A Sign of the Times

The “Our Town” events of April 13-15 are drawing near, and we couldn’t be more excited! We’re happy to announce that we now have fabulous sign layout available, thanks to the generosity of Blazek Design, a Beaumont-based graphic design business. The signs are 2’x4’, emblazoned with the “Our Town: Preserving the Past” logo against a creamy background.

Participants were originally expected to design their own signs, but with Blazek Design’s participation, we will now be able to print them professionally and uniformly!  Here’s just one example:



If you would like to have us print your sign, please submit your text and photos to the museum no later than Friday, March 30, 2012. You can email the information to us at jlinsley@mcfaddin-ward.org or bring it by the McFaddin-Ward House visitor center, 1906 Calder Avenue. The information will then also be put on our brochure and blog.

Along with your data, be sure to include your name, phone number, street address, and email address. That information is strictly for us to be able to contact you and will, of course, be kept confidential.

Once the signs are printed and mounted on stakes, we will bring them by your home on Thursday, April 12 or Friday, April 13 for placement near the street or sidewalk. If you have a specific request for the location of your sign, please let us know when you submit your data.

If you prefer to design your own sign, that’s fine, but please still bring us your research, photographs, etc., by Friday, March 30, so we can copy it and include it on our brochure and blog. Then we’ll order signs that are blank except for the printed logo and have them ready for you to pick up the next week.

We are grateful for all of the talent and effort our community is putting into the project; now, we need to be sure everyone meets the research submission deadline of Friday, March 30, 2012. That’s crucial in order for us to have time to edit the information to fit the signs. In fact, the earlier you can send your pièce de résistance, the better!

Participants may e-mail their submissions to Judy Linsley at jlinsley@mcfaddin-ward.org, or mail them to the McFaddin-Ward House Museum Education Department at 725 Third Street, Beaumont, TX 77701. They may also be dropped off at the visitor center. Just be sure to include your name, phone number, street address, and email address along with your information (we’ll be sure to keep that private).

For questions or help getting started, feel free to call the education department at (409) 832-1906. For an example of a research piece, check out our last blog entry, “Old Town Research: The MythBusters Edition” (clever, we know), that contains both a casual and a formal approach to research submissions.

While you’re surfing the Web, don’t forget to check out Joey Blazek’s Web site at www.blazekdesign.com for more examples of his work. As for us, we’ll be at our desks, waiting for your phone calls and submissions!

Tyrrell Historical Library Offers Workshop

As you may know, the McFaddin-Ward House Museum staff is gearing up for the weekend of April 13-15, 2012, to raise awareness about the "Old Town" neighborhood, one of Beaumont's oldest communities.

Interested parties have been asked to participate by researching and writing the "story" of their own home, which they would post on a sign in their yard. These homes would be featured in neighborhood tours during the weekend.

We are still on the look-out for more homes to spolight, and Bill Grace, Branch Manager at the Tyrrell Historical Library, wants YOU to become one of this year’s Preservation Celebration researchers!

The organization, along with The McFaddin-Ward House Museum, the Beaumont Heritage Society, and the Chambers House Museum, are asking all interested researchers to dig into Tyrrell’s new archive offerings Saturday, March 3, 2012.

The event, which will take place from 10 a.m. to noon, is a free workshop designed to give historians an inside look at how to navigate the library’s Web site and hard copy collections. Reservations are not required, but are encouraged due to materials provided.

Here are just a few of the resources available:

• Permanent Collections
• Historical Research
• Digital Portal Web-site
• BPLS Web-site
• Local History Archives
• Genealogy Collections
• Texas History, Biography and Fiction Collections
• Art Books and American History Collections
• Online Library Card Catalog
• Computer Genealogy Databases
• Historical Exhibits

Their new annex building has more than doubled their storage capacity for personal papers, business city records, civic and fraternal organizations, to name a few. Several of these resources, including indexes, general information, an online library catalog, and a direct link to the digital portal site, where scanned and fully described items from archival collection are available from the comfort of your home, via personal computer.

These latest additions make the workshop a perfect and convenient opportunity to begin your journey into the past!

Please contact Bill Grace at (409) 833-2759 to sign up and to obtain more details. For more information on the neighborhood project or any of the upcoming events, contact the McFaddin-Ward House Museum at (409) 832-1906.

Tyrrell Historical Library to Offer Workshop

The McFaddin-Ward House Museum's second open forum proved to be another success! The community is very enthusiastic about the research project and many have already signed up to participate. Just as in the first forum, attendees heard about events the museum is planning for the weekend of April 13-15, 2012, in order to raise awareness about what would have been the McFaddin's  neighborhood: the area between I-10 and Smart Street, and First and Eleventh Streets. They were then asked to participate by researching and writing the "story" of their own home, which they would post on a sign in their yard. These homes would be featured in neighborhood tours during the weekend.

During the forum, Bill Grace, Branch Manager at the Tyrrell Historical Library, offered to host two workshops where those interested in researching their homes could learn about the library's offerings and get acquainted with the archives. The first workshop is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 11, 2012 from 10 a.m. until 12 noon, with a second opportunity on March 3, 2012 from 10 a.m. until 12 noon. The workshops are free; however, reservations are appreciated. Please contact Bill Grace at (409) 832-2759 to sign up and to obtain more details.

We look forward to the potential this project has on raising awareness about this historic area, one of Beaumont's oldest neighborhoods. For more information on the project or any of the upcoming events, contact the museum at (409) 832-1906.