October  2004                              Volume XXXI                         No. 3 Ocean City Historical Museum, Inc.       1735 Simpson Ave.     Ocean City, NJ   08226 From The President’s Desk . . .   We Did It        In Late September 2003, when the decision was made to close the Ocean City Historical Museum for renovations to correct the serious humidity problem, we only thought that we had things under control.  We honestly believed that, when  we  closed  on  December  15,  2003,  we  would  reopen  by  Memorial  Day 2004.  We  certainly  didn’t  expect  that  our  reopening  would  have  to  wait  9 months to occur.        We  discovered,  and  had  to  do  things  that  we,  or  those  we  turned  to  for advice,  had  no  idea  or  knowledge  of  our  problems.  We  researched  every source  available  for  assistance  in  the  devastating  problem  that  was  seriously affecting the condition of the thousands of artifacts and items relating to Ocean City’s  wonderful  history.  Over  the  last  9  months  your  museum  accomplished what not too many museums in our country ever had to do. In fact, in the   tri-state area, we do not believe that any other facility had to accomplish what the Ocean City Historical Museum has just completed.        Nearly  18,  000  artifacts,  6,000  pictures,  1,100  books,  countless  cases  of Ocean  City  paper  artifacts  such  as  diaries,  family  histories,  reports,  and anything that pertained to Ocean City since its founding by the Lake Brothers, was    individually    handled,    recorded    and    cleaned    with    special    vacuum procedures. All of these items were then removed from the facility and stored in trailers, some off-site.        The  empty  6,000  square  foot  room  was  then  literally  torn  apart  by  city employees,  contractors  and  mold  remediation  experts  retained  by  the  city  of Ocean  City.  The  HVAC  equipment  was  replaced,  the  outer  inside  walls  were removed,  the  drop  ceiling  was  removed  and  the  rugs  removed,  then  the successful remediation efforts began. After this, the reconstruction began and several months later your museum staff began the return of all of the artifacts and materials that had been stored during this period and the creation of the present facility.           This effort was not easy. Your museum staff, officers and executive board became instant experts in fields they would not have believed was possible. We soon learned that not too many people in the historical exhibit business have had experience of this magnitude. Even the professional organizations of which we are members had only limited assistance to offer us.          I guess that the most unexpected part of this effort was the final cost not only to the city of Ocean City for the actual remediation and reconstruction, but to  your  museum  for  the  cleaning,  preserving,  and  storing  of  the  artifacts  and creating the new museum. The costs to your Ocean City Historical Museum will exceed $100,000.00. This, coupled with the loss of the entire summer donation income, will seriously affect our future. With your help we rebuilt and opened what I feel is the finest museum in the state. We are proud to have provided the Museum Members and citizens of Ocean City, during this 125 anniversary year, with a state of the art facility for now and the future.   OFFICERS   AND TRUSTEES 2004 PRESIDENT PAUL S. ANSELM VICE PRESIDENT FRED MILLER SECRETARY GRETCHEN BINGHAM TREASURER RAYMOND JONES PAST PRESIDENT MARIAN MOORE TRUSTEES MARGARET CHRISTIAN RICHARD GRIMES DAVID HARTZELL RUTH RUNDGREN MARGARET SCHOCK DOROTHY TURNER CAROLYN TONTI STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LINDA A. LONG COLLECTION   MANAGER YVONNE SKAGGS OFFICE PERSONNEL LINDA GENTILE BEVERLY HILL