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KINSMAN -- The Kinsman Free Public Library will be awarded $2,429 to inventory, rehouse and digitize the library's historical collection that includes records pertaining to local families, churches, schools and railroads.
Nicole Straub, reference and adult services librarian, said the project is called "Inventory, Storage and Digitization of the Kinsman Historical Archival Collection."
The library was a 2023 recipient of the award from the Ohio Historical Records Advisory Board and funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, which is an arm of the National Archives and Records Administration, through state programming grants.
Library officials said the Kinsman historical collection and archival materials are stored and displayed in the library's local history room.
Kinsman is a rural northeastern Trumbull County community that was home to a number of prominent figures such as Clarence Darrow, a criminal defense lawyer, and Ernest Lyman Scott, an early contributor in the development of insulin.
Straub said the collection includes original records concerning Kinsman schools, businesses, government, families, agriculture and organizations. Formats include paper archives, photographs, film, glass plate negatives objects and textiles.
Straub said the collection contains materials produced mainly in the 18th and 20th centuries.
She said for the past couple decades, the collection had been virtually untouched because of lack of staff time and resources. In 2021, the library was awarded a grant through the Trumbull County Historical Society to purchase initial archive equipment and subscription to Catalogit services.
She said Catalogit is a searchable online database that allows the library to make the collection accessible to users across the country.
Straub said over 12 months, the library staff and a member of the Ohio History Service Corps inventoried the majority of the photograph collection and uploaded more than 500 entries of photographs onto Catalogit.
She said after the completion of the initial TCHS grant in 2022, library staff continued working with an OHSC member to sort materials with the intent of providing archival storage for the entire collection.
Officials said with the assistance of the OHRAB grant, the library will be able to continue the momentum that has been established.
Straub said the archival collection will be able to be digitized in order to preserve the materials and make them accessible for future generations. She expects the project to be completed in December.
Officials said 200 entries will be added to the the library Catalogit digital collection and 50 percent of the paper archives will be inventoried and ready for digitization.
To see the collection, visit hub.catalogit.app/4911.