By PGP DAVID ALLEN, Chairman
The purpose of the Historical Preservation Foundation of the Native Sons of the Golden West is to make California and American history accessible, informative, meaningful and entertaining for the public through the preservation, sponsorship and promotion of historical sites and of events to commemorate historical dates. That is how this report was started last year and continues to be the motivating factor for the HPF. This year the HPF maintained its course and was able to fulfill and carry on its mission in numerous ways to make a difference on its journey of recognizing and assisting in the preservation and education of California history.
In 2015-2016 the HPF granted or pledged just under $35K to ten different groups and entities throughout California. As the 2016-2017 year begins the HPF is poised again to fund many interesting and diverse projects.
Over the last four years, the HPF has been able to make donations to various entities throughout the state of California for a total of just over $100K in grants and pledges. Currently only the smaller grants and matching grants have come to fruition and they have been sponsored or matched by the HPF. As the list of donations grows and the track record grows, the Foundation will eventually begin to seek and hopefully receive larger grants as was the original plan. This is not an overnight process and will take years for us to reach our full potential, but the HPF continues to move in the right direction.
In continuing with the commitment to education, as in years past the HPF was able to provide a $1,000 scholarship to a deserving student to the Western Archive Institute. The students came from a candidates’ pool provided by the Secretary of the State of California.
A request from St Helena Parlor #53 was matched by the HPF. That total in turn was matched by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Historic Trust Foundation matches up to 50% of the cost for a historic structure report with the remaining 50% match having to come from other sources.
You can see that there are many ways in which the HPF can provide services to the Order. From matching grants to cash awards to behind the scenes work, the HPF is constantly looking for ways to promote California history and the
Native Sons of the Golden West and most importantly tell the story of California.
The HPF wishes to thank each and every member of the Native Sons along with the parlors for their continued support and faith in the mission of the HPF.
There is some exciting news that is on the horizon. As many of you know after several years of visitations and time by the HPF, the Native Sons of the Golden West was able to be present at the Native Sons dedication ceremony for the new museum at Donner Memorial State Historic Park in Truckee on June 6, 2015. There were over 500 in attendance for this ceremony on that beautiful Sierra morning. It was an outstanding day for the Native Sons.
As many of you know this was the first project of this magnitude that was attempted by the Native Sons. It was started in 1898 and finished in 1918, with the park and monument given over to the state in 1928. Even though the Native Sons is not in the lead position this time, through networking and new associations, the HPF is now poised to up the ante and jointly participate with the Sierra State Parks Foundation and California State Parks. Scaffolding is going up around the monument within the next few months and by the end of the year, the restoration of the monument should be “shovel ready.” This should make the project ready to start a capital fundraising campaign to finance the restoration of the Pioneer Monument.
After Grand Parlor it was apparent to see that there are many that do not see what is going on with this Foundation. False accusations and misinformation have not been beneficial either. If you have questions or want information please contact one of the HPF board members. Members of the HPF Board will be made available to be guest speakers at your parlor at the earliest possible date.
Until next time, Happy Trails
