Historical society takes inventory of artifacts

CELINA - The Mercer County Historical Society continues to make inroads at the Mercer County Historical Museum following the death of longtime president Joyce Alig.

Alig served as the historical society's president from 1973 to the time of her recent passing in January. She was also museum director from 1975-2004 and wrote numerous books on Mercer County and Midwest Ohio history, as well as a column for The Daily Standard.

Society president Bill Vondrell along with vice presidents Ike Coate and Bill Sell took a group of about 10 Grand Lake Rotary members through the museum on Thursday to show them the progress they've made on organizing and sorting through thousands of county artifacts.

While society board members are still in the middle of assessing the museum's vast contents and inventory, they've made some progress in sorting through the home and getting rid of about half of a dumpster's worth of items deemed irrelevant to the museum.

"As soon as I walked in (the museum), and I think all the other board members thought the same thing that 'Wow, there's so much stuff,'" Vondrell said. "There was so much on top of everything. Like Bill (Sell) said, nothing was turned down."

Coate said that instead of throwing old antique items away, community members often donated them to the museum.

"They didn't want to throw them away, so they offered it to Alig," Coate said. "She did not want to turn them down."

Coate said the historical society plans to establish a committee that will decide on what items to keep and what items to get rid of.

"Some of this stuff might have to be sold, as we're looking to see what the linkage is to Mercer County," he said.

Some of the objects in the home are even marked with numbered tags on them to indicate they've been logged. However, Coate said the members don't know where the book is with the log.

Among some of the artifacts in the home are the last bicycle made at the Huffy bicycle factory in 1998, German newspapers printed in Mercer County in the late 1800s, multiple baby carriages, old artwork, Capt. James Riley's ship logs of the 1830s and a leopard skin he brought home, medical exhibits, a collection of irons and kitchen appliances, prehistoric elk antlers, the original 1923 clock from the Mercer County Courthouse, farm tools, quilts, military weaponry, stain-glassed windows and woodwork by Mersman Furniture.

Sell's favorite item found in the museum is a painting by a World War II prisoner of war.

"This was painted by a German prisoner of war from Campbell, Kentucky, in 1944," Sell said. "And on the back, it says 'mortal combat.' So he saw mortal combat. … I mean that's my favorite thing."

The board has yet to hire a museum director, however, Ike said the board members are currently solidifying the job description. They would like to make it a semi-paid position.

Coate said they're patterning the job description and pay after Auglaize County's historical society director and are looking at starting the position out at about $20 an hour for around 20 hours a week.

In addition to leading tours of the museum, the director would be in charge of fundraising and inventory of the museum, Coate said.

In 2004, the board of county commissioners ceased being a "pass-through account" for the museum director position, county administrator Kim Everman had said.

"The account was previously set up to assist with wages and benefits for the museum director," she had said. "The county paid and it was reimbursed by the Historical Society Board. In 2004, the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System notified Mercer County that it was not a public employee position, so the pass-through account was ceased."

Vondrell previously asked commissioners if they would consider partially supporting the group financially in the future.

Commissioner Jerry Laffin had said it's been a long time since commissioners have set aside money for the museum.

"We used to years ago. We appropriated around $12,000 to the museum, plus our maintenance people do certain things (for the museum)," he had said in January.

"Once you get your finances in order and figure out what you've got, it's a fair statement to say you can expect some cooperation (with funding) here," commissioner Rick Muhlenkamp had added.

The museum, located at 130 E. Market St., Celina, was originally built as a house in 1896 by Calvin Riley, a third-generation member of the Riley family responsible for the platting of Celina, Alig had previously told the newspaper.

Capt. James Riley, according to Alig, was appointed in 1819 by the U.S. Surveyor General to survey the Northwest Territory. His son, James Watson Riley, platted Celina in 1834 and served as Mercer County's first clerk of courts from 1824 to 1840. Lena Riley, the granddaughter of Calvin Riley, was the last Riley to live in the home. She died in 1974.