia Bracaliello.  On Saturday night, from 7:00-8:00 pm, there will be "caroling" with Ellen Oliveto.  ^Top

NEW BOARD MEMBERS

The Board welcomes three new Board Members: Kelly Keck, teacher at Delhi Academy, Dianna Smith, pastor of the Prattsville Reformed Dutch and the Jewett Presbyterian Churches, and Alice Rowan, an active Museum volunteer.   ^Top

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STRATEGIC PLANNING REVIEW

Our "Strategic Planning Review" funded by a grant from The Upstate History Alliance is now complete.  Pamela Herrick, a planning consultant, met with the Board to review our �Mission�, organization, policies and procedures, and to more clearly define the Museum's role in the Catskill Region.  As a result of recommendations, the Board established committees chaired by Board Members, and is seeking volunteer participation, as follows:

• �          Collections � training, inventory and preservation

• �          Visitor Center Steering Committee � restoration of the Pratt Commercial Building (see below)

• �          Buildings and Grounds � conservation and restoration

• �          Development � grant writing, fundraising and capital campaigns

• �          Public Relations � publicity and advertising, community relations

• �          Education � program development and tours

• �          Finance � competitive bidding, contracts, financial reporting, budgets, capital spending

• �          Membership � newsletters, membership campaigns

• �          Nominating � candidate review and nomination to the Board of Directors

If you would like to join a committee, henceforth a step to becoming a Director, please contact our President, Ruth Pelkey, at our mailing address.  ^Top

WESTERN GATEWAY PROJECT

This project will restore the Pratt Commercial Building, circa 1824, to become the �Western Gateway to the Catskills". Donated to the Museum by Andy Dresser, this building was Zadock Pratt's first office and the first building in his planned community.   A $12,500 grant from The Catskill Watershed Corporation has been matched by $5,000 from The O�Connor Foundation to begin restoration.  The restoration will cost over $50,000. The Board voted to apply all donations made to the Museum on behalf of Andy Dresser to its restoration.  ^Top

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

The Pratt Museum is offering its 2^nd historic Christmas Ornament etched with Pratt Rocks, ca. 1843.  Reserve your ornament by calling 518-299-3395.  Only $16, these Christmas Balls sold out last year before the Season started!  ^Top

PRATT REUNION

If you are a Pratt, Pratt descendant, or know someone who is, call Michele Brainard at 518-299-3125 (Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm) or 518-299-3362 at other times.  She is beginning to plan a "reunion".  Watch this pace in the next issue.  ^Top

HISTORIC REGISTERS

An architectural survey done in the mid-1990�s shows that 94% of the structures Pratt built, in and surrounding Prattsville, still stand � over 160 years later.  If you think your home is one of those buildings, you might want to apply to register it as a historic property -it may merit tax incentives or financial assistance to respect its historic character.  Contact Muriel Pons, Town Historian, for an application package if you live in Prattsville: 518-299-3295 or write to Murielpons@hotmail.com.  ^Top
 

PLATINUM BUSINESS MEMBERSHIP

A $100 Platinum Business Membership entitles your organization to a web page on the Pratt Museum website.  Since August 2001, there have been nearly 30,000 �individual visits� to the site - in 2002 alone, we had 22,633 visits � people are using this site to plan trips to the Catskill Region.  Please visit us at www.prattmuseum.com, and if interested in having a page, call Barbara Cernikovsky at 518-299-3369.  ^Top

DID YOU KNOW?   Zadock Pratt:      Zadock Pratt, in his second term in Congress:

WISH LIST

• Signs for both sides of Town listing local sites listed on Historic Registers

• 2 office chairs in good condition

• Pentium III computers for media center

• Filing cabinets

• Video camera in working order

• Large (at least 20� x 40�) engravable plaque

• Blackboard with chalk

• Period Items (circa 1790 � 1880) for our Collections

• Card Tables and folding chairs

• Glass Salt and Pepper shakers  ^Top

CORPORATE MATCHING FUNDS

Does your employer have a policy for donation matching?  Many companies match donations you make to a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization dollar-for-dollar�this means for every $1 you give, we get $2.  We are happy to provide documentation for you to accomplish this.  Make your donations count; check with your employer about these important programs.  ^Top

PLEASE REMEMBER US

We are a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, so please remember to consider us in your will.  You may either make a direct donation or contribute to our endowment fund.  All donations to our endowment fund are matched dollar-for-dollar by the O'Connor Foundation�.this, again, means for every $1 you give, we get $2.    ^Top

MISSION

�The Zadock Pratt Museum is dedicated to exhibiting the history and culture of the Northern Catskill Region during the mid-nineteenth century, the heyday of the hemlock-based tanning industry in the area.  This area is best illustrated by reference to the life of Zadock Pratt, founder of Prattsville and the region�s most prominent tanner.� 

The Museum strives not only to preserve the Pratt Homestead and its collections, but also to interpret this period of history and to attract to the Museum, through diversified programs, all age and interest levels, using the Historic House Landmark as a backdrop to many education and cultural events and exhibits.  ^Top

2002 SUPPORT

• We want to thank all of the organizations and individuals who have provided support this year:

• The O�Connor Foundation

• The Catskill Watershed Corporation

• The Catskill Mountain Foundation, Inc.

• The Upstate History Alliance

• The Greene County Council on the Arts

• The Town of Prattsville

• The Bank of Greene County

• Benjamin Moore Paints

• Our Members and Donors 
  ^Top

^Top

Download the Winter 2002-2003 newsletter it in WORD.
Fall 2002 Newsletter
Summer 2003 Newsletter