News about Us

With summer in full swing, more visitors from out of town have been stopping by to visit the museum and research library.  Remember if you want to visit at a time other than 9-12 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday please call for an appointment.  We are happy to assist you with directions to cemeteries, resources for genealogy research, or show you our collections of Lawrence County artifacts. If you are planning a family or school reunion we can help with old photographs and  our local history books make great door prizes. 

We have received several donations of things representing Lawrence County history. While I can’t list them all here, we appreciate each one, because every bit of local history we can save adds to our understanding of the past.   Some items do present a challenge in their preservation, however.  For example, any wool clothing we receive must be placed in a freezer for several weeks to kill any ‘bugs’ who might want to take up residence among our other textiles. Books and papers with a musty smell or obvious mold must be laid in the sun and then treated so as not to introduce mold spores into the rest of the collections.  But our volunteers are up to the task not only of preserving but of organizing.

Notebooks of clippings and photos of towns and communities in the county are being updated. If you are interested in a town history or want to see its vintage street scenes stop by. A volunteer is steadily working to organize our religious history featuring every church in the county. Another volunteer has decided to tackle our genealogy notebooks and organize them for easier research.  All of this sometimes tedious and time-consuming work is so that researchers can find things easier, and that the data entered into our computer system is up to date.

Hopefully you have stopped by the Public Library in Lawrenceville and seen our new Civil War exhibit in their lobby. Scattered around the library are also exhibit boards with information about local African American soldiers who fought in the war. By now we also hope you have walked around Lawrenceville Park and read our history signs.

WE love to see our young people interested in local history! The CEO group of amazing kids is always fun to host. Stephanie Hill worked with our photographs and created an excellent photo history of Texaco for a graduate class. Omar McCord, one of Dan Norton’s students researched, prepared, and donated his family research on Norman L McCord. Good job kids!

Many of you will remember our successful Smithsonian Traveling exhibit; now we have been asked to participate in another Illinois Humanities program.  Did you know that Harold Washington, the first African American mayor of Chicago, had deep roots in Lawrence County?  Last week a videographer arrived to film segments for an upcoming program to be held here and in Chicago about Mr. Washington and his family. Stay tuned for the date that will be held probably in late summer.

 With all the rain we have been experiencing, the west wall of the History Center developed a “leak” and we have had to install new guttering and flashing. The next step is to tuck point and do some remedial brick work to prevent future water damage.  Of course, this all costs money. The new exhibits that we had hoped to build now have to wait. If you could open your checkbooks (or bring out your credit cards) and donate any amount to assist with the tuck pointing expense it would be greatly appreciated. 

Don't forget to attend our program May 23 7:00 at the History Center-- Courthouse History and Renovations with Jim Brewer