Past Projects Now Bearing Fruit

Although I started at the PDLibrary as a children’s librarian, I was always the designated genealogy specialist and local history librarian.  One of my first LSTA grants was to fund creating an index to our local newspaper.  Work continues on this project, now over 20 years old, and I’ve often wondered if it is worth the time and effort of the volunteers.  Last week, I got my answer!  An author from Florida spent seven days in our library researching the histories of the families that started the various air rifle factories in Plymouth.  He is writing a book on the topic and used our index to speed along his work.  Over and over again he thanked me for this wonderful tool.  I also showed him our photographs of the various gun factories, businessmen involved, and the homes in which they lived.  These historic photos were yet another one of those projects I spent a lot of time and energy developing.  I learned how to scan glass plate negatives and then digitally restore them before sending them to the Making of Modern Michigan project.  I had bemoaned how little they were viewed and questioned the wisdom of adding yet a second collection online.  My author used both collections while here in town and told me how much he appreciated being able to view them on the web from his home state.

When his book is published (due out in December) I’m hoping that he will send the Library a copy.  When I see references to our unique index and photo collections in print, it will be truly exciting!