Words from our document preparers

The Troup County Archives has been fortunate to have about twelve people who have volunteered 150 hours during the month of January helping with our NHPRC project. They have flattened about 30 years of 19th century court cases. They are continuing to work as this blog update is being written. They found out about the project thanks to a front page article on the LaGrange Daily News or from the Troup County Historical Society newsletter. These volunteers are all mostly new to Historical Society projects. We have been delighted to have their support!

The volunteers generally work twice a week three hours each day for a total of six hours per week. [STAFF NOTE: Flattening and preparing documents for scanning is fairly slow and labor intensive -- but is very important work essential to the success of the project. We have been fortunate that the paper is in amazing good condition so we have not had to dehumidify records in advance of flattening. The volunteer hours spent flattening is part of the match that the Troup County Historical Society is contributing toward the project.]

We interviewed two of the volunteers. WALTER DANCE volunteered when a friend called and suggested he help out. The friend has only worked once or twice but Walter has been a dedicated project volunteer and tries to be here twice a week. He is retired from the Georgia Department of Human Resources and is a native of LaGrange who came back home after living for several years in Savannah.

Walter says that it is the people who make this an enjoyable project. They talk and joke around while they are working. He admits that looking at the documents can slow your work so mostly he looks at the name and the type of case. Along with the other volunteers, he is amazed at how well the paper has held up over the intervening 150+ years and especially the wax used to seal some of the documents.

When he is not volunteering, Walter is active walking and golfing. Georgia has been very cold this January so his golf time has not been impacted by his volunteering!

Another dedicated volunteer is Tina Quiggles. She is a newlywed and just moved here from Snellville. She read about the project in the newspaper. She is not working this year so she has enjoyed having the time to help. She too enjoys doing the flattening with other people. She has learned a lot about the 1800s by doing the project. Accounts of personal property can be especially interesting, for instance individuals sometimes owns as much as 50 pounds of sugar or barrels of whisky. What were they doing with all these supplies?

She has enjoyed holding documents that are over 100 years old. The handwriting can often be hard to read but she is getting better at it as time goes along. Sometimes opening the envelopes can be the hardest part of the flattening. She is also amazed at how well some 150 year old straight pins have lasted!

Her husband is a high school history teacher who has participated in teacher workshops given by the Troup County Archives. They often compare notes at the end of the day about the kinds of records she has looked at that day.

To repeat: We can't thank these and other volunteers enough for their hard work!