That old saying, everything old is new again, fits perfectly at the Granite Falls Historical Museum.
Granite Falls Historic Museum
Thanks to the hard work of dedicated volunteers, including students from Granite Falls High School, all of the historic pictures at the library, thousands of them, are now stored online.
It was a Herculean task, well-done and such a boon to posterity.
Fred Cruger with the historical society said folks may view digitized materials.
“They are now completely searchable, by keywords, names, etc., and reproducible in high resolution,” Cruger said. “It provides public access to the collection.”
You can visit the museum and see if old Uncle Herb who died in 1933 was ever shown in a picture or noted in a Granite Falls newspaper story. What impressed me is if Uncle Herb is shown with a group of starch-collared folks in front of City Hall, Cruger can enlarge the photograph for an excellent view of the hairs on Herb’s chin.
Search for “suspension bridge” and up they pop.
They have stored journals, registers, class photographs, magazine articles and family histories. Soon they will seek more stories from old-timers to capture the essence of east Snohomish County.
“Kids who worked on the project learned a lot,” Cruger said. “With their help, I’m sure we’re the first museum in this county that can search their entire collection.”
Those who worked at the museum include seniors Becca French and Brittany Hyde and sophomore Samantha Walker.
Leave historic pictures, and they will be scanned and returned. I felt bad that the museum only has one computer. The automatic search capabilities may only be accessed when staff is available. The museum is open 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays in the summertime.
At a recent celebration with a slide show, someone thought she saw a letter addressed to her from her husband or brother during World War II. They checked the computer, searched for “letter” and her first name. Up came a note addressed to her maiden name, from her brother, in an official Navy envelope.
One can only imagine how that letter would ever be found if it was buried in a drawer.
“We can now search our entire collection in such a manner, making it possible to find all sorts of family related or subject-related items without actually pawing through files and boxes,” Cruger said.
They have so many interesting artifacts screaming for more room. Which brings us to the way folks can thank the museum for its computerized documentation efforts. They hope to raise a quarter of a million dollars to more than double museum space.
For instance, they were given a shingle-cutting machine and need a sturdy, two-story setup to display the equipment.
“We’ve really run out of space,” Cruger said. “We’ve enlisted the help of an architect to design an additional building that would fit on our current site, but allow for large displays of vintage equipment and materials.”
Mail donations for the society’s building fund to P.O. Box 1414, Granite Falls, WA 98252. There is a museum Web site at gfhistory.org. Pledge materials for the expansion or donate labor. Help write and edit grant applications. For more information, call 360-691-2603.
Pitch in as old-fashioned becomes new-fangled in Granite Falls.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
Granite Falls Historic Museum
The Heisler No. 101 locomotive, painted for Johnson-Deane Lumber Co. in Robe around 1912, was unique because of its saddle tank that carried extra water whose weight provided extra traction. The photograph is available online at the Granite Falls Historic Museum.
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