Thank you for subscribing to the Historic Valentown Newsletter!
~A Note From Kathryn White~

Greetings everyone!

The New Year seems to be getting a cold start. But we've been 
keeping warm and busy by working on the Museum plans for the 2018 
season. We streamlined the Newsletter subscriber process (not so 
much this and that) and improved its overall appearance. It is 
such a pleasure to be able to say hello this way.

Did you make any New Years resolutions?? We did! Quite a few of 
them, actually. We're determined to check them off one by one 
this year. 

Our most pressing issue and the most important is to 
find funds to stabilize the Hall siding. The siding is cedar and 
not available anymore. We think, in addition to traditional 
replacement methods, there might also be a way to use materials 
from other old buildings. Then those old structures no longer 
able to stand can live on through our building! If anyone has 
some creative ideas for this, let us know.

The most immediate task right now is making subscribing to 
memberships available as a more convenient online process. Also 
we're looking at using the web site as a tool to catalog our 
collections (we're still working on that, we have a /LOT/ of 
materials!!). We want an organized reference system with our 
Valentown story and concept at the core. Then extend out from 
that with local and regional history that relates directly back 
to us.

Remember, the Historic Valentown site is an independent 501(c)3 
not for profit organization and gets no funding from any of our 
neighboring municipalities. So volunteers, memberships and 
donations are extremely vital to us. We are eager to find 
partners in the greater community who want to invest in us and 
become involved.

As we move forward with expanding Valentown's networks and 
opportunities, please consider joining us! If you think you 
might like to help us in the 2018 season, please let us know.
Programs, events or fundraising are only as good the energy 
behind it. If you have some good ideas, contact us at 
info at historicvalentownmuseum.org 
<mailto:info at historicvalentownmuseum.org>

So for 2018, lets hope we all find solutions and success for our 
endeavors.

Kathryn White, President

WOODY GUTHRIE'S NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

News and Events
WEB SITE NEWS
We've put up some NEW content on the web site!

Check out a lovely and heart warming recollection about the Hall 
and Sheldon Fisher that we've linked to under 
History>Recollections. It's about a 1997 meeting of NSG (The New 
Society of the Genesee) held at the hall and the tour by Sheldon 
(who was in his 90's then!). It's written by Donovan A. Shilling 
and we linked directly to his write up here:
http://crookedlakereview.com/newsocietygenesee/visits/0897valentown.html. 

We also added a brief about "Maggy Murphy's Potato Plot" in hopes 
of generating more interest in collecting those family potato 
recipes. (/hint, hint). /Read about the background of our "potato 
plot" here, it's even got a before and after picture of the S.J. 
Connelly general store!
http://historicvalentownmuseum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=32

Find Us on Facebook! 
<https://www.facebook.com/Historic-Valentown-157101550971895/>;

Recipes
See /our collection of recipes at
http://historicvalentownmuseum.org/forum/index.php?cat=2

Corn Fritters (makes about 8 or 9 fritters).

This is a recipe my youngest niece shared with me. She lived on the 
Seneca reservation south of Buffalo for 25 years or so, was their 
EMT and was known as Cathy Cornsoup. The recipe was one handed 
down through her Native American partners family.
~~~Submitted by Lynne D. Perry

INGREDIENTS
1 15oz canned corn (drained and reserve juice)
2 medium eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp bacon grease from fat for frying (or substitute butter, 
but bacon grease is better).

DIRECTIONS

1) In a medium size bowl, combine the eggs and 1/4 cup of the 
reserved juice from the canned corn, and use a whisk to beat the 
eggs until smooth.

2) Add the salt, flour, baking powder and sugar. Mix very well 
until there are no more lumps.

3) Add the drained corn, and mix again.

NOTE: You can optionally toss in a small amount of things like 
parsley or finely chopped pepper at this point.

4) Heat the bacon grease in a large iron skillet over medium high 
heat. When the fat is hot, it's time to drop in the fritters.

5) Drop about 1/4 cup of the corn batter per fritter into the 
grease, and flatten them a little with a spatula. You should be 
able to fit 3 or 4 at a time.

6) Fry them until the underside is a crispy brown then flip them 
and when both sides are a crispy brown, transfer them to a plate 
to keep warm.

NOTE: These make a nice light dinner when served with 
applesauce, or salad, or fruit. Also a nice breakfast if you 
treat them like thick pancakes and top with some maple syrup.

Levi's "What is it?" Department

And here is this months "What is it?"!

Hmmmm. Seriously. What is it?

If you think you know what it is, you can take a guess here at 
our Valentown's Facebook "What is it?" 
<https://www.facebook.com/157101550971895/photos/a.708518075830237.1073741826.157101550971895/1985081324840566/?type=3&theater>; 
page or just join in on the conversation! Feel free to pass this 
along for others to guess at, too.
 

Our last "What's It"--- is a "fluting machine"!*

We had a few people who knew or thought they knew, and some
who did know but they all kept the secret to the end!

And we had one sedulous guesser who analyzed each hint given
after each guess to finally whittle her way to the answer!
Great job Laura J. Ping (Adjunct Professor at Queens College,
CUNY)! It was a lot of fun watching you play and guess!

Read more about the solution here:*
http://historicvalentownmuseum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=26*
  

And that 2nd "What is it" contest is still going!!! We can't 
believe it! So far nobody (not even us!) have the answer to our 
mystery woman in the wood carving? What in tarnation is she 
doing??? Don't be shy, take a guess, share it around, we're 
starting to wonder if we're ever going to solve this one! Join 
the discussion about it here:

Valentown Facebook "What is it?" Wood Carving
    <https://www.facebook.com/157101550971895/photos/a.708518075830237.1073741826.157101550971895/1912890852059614/?type=3&theater>;