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About

Richfield Historical Society History

The Richfield Historical Society was founded in 1955 as an outgrowth of the great interest of visitors at the Richfield Reunion. Over the years, meetings such as quilt shows, doll shows, and tool shows have generated great interest.

The planning committee met at the home of piano teacher, Mrs. K. M. Wood, on Broadview Rd.  Getting the project underway was Laura Eastwood, Bertha Comstock, Emma Matejka, Sarah Bruaw, Anna Mortimer, Myrtle Haslem and Virginia Carter.  Myrtle had started her local newspaper column about that time as well and Virginia had helped to start the first Richfield library where she was the first librarian in what is now the kitchen corner of Fellowship Hall!
 We retain the glass display cases which were donated to the historical museum in their first year.  The Sykes' store case was donated by Allyn Eastwood and the huge bookcase from Buchtel College was donated by Leslie Hardy of Akron University.

Family historian, Mary Garl Smith, was a researcher, writer and speaker in those early days and it was her granddaughter, Karen Uhr, who donated copies of her research from the 1950s.

In August 2005, Kathy and Don Sidaway donated a Rosewood Melodian.  Don, son of Peg and Howard Sidaway, was raised in Dr. Parshall's home during the 1950-1960 period.  His mother's love of antiques taught him to appreciate early artifacts of history.
 The Historical Society signed a lease with the Township Trustees in 1991 for use of the upper floor of the Old Town Hall as our permanent meeting place and museum. At present, we are fortunate to have access to the entire building. In 2008, the Village of Richfield has re-installed the basement stairway and remodeled the basement area. This affords the Society an efficient work area where research may be conducted comfortably, and additional storage areas The administrative offices and all related activities are downstairs, thus expanding exhibit display space and meeting areas on the main floor.

Our current board members are:
  • President  -  Paul Swan        
  • Vice President - Mark Mitchell​
  • Secretary - Regina Taussig  [email protected]
  • Treasurer - Karen Smik
  • Trustees - Kitty Butler, Dwayne Gentner, Linda Fleming, Scott Luther,  Michal Swan
The board meets on the first Monday of each month except when a holiday falls on that Monday. In that case, the meeting is moved to the second Monday. Meetings, which are open to the public, are held at the Historical Museum of Richfield (3907 Broadview Road), and start at 7:00 PM.

If you are interested in serving on our board please call 330.659.0336. We would love for you to become part of us!

Photo Project 

Click here to see our extensive photo collection.  Mark Mitchell heads our Photo Project and scans, researches, and posts each picture. Have pictures you want to share with us? Mark will scan, post, and return them to you, as well as credit you for sharing them with us. If you have photos to share call 330.659.0336 and we will set up an appointment!

Richfield Historical Society Mission Statement
The mission of the Richfield Historical Society is to preserve and interpret the history of Richfield, by collecting and preserving records and articles of interest, as well as to promote interest in and educate the public about the people and events that have shaped our rich history by making available to interested parties such historical information as may be obtainable.

With engaging exhibits, tours, special events, historic artifacts, archival and photographic collections, educational programs, presentations and outreach for children and adults, the Richfield Historical Society’s purpose is to create and promote appreciation for Richfield’s diverse cultural, social and economic history.
   
The work of Richfield Historical Society consists of the following activities:
  • New Permanent Richfield History Exhibitions
  • Temporary Exhibitions
  • Public Programming
  • TakeMeBack Series 
  • Don’t Wait INVESTigate program
  •  PictureThis!
  • Opportunities for Volunteers
  • Improve Website Experience
  • Digital accession records in PastPerfect Museum Software
  • Store objects, archives, and photographs in an appropriate manner
Expanded Hours of Operation for the public's enjoyment in viewing current exhibits.
  • Individuals from Richfield, whether they are current residents or have lived here at one time in their life. 
  • Individuals from outside of Richfield who are interested in area history.
Research
  • Genealogy inquiries
  • History of specific Richfield houses.
  • Collaborative research with other historical societies and community organizations.
  • History students
  • School assignments
Maintain Richfield’s historical presence within and outside of the community
  • Annual Richfield Historic Home & Garden Tour
  • Richfield Community Day
  • Picket Fence Art Show at Farnam Manor
  • Valley Windows Pow-Wow in Northampton
  • Loan exhibits or items
The Richfield Historical Society is here to help preserve our town’s history for you and your children. With help from residents and descendants of early families, we strive every day:
  • To collect & preserve records and articles of interest pertaining to the history and families of Richfield, Ohio;
  • To promote interest in Richfield, Ohio history;
  • To make available to interested parties such historical information as may be obtainable and develop facilities for Society meetings and exhibits.
  • Gather historical data of old families, old homes, organizations and public buildings, which are being filed for reference and made available to the public.

The Gift of History
"History is an account of things said and done in the past. In this sense, each of us seeks to fashion and is part of a history—an account of where we come from, who we are, and how we got to be that way. Communities, likewise, have a history. So, too, do nations, families, and human groups of every sort. In this sense, there is not one history, but many.

Historical accounts serve us in many ways. They can inspire us with stories of exemplary lives or caution us with tales of human folly and wickedness. Accounts of the past can inform and educate us by providing contexts and perspectives that allow us to make thoughtful decisions about the future. And histories have the power to delight and enrich us, enlarging and intensifying the experience of being alive.

History organizations, in these ways, make history a living presence in the lives of Americans and American communities.
History is also a discipline, one that requires attention to the evidence, warns of the partiality of all accounts of the past—including our own—and offers methods for determining which are most tenable (O'Toole, 2010)."

Excerpt from:
O'Toole, D. A. (2010). The gift of history. AASLHTechnicalLeaflet: A publication of the American association for state and local history, (252), Retrieved from www.aaslh.org

Our Privacy Policy
What information do we collect?

We collect information from you when you register on our site, place an order or fill out a form.

When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your: name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number or credit card information. You may, however, visit our site anonymously.

What do we use your information for? Any of the information we collect from you may be used in one of the following ways:
  • To personalize your experience your information helps us to better respond to your individual needs
  • To improve our website we continually strive to improve our website offerings based on the information and feedback we receive
  • To improve customer service your information helps us to more effectively respond to your customer service requests and support needs
  • To process transactions. Your information, whether public or private, will not be sold, exchanged, transferred, or given to any other company for any reason whatsoever, without your consent, other than for the express purpose of delivering the purchased product or service requested.
  • To administer a contest, promotion, survey or other site feature
  • To send periodic emails - The email address you provide for order processing, will only be used to send you information and updates pertaining to your order.

How do we protect your information?
We implement a variety of security measures to maintain the safety of your personal information when you place an order or enter, submit, or access your personal information. We offer the use of a secure server. All supplied sensitive/credit information is transmitted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology and then encrypted into our Payment gateway providers database only to be accessible by those authorized with special access rights to such systems, and are required to?keep the information confidential. After a transaction, your private information (credit cards, social security numbers, financials, etc.) will not be stored on our servers.

Do we disclose any information to outside parties?
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. This does not include trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or servicing you, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential. We may also release your information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.

Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance
We are in compliance with the requirements of COPPA (Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

Online Privacy Policy Only
This online privacy policy applies only to information collected through our website and not to information collected offline.

Your Consent
By using our site, you consent to our web site privacy policy.

Changes to our Privacy Policy
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on this page.

Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us using the information below.

PO Box 215
Richfield, Ohio 44286
USA
[email protected]
3306590336

This policy is powered by Trust Guard PCI compliance.
 

Copyright©  2008-2017
Historical Museum of Richfield, The Richfield Historical Society
P.O.Box 215, 3907 Broadview Road, Richfield, Ohio 44286,
(330) 659.0336
www.richfieldohiohistoricalsociety.org

[email protected]
Richfield Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) Non-Profit Organization
Public Charity Status: 170 (b) (1) (A) (vi)
  • Home
  • About
  • Join Us
    • Membership
    • Volunteer
    • Documents
    • Calendar
    • Careers Internships
  • Photos
  • Current Issues
  • Richfield History
    • Driving Tour
  • Contact
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