Washington County Historical Society makes repairs to facilities
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As the Washington County Historical Society makes repairs to its facilities, the group wants to remind people of what it is trying to preserve.
Sarah Bird, Archives director, went before the Washington County Board of Commissioners last week to ask for $5,000 for air conditioning and dehumidifiers for the archives, housed at the former Children's Home on Muskingum Drive.
"It is better for the older documents and photos to stay at a constant temperature and humidity," she said. "Some of the air conditioners work and some don't."
She said the society houses documents as far back as the 1700s.
"We have stuff that's irreplaceable and we need to make sure it's here for generations to come," Bird said. "Getting that climate control is something that we desperately need, but we don't have the funding."
Along with the Archives, the society also maintains the Anchorage and the Henry Fearing House Museum. Work was recently completed at the Anchorage to help make the building more functional by adding a new HVAC system to the first floor.
The system was installed earlier this year, but Jann Adams, society president, said it's not officially complete. A final inspection still needs to be done.
Adams said the project was funded through a grant from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission.
"There will always be projects at the Anchorage," she said. "We'll continue renovations on the first floor and we've done really well in the last few months doing those, but there are a couple of more rooms there that need done."
She said the kitchen needs to be renovated. Once finished, it will be a catering kitchen rather than a full kitchen.
She said they would like to see it become a more usable space for the historical society.
Not only is the society busy with work on the different facilities, Bird said she hopes in the next couple of years to bring back a history program for children.
"I'd like to reach out to schools to start back up the Young Historian program," she said.
She said she's unsure if there is still an interest from students, but the society had a publication which was handed out to certain grades called "The Magic Lantern."
"It had Marietta history and activities, puzzles and word searches," Bird said.
Activities were things prevalent at the time, but kids today could enjoy, such as snow ice cream.
"I'd like to bring something like that back, even if it's not a Young Historian program," she said. "Something we can get out to the kids in the county because without the people coming after us, we're not going to have the history. We need to get them involved and interested in our history or we're not going to have anything."
She said the society would need to find grants for these programs, because it can't afford it.
Although the historical society takes care of the Anchorage and the Henry Fearing House, the offices of the Archives are the hub of the organization. There are rooms for specific subjects, such as photos, military records and obituaries.
Bird said once you pass her office, the first room is the military room, which contains military records, hard items such as medals, and books on the different wars.
Next door, more than 300 binders line the walls of the "dearly departed" room. Each of the binders has obituaries from long ago through current day. Bird said the older obituaries are very different from those printed today.
"They gave you things like ... burned to death because their clothing caught fire from the fireplace," she said. "Things like that."
In the hallway of the Archives are filing cabinets that have family files. Bird said some have family histories, while others have just wedding and anniversary announcements.
"They are hit and miss," she said. "There's some names we don't have, unfortunately, and some names we have a lot of."
The family files are a smaller version of what is found in the family room. Bird said this room has family histories that people have donated. Some are in book form, while others are photos and documents in binders.
She said the society also has census information, city directories and some court documents.
The photography room is devoted to photo collections, and the Washington County room has "school stuff, railroads, boats, maps, atlases, clubs, scrapbooks, businesses and the Underground Railroad," Bird said.
The Archives are open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.
To become a member of the historical society, visit wchshistory.org/membership-levels, stop by the Archives at 346 Muskingum Drive, Marietta, or call 740-373-1788 to pay by phone.
Michele Newbanks can be reached at mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com.