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Volunteers seek help in preservation effort
By Nancy Malcom
Nevada Herald
Since November 2004, a small but determined band of volunteers have met almost every Friday in a crowded room of the Vernon County courthouse.
Their mission is to rescue soot-covered, fragile, almost-forgotten civil court records and prepare them to be microfilmed. The process isn't a pretty one, but all involved said they feel it's very worthwhile and invaluable for future researchers.
Although what they have to do to prepare the countless sheets of paper for state archivists to process is not difficult, it is very time consuming.
The public circuit court records from the years 1855-1874 had been tri-folded, slipped into paper envelopes and stored in boxes. To be filmed they must be dusted, separated, read, placed in new labeled folders and flattened.
There are 195 files and to date only 40 have been completed.
The faithful few are requesting reinforcements.
Richard Johnson has been active in genealogy research for more than 30 years, off and on. He has worked on the records eight hours every Friday since January because he feels the project is valuable.
"It will make the records more accessible to fellow historians, students and researchers," he said. "I appreciate everyone's effort who comes in and does their part. We could use more volunteers!"
Volunteers Ray and Darlene Lukenbill both enjoy genealogy and enjoy doing something they feel is so worthwhile together.
Darlene has been doing genealogy research 10-12 years, and Ray has been doing so for about 20 years.
They share an interest in the lifestyles of their ancestors as much as the dates and names.
Darlene said, "The stories are my interest, how they lived and their struggles." She admits some stories seem humorous to us today that the ones facing the judge might not have found so funny. "One man was fined a dollar for playing cards or gambling on a Sunday."
The Lukenbills have come in every Friday since November and spend four to five hours. "We need help!" Darlene pleaded.
Judith Vinzant found another story about Vernon County life. "A man was arrested for stealing a woman's pantaloons," she said with a laugh. "He spent five days in jail."
She has been helping to prepare the records since this spring. "I enjoy this and I enjoy genealogy. To me it's like a big jigsaw puzzle but they've hidden the pieces all over the country."
She feels that the work they are doing will benefit others. "I'm just helping somebody find a little piece of their history. That's what genealogy is, personal histories."
Another aspect of the Friday get-togethers appeals to her as well. "I enjoy the socialization and the people I work with."
She has been doing genealogy for 30 years, sporadically. "You go a while, hit a brick wall then back off a while. Easy access to information through the Internet really spurred my interest more lately." Vinzant added, "We're just a small part of what's going on. There are volunteers working in courthouses all over this country trying to preserve records before they are lost." Neoma Foreman spends several hours every Friday helping out.
"I saw a need to preserve these records and when I found out that the state could get these microfilmed if we prepared them, I was glad to help." She thinks the effort to save these documents has come just in the nick of time. "They were just down in the courthouse basement gathering dust, inaccessible and in danger of being lost. When we found out we could do it, the Tri-County Genealogical Society jumped in and is helping in every way." Foreman explained the importance of the volunteers‚ work. "The records are almost invaluable and some have already been lost. We are preserving them for their genealogical and historical value to researchers."
Foreman has been doing her own genealogical research for 15 to 20 years. "I do it for fun and it's worthwhile to hand down to your children." After they are microfilmed, the original, brittle papers will be stored in the courthouse in closed boxes.
Anyone who wants to help can just drop in any Friday at the Vernon County Courthouse (first room left of the elevator on the first floor) or call (417) 922-3596.
Foreman explained, "We would appreciate all the help we can get to finish this job. You don't have to be a member of the genealogical society to participate. You can do any part of the process you feel comfortable doing and stay only the amount of time you want and leave whenever you want. Any amount of help will be appreciated a lot! We don't want to die in here -- we want to get done some time."