We’ve begun at LCHS to explore what can be accomplished with new equipment purchased recently with a South Central Iowa Community Foundation grant, including a laptop computer and new scanner/printer. Among the possibilities is integrating virtually artifacts from our collection and making the result more accessible to the public. This is a very basic example of what can be done.
The photograph above of Dr. Thomas Morford Throckmorton (1852-1940) was scanned from a composite of the Throckmorton family physician dynasty that hangs in our medical display in the lower-level Crist Gallery.
In 1907, Dr. Tom prepared a speech for the September annual Lucas County Old Settlers’ reunion, reminiscing about the arrival of his family in Union and Warren townships (just north and east of what now is Derby) in 1856 and other incidents related to the early settlement of that area.
Col. Warren S. Dungan carefully preserved a transcript of that speech that was passed upon his death to the Chariton Public Library, which for many years maintained an extensive local history collection. In 1974, when the library decided it no longer wanted to be in the history business, that collection was scattered --- but a substantial part of it came to the historical society. The library’s loss was our gain and the collection now is housed in our library. Here are images of the six-page transcript of Dr. Throckmorton’s presentation. Just click on the images to enlarge and read.
Throckmorton Page 1
Throckmorton Page 2
Throckmorton Page 3
Throckmorton Page 4
Throckmorton Page 5
Throckmorton Page 6
Finally, from another LCHS collection, this one of Throckmorton family papers dating back into the 1850s, is a note from Tom Throckmorton’s brother, the Rev. John Simpson Throckmorton, a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, describing an artifact he treasured --- the ticket his father purchased in the spring of 1856 to transport his family from Keokuk to Chariton (note that there are some discrepancies between Dr. Tom’s account and Rev. John’s account).
John S. Throckmorton Note Page 1
John S. Throckmorton Note Page 2
We hope to have more of this sort of thing available here for you in the future. Who knows? You may even find YouTube at this site one day!
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