The Board and Batten in its present 5.5”x8” multi-page format evolved from the original Newsletter of the Heritage Society of Pacific Grove.

The Heritage Society from its beginning has published a newsletter to keep in touch with its members.  The first Newsletter available in Society archives is a mimeographed 8.5” x11” single page dated February 1976.  In it, recipients are invited to “Come to an election meeting on Monday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Christian Church at the corner of Central and Carmel Avenues.” Nominees for the first Board of Directors were listed:

Officers President – David Mills Vice President – Jim Russell Secretary – Kathy Martine Treasurer – Nora Flatley Members-at-Large: Nancy Hauk Wilda Northrop Dorothy Kildall	Committee Chairmen Preservation & Restoration – Lowell Northrop Historical Research – Kevin Howe Membership – John Olkoski Fund Raising – Jeanne Mills Publicity – Wendy Howe

In the Society’s early years, newsletters were published on an irregular schedule: sometimes monthly, sometimes bi-monthly, sometimes four times a year, depending on the Board’s perception of the need to communicate with members and the energy of its editors.  Newsletter editors included: Wendy Howe (1976), Ron Cobley (1977), Frank Keillor (1978), Jane Dinell (1979, 1980), Dorothy Scardina (1981) and Mary Thiele Fobian (1982, 1983). 

The format of the publication was sometimes 8.5”x11”, but most commonly 8.5”x14”.  All were mimeographed. Business card size advertising was accepted in some of the later newsletters at a rate of $5.00 for members and $10.00 for non-members.

At the Board of Directors meeting of September 1979, the name of the Newsletter was changed to The Board and Batten, a name referencing the style of vertical wood siding typical of Pacific Grove’s earliest residences.

Adam Weiland was elected President of the Heritage Society in 1983 and at that time took on the duties of Editor/Publisher of The Board and Batten, a position he held until 2002.  It was Weiland who transformed The Board and Batten from its previous newsletter function to the small, respected journal of the history of Pacific Grove and its surroundings that it remains today.  Until 2003, the words “Newsletter of the Pacific Grove Heritage Society” remained on the publication’s masthead and each issue carried notes and information about Heritage Society members and events as well as articles of historic interest.

When the Heritage Society Newsletter resumed independent publication in March 2001, it reflected the original purpose of the society’s newsletter, informing members about current Society events and preservation issues.  The Board and Batten, in turn, focused on its mission as the voice of history for our community.

~ Compiled and written by Bob Davis, November 2006, with thanks to Don Beals who preserved and made available all the early newsletters and other records of the Heritage Society.