We need your historic photos!

LEFT:  St. Ignatius Hospital,        1907 postcard from the personal collection of Patrick McDonald, Whitman County Library’s Rural Heritage Collection

Whitman County Library just got an exciting boost in its efforts to preserve our region’s rich local history. Thanks to $8870 in grant funding from The Institute for Museums and Libraries administered by the Washington State Library, the Rural Heritage online collection will expand with special emphasis on items from the MacGregor Store in Hooper, Tekoa Museum, Perkin’s House, St. Ignatius Hospital and other health related professionals, patients, and facilities from across Whitman County. A large portion of the funding will also provide metadata updates to make the collection even easier to search.

Project coordinator Patti Cammack is proud of the online database that now contains more than 3800 local images. She says, “Many of the items we’ve preserved were fading and crumbling or never-before seen photos from personal collections. Digitizing and compiling them into this statewide database has been a great way to archive local history while making it accessible worldwide.”

While most collections being added during this grant cycle are already gathered in museum settings, Cammack is requesting the community’s help in finding St. Ignatius or medically related images. Cammack says, “We are hoping to find a wide variety of photos from all across the county; everything from medical personnel and facilities to patients and interesting people like Peg-Leg Kenedy (see photo.)” With the renewed interest in St. Ignatius, photos of the building, the patients, or staff are encouraged.

Over the past seven years, Whitman County Rural Heritage has partnered with hundreds of local residents, Washington State University and dozens of local museums and community groups. The collection can be viewed at www.whitco.lib.wa.us. If you are interested in participating, contact Patti Cammack at 509-397-4366 or visit Whitman County Library.

 

PHOTO: Claiborne “Peg-Leg” Kenedy, Palouse postmaster at the turn of the century who suffered a “woods accident.”  To save his life, Kenedy’s leg was amputated just below the knee without benefit of either physician or anesthetic. From the collection of Bob West, Roy Chatters Newspaper and Printing Museum and Whitman County Library’s Rural Heritage