Supporting and Volunteering, Local History needs YOU !

Chester River aka Creek about 1910. Hard to believe people lived on house boats back then

 

Supporting local history

there are

many ways

 



   Every historical group in Delaware County needs help, some a lot more than others. Local history groups consist of museums ex. Delaware County Historical Society , historic homes ex. Thomas Massey House and local historical societies ex. Aston Twp. In Delaware County there are a total of 80 groups. They all have needs, first all could use your membership, first the membership dues, yes all groups need money, some more than others.
   As a member supporting and promoting the group is important. Just you spreading the word of the group's existence is important. I'm a board member of the Colonial Plantation in Ridley Creek State Park and I thought we do a great job of promoting ourselves. I was very surprised several months ago when a life ling Delco resident with young children told me he had never heard of the Colonial Plantation, and had no idea what activities the Plantation did.
  All groups are looking for volunteers, no matter what your interest is or the time you have. Whether you want to be a tour guide at a site, help with a Spring cleanup, or organize the groups collection they will have work for you. No matter if you want to work 3 hours a week or 3 days, there is always something. You don't have to have 4 years of college and a history degree, just the gift of gab for a tour guide, or even working from your house typing and helping to organize a group's collection especially in the computer age. One local group just had a volunteer put their membership list in a data base on their computer. It had never been done before, till the volunteer thought it would be a good idea. Imagine that! In this age of Google and Face Book just having a volunteer working from home doing updates and promoting upcoming events is so important to get the word out.
   Knowing what a local group has in their collection is very important for researchers and genealogists. Almost every local group has a special collection in their files, from documents, artifacts, photographs etc. Getting that collection organized so it can be used is so essential, BUT it can be very boring doing it. It took me a year and a half to scan all the 4000 plus Delco pictures I have in my collection. Scanning was important, and photoshoping where needed, but having them in a data base by boro and township has helped researchers so much.
  So no matter what your interest is and how much time you have there is a historical group in Delaware County that could use you and your skills.
  But first things first, open that wallet or checkbook and support your local historical group to help them preserve, protect and promote the history of Delaware County! There are less than 200 dues paying members at the Delaware County Historical Society and over 561,000 people living in Delaware County, you figure it out.
   And I'm always looking for volunteer typists for my website, delawarecountyhistory.com