Our first printed newsletter of 2019 will be mailed tomorrow, but you can get an advance digital copy on our website now. Click here for the Spring 2019 newsletter. Happy reading!
Category: Newsletter
Spring 2018 Newsletter Available Now
The spring 2018 PHW newsletter is available online now! We wanted to get this digital version out to you ASAP for the upcoming events, award nominations, and artisan jury forms. A printed version will be mailed to PHW members soon.
Holiday House Tour Newsletter Online Now
We have finished the print edition of the PHW newsletter for Holiday House Tour. As we know the event will be here before you know it, we are making the PDF with all the house images and descriptions available now at Volume 40.4, Holiday House Tour 2017. The final page of the newsletter has a mail-in order form for checks, and we anticipate having the PayPal ticket order forms online and functioning by November 9!
PHW Fall Newsletter Online
Catch up with the latest edition of PHW’s printed membership newsletter online, including a summary of our proposed North End engagement and a sneak peek at Holiday House Tour 2017. Click here for the PDF.
PHW Porch Newsletter Available Now
The spring edition of the PHW printed newsletter was mailed to our members today. You can catch the digital version online here. The newsletter is a roundup of some porch information that did not make it into the live porch presentation earlier this month. As a little bonus content, we can now also answer the question on the history of porch swings received from the audience.
Oxford English Dictionary dates the origin of “porch swing” to the late 19th century. From a quick and unscientific search of documents in the 19th century that are available in digital form, the oldest instance found so far of the phrase “porch swing” dates to 1877, when it was referred to in the text The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 74. It is not clear from the snippet view exactly how the porch swing was constructed and when this story took place, but it is noted to have already been “old-fashioned” in style in 1877.
References to porch swings remain scarce until after 1910, which may coincide with the final domination of the word “porch” over other porch word alternatives in America. Most prefabricated wooden porch swings of finished oak were being sold for about $4-5 around 1915-1920 (around $50-60 in today’s terms). Some had drop down arm rests so that the swing could be converted to a bed for sleeping on the porch.
If you are feeling handy, there are several historic sets of instructions on how to construct your own porch swing. Let us know if you make one – we’d love to see a finished product!
Friday Roundup: PHW Newsletter, File Indexes, Clowser House Update, and Photos
The first PHW Newsletter of 2017 is available online now, with a recap of the 2016 Holiday House Tour and a fairly lengthy update on PHW’s ongoing archiving process. If you think you should be on the PHW mailing list of current members and you don’t receive your hard copy, please let us know at 540-667-3577 or phwinc.org@gmail.com. (If you spot a typo or need to update or confirm your current mailing address, please let us know that too!)
As part of the archiving process mentioned in the newsletter, we have made a working index of the dead PHW office files available online. At present time the list consists only of the file name and box number, but more information on the contents may be added in the future. This index only covers the files moved to storage, so most of the Revolving Fund, newer Holiday House Tours, and historic building files are not indexed (yet!).
We are also very excited to share the indexing of the Winchester Star’s “Out of the Past” articles completed to date. This indexing project was started by summer intern Marlena Spencer as we were beginning to sort and file the newspaper clipping boxes in 2013. Hopefully this will help you locate some stories you may have read in the Out of the Past section. Expect more additions to this index as time goes on.
The Clowser House has cleared its next hurdle in the ongoing preservation efforts. On Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to move the Clowser House proposal to a public hearing to be held on April 26th. If all goes well, the April 26th hearing will be the final step needed before the Clowser House Committee can lease the property for 99 years and start the preservation process.
Last but not least, we added 22 photos to Flickr this week, all of one location: 219 South Loudoun Street. The brick house was likely built by Abraham Lauck around 1823 for his daughter Sarah at the time of her marriage to Charles Finn. In addition to a selection of shots from the 1997 Holiday House Tour, we were also able to identify the rear garden springtime photos, which had long been in the unknown photo file at PHW. We also did a bit of housekeeping at Flickr and created a dedicated album for those Holiday House Tour 1997 images we have been sharing recently. Enjoy both the festive photos and a taste of spring at the top of the photostream.
Holiday House Tour Newsletter Online Now!
Read all about the houses that will be on the 2016 Holiday House Tour, and look for the mail-in ticket reservation form on page 6, in the latest edition of the PHW Newsletter.
We will be starting our full coverage of the House Tour sites and the Bough and Dough Shop artisans here at the PHW blog the week of November 14 and continuing with updates right up to Dec. 1. We expect tickets will be available at the advance sale locations the week of the 14th, and the program booklets available soon after.
Please take a moment to thank the Holiday House Tour Minor Sponsor Bank of Clarke County for supporting PHW and local preservation!
National Preservation Month Newsletter Online Now
May is drawing to a close, but you can make National Preservation Month last a little longer with a special edition of PHW’s quarterly newsletter. The newsletter features a number of common architectural styles illustrated by Historic American Building Survey and historic house plan drawings (and one past Holiday House Tour drawing), accompanied by brief histories of the styles and some typical historic color suggestions. The online version is slightly different from the print version which you may have picked up at Kidzfest or current members will receive through the mail. If you’ve already seen it in print form, you may want to check out “version two” online to see the different illustrations.
Click here to read or download PHW’s National Preservation Month 2016 newsletter.
PHW Winter 2016 Newsletter
A PDF version of the Winter 2016 newsletter is now available for download at the PHW website. Click here for a digital copy.
PHW Summer Newsletter Online Now
No Friday Photos this week, as we were busily working on the summer edition of the newsletter. Catch the 51st Annual Meeting report, the Shenandoah Valley Tapestry Project, repointing mortar, and the National Avenue Gateway Fundraising Project for the Timbrook House and the Boys and Girls Club of Winchester. Plans are underway for the fall PHW Memberfest and Holiday House Tour. Also, catch the big news that Sandra Bosley has been appointed Executive Director.
Read the newsletter online now.