Your Membership Dollars At Work

Education &
Interpretation
Promote the Miners of the Little Cities annual theme begun at LCBD Day 2007 through the summer of 2008 via the web page, the Appalachian Spring Festival.

Give close attention to growth and publication of the Miners of the Little Cities Registry.  Post the first entries on the www.littlecitiesofblackdiamonds.org web page by April.  Provide the first printed version of the registry by October 2008. 

Provide easy to use computer access for the public to Miners of the Little Cities Registry and to the Little Cities Archive via “Past Perfect” software and designated computers for the Registry and Archive.  Enter and label at least 350 images/artifacts into the archive during 2008. 

Organize and host a two day summer labor history conference entitled Agents of Change: The Pioneering Roles of the Miners of The Little Cities in the Nations Labor Movement to be held August 8-9, 2008 at Dunkles Hall in New Straitsville.  (Made possible by support from the Ohio Humanities Council).

Work closely with labor scholar Dr. Warren Van Tine of the Ohio State University to review, authenticate and edit the labor history monograph  Agents of Change: The Pioneering Roles of the Miners of The Little Cities in the Nations Labor Movement for review at labor conference and for a final publication  in 2009. 
Work closely with humanities scholars Kathy Devecka and Ann Cramer to launch Voices of the Little Cities Project which will result in theatrical readings of the writings, accounts and oral histories of the miners of the Little Cities.

Adopt Voices of the Little Cities as the 2008-2009 theme for the Little Cities Council to be launched at Little Cities of Black Diamonds Day in October.  

Loan the Diamonds in the Rough: The Legacy of Mining in Ohio’s Hill Country exhibit for public viewing.

Begin to abstract oral history tapes, donated by Lela Ervin of Millfield, that contain accounts of mining at the Millfield Mine as well as Ohio’s largest underground mining disaster at Millfield

Work closely with Ohio University and other scholars to develop an Interpreting America’s Heritage proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities which will focus on planning future interpretation of heritage sites in the area,

Develop prototype audio pods that are downloadable from the Little Cities web site to MP3 players that interpret visitable sites in the Little Cities microregion.      

Restructure Little Cities web page as a source of more and better research materials on local history.  Introduce Blosser’s Blog on the site as a location where history buffs can read postings from Little Cities research specialist Cheryl Blosser. 

Host project with students and faculty from  OU, OSU and Columbus Public Schools in a rural/urban exchange that familiarizes OSU students and CPS teachers with rural heritage and issues.

Host student groups in hands-on learning experiences from Frans Doppens Social Studies methods classes at Ohio University and Ken Bowald’s Heritage Interpretation classes at Hocking College. 
Events & Experiences
Sponsor the 6th Annual Little Cities Appalachian Spring Festival at Eclipse Company Town on Saturday, May 10.  This year’s event will honor Miners of the Little Cities including miners from the Eclipse Mine; a benefit auction; live music;  exhibits and 2nd Annual Tour de Forest.  It will also reinforce the tradition of a strong “Little Cities of the Forest” environmental education and natural history component, begun last year. 

Sponsor the 2nd Annual Tour de Forest Bicycle Ride in conjunction with the Appalachian Spring Festival on May 10. 

Sponsor a two day summer conference entitled Agents of Change: The Pioneering Roles of the Miners of The Little Cities in the Nations Labor Movement to be held August 8-9, 2008 at Dunkle’s Hall in New Straitsville. 

Sponsor the 14th Annual Little Cities of Black Diamonds Day, Sunday, October 20 with the theme “Voices of the Little Cities” and the premiere of an hour long theatrical reading program.

Celebrate the 20th Southern Perry County Quilt Show which will be held in conjunction with LCBD Day .

Host  Voices of the Little Cities theatrical reading program at Stuart’s Opera House during the Final Friday of November in the Nelsonville Historic Square Arts District.

Support the annual Millfield Mine Disaster Commemorative event in early November commemorating the 78th Anniversary of Ohio’s largest mine disaster (November 5, 1930). 

Keep alive the tradition of Quarterly Potlucks with following themes that reinforce the Miner’s Theme:
     Voices from the Registry
     Songs from the Coalfields-Jack Wright
     Columbus & Hocking Valley Railway            
Host fourth season of Little Cities Experiences by packaging tours and presentation to groups around the themes of heritage, environment and artisan experiences scheduled at the convenience of interested groups.

Have Miners Registry and book/souvenir sales table available at these events:
    New Straitsville Moonshine Festival
    Nelsonville Parade of the Hills
    Jacksonville Old Settler’s Reunion.

Have  2-3 special Miner’s Registry open houses at  town locations within the microregion where registration is lagging.   Package it with the showing of Devil’s Oven documentary or some other related speaker or program. 

Suspend the Little Cities Summer Chautauqua series and evaluate it for redesign and reintroduction in the future.  

Communications &
Marketing
Seek corporate sponsorship for reprinting of the Little Cities Driving Tour brochure with minor edits and updates.  

Utilize grant from Verizon Wireless and the graphic design services of Chad Seurkamp to develop, print and distribute a postcard packet that promotes Little Cities Experiences/Tours to groups.   
Design Tour de Forest and Voices of the Little Cities logos for printing on marketing posters, t-shirts and other logo items.  

Reintroduce t-shirt/print with updated listing of each of the 50 plus “Little Cities of Black Diamonds.”

Design tote bag with LCBD Destination sticker logo for sale to the public and favors at labor history conference.

Continue sales of books and logo materials/souvenirs at the following vendor outlets:
   Wayne Forest Headquarters
   Rocky Boot Outlet
   Community Exchange Gift Shop
   Little Cities Saturdays/Little Cities        
           Christmas Shop
Explore vendor relationships with other area gift shops (Glouster/Millfield Area) and lodging attractions.

Continue publication of Black Diamond Press, the quarterly newsletter.  

Promote Devil’s Oven documentary sales through posters and news releases. 

Issue news releases and calendar posting for all events including  potlucks. 

Explore ISBN #’s for Council publications.  These numbers make it easier for those researching the history of the region to locate the books and direct them to a source for purchasing them.

Explore expansion of book sales to Athens area book stores.  Make sure area libraries have purchased copies.

Suspend publishing of program books for events and replace with simple event programs with sponsorship listings rather than display ads.

Research financial feasibility of annual publication that is professionally printed each spring.   Publication would be supported through display advertising sales and include a variety of information on the microregion including a map.  If deemed feasible, plan for launch in 2009.
Maintain strong communications and collaborative working relationships with area local history groups, historical societies, schools and the Little Cities of the Forest Collaborative.     

Organization & Finance
Engage in development of 3-5 year plan for the Council (2009-2011) with strong membership involvement.

Identify a publisher and source of funding for final publishing of the Agents of Change monograph in 2009.  

Successfully submit plans for the second year of two-year funding from the Ohio Arts Council’s Sustainability Program which helps support organizational cultural programs. 

Successfully execute grant outcomes for the Agents of Change/Voices of the Little Cities grant from the Ohio Humanities Council. 

Submit proposal to National Endowment for the Humanities for Interpreting America’s Heritage planning grant.

Submit proposal to Southern Perry County Academic Endowment Fund to further promote projects that are identified in this plan.  

Identify additional sources of funding that meet organizational priorities during the course of the year.