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Showers, thunderstorms expected to return into midweek

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Bear Creek Township monuments to commemorate Maj. Gen. Sullivan’s March

<p>With graduation 2017 upon them, students and others in the Greater Nanticoke Area High School have a chance for virtual time travel to graduations past.</p><p>The Nanticoke Historical Society and the school district have partnered to set up a series of displays, beginning with a look at commencement ceremonies of many years ago, the historical society has announced.</p><p>Among the artifacts in a display case in the main hallway are a 1916 Nanticoke High School diploma, a photo of the 1897 graduating class and a 1920 class ring, the society said recently. Commencement programs, yearbooks and other photos fill out the display.</p><p>I mention this display at one local high school because it points to a subject of interest to many genealogists: exploring the education experience of their ancestors. Genealogists want to know what schools their ancestors attended; whether they graduated; what activities they joined; what the other students thought of them. They also want information on ancestors who worked at the schools.</p><p>It would be wonderful if the area&#8217;s historical societies, alumni groups and libraries &#8212; to say nothing of school districts &#8212; could partner to create data bases of yearbooks, trophies, photos, artifacts and clippings for each of the many high schools that exist now and did exist in the past.</p><p>Where would these data bases go? That would be up to the activists working on the projects. Some local historical societies have their own buildings. In other cases, a library serving several towns, if it&#8217;s interested, could be a repository for materials on various old school systems.</p><p>Speed is of the essence, though. Before the mandated consolidations of the mid-1960s, Luzerne County had scores of school districts all generating materials. But people pass on, move away, dispose of heirlooms &#8212; and history and genealogy lose out.</p><p>There&#8217;s no time like the present to collect and preserve the old school materials &#8212; and earn an &#8220;A&#8221; from genealogists down the line.</p><p><strong>Records Center Update:</strong> Luzerne County Manager C. David Pedri has proposed $700,000 toward the planned records storage building in Hanover Township. Listed in the capital projects plan sent to county council are $200,000 for lighting and floor improvements and $500,000 for a public access area. Not included in the budget is the estimated $1.8 million for scanning decades of civil court records, wills and estate files to put them online. Pedri said that task will be done in-house. The council is set to discuss it tomorrow, the Times Leader has reported. Deadline to amend it is Sept. 10.</p><p><strong>News Notes:</strong> State Sen. Lisa Baker will be the keynote speaker for the annual July 4 ceremony at the Wyoming Monument. The event marks the anniversary of the Battle of Wyoming, in which a local force was defeated by a larger force of British, Tories and Native Americans. The grounds are on U.S. Route 11 in Wyoming. The event, which starts at 10 a.m., also includes a concert of patriotic music and the placing of wreaths of remembrance at the monument.</p><p><strong>Congratulations to the Luzerne County Historical Society</strong> for conducting a tour of its Bishop Memorial Library to members of the Kingston Historical Society. Librarian and archivist Amanda Fontenova led the event, which showed the visitors the range of materials the Bishop Library offers to local researchers.</p><p><strong>Congratulations also to the borough of Sugar Notch</strong> for its Memorial Day re-creation of the dedication of the President Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial. The memorial was dedicated in 1947, with former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt participating.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/web1_TOM_MOONEY-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Tom Mooney</p><p>Out on a Limb</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Out on a limb: No time like the present to preserve old school materials