Organizations large and small can benefit from publishing a commemorative book. Determining the function you want your history to serve can help you achieve your strategic goals. A look at a few examples from Timelines’ client portfolio is testament to that fact.
Greensboro Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, celebrated its centennial in 2009 by publishing a 128-page anniversary book. The club had four primary objectives for recording its history. First, it was in the middle of a new member recruitment initiative. Club officials felt that by honoring and maintaining the club’s traditions and heritage through a book, interest in membership would result, which it did. Second, preserving GCC’s history for future generations was of utmost importance. Third, the process of having members unearth memorabilia and share stories and memories of a bygone era tightened the bonds amongst members. And, finally, the book provided an instrument to recognize current and past employees, board members and volunteer committees.
The owners of Wyoming’s Red Rock Ranch published a coffee table book on their dude ranch in 2002. Besides documenting the ranch’s past from its homesteading days in the late 1880s to the present, the book preserves the traditions and heritage of a special way of life up the Gros Ventre Valley. Ultimately, the book creates a sense of place and is a testament to the people and events that have shaped this unique hideaway in the American West.
The primary purpose for The Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut, to develop it’s centennial book in 2011 was to recognize the school’s namesake, while acknowledging the contributions she made to the lives of young women. Additionally, the book celebrates the spirit of the Walker’s community and its resilience despite huge financial obstacles during it’s first century. Finally, administration officials wanted the book be a vehicle to reconnect alumnae with their alma mater – a critical factor from a philanthropic standpoint.
So, as you can see, commemorative histories cater to a variety of needs. Once strategic goals are targeted, anything is possible.