The Macoupin County government owns the Macoupin County Illinois Archives, the building and all of its holdings. The Archives has been manned by volunteers. Much of the work they have done was inspired by Robinson County TN Archives.
Over many years, many people worked to save the old records which were stored in the Macoupin County Courthouse Dome. As the idea was coming to be, the records needed to be sorted and moved to certain areas, labeled, and possibly microfilmed.
Linda Kmiecik, our excellent and organized leader, said "The tax books get done first!"
Books and books
and more books!
Another view
Carolynn Bettis labeling
Gloria Frazier, Georgia Ferry,
& Phyllis Pitchford - "Caught."
In 2000, we approached County Clerk Saracco about possibly purchasing the old Library Building. He told us to find out how much was wanted for the old Library Building. The owner of the old building owned a bar in Carlinville. Linda Kmiecik, Carolynn Bettis, Phyllis Pitchford and me, Gloria Frazier, "bellied" up to the bar to find out the price. Unknown at the time was that on February 13, 2001, the Macoupin County Board would vote to buy the old library building where the old records would be moved and where they would be in a controlled environment.
Thank you, Macoupin County Board for voting
to purchase the
old library building for our archives.
Macoupin County Archives Interior
"The Boss" Linda Kmiecik
A great leader in the dome and
archives projects.
Thank you, Linda!
"Here They Come!"
The books are beginning to be moved down the street
from the courthouse to the archives.
"Downloading"
"WE DID IT!"
Ann Hoffstetter, left, our first leader of the
Dome Project to approach the Macoupin County Board in April 2000 to ask for help
in saving the records.
After Ann, left to right: Josephine Remling, Julie
Close, Phyllis Pitchford
Describe the dirt: Red dust all over you from the old book
covers falling apart and turning into dust.
L to R - Phyllis Pitchford, Carolynn
Bettis, Julie Close, Josephine Remling, Ann Hoffstetter.
Ready for showers.
L to R - Phyllis Pitchford, Julie Close, Ann Hoffstetter, Josephine Remling, Carolynn Bettis.
"Lunch Break"
Linda Kmiecik
"Stacks"
L to R - Josephine Remling, Ann Hoffstetter, Julie Close
"Probate? Thataway!
Taxes? Thataway!"
L to R - Julie Close, Carolynn Bettis, Bruce Shipp,
Josephine Remling, Linda Kmiecik
"Indexing the Inventory Crew"
Front, L to R Georgia Ferry and Carolynn Bettis
Back, L to R Gloria Frazier, Phyllis Pitchford, Linda Kmiecik
Mar 2002
Linda is presented a squirrel tail and picture of
the courthouse at the annual Macoupin County Historical Society meeting. A
squirrel had played havoc in the archives leading to the presentation of the
engraved plaque with the tail.
Apr 2002
L to R Judy Schwallenstecker, Frieda Price, Linda Kmiecik, Phyllis Pitchford, Ray Luken
Apr 2002
Judy Schwallenstecker
John Scroggins, from Maryland, researches family in Macoupin County. He is a former National Archives employee. John came to our Archives in 2002 and gave us advice on how to lessen the expense of our dreams of binding the old ledgers. He suggested helpful ideas for the county archives, including getting archival-made boxes. Whatta guy! Thanks, John.
Jun 2003
L to R Linda Kmiecik, Georgia Ferry, Phyllis Pitchford, Mary McKenzie
Sep 2003
L to R Mary McKenzie, Linda Kmiecik, Cindy Leonard
Sep 2003
Chuck Leonard presents Linda Kmiecik with an artwork of the
archives building which he designed, etched, and framed.
Oct 2003
One of the old ledgers
We have some very generous donors! Thank you to the following:
Bettis, Carolynn
Blatter, Carolyn
Bolton, Mary Ann
Critchlow, Judy
Crouse, Patricia
Determan, William
Drobny, Pauline
Frazier, Gloria
Kmiecik, Linda
Lahey, Jane
Lentz, Carl
Leonard,
Cindy & Chuck
McMurry, Sue & Bob
Mirabella, Kathleen
Moore, Rayna
Peper, Linda
Pierce, Maureen
Stein, Kay D.
Wiegand, Laura
Currently we have collected $1211.25, mostly in donations, but also in research
money earned by our volunteers. Thank you all very much, from all of us. Thank
you also to those who have contributed supplies. That includes Georgia Ferry,
Mary McKenzie, Phyllis Pitchford, and others, and yet others who have given of
their time and energy for research efforts, indexing, and cleaning and building
upkeep and repairs.
On Friday October 17th an order was placed online
with The Hollinger Corporation for 130 additional 18-1/2" x 14-1/2" x
3"acid-free drop front boxes with lids for holding the large ledger books, as
shown in the Archives Donation Plea photos. The current box order costs $734.50,
plus $39.00 for two additional boxes of filmoplast P paper mending tape, plus
$82.30 shipping. Our grand total for this order is $855.80, with no tax applied.
The shipping address is our house, and the billing address is Macoupin County
Clerk, Courthouse, Carlinville, IL 62626. Michele Zippay, County Clerk, now has
on hand our funds with which to pay the bill in full.
There has been some
discussion about ordering a greater number of boxes, since we have additional
money available from our donors. However, we have some concerns for future needs
and have decided to keep some donor money on hand - $355.45 - to cover
unforeseen needs or emergencies.
Again, thank you to everyone. This truly
is your Archives. And donations may be made at any time.
Linda Kmiecik
24 Oct 2003
120 acid-free archival boxes arrive!
24 Oct 2003
Phyllis Pitchford & Linda Kmiecik
Dec 2003
Tony Kmiecik hangs a coat rack in the archives.
[Tony passed away 6 Jul 2008]
Dec 2003
Karl Moore of the IL State Archives returns 33
Chancery Books to the Macoupin County Archives after filming by the IL State
Archives.
Dec 2003
Helping Karl Moore unload the Chancery books at the archives.
L to R Jack Ferry, Karl Moore, Linda & Tony Kmiecik, & Phyllis Pitchford
Dec 2003
Helping Karl Moore unload the Chancery books at the archives.
L to R Karl Moore, Georgia Ferry, Tony & Linda Kmiecik, & Phyllis Pitchford
The llinois State Archives website provides background on the Archives, on IRAD and its holdings at each depository, on its on-line databases, and other research materials. The Archives was established in 1921 by Margaret Cross Norton, with the building erected in 1938. By law it is the depository of public records of Illinois state and local governmental agencies which possess permanent research value. These records are made available to the public, officials, and scholars at the Norton Building and at seven regional (IRAD) depositories located on state university campuses throughout Illinois. IRAD was begun in 1976 with a grant to the State Archives from the National Endowment for the Humanities. IRAD's local records include records of local governments, such as counties, townships, municipalities and school districts. The Archives provides access to them through a series of printed and electronic guides, and in-person, or by mail, telephone, FAX, and Internet database reference services. The Illinois State Archives operate under the direction of Jesse White, Secretary of State and State Archivist.
Such a system is only as good as its people. The Illinois State Archives has many excellent and knowledgeable employees, from its director on down. Two of them have been deeply involved in our records in Macoupin Co.: Karl R. Moore, Supervisor of the IRAD System, and Barbara Heflin of the same office, who insures the quality of all the on-line databases. They have been coordinating the filming by the Illinois State Archives of some of Macoupin's oldest records, including the Assessor tax records, the Collector tax records, and now the Chancery books, from the earliest about 1830, up to at least 1920, all of which are housed at the Macoupin County Archives. The tax films are now available at the Carlinville Public Library, the Macoupin County Historical Society and Museum in Carlinville, and the Staunton Public Library which houses records of the Macoupin County Genealogical Society. This guarantees that these records will last for decades, and safeguards them by duplication.
Karl and Barbara are not merely desk people in ivory towers, but actually have come to both the Macoupin Co. Archives and the Museum and loaded and unloaded dirty, dusty books in good weather and bad, in snow and rain, in 90 degree heat, and then get to do the same thing at the Archives in Springfield with each load of books. Karl has gladly made himself available to talk about archival preservation methods, microfilm versus CD, and many other related topics, to any group needing that information, including County officials and interested genealogists and family researchers. He and Barbara coordinate the filming of our records at the State Archives with the filming of many other series of records which by law are to be filmed. When the filming is done, the resulting films are checked, usually by Barbara, for correctness and completeness, before they come back to us in Carlinville. Karl also drives to the many other IRAD facilities for various reasons and is very knowledgeable about their holdings, their needs, and the filming of their records too. Obviously they have many other duties we know nothing about.
Because we haven't said it forcefully enough over the last 3 years or so, THANK YOU so very much, Karl and Barbara. We look forward to working with you for many years to come.
Jul 2008
New volunteers
L to R Carol Smalley of
Lebanon IL
& Karen Meng of O'Fallon IL
Aug 2008
New volunteer
Anne Denby Michael of Carlinville IL & FL
Aug 2008
New volunteer
Carole Falter of Edwardsville
Since the 2003 plea for donations and the order of 130 boxes, we have placed additional orders through the years, using money earned in doing research. The acid-free box shown was formerly around $6.30, when 50 were ordered. They are now up to $8.50 per box when 50 are ordered. We have a new order of 50 on hand and work continues on boxing up the books in the worst condition. We have not had to ask for donations again, and won't in the near future, especially in this tough economy. We still appreciate those donations in the past, which got us over a difficult time.
Sep 2011
Cherie Kuhn
Hello from the Macoupin County IL Archives to all of you out there.
It has been around 8 years since we asked for donations in order to buy
acid-free boxes for preserving the large ledgers. That and other
purchases with our earned money have allowed us to make great strides in
arranging, indexing, and storing the ledgers in acid-free boxes. These
boxes protect the ledgers and also protect us from dust from the
deteriorating covers.
Last year we had a new gutter put on the
north wall of the Archives. The old gutter had many holes, and we
sustained some damage to that north wall, particularly the plaster
inside. We have now made contact with the plasterer who did such a
beautiful repair job in the Courthouse, and we negotiated a price for
the north wall repairs on all 3 floors, plus a few other small spots, at
$1800. The repairs have been made but touch-up painting is still to
come. We had that amount of money from research earnings and donations
and have paid all but $250, which he told us to use on a new storm door
for the east entry door.
Those of you who have visited know there
is heavy damage to the hallway ceiling and walls on the south and east.
He has looked at all of it and thinks he can repair all of it for some
amount between $3800 and $5000. We do NOT have that amount of money,
having only a small part of it. Without some repair, this 1916 building
will continue to deteriorate. If we raise enough money for this hallway
ceiling and wall job, any remaining money will be used for work on the
windows, some with nearly bare wood frames and missing putty, badly
needing attention.
Like so many other entities, Macoupin County
IL has no excess money, even for work on the Courthouse exterior, and so
we are turning to you. We know times are very tough for many, many
people, but we are going ahead with this plea because this building is
very important, one of a kind in Illinois and holding some of our oldest
county records. We’ve had wonderful volunteers since 2001, indexing at
weekly sessions to help all of us find our ancestors more easily. Please
consider making a donation to keep this work going and to protect what
has already been done. As with 2003’s plea, we will publish a list of
2011-2012 donors, with our enormous thanks. We have already established
a $100 Club Challenge (see $100 Club Challenge Below). These donations
are tax deductible. Please indicate if you need an acknowledgement for
tax purposes.
Check should be payable to: Archives Donation Fund
Mail it to: Linda Kmiecik
Seven donors have led off this new Club to fund repairs at the
Macoupin County Archives with donations totaling $900, challenging one
and all to join them in a very worthy cause. Can we find 50 people to
participate?
This is not to say we want only $100.00 donations!
That isn’t true, and we are interested in any support from anyone, far
and wide. We need all of you to make this effort a success in these
trying economic times.
Please make your checks payable
to Archives Donation Fund, and on donations of $100.00 or more, please
mark the comment line with "$100 Club Challenge."
Their checks
have arrived and the funds deposited. May we count on yours too?
Mail
ANY donation to: Linda Kmiecik
If you want an acknowledgement letter
for tax purposes, please state that with your donation, and it will be
sent.
Feb 2012
Andrea Duncan of Carlinville
The plasterer said that the little orange marks are from just plain water.
Kilz will take care of it, after 30 days of the plaster drying.
Photos contributed by Carol Smalley.
Arnold, Linda R.
Chapman, Harry
Coffman, David & Donna
Cooper, June
Cormack, Kathleen
Dillon, Willis D.
Frank, James H.
Frazier, Gloria
Garrison, Ray
Gladson, Marita
Griffin, Simon & Mary Anne
Harpstead, Sharon D. Oehler
Kaylor, Mary Ann
Kmiecik, Linda
Kuhn, Cherie
Lahey Foundation Inc., The, ~
In memory of The Fredrickson Family
Lair, Carl & Shirley
Leonard, Chuck & Cindy ~
In memory of Reno & Ellen (Salter) DalPozzoi
Luken, Ray
McDonald, Claude
McKenzie, Mary & Sam
McMurry, Sue and Bob
Massena, Elaine
Michael, Anne Denby
Miley, S. Joan
Mirabella, Kathleen
Ott, Jarid & Judy
Peper, Linda
Peyton, Joyce A.
Ray, Robert
Redfern, Pamela
Sawyer, Carolyn
Seganfredo, Glen & Renee ~
In memory of Reno & Ellen (Salter) DalPozzo
Smalley, Carol
Stein, Kay
Swanson, Kenneth & Marti
Uebner, Lawrence F. & Carol H.
Wagenblast, Jill
Waggoner, Elizabeth
Thank You for a total of $365 donations received from
Brehm, Joseph & Mary
Carroll, Bartlett J., Jr.
Casteel, Theresa
Christlieb, Kay Collier
Cook, Stevvi Stites, in memory of Margaret Harlow Elmore
Cullen, Roberta M.
Howard, Carole A.
Howell, Ann C.
Jennings, Pete
O'Brien, Kevinetta
Reitz, Joann & Byron
Stultz, Dina
The volunteer jobs range from carpenter; indexers; muscles loading and unloading ledgers, etc,; donors of money, window blinds, toilet paper, computers, office supplies; inventory takers; assemblers; garbage removal; electrician; boxing ledgers; and the list goes on and on. Without volunteers, the county archives could not exist. Thanks to all.
| Allen, Don | Bettis, Carolynn | Bettis, Frank | Blatter, Carolyn | Bolton, Mary Ann |
| Bryant, Carol | Close, Julie | Critchlow, Judy | Crouse, Patricia | Determan, William |
| Dixon, Dan | Drobny, Pauline | Duncan, Andrea | Etter, Dorothy | Etter, Mary |
| Falter, Carole | Ferry, Georgia | Ferry, Jack | Frazier, Doug | Frazier, Gloria |
| Galvan, Marilyn | Goforth-Allen, Marie | Hoffstetter, Ann | Hoffstetter, Ron | Jones, Howard |
| Kmiecik, Linda | Kmiecik, Tony | Kuhn, Cherie | Lahey, Jane | Lentz, Carl |
| Leonard, Chuck | Leonard, Cindy | Luken, Ray | McKenzie, Mary | McMurry, Bob |
| McMurry, Sue | Meng, Karen | Michael, Anne | Mirabella, Kathleen | Moore, Rayna |
| Peper, Linda | Pierce, Maureen | Pitchford, Phyllis | Pitchford, Wilbur | Price, Freida |
| Reitz, Joann | Remling, Josephine | Schwallenstecker, Judy | Schwallenstecker, Ollie | Shipp, A. B. |
| Smalley, Carol | Smalley, Roger | Stein, Kay | Strohbeck, Lloyd | Wiegand, Laura |
Although she plans to stay somewhat involved with the Archives, during Spring and Summer months, Linda Kmiecik retired from doing research at the Archives.
"We were so busy at the Archives that we never made time to try to cultivate new volunteers, especially those who would use earned funds from research only to purchase archival boxes and other supplies for the Archives. It has been both interesting and educational, full of interesting people in the records and in real life. And I finally found my Macoupin adopted maternal grandfather's people through research here too."
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