If you live in an old house and have always wondered about its past and the people in it, the Iola Public Library has a program for you: “Researching Your Home and the People Who Lived There” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23. Diana Staresinic-Deane tells how to ferret out the details. She is executive director of the Franklin County Historical Society and the Old Depot Museum in Ottawa.
Especially helpful to those who may be stymied by a dead end in such research, she will discuss creative ways to study documents and assemble relevant narratives from maps, deeds, newspapers, and often unsought or unknown resources.
IPL’s collection of old city directories can be a good starting point, especially the annual Polk City Directories which allow you to look up either, address or name, associated with a house. Some of the directories also include Chanute.
Past issues of Iola and other local newspapers are available for viewing on a digital reader with editing features that allow you to crop, enlarge or otherwise improve the quality of an image for printing. The library also has some maps; it does not have a photo collection.
This program comes from the Kansas Humanities and is co-hosted with the Allen County Historical Society which will record it and make it available for two weeks on its website and Facebook page.
Just for Kids
Friday, Feb. 24, at 2 p.m. children age 5 and under are invited to make a pine cone bird feeder. Alana Kinzle, The Feedlot, will show them how to transform the pine cones with peanut butter and bird seed. The program is free.
