2011 Annual Meeting
2011 Annual Meeting Held at South Windsor Public Library
On June 4, 2011, FOCL held its Annual Meeting at the South Windsor Public Library with nearly 90 Friends attending. President Carl Nawrocki called the meting to order and introduced Mary Etter, Library Director, who welcomed the attendees to South Windsor. Next, State Librarian Ken Wiggin shared a brief status of the State library budget and the potential cuts in State funding. Ken thanked the Friends for all their support during these difficult fiscal times.
Carl then reviewed the past year at FOCL by describing the success of the Fall Conference at Central Connecticut State University and the “Boot Camp” held at the University of Hartford in the Spring. The new Web site (www.foclib.org) is a success, receiving many compliments. The number of Friends on FOCL Face book has nearly tripled and continues to grow. In all, it has been a good year for giving Friends statewide opportunities to be involved with each other.
Polly Fitz, Awards Chairperson, was introduced and presented the 2011 Annual FOCL Awards. The Friends of the Weston Public Library won a Group Award for revitalizing their group. Focus Project Awards were presented to the Friends of the Rathburn Library from East Haddam, the Friends of the Scranton Library from Madison and the Friends of the Blackstone Library from Branford. Individual Achievement Awards acknowledged the contributions of Jean Tatro of Cromwell, Sarah Leighton of Guilford and Doris La Rese of Southington. Read the stories behind the awards and see pictures of the recipients in our Flickr Photostream
To complete the program, the attendees were treated to a captivating talk by Connecticut’s State Archaeologist, Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni. With his lively style and great sense of humor, Dr. Bellantoni recounted the investigation concerning how an I. D. tag belonging to a Union solder from Connecticut ended up in the hull of a Confederate submarine which was recently recovered from the harbor of Charlestown S.C. Dr. Bellantoni introduced us to H.L. Hunley, the man who lead the development of Confederate submarines during the Civil War. Mr. Hunley perished during the submarine development, so the found sunken submarine was named after him. Dr.Bellantoni explained how the submarine ended up in Charlestown harbor and the action it took against the U.S.S. Housatonic. The discovered I.D. tag belonging to Ezra Chamberlain lead the investigation to Killingly, CT. Here Dr. Bellantoni traced the family roots of the young man and tied the investigations together showing forensic evidence that Ezra Chamberlain was not aboard the submarine when it sank, but died on a battlefield. Read more of Dr. Bellantoni’s tale and see photos of the Annual meeting.
