Oyster Bay Historical Society President Maureen Monck, Ph.D. hosted the annual August cocktail party for the group in her home in Mill Neck. "Trustees, members, staff and major donors to the museum were invited, as well as the members of the committee who are raising funds for the new Angela P. Koenig Research Center. The guests included Lou Baldino, the architect for the new building and Senator Carl Marcellino who is one of our supporters," said Ms. Monck.

She was very pleased that this year they enlarged their staff. "It shows how the society is growing. We have a new curator, Yvonne Ciffarelli; archivist Philip Blocklyn and administrative assistant, Milicent Pittis.

The OBHS immediate focus is the fund raising process for The Angela P. Koenig Research and Collections Center a proposed 3,500 sq. ft. facility to be located across the garden from the Earle-Wightman House. This building will house thousands of irreplaceable documents and artifacts in a state of the art archival site.

OBHS Director Thomas Kuehhas said "We are getting some big donors signing on. The Dolan Foundation gave us a very generous matching grant to reach for and we are seeking other donors to match it. Roger Bahnik has helped that along with a donation of $50,000. More donors are needed. We are hoping to break ground within a year," he said. If you would like more information on donating to the capital project you can call them at 922-5032.

At the August event guests had a chance to see a fauve painting on exhibit that Ms. Monck recently purchased, by Franklin Perrell, curator at the Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts in Roslyn Harbor, that was shown this summer at the Locust Valley Library. Mr. Perrell recently showed one of his paintings at the historical society exhibit featuring local artists. He is currently working on massive paintings that will be exhibited with Fran Coleman at the Ariel Gallery in Locust Valley in the spring. "They will be large scale and small scale paintings of Long Island beaches and sailing scenes," said Mr. Perrell.