Letter to the Editor: Find historical nirvana at CCHS

I enjoyed Steve Korby’s article about Angelo Pergol in last week’s paper, especially the part about him experiencing “historical nirvana” as he read through our collection of Pergol’s scrapbooks.

When you walk through the door at the Carlton County Historical Society, you see the museum exhibits, which are just the tip of the iceberg of our collection. We have thousands of documents, books, letters, ledgers, reports, newspapers, and scrapbooks in storage. These items are waiting for someone passionate about a topic to explore them and find their own “nirvana.”

It takes more than archival storage boxes to preserve our county’s history. Steve is a regular visitor at CCHS and he brings our sports collection to life in his articles.

I’m inviting you to share your historical interests with us, and we will help you to find your bliss. In return, you can help us to understand what we have and what it means to the people of Carlton County.

Two history “affinity groups” are organizing on the topics of women’s history and women veterans. Affinity groups are a way to meet others who share your historical interests. Group members can work together on projects of their choice, or they can be social in nature. The stories shared will add to our history. (See photos from a recent event on Page 11.)

We have shelves of leatherbound books of court dockets, but we need help to understand the stories we might find there. We have cartons of correspondence and reports from Potlatch and Northwest Paper Company. If someone is available to provide context for them, then our history becomes richer.

Our machinery building at the county fairgrounds shelters artifacts related to farming, early electrical service, and firefighting. What stories do these items tell? We need to preserve the stories as well as the artifacts.

We don’t expect you to write newspaper columns like Steve Korby, but we would love to have you come in and tell us what you know. What is your historical nirvana?

Carol Klitzke, executive director, Carlton County Historical Society