MARSHALL, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — Within recent weeks, many of the staff and city workers at the Marshall Public Library have been transporting genealogy and historical collections from the Clark County Genealogy Library.
The Marshall Public Library and the Clark County Genealogy Library had been in discussions for nearly a year regarding the transportation of the collections due to the deterioration of the Clark County building. On June 12, the collections had all been successfully moved to the Marshall Public Library and are now available to the public in the library’s Activity Room, which is now the location of the new Genealogy and Historical Collections Department.
The Clark County Genealogy Library dates back to 1971 and was grown from volunteers in the community who brought in family histories, resource books, and copies of county birth, death, and marriage records for Clark County and many other counties in Illinois and surrounding states.
As the library moved locations throughout the city’s history, people in the community stepped up to help provide bookshelves, donations, and other services. Many great librarians ran the Clark County Genealogy Library, including the first librarian, Mazie Garver. Others throughout the library’s long history were Betty Turner, Velma Remlinger, Rosalie Wirey, and Dalanne Miller.
Miller who had been the main curator for the library’s collection and served the library for 25 years expressed feeling relieved that the collection will continue to be safe and accessible for the community.
“I am relieved to know the materials will remain in a secure location for future generations and reassured knowing that the Marshall Public Library staff are committed to maintain the materials,” Miller said. “The passing of the baton will allow me to spend more time with our grandsons, and after helping curate the collection for over 25 years, it is time for me to slow down a bit,”
Thanks to the generous support of the Clark County Historical Society, the collection will be able to be digitized and preserved. Throughout the last 20 years, the Marshall Public Library has collected and digitized many examples of local history through Marshall newspapers, photos, and interviews. With the additional material from the Clark County Genealogy Library, the collection will extend beyond Marshall limits and will include county records detailing 20,000 additional county newspapers including Clark County Democrat, Casey Daily Reporter, Martinsville Planet, Clark County Daily Chronicle, and more.
Alyson Thompson, Director of the Marshall Public Library said that with the addition of such a large collection, the new Genealogy and Historical Collections Department has taken up a large portion of the Marshall Public Library’s main floor and that a new space will be added to the second floor of the library and will be accessible by elevator.
Once the construction is done, the library plans to host an educational program series for people in the area interested in learning how to explore and research genealogy. Some of the highlights of the new addition of genealogy records include 1,800 volumes of family histories, cemetery records and maps, census data, churches and schools by township, wills, birth and death records, town histories, and more.
The collection is open and available to the public during regular library hours. For those interested in specific genealogy questions or details, contact the Head Librarian, Jaime Poorman.
