Volume 2, Number 4 - Summer 1965
The Editor Speaks
You, the members of the White River Valley Historical Society, are the ones who have information to share. That is the purpose of this publication that we put into print the information we have concerning our history. The history of an area is not made up of just wars, great disasters, and the building of dams. The greater part of an area comes from the everyday activities of its people. You are the ones who have that information. Will you write it down and send it to me that we may all share in your knowledge.
There are sometimes those who say "I cannot write." Perhaps you cannot write an article such as would Elmo Ingenthron or Mrs. Albert Cummings, but I will wager that each of you can and do write letters. Do not attempt then to write an article, just write a letter to me. A letter telling of your family, your school days, your war experiences, your quilting, your cooking, your spinning, etc.
Please send pictures, too. And always write a letter about the picture, be it of a person, building, or creek.
I wish each of you would bring a picture and a letter when you come to the Fall Meeting, on October 2. If you cannot come then, just let the mails carry the letter to me.
If there is a cemetery in your neighborhood or on your farm, will you copy the names from the headstones, the dates, and any other words thereon. Send those to me. We would like to carry a cemetery story each time. We so often have persons coming into the book shop inquiring where they may locate a certain cemetery or grave.
If you have old letters that tell about happenings or places in the White River Valley, will you please copy them and send a copy to me. Letters that tell what the family did on holidays or a family outing, of births, deaths, or of crops and live stock, or of disease and pests. If there are sentences you prefer to omit, just make a few dots and start again.
When you take an old newspaper off a shelf or out of a trunk, or maybe in the linings of a box or trunk, do read each one, it may tell about the White River Valley. Then either copy or send the same to me. Always remember to find the date of publication and write it down. I will return all papers or letters sent to me.
Do take pictures of old buildings found on your farms or in the neighborhood. That old church, mill, school house, or barn will soon be gone with no recordings left behind.
There, that is your first writing lesson from me. Have not you enjoyed Jessie Yarnell Cox’s letters. Just do likewise, tell us where you live, what you and your parents did, and their names.
Thanks
JEWELL ROSS MEHUS
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