Does your chapter have a Chapter Historian position? Learn more about this role and how it can benefit your chapter from two experienced Chapter Historians: Lois Fried, CPP, and Tina Peery Gholson.
The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter’s historian is Lois Fried, CPP. Lois graciously shared what she learned from 12 years of experience as a chapter leader:
“This position adds incredible value to the chapter by preserving its chronological history for current and future members. It is important to record, collect, and preserve the history of the chapter, but the Historian does not have to do all the work. It is a team effort. Before a chapter event, the Board will determine who will take photos, greet and register attendees, and save the files from each event. Chapter leaders often use jpg, pdf, Excel, and other file formats. Some chapters may keep paper archives as well. It is important for the Historian to keep the historical files in a safe place, by scanning, photographing, and archiving as much as possible.
“A Chapter Historian's responsibility is to record the chapter’s history by making note of the highlights from each year (i.e., Board officers, major events, life cycles, awards, etc.). My favorite experience has been to promote and organize the key anniversary years of the chapter. I had the pleasure of contacting the past presidents to invite and recognize them in a special way. The past presidents who attended were eager to participate and were so appreciative to be remembered and honored. The chronological years of the chapter highlights can be stored in the member section of the website for review.
“The beauty of this position is that there is no term limit. In fact, the longer a member serves, the better they get at it.”
Tina Peery Gholson from the Greater Cleveland Chapter has served as Chapter Historian for 5 years and shared her story on why the role was created, as well as her top responsibilities:
“The Greater Cleveland Chapter created the Chapter Historian role after we experienced a rather unfortunate situation. The Chapter Secretary resigned from her role and did not share the chapter historical records, documents, photographs, etc. that were in her possession. I did not want the chapter to ever risk losing the history and documents of our chapter again, so I suggested creating the role of ‘Chapter Historian.’ I volunteered for the role partly because I was an “old-time” member (I had been around for a very long time) and knew the chapter’s history.
“With new members joining the chapter there were often suggestions or questions that only someone who knew the chapter's history could answer. I was able to speak up in board meetings when someone suggested trying something “new” that we had tried or considered before and speak to whether that was a good idea and whether it worked or did not work.
“As the Chapter Historian, I became the person who assumed the responsibility for safeguarding all the chapter’s documents. Some of my top Historian responsibilities are saving:
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- A paper and digital copy of the Chapter newsletters
- Chapter photos
- Special Chapter events, such as milestone anniversaries
- Statewide and Regional Meetings documents
- Awards and recognition documents
- Anything else the chapter should keep for posterity
“It is important to protect the chapter’s history, both to preserve the integrity of the documents and to secure the chapter’s history. I am honored to hold the Historian role for our chapter and would encourage all chapters to consider adding a Historian leadership role.”
Thank you to Lois Fried, CPP, and Tina Peery Gholson for sharing their chapter leadership experience and explaining how the Historian role can assist chapters.
Have questions about the role of a Chapter Historian? Please ask in the comments below!
