Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Genealogical society marks 40 years of achievement


A friendly reminder this morning that the Lucas County Genealogical Society will mark 40 years of achievement during a celebratory open house from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. this Saturday. The open house will be held in the society library and the pubic meeting room, both located on the lower level of the Chariton Free Public Library. 

Enter the building via its north door, just off the library parking lot. The genealogical library is straight ahead; the meeting room, to the right of the ground-floor lobby.

There will be refreshments, displays, tours and a program. I'm not sure exactly when the program is, but will figure that out later in the week and let you know. John Pierce, a society charter member and expert in Lucas County history and genealogy, will be the speaker.

That's Karen Patterson (top), society president, examining one of the scrapbooks honoring Lucas Countyans who served during World War II, a major asset of the military collection. These scrapbooks were assembled by volunteers at the library during the war and contain service records, newspaper clippings and in many cases original photographs of all the men and women who served from the county. 

The military collection also contains extensive records related to Lucas County's Civil War veterans, records of the county Veteran Graves Registration Project, material concerning those who served in other wars and a number of general military reference works.


Genealogical Society volunteer Dorothy Allen is shown with just a few of the histories of Lucas County families that line the library walls alphabetically. Some are published works and others, assembled in notebook form by family historians and volunteers. Many contain original photographs or reproductions. Most represent many years of research.

Elsewhere, sections of the library are devoted to Lucas County's cemeteries, its towns and neighborhoods and such basics as birth, marriage and death. A master card file serves as an index to much of the collection.

The library also is the repository for microfilm of all known surviving issues of Lucas County newspapers as well as courthouse and other records. The society recently purchased, with assistance from the South Central Iowa Community Foundation, the latest in microfilm reader/printer technology.

Saturday's open house will be open to all --- so be sure to stop in.

No comments: