Knox County Fund grant benefits Union Historical Society archives, but more work to be done

Tue, 05/19/2015 - 11:30am

Story Location:
Union Historical Society
343 Common Road
Union, ME
United States

    UNION —  In 2014 the Union Historical Society was awarded a grant of $2,000 from the Knox County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, for the purpose of funding a temporary, part-time, data entry position to catalog the Society's collection of more than 10,000 items.

    Sue McClintock, director of Union's Vose Library, worked at the project in the fall and early winter of 2014, and in 2015 the task was taken over by Historical Society member Marion Gray. Curator Suzy Shaub trained McClintock and Gray in archival procedures and in the use of the PastPerfect database.

    The project involved identifying items, scanning documents, photographing artifacts and entering the provenance of each item along with the information about it, into the database.

    The curator assisted in the process with data entry, archiving and research. The Historical Society contributed funding for PastPerfect support, archival materials and computer technology assistance.

    The grant funding has now been expended, and although much was accomplished, a considerable back-log remains. Union Historical Society is happy to accept donations toward continuing this valuable work, which facilitates research by members and visitors into local and family history.