You Would Need Some Maintenance, Too!

CLOCK DIAL

At least one time every day, somebody stops outside the West entrance of Robbins Hunter Museum to delight in the sight and sounds of Victoria Woodhull making an appearance from her clock tower home. They may be looking for her after a tour, or just happen to be passing by, but they always seem to leave having been captured by a moment of awe. Sharon Ryan is one of those admirers. However, last fall she was awed for another reason.

Sharon passes by the museum almost daily, and like all others, looks up to admire Victoria when she makes her hourly appearance. Yes, she is inspired by Victoria, but what tugs at her heart strings is the clock itself, located just above the wood carved woman, particularly the Seth Thomas dial. You see, Sharon is originally from Thomaston, CT, the factory town that produced Seth Thomas clocks and derived its name from their famous clockmaker. One of her ancestors even worked in the factory! So on this particular day, as she noticed the appearance on the dial starting to fade, she knew she had to do something. And we are ever grateful she did!

"As a Connecticut native, I'm proud of our history in clockmaking, as Western Connecticut was a global innovator in clockmaking through the 19th Century. Whenever I see an old clock I check to see if it was made by Seth Thomas.  The Victoria Woodhull clock was becoming worn, with the name 'Seth Thomas' barely legible, and I wanted to restore this bit of Thomaston history in Granville."  

Volunteers Jim Niedermeyer (l) and Ben Englefield (r) remove the dial from its attic home for repair.

The barely legible “Seth Thomas” as viewed from behind the dial.

Calls were made, quotes were given, and soon the dial was removed and on its way to a revered clock restoration company in Georgia, at no cost to the museum, thanks to Sharon! However, as happens sometimes when restoration projects are underway, things don’t always go as planned. After a couple of months the clock company called, and due to the intricacies of restoring the dial (which is made of glass), they decided to return it untouched. Thus, we were back to square one. Already in touch with our local Antiques Restoration guru because of other projects, he took one look at the dial and is anxious to get it back in its original tip top shape. Stay tuned for progress…and thank Sharon if you see her!

PORCH CEILING

It was noticeable from the upstairs exhibit space but didn’t cause too much alarm. I mean, at 178 years old, there are cracks and creaks in a few places around the house. We were watching the front porch ceiling and developing a plan for restoration. It, however, demanded to accelerate our plans. With an influx of spring rain leaking to a small area in the old plaster, it was inevitable that we would find an area of about 3’ x 4’ on our porch floor when it should have been on the ceiling. 

April 2020

April 2020

May 2020

June 2020

At a time when the coronavirus kept our indoor visitors away, but our garden invited all outdoor visitors, this was as good a time as any to make things right. Board member Kevin Kerr began to work his magic with the help of Davis Construction, who donated the set up and take down of the scaffolding.  It was a complex repair as it involved several trades: a plaster craftsman (hard to find these days), a construction crew for the carpentry work, and a roofing crew to repair the leak. To look at our porch ceiling today with the repairs and fresh paint, you don’t even have to imagine what Alfred Avery saw when he looked up there, too, back in 1842!

Remembering Robbins Hunter, Jr.

I first met Robbins when I started at Denison in 1972. I majored in instrumental music. My favorite professor, George Hunter (no relation), was Denison’s band director, and he took us to Robbins’ antique shop to see all the various musical instruments, including the Broadwood piano in the back, two pipe organs, and many smaller instruments. The inventory was always changing, and the shop, Avery House, was so full of stuff it was hard to get through. Robbins even had stuff piled on the porches. Village council got after him. I remember one councilman saying, “Now Robbie, we know you can be very outspoken.” Robbins responded, “I intend to become more so with age.” He was a riot.

Robbins Hunter, Jr. c. 1974-1975; Photo credit: Michael Williams

 Robbins was of an age that he didn’t drive at night (as I am now). He asked me to drive him to antique auctions. What a learning experience! We went all over Ohio, but one of my favorite destinations was Garth’s in Delaware, OH. I also took him to concerts at Denison, Licking County Symphony, etc. I even took him to a few parties in Columbus. He seemed to know everyone, and everyone liked his affable manner. As a treat we went to see Bette Davis at the Ohio Theater. This had to be 1974 or 1975. I’ll never forget going to see the movie ‘The Exorcist’ 1973, which we both found hilarious, though it was not meant to be funny.

I remember when the fountain (behind the Warner house at the Buxton) was at Avery House. It came from a beautiful house in Lancaster, my hometown.

I remember when the Octagon Room was started, by Larry Swartzenberger. Larry restored the house I lived in for 25 years, on Hudson Ave. in Newark. Larry was very talented, and did Robbins’ room from a picture. At the time, we all thought Robbins had flipped his lid. I’ll never forget when Larry opened up the back of the house. This was in the dead of winter. In the middle of it, he decided to take off to Mardi Gras! Robbins was furious, but it certainly turned out to be beautiful.

After Robbins passed, the saddest part was the BIG auction to empty Avery House.  I know it had to happen, but all the beautiful things were sold.

Look at it now! I hope Robbins would be pleased!

New Trustees at Robbins Hunter Museum

To say it has been a strange year would be an understatement. Lucky for us, Robbins Hunter Museum has a strong backing with an incredibly talented board to help us continue moving forward. Board members volunteer their time and talents to help us carry out our mission. This year, along with new board member Bryan Clements who was highlighted in the Winter 2020 newsletter, we have three new board members who have joined our family. We asked them to tell us a little about themselves…

MEGAN HANCOCK

Megan Hancock is Curator of Education and Exhibitions at the Denison Museum at Denison University. Her current work focuses on developing and curating exhibitions as well as finding innovative ways to utilize the permanent collection in support of the diverse programs and courses at Denison University. Megan was selected in 2018 as an Art21 educator and was also selected to participate in the Rijksmuseum, the University of Amsterdam, and Bard Graduate Center summer program in 2020. Megan lives in Granville with her husband Aaron and daughter Eszti.

STEPHANIE IMHOFF

Stephanie Imhoff has over 35 years of executive financial, operational and strategic leadership expertise working primarily in the retail, direct sales, manufacturing and construction industries.  She has significant experience in strategic, financial and business planning, cash management, bank refinancing/restructuring and financial reporting and analysis. 

Stephanie, a certified public accountant, is a 1982 cum laude graduate of Bowling Green State University where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. 

She began her career with Ernst & Young in 1982, working primarily with privately held, entrepreneurial companies.  She spent over 10 years with the firm before joining the Longaberger Company as its CFO in 1992.  She served as a senior member of Longaberger’s executive team and was instrumental in the development and execution of its strategic and financial growth plans, including the execution of several private debt placements and debt restructurings.  Stephanie left Longaberger in 2009.

Over the past 10 years, Stephanie has provided consulting services to privately held, entrepreneurial companies in Central Ohio helping them primarily in the areas of Finance and Accounting. 

Stephanie is involved in the community at many levels and has received several appointments and awards.  In 2004, she was appointed by the Governor of Ohio to a nine-year term on the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees and is a past Board Vice-Chair.   She served on the Board of Trustees of the YWCA of Columbus from 1991 -2003 and is the past Board Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer. She also served as the Treasurer on the Board of the Columbus Chapter of the United Nations Association.  In 1999, she was selected as one of Columbus Business First’s “40 under 40” and in 1992, was honored as the Central Ohio Girls Scout’s Woman of Distinction.  She currently serves on the Finance Committee of St. Edwards Catholic Church. 

MICHELLE NEWMAN

Michelle Newman is a "community enthusiast" and marketing professional living in Newark, Ohio. Michelle was born in Indiana, raised in Texas, became an adult in North Carolina, and she has called Licking County home since 2009. Michelle is first and foremost the mom of Mirabelle Hope, a fantastically funny and awesome six year old little girl. In addition, she is an entrepreneur running two businesses (Michelle Newman Marketing, a small business marketing company, and the creative coop, a nonprofit coworking space in downtown Granville.) Michelle also serves as the Executive Director of the Canal Market District - a community event space that serves as the home to one of Central Ohio's finest farmers markets. In her spare time, Michelle has found a niche managing local political campaigns. Michelle serves on the board of the Robbins Hunter Museum and as the Vice Chair of the Board for the Granville Area Chamber of Commerce. Last, Michelle earned the title of Ironman after completing the 144.6 mile triathlon in Chattanooga, TN in 2015. 

From the Director

It's been an exhilarating three months! I started as your new director the day Gov. DeWine closed schools for three weeks. It will forever remind me of my beginning chapter as I am woven into the history books of the Robbins Hunter Museum. In spite of the unusual circumstances, the Board, Teri Niedermeyer and I have been busily working from home, writing emergency grant proposals and planning to take our collections and exhibits on-line as much as possible.

We have also deep cleaned, painted and beautified the museum so that our doors are open again for tours. We allow groups of four at a time, Tuesday-Saturday, at 1 pm and 3 pm, and as always, by reservation. We highly encourage masks and have prioritized cleaning between tours.

Sarah Straley Hottle and her family installing a brick at the museum's west entrance, "For our children Gram Dritz and Bodhi Hottle."

If you haven't already joined the museum as a member, we are running a summer membership campaign where you can Buy One Give One (BOGO) and all new members will have their membership through the end of March 2022! Please consider joining today! Your membership dollars will be used to support the museum going forward and maintain this precious community resource.