OVHS Newsletter — August 2026
The mission of the Oro Valley Historical Society is to preserve and share the history of the Greater Oro Valley area through research, education, and community programs.
OVHS Highlights:
Jim Click Raffle Challenge: The End of an Era!
Jim Click Raffle Challenge: The End of an Era!
For years, the Jim Click Raffle has been one of the most impactful fundraisers for the Oro Valley Historical Society — because every dollar from every ticket sold stays right here in our organization. When you buy a ticket, you’re directly investing in local history, preservation, and education.
But this is it. With Jim Click preparing for retirement, this beloved community fundraiser is ending. OVHS will not have this opportunity again. Help us finish strong. Buy your raffle ticket today for a chance to win a truck, first‑class airfare, or $5,000.
Your support matters more than ever.
Ways to purchase tickets:
- Buy online anytime
- Email info@ovhistory.org to purchase through the museum office
- Arrange delivery through an OVHS volunteer or friend or contact us – we’re happy to arrange a meet-up or mail your tickets
- Purchase in person on Saturdays at the museum beginning September 12
Capturing History, One Image at a Time
Our project to digitize the entire OVHS collection is making outstanding progress. We’ve already captured crisp, catalog‑ready images of over 600 artifacts and objects, publications, maps, and photographs. But there’s still treasure trove of local history waiting to be rediscovered and lovingly documented.
CatalogIt, our new museum software, has been a true gamechanger for OVHS. Its clean layout, intuitive menus, friendly icons, and powerful search tools make organizing our history smoother, faster, and genuinely useful for our volunteers.
A huge thank‑you to Sherrie Motzkus for her dedication in entering our data into the system, and to Charlie Harrison for donating a professional picture light box. Thanks to his generosity, volunteers Bob Kellar and Denzil Walker are producing beautifully lit, high‑quality images that will soon appear in our museum displays and in a brand‑new photo gallery on our website.
Behind the scenes, Kim Ransom and Devon Sloan have been hard at work sorting and organizing, while other long‑time experts, like Sue Chambasian, Teri Colmar, and Pat Spoerl continue to provide valuable details about many of our collection items. It’s truly a team effort.
We are very excited to refresh our history and build a bright, strong future for OVHS—one digitized artifact at a time.
Board Meeting
Hope to see you at our next board meeting August 27, 2026 – 2pm at the Pusch House Museum!
Read July 2026 Board Meeting Minutes.
Heritage Garden Heat!
Mathilda Pusch
Mathilda Pusch loved roses — and we’re bringing that love to life! Our new heirloom rose garden is going to have a beautiful arch, trellis, walking path, sun dial, and plenty of heirloom blooms.
Learn more about the garden operated by OVHS and if you’d like to lend a hand, join us at 5pm every Wednesday evening this summer. No need to sign up; just stop by!
Website Dispatch
New Adventures on the Website
Our digitization project is uncovering treasures every week — photos, stories, and fascinating bits of local history! As we catalog and share these discoveries, we’re adding fresh content to the OVHS website.
Take a peek at the Other Local Notables section to see what’s new. Most recently, we’ve updated the Curly and Annie Neal page — a cheerful nod to our friends in Oracle, AZ!
We’re always adding new pages and stories to the OVHS website. Want to help? Have a story, photo, or fun fact to contribute about the Greater Oro Valley area? We’d love to hear from you— email info@ovhistory.org.
🌟 Docents Needed This Fall
If you can volunteer as a docent any Saturday in September or October, from 8:30 AM to 12:15 PM, please take a moment to check your schedule and sign up. Email volunteer@ovhistory.org so we can finalize the docent roster and keep our doors open to the community.
📚 Help Us Digitize Family Trees
Do you have experience digitizing family trees or working with genealogy software? We have valuable historical information ready to preserve—now we need someone with the skills to help document it digitally. Please reach out to info@ovhistory.org.
Your expertise would make a meaningful difference.
;>)