By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — If you lined up all of the documents from the Picher Mining Museum, they would be half the length of a football field.
The problem for Randy Roberts, curator of special collections at Pittsburg State University, is that the documents have not been organized.
“We have 140 boxes that are 12-by-15 in size. That’s 150 linear feet of documents,” he said. “But they are not organized. We have employment records, with production records and confidential health information.
“What we’re doing now is a preliminary inventory of the collection, going through it folder by folder and listing the contents. After that, we’ll put all of the like materials together and digitize them.”
The task to preserve the documents will be a daunting challenge, but the goal is to preserve as much of Picher’s mining history as possible. The university is teaming up with the Baxter Springs Historical Society to do that.
When the board of directors of the Picher Mining Museum decided last year to find a new home for its expansive collection, the Baxter Springs Historical Society and the university offered a plan that would achieve the board’s preservation goal.
The documents would be inventoried and housed in Axe Library at the university, which offers a climate-controlled environment for storage. The maps, artifacts and photographs from the Picher Mining Field will be housed in the museum at Baxter Springs.
“We have almost everything now that is coming from Picher. We think the display of the Picher collection will help preserve the history of the town, its schools and the mining industry,” said Phyllis Abbott, president of the Baxter Springs Historical Society. “We are working with people from Picher to put the display together and hope to have it completed by next summer.”
In time, a person will be able to access the documents through Web sites at the museum in Baxter Springs and at Axe Library.
Said Roberts: “Over the years, the Picher Mining Museum assembled one of the nation’s outstanding collections of records and artifacts that document the history of mining and, specifically, the miners of the Tri-State Mining District.”
Features of the collection include the records of the Tri-State Lead and Zinc Ore Producers Association, materials on the national lead and zinc industries of the era, mine safety and health issues, and ore production.
Roberts said the digitization of the documents won’t begin for a while, but that a person wanting a particular document will be able to get it from the university.
“We’ll scan it and send it to them,” said Roberts. “The digitizing will take some time because it is one of the largest document collections at PSU.”
When the documents were removed from the mining museum, they were temporarily stored in a vacant dwelling operated by the Picher Housing Authority. The documents were transferred to the library in late January. Had they not been transferred, they would have been lost in the May 10 tornado that struck Picher.
Ed Keheley, a member of the board of directors of the Picher Mining Museum, said the tornado destroyed the building in which the documents were stored at the housing authority.
Local News
PSU to house documents from Picher’s mining past
- Local News
-
-
City wants to buy weather radios for those without
Phil Jones had been working on a construction project outside his house all day on May 22 and was unaware that a tornado watch had been issued. Once he was inside, though, his weather radio went off, and he learned that a warning had been issued.
-
Architects present preliminary JHS plans at community meeting
Reaction appeared mostly supportive Thursday night among the roughly 50 people who attended a community meeting at which architects presented their preliminary site plans for the future combined Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center.
-
Confessed shooter testifies against co-defendants in Pittsburg murder case
Rickey Smith testified Thursday that as he came in the back door of Ryan Bailey’s home in Pittsburg with a 9 mm pistol in his hand, Bailey looked up from the couch in his living room.
-
School district’s proposed street-closing plan questioned
Plans to close some streets near the proposed Joplin High School drew questions, including a challenge from a former Joplin mayor, during a public hearing this week.
-
Neosho council approves new golf cart contract
The purchase of golf carts was back on the agenda this week for the Neosho City Council. City Attorney Steve Hays said there were errors in the financing terms that were part of a bid approved last month for the purchase of 55 gas-powered carts from E-Z-Go for $144,195, so the purchase of a new fleet was rebid.
-
Mike Pound: Spirit of competition evident during double-overtime game
When I played basketball in high school, I played in several very close games.
Now, some people who may have known me in high school are probably laughing right now and saying, “What Mike meant to say is that when he was in high school, he came very close to playing in some games.” -
Mo. optometrist filed $40 million refund claim
A southwest Missouri optometrist who filed a tax return claiming a $40 million refund has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison.
-
Okla. receives waiver from No Child Left Behind
Oklahoma’s top education official reacted with glee Thursday with the announcement that the state is one of 10 states being granted a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law that requires students be proficient in reading and math by 2014 — but focused on getting students to “just pass the tests.”
-
Kan. House approves bipartisan redistricting bill
Power in the Kansas House is likely to shift next year from rural parts of the state to the Kansas City area after members overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan bill Thursday for redrawing their districts.
-
Fugitive in 1993 British heist arrested in Ozark
A man suspected of stealing about $1.5 million from a security van in England in 1993 has been arrested in southwest Missouri.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
