Message-Id: <201207101644.q6AGiNwK017591@mail961c35.nsolutionszone.com> From: "Monroe County Local History Room" <mclhr@centurytel.net> Subject: Monroe Co Local History Room Receives State Award Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:44:23 -0500
Monroe County Local History Room in Sparta Earns State Award
MADISON--The Wisconsin Historical Society has named the Monroe County Local
History Room and Museum in Sparta one of two winners of the Society's
Governor's Award for Archival Achievement.
Established in 1976, the Monroe County Local History Room and Museum
operates a research library, archives and a collection of museum artifacts.
Although the organization continues to serve a varied clientele at the
headquarters building in Sparta, the organization's leadership recognized
the need to improve access to the research collections via the Internet.
In 2006 the Monroe County group engaged a Wisconsin-based website designer
to create and host its website, www.MonroeCountyHistory.org. Launched in
early 2007, this modest online resource has since expanded into a robust,
user-friendly resource featuring 16 indexes containing more than half a
million searchable entries.
The online resource includes detailed indexes to Monroe County court
records, cemeteries, naturalization records, biographical abstracts, plat
books, military rosters, business directories and the county archives
photographic collections. In addition, a print-based index to 231,000
articles published in seven community newspapers in Monroe County (spanning
from 1859 to the early 1960s) was prepared for online access.
An independent panel of judges recommended the Monroe County Local History
Room and Museum for the award, citing its excellent work and its
entrepreneurial strategy in earning program revenue by delivering
photocopies and reprints to patrons.
A second Governor's Award for Archival Achievement went to the Lake States
Railway Historical Association in Baraboo.
The Wisconsin Historical Society's Board of Curators approved the awards at
its meeting in Bayfield June 23.
The Monroe County Local History Room's website can be visited at
www.MonroeCountyHistory.org <http://www.monroecountyhistory.org/>
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