Archives

The archives of the Davistown Museum are a component of the Davistown History Project.  Unlike our tool and art exhibits, we are just beginning to catalog our collections of archival material.  Our history project archives are a long term project which is only just getting underway.  The assembling of Davistown related materials has been hindered by a lack of interest and participation by local residents.  As our Museum becomes more well known and accepted by the local community, we hope our collection of archival material will start to grow.  One of our immediate priorities is the assembling of postcard images, either as the original postcard or as reproduced images, which document the appearance of Liberty and Montville in the late 19th century.  A local collector has an extensive collection of important images, but we have been unable to make contact with this person.  We are especially interested in copying the card that shows downtown Liberty just prior to the great fire of 1891.  A recent fire in the town office destroyed many of the records of the town of Liberty.  We hope our Davistown History Project archives will at least allow surviving archival materials to be assembled in one location.

These archives will include letters, photographs, documents, maps and family histories of early settlers, especially those prior to the Civil War.  These will include actual documents as well as photocopies of local family histories.  Since most residents of the Liberty/Montville area may not be able to lend actual documents to the library, photographic reproduction of important material will be a top priority.

If you have papers, photos, ephemera, documents relative to the Davistown History Project and would allow them to be copied or photographed, please contact the Museum.

Archive Inventory Listing
Note at the end of this listing our now growing postcard archive, complete with photographs of the front and back.