The staff of Margaret Reed Crosby Memorial Library is filling the facility’s two largest rooms with well over 3,000 books for its annual book sale. Also, the library is introducing a workshop for the public on how to preserve one’s family heritage, research family history and have fun while doing so.
The Hilda Hoffmann Memorial Archive workshop is an opportunity for those who either have a long history of family ties to the area or want to update and investigate their family’s history, compiling their findings into a family scrapbook.
“This is everyone’s chance to tap into their inner Sherlock Holmes and investigate the interesting stories of your family’s history and connect the dots to find out why you are who you are and how your family got here,” Carol Phares, Pearl River County Library System director, said. “Everyone should be knowledgeable of their family history and this is a perfect opportunity to find out.”
Phares said there are an abundance of resources at the Hilda Hoffmann Memorial Archive, located at 301 Williams Ave. in Picayune, to aid in the research of a family history. The workshop will be held May 3 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Hilda Hoffmann Memorial Archive.
The purpose of the workshop is to provide easy steps to help someone make a family heritage scrapbook filled with historical articles, pictures and other findings from research. Many seasoned genealogy researchers will be available to provide assistance. Phares said she has researched her family’s heritage for many years, and although she has plenty of holes to fill, she discovered many interesting stories that have sparked her imagination.
“While conducting some research, I found the exact church my family went to in Germany back in the 1700s through Google Maps. I could get a street view of the church and imagine my multi-great grandparents visiting that church. They also got married in that church which makes it even more remarkable,” Phares said.
For those that might not have a long heritage in the area, the Hilda Hoffmann Memorial Archive has an Ancestory.com account for members of the archive, Phares said.
Also, the Friends of the Margaret Reed Crosby Memorial Library will be hosting its annual book sale, which is one of the biggest fundraisers for the library. Phares said the sale is instrumental for its book budget and summer reading program for the upcoming fiscal year.
The library recently took a budget cut from the Mississippi Library Commission of approximately $22,000 total for the past two years, Phares said.
“The cuts are endangering the library. If I have a staff member quit, I don’t know if I could afford to replace them,” Phares said.
The book sale serves three purposes for the library, Phares said, with the main two being to raise money for the library to purchase newer books that appeal to the public and to provide a summer reading program for children of the community to keep them engaged in reading while school is out of session. The third purpose of the book sale is that it creates space for more books, keeping the library up-to-date for the public.
From Friends of the Library to people of the community, library staff appreciates the volunteers who helped set up and organize the book sale and the donations and support to the library throughout the years.
“Through donations and support, the people of the public are taking care of their library. [The library] isn’t mine or owned by one person or group, it’s the community’s and I am glad to see so much interest in keeping it up and running. It is very important to the community,” Phares said.
Members of the Friends of the Library will have first access to the book sale April 30 from 2 to 4 p.m. Then the doors will open to the public May 1-6 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. On May 1, Jim Luke will be at the book sale signing his new novel for the public.