One Part of the Puzzle Solved

In my last post I mentioned that I had made contact with a woman who had actually worked in the Eyrie building back in the days when it was owned by Swift & Co. She (Margie) is a volunteer at the Yamhill County Historical Society and I had the chance to meet her last week. I drove out to Lafayette to the YCHS research library and current museum to both chat with Margie and look at any documents that they might have been able to dig up. Unfortunately, the archives held little in the way of photos or articles related to the Eyrie building, but talking with the women there made me realize how lucky I would be to get paid for something they volunteer to do for free! I look forward to a career in public history with great anticipation, and interacting with others who have my same passion for preserving the past is inspiring and refreshing.

Additionally, Margie gave me a great lead on a new research tool that could help me more accurately track the previous inhabitants of the building. She showed me the old Yamhill County directories from the post-war era, which included a listing of homes and businesses at every street address in McMinnville. What a great resource! I was able to establish a estimated timeline of businesses that have existed in the Eyrie building, including a meat processing company, a plastic laminates company, and an antique store. Based on this new research, I feel much more comfortable estimating the building's construction date as 1945, the year that Swift & Co. bought the property.

So that part of the puzzle is solved! After my meeting with the volunteers at YCHS I completed the Historic Resource Record and am now waiting to get approval on it from Jason before sending it in.

*** The photos above are from the Yamhill County Directories, which are part of the McMinnville Public Library collection. The second picture is a close up of the Swift & Co. listing which appeared in the 1946 directory. ***

Slowly winding up

As the internship ends, business picks up at Vista Hills. Last weekend, we had a very successful case sale on Saturday. 3 other wineries were also present to sell their wines; Panther Creek Cellars, La Cadeau, and White Rose. It was incredibly busy the entire day, and many customers left satisfied with cases of premium Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley. This event was open to all the club members of each winery, as well as all the people who came in to just do regular tastings. It was a great way to get everyone geared up for the busy season that is quickly approaching.

I also helped more with packing up wine member shipments and pick ups last Friday, as well as helping serve customers in the Tasting Room. It was a fairly steady day business wise, and many club members stopped in to pick up their wines. I am learning even more about the business as time goes on, and am in the process of becoming an 'official' employee, so I'll have a part time job in the tasting room after graduation. I am looking forward to learning more, and I do in fact learn more all the time while at work!

The Handover

By Katie Paysinger
***

Hello all! Did anyone know that next week is the last week of classes? Just an FYI.

Life at the internship is going along quite well. I have really improved from where I started at the beginning of the semester in terms of how much I can do on my own and knowing what to do in the first place.

Last week was a pretty big week over at Sotto, because along with getting new project proposals under way, we were transitioning the YCAP website and Facebook page over to the staff there. I am a bit protective of the whole thing so that was a big step for me.

Part of the handover included a seminar session teaching representatives from each of YCAP’s departments how to use both sites. It may seem simple to us how to update our Facebook status, but believe me, when you have to write it out in a step-by-step instruction sheet it doesn’t look so simple anymore!

The instruction sheets took me all week leading up to the Friday meeting and the presentation went well. If anything, it made me once again realize how much YCAP needs that new building – the conference room hardly fit Krista and I with the projector!

This week we will be getting the users set up on the website, preparing for a Kiwanis Law Camp meeting this Friday where I will be representing Krista for a bit until she can get out of another meeting, and preparing a proposal for a new non-profit client Sotto is hoping to snag.

Should be exciting!

Katie 

Summer Prep

The NICE is busy getting ready for summer, and what a summer it will be! We have five summer programs in five different cities in the NW, which is awesome. We are also preparing a grant/group proposal called the Learning Community Proposal. Basically this is designed to inform our local programs with strategies that work by testing strategies during the summer and building off those the following year. The learning community would come up with hypothesis' that the local programs test, and the local programs will report back at the end of summer gathering. We will then base our local programs as well as our consulting off that research. We will also use this as a way to get funding, by having legitimate programs that use tested strategies that work. This is mostly my role right now, facilitating this proposal getting written in time for the summer programs launch before I go hide in the woods in Montana.

And I'm off!

Hey all,

So I am really happy to report that we have moved pretty much everything over to the library and am preparing to scan. I went in this week and prepared all the files and am just praying now that the computer can hold everything, but then that is why, I suppose, why they invented CatFiles and Scratch. I attempted to begin moving files only to find out that the scanner wont cooperate with the computer. So as soon as that is situated I will finally be able to start the scanning, which I am hoping will be finished by the end of the semester (wishful thinking I know). (A picture of the pamphlets and brochures that will be on display and eventually completely scanned for researcher's use)
But things should start rolling smoothly when the two students who are on board get everything sorted out. I still have to go through all the mechanics and organization aspects of the archiving process and I am really looking forward to it as it means the artifacts, pictures, and documents will get in that much more quickly and I can spend more time on the design process.

Thats it for now!

Club Shipment tasks

Last Friday, I helped out by charging club member's credit cards all day so we know how many boxes to pack before shipping. My coworkers were kind enough to distract me by going on a brief tour of the property equipped with a ukulele and two cameras, so we had some entertainment as well! It was a pretty fun day at the office with the sun finally showing itself.

Today, I packed up the wine that is destined to be shipped via UPS to the members who want their wine shipped instead of picking it up. This is especially important for our members who are spread out all over the United States! I packed over 100 boxes with wine today, which kept me busy for many hours. Unfortunately, I was working in the cold, dark basement alone so I couldn't enjoy the company of others or the beautiful weather, but I was happy to be so productive. Everything went well and my coworkers were pleasantly surprised that I was able to get everything done save for 10 boxes that still need to be made up.

I'll also be working later this week to do the pick up boxes for members who prefer to have an excuse to visit the winery and get their complimentary tasting to try our current wines in the tasting room and to discuss what wines are included in the shipment. They love to chat and learn more about the wine they buy, which is perfectly alright with us!

Exciting News!

Well, I just made a very exciting discovery that could be a huge help to the on-going search for Eyrie building history. I am planning a trip to the Yamhill County Historical Society's research library next week, and the website suggested calling ahead so volunteers could prepare materials. The woman who I spoke with on the phone asked me to describe the location of the building so that she might find relevant materials, and when I told her the location she sounded very familiar with the area. I told her my end goal was to find out what was housed in the building before Eyrie, and that title transfer documents indicate that it was owned in the 1940s and 1950s by Swift and Company. The woman then absolutely made my day when she said, "Oh, yes, it certainly was. I used to work there as a secretary." Oh my goodness, if being excited about this makes me a nerd, then so be it!

I asked if the woman would be volunteering next Wednesday when I would be coming out to the library and she said yes. I can't wait to meet her and pick her brain about the building and the area! Keep your fingers crossed that this will be a fruitful adventure!