| Back to CYC Home
December 2001 |
 Preserving Our Heritage
By Dick Slottow From this writer's perspective, one of the most important events of the Club's November 9 annual meeting was Esther Carrico's announcement that $1,500 had been awarded by The Corinthian Women to support preservation of Club artifacts. Initial use of the funds will launch a conservation project for the historical photographs located in 8 large panels displayed on the walls of the ballroom. Around 1983, John Colver and the late past commodore Warren Vincent, located some old and rather ratty boxes in the rear of a storage locker in Pneumonia Alley. With great difficulty and quite a bit of luck, they managed to remove the boxes without destroying their contents. Then they spent a year carefully sorting photographs, attempting to prevent them from rotting away to nothing, and engaging in an almost futile exercise of identification. Although many were lost due to nearly 70 or more years of damp storage, many also were preserved. For those who are not aware, Pneumonia Alley was the first level of the 1886 clubhouse, and was retained as the foundation of the new building when it was constructed in 1912. Some of the photographs that could be identified were copied and used in the Corinthian Yacht Club 100th Anniversary History.
Nearly another year was spent arranging, attempting to identify, and mounting the photographs for ultimate display in the ballroom. Once they were in place on the walls, members of The Corinthian Women decided they should be treated with greater care and they provided funds to have them permanently framed. However, nothing is permanent. Therefore, a new plan has been devised which we believe will guarantee protection of these artifacts. Although years of storage in damp and rotting boxes is not how such artifacts should be stored, at least they were not exposed to sun or artificial light during that time. The new plan provides for replacement of all photographs with copies made by professional photographers. In conjunction with the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society, each photograph will be copied and replaced in its panel. The original will then be catalogued and deposited in a container designed to preserve such items. The negatives will also be catalogued and filed at the Landmarks Society to be used only as directed by Corinthian Yacht Club. Once all panels have been copied, proof sheets will be available for preparation of a new and updated pictorial history book.
The current project calls for replacement of photographs in 8 panels at a cost of $1,500 per panel. The first panel will be covered by a gift from The Corinthian Women, and John Colver will underwrite a second panel. All donors will be recognized on plaques to be mounted next to each panel identifying the donor(s) whose generosity made restoration possible. With only 6 panels remaining, we hope the rush to support this project will be overwhelming.
Those interested in supporting this project may send contributions to the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society, P.O. Box 134, Belvedere-Tiburon, CA 94920, restricted for use by Corinthian Yacht Club. One may think that completion of this project will bring our artifacts program up-to-date. This will be only the beginning. Research is required, information on numerous artifacts throughout the building is needed, and above everything else, we need help. If someone wishes to participate in the creation of a second history book, and support the artifacts of the Club, please call me. |
An additional advantage of this project is the opportunity for members to personally support the Club archives through tax-deductible gifts to the Landmarks Society, a not-for-profit foundation. All gifts would be restricted for use as directed by Corinthian Yacht Club.