No one is quite sure how many historic items are stashed in a vault in the Lockport building that houses the Will County Historical Society.
Much information was lost when Rose Bucciferro, 80, a founder of the society and its leader for 34 years, died in July. She kept the keys to both the building and the vault.
Society President Dick Dystrup estimates there may be up to 600,000 original documents–many with ties to Abraham Lincoln–in the vault. Lincoln was instrumental in getting legislation passed to finish the Illinois & Michigan Canal.
“The collection is our treasure, and it has a lot of national significance. … For people who are interested in research, there could be a lot of interesting things and stories that could be told if given access,” Dystrup said.
He expects the documents will be shared with researchers, scholars and the public in time.
Unearthing the contents of the vault will be just one duty for the society’s first full-time executive director, Lynne Mickle Smaczny. She was hired Sept. 11 and began working at the museum, at 8th and State Streets, on Oct. 1.
The museum, opened in 1969, is located in what was once the home and office of the commissioner of the I&M Canal when it was built in the 1830s. A Pioneer Settlement, complete with original buildings or replicas from the 19th Century, was added.
But the museum needs more than $100,000 in repairs, Dystrup said.
“Plus we were in trouble financially and only had about six or nine months operating revenue available. We came to the conclusion that we really needed to either turn it around or shut the doors,” Dystrup said.
He believes Smaczny can lead the society out of the doldrums.
“She sees the great potential that exists here in this ever-growing county, and we will put the historical society on the map,” he said.
For Smaczny, who was collections curator at the Des Plaines Historical Society, the challenge is improve the exhibits, museum, collection and its services.
“The main reason they hired me is for growth,” she said. “For a long, long time they were just here and did what they needed to do. But the county is growing so fast, and the historical society wasn’t growing as fast and neither were the programs they were offering.”
Smaczny, chosen over five other finalists, won the search committee over with her energy.
“This is like a breath of fresh air coming in,” said Judy Bredeweg, society vice president. “She’s got new ideas on exhibits, which we haven’t changed since 1972, and programming.” Smaczny plans to implement a computer records system to create a database of the collection. Each item can be digitally scanned to allow viewers to see documents.
“It will provide better access and better information and preserve the collection because we aren’t handling the collections,” she said.
That process could take up to 10 years and won’t come cheap. A $25,000 grant from the Lockport-based Give Something Back Foundation will help.
“We would like the dollars used for collection preservation because there are some really significant things in that collection,” said Steve Cardamone, executive director of the foundation. “We would like to see it matched in the next six- to eight-month period. We’d like to create a sense of urgency and get people fired up about it and raise some dollars.”
