Twenty-one pieces of the 35 original National Calendar Program paintings in the National 4-H Council’s collection needed repair, cleaning, re-framing, varnishing or sometimes all of these. These paintings represent nearly 50 years of 4-H history through their contemporary illustrations from the respective time periods. They also represent the work of nine recognized artists who produced these annual paintings for advertising purposes at the local level. Many of the pieces were able to be localized to the county where they were sold through signage on buildings, buses or actual signs which were a part of the illustration.

The following donors made the restoration of these art pieces possible: Sue and Dave Benedetti, Leann Blum, Gary Deverman, IBM Corporation, James Lindquist, Ronald Paasch, David Pace, Phil Upsilon Omicron (DC Area Alumni Chapter), Dallas Smith, Mel Thompson, Kendra Wells, Bernadine Wiesen, Nancy Wills, Eleanor L. Wilson, and Helene Zueg. Our most sincere thanks go to all of them.

The next phase of this calendar art project is to make them available for people to view; to preserve them and keep them safe from deterioration by light, abrasion, and dirt. That part of the project will entail putting each painting behind protective Plexiglas, and will be undertaken as soon as we are able to raise the necessary $12,000 for the individually fabricated coverings. This will protect the original Calendar and Poster art currently on display in the Heritage Hallway at the National 4-H Center.

Will you help us meet the $12,000 goal to complete the preservation process? Go to the 4-H history preservation website: http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com and “click” on the “DONATE” button in the left-hand menu bar.