Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice 2004 Township Page Renovation and Friends of Townships Bradford County PA Chemung County NY Tioga County PA

Article: Township Page Renovation Chemung, Bradford, Tioga Article by Joyce M. Tice Composite Photo by Joyce M. Tice  Tri-County Genealogy & History Sites Home Page How to Use This Site Warning & Disclaimer More Local History Articles No Unauthorized Commercial Use Say Hello to Joyce  Statement of Purpose

This standard format should make it easier for people to not overlook the valuable resources we have accumulated for them. It also allows us to see where individual township pages have been well developed and where resources are missing. Hopefully this structure will alert guests to the kind of materials they can submit to be included. The key to a township having a well developed library of resource material lies very often with the presence of a person with a particular interest in that township and the willingness to be proactive in hunting down resources for it.

With that in mind, I am implementing an idea I have had for many years and have not followed through. I want to establish a township "expert" or advocate for each of our 80 townships who will take an active role in obtaining materials to develop her/his town page for the Tri-Counties site. Ideally the person should live in or near the area although that is not a requirement. The important element is that the person has connections or will develop communication to the populace so that they have access to Bible records, school materials, organizational artifacts, photos, and other unique items that will help build our local history library. We have done a good job on getting cemetery listings and census records to the site, although more work is needed for both categories. We have made tremendous progress on getting the old history books to the site. Now we need to do more with Bibles, Photos, Church Records, School records and so on to flesh out the underdeveloped areas of the region. These are often one of a kind and getting them to the site ensures their preservation. Every day valuable artifacts are burned or sent to the dump because someone thought no one would be interested in "this old stuff." Just last week in my own area I rescued five 1940s era scrapbooks that were on their way to being discarded because they smelled bad. We need people in every township ready to save these articles. This township expert or friend should work proactively and not wait for me to ask for materials. The person should be seeking out materials for the site and submitting them and encouraging others to do the same. This is the way we need to work to continue to build the library / musem that Tri-Counties has become. Only by going out and searching for these materials can we preserve them. We can not just wait for them to come our way.

Some of the townships already have active contributors such as Kelsey for Wells, Pat for Smithfield, Esther for Liberty and Covington, Virginia for Southport, Walt for Veteran, Don for Canton, Troy,  and Columbia, Janet & Fay for Troy, Fay in Armenia, Carol for Tuscarora, Eloise in Athens and me for the Sullivan, Rutland, and Richmond area. Kelsey and Al, and I also work with Columbia, Jackson, etc. As a result, those several township pages are the most extensively developed on the site. Conversely some have almost nothing on them but the cemetery and census records. They need a friend to see that their resources are found and channeled to the Tri-County library so we can all see and appreciate that area. A "Friend" of the township can also alert me if there is material already on the site that is associated with that particular township and should be linked to it. A Friend who develops expertise may also tell me where I've made a mistake in putting something together on the township page. I am not as familiar with all 80 town areas in the three counties as I am with the several townships of my own personal interest and experience. I could well use the familiarity that some of you might have. A township friend can be an advisro to me. Now that each township page has a standard format with places for each type of material, they can be filled in. If there are churches, schools,  important historic businesses, etc. that are not listed tell me. Even if we do not yet have an article about it, we can at least put the name in so we know what we have to find. Don'e leave it all up to me to fill in all the blanks.

I will develop a chart with all the townships and all the resource categories so that we can get a systematic evaluation of each township page and see where we need to focus our efforts. If you want to be an advocate for one of our townships, please let me know and we will make a plan. Some of you may have resources but not the skills or equipment to process them for submission. If that is the case, maybe we can pair you with a person who does have that.

Be a FRIEND. Adopt a township. [ A Township may have more than one friend and a person may be a friend to more than one township.] Read article above. Once you volunteer we can assess what needs to be done for the particular township you want to take some responsibility for. I will list the volunteers on this page.
 
 

Bradford County PA Chemung County NY Tioga County PA

You are the visitor since the counter was installed on 09 NOV 2004   Published On Tri-Counties Site On 11/09/2004 By Joyce M. Tice  Email: Joyce M. Tice