Historical Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 08 03 JT

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Page 26 of 150 collection at the time of, or after, the move of items to the new collections space in order to make sure that all new locations are recorded in PastPerfect. What Else Does the Museum Collect? The Museum also collects obituaries of Louisville residents from all time periods. These aid members of the public conducting family history research and help the Museum staff in writing historic building reports. At this time, the Museum's obituary collection numbers about 2,500 obituaries and includes a maiden name index that a volunteer maintains. The Museum also collects contemporary items relating to Louisville that will one day be historic. These include items relating to businesses (such as a Blue Parrot Restaurant T-shirt) and contemporary photos of the town. The Museum emphasizes to the public that it collects intangibles such as information and stories in addition to artifacts. Besides helping to fulfill the mission of the Museum, this practice represents a way in which the size of the permanent collection can be significantly controlled. People who donate information and stories about Louisville are thanked in The Louisville Historian even if they are not donating artifacts or making monetary donations. Louisville has great true stories, and it could even be said that the preservation of stories and memories are just as important to the Museum's mission as the preservation of artifacts. The deaths of older residents represent the biggest threat to the Museum's ability to collect stories and memories. When the Museum opened in 1986, there were still people living in Louisville who had been born in the 1890s. Today, Louisville is losing many residents who were born in the 1920s. The Museum's Oral History Program is the most formal way in which past and present residents share their personal stories. To date, the Museum volunteers have conducted and filmed nearly 150 interviews. The Louisville History Foundation helps to fund the program, spending $1200 to $4400 on the program each year for the past several years. Less formally, but just as significantly, visitors to the Museum share their stories and memories with Museum staff and volunteers. For visitors who have a past connection to Louisville, or current residents, gathering around the table in the Jacoe Store and sharing stories is the essence of what the Louisville Historical Museum is about. This practice was the catalyst for the "kitchen table" interpretive theme described below and often leads to a visitor later being filmed in an oral history interview. Many of the stories told by former residents and the descendants of Louisville families are colorful, dramatic, or funny. Some stories reveal the reasons behind hardships, such as a father not being able to continue working because of a mine injury and how that led to a son leaving school to become a miner. The Museum also seeks factual information relating to such topics as Louisville families, relocated buildings, and ethnic enclaves and family complexes. The Museum staff records the stories, factual information, and visitors' contact information, and then retells the stories and memories by weaving them into Museum tours, walking tours, Louisville Historian articles, and historic building reports for the Planning Department and in Louisville Historian articles. 18