ROCHELLE — The Flagg Township Museum has established a new research station at the museum, “Research Rochelle,” that was officially dedicated on Sunday, Sept. 22 at a reception and demonstration.
Thanks to the donation of the collection of bound newspapers from John Shank at the Rochelle News-Leader, many dedicated hours by volunteer Tom McDermott, and funding from the Rochelle Area Community Foundation the museum was able to establish this new computer station.
Museum historian McDermott, who has been responsible for the extensive digitization of information scanned from the bound volumes of newspapers and the museum’s collection of historic photos and archival information led the demonstration for those who attended the event. The museum is pleased to be able to offer this dedicated space to anyone who would like to research through the museum’s digital collection or do genealogical research using Ancestry.com, newspapers.com or fold3.com, the avenue for searching historic military records, along with links to other sources. While no collection is ever complete, updates are constantly being made and more information added.
Thanks to library directory Sarah Flanagan the bound newspaper volumes are now at home at the Flagg-Rochelle Public Library in their newly established storage space made especially for the many volumes. While the oldest volumes are too fragile to allow reading, many can be accessed and perused under supervision by the library staff. An open house will be held at the library on Sunday, Oct. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m.
The Flagg Township Museum is a non-profit museum dedicated to stimulating interest in Flagg Township history through education, research, collection and preservation of historic information.