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PCGS
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You can contact us at:
PCGS
PO Box 632
Bolivar, MO
65613-0632
pcgs@alltel.net
417-777-2820
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
President
Susan Sparks
Vice President
Teresa Barker
Secretary
Julie Trout
Treasurer
Leta Gass
Director-at-large
James Whitman
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Click
here for directions to PCGS Library
The PCGS Library is located at 120 E. Jackson,
on the southeast corner of the town square in Bolivar.
Current hours:
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and
Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
or by appointment.
PCGS LIBRARY
CLOSINGS FOR 2008:
October 3 & 4, first weekend in October (Friday &
Saturday) -- (Living History Tour)
Thanksgiving Break, Wednesday through Sunday, November
26-30
Christmas Break,
Wednesday, December 24, 2008-Thursday, January 1, 2009
INCLEMENT WEATHER
POLICY:
If Bolivar schools are closed
because of weather, the library will also be closed.
There will be no night meeting, either, if school is
closed on a Thursday. If bad weather
develops on a Thursday afternoon before the regular
monthly meeting, members can call
417-777-2820 to find out the status of the meeting. Click
here
for school closings
list at ky3.com
Contact PCGS for more information.
ALL INDEXES UPDATED
AS OF MARCH 2008
Library Holdings
Index
Arranged
alphabetically. Please click on the letter of the file
you need.
First
column is category and shelf location at the PCGS
Library.
1-10
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
NEW SECTION Polk County, Missouri library holdings
Books in the PCGS Library pertaining specifically to
Polk County, Missouri
Family
Histories at the PCGS Library
Click here to see a list of the family histories in the
library.
Microfilm
Index at the PCGS Library NEW SECTION
Click here to see a list of the microfilm available in the
library.
Archives
Holdings Index
Go to Our
Archives page or jump right to A-K or L-Z or Open Shelves Holdings
Contact PCGS for
more information about the books listed.
TELEVISION
CREW FILMS SEGMENT IN POLK COUNTY
The Polk County
Genealogical Society Library turned into a television
studio
for a few hours Wednesday morning, June 2, 2004. The
first floor of the building
was the back drop for a segment for the public television
series "History Detectives."
Click here
for the complete story and pictures. The episode aired Sept. 13, 2004.
LIBRARY
BUILDING DECLARED HISTORIC SITE
In November 2001, PCGS started the application process to
get the PCGS Library
building, formerly the public library, listed on the
National Register of Historic
Places. Lou Kemp was the coordinator of the process.
The building was built by a grant from Andrew Carnegie
and the Carnegie Corporation
in 1914/15. T. H. B. Dunnegan donated the land where the
building is located.
picture from the early days of the library
The building was designated as a historic site because of
its "social significance in
the life of Bolivar and Polk County" according to
President Susan Sparks. It was
officially added to the National Register of Historic
Places on July 17, 2003.
For more on this story, see the article below from the Bolivar
Herald-Free Press,
August 27, 2003, page 1-A.
(Reprinted with permission. A big thank-you to BH-FP!)
OLD LIBRARY IS COUNTY'S
FIRST HISTORIC SITE
By Linda Fuerst
After a year and a half
of research, the latest project of the Polk County
Genealogical Society has reached a successful conclusion.
The former
Polk County Library building on the Bolivar square, now
the home of the
genealogical society, has been added to the National
Register of Historic
Places. It is the first building in Polk County to be
designated as an official
historic site.
The members of the society started the application
process for the historic
designation in November 2001. Lou Kemp acted as
coordinator for the
project, gathering the necessary documentation about the
role of the library
in community life.
"It had always been a dream of mine to get this
building named as a historic
building," Kemp said. "The other members of the
society were a lot of help;
every time they were looking in old newspapers for
someone's obituary, if they
saw something about the library, they copied it, too. We
gathered a lot of
information."
The building was built in 1915, funded by an $8,000 grant
from Andrew Carnegie
and the Carnegie Corp. The Bolivar Library Board was
headed at that time by
T.H.B. Dunnegan, who also donated the land where the
building is located. The
architect who designed the building, James Heckenlively
of Springfield, was also
involved in the design of the Shrine Mosque, St. John's
Hospital and other
Springfield landmarks.
"This kind of research wasn't that difficult for
us," said Susan Sparks, president of
the genealogical society. "We have experience in
finding the history of people; it
wasn't that different to find the history of this
building."
An application for a historic site has to go through the
state Office of Historic
Preservation, which approved the Bolivar application in
April. The state office
forwarded the request to the National Park Service in
Washington, D.C., which
officially added the library to the National Register of
Historic Places on July 17.
"There are two ways to be designated as a historic
site; either through architectural
significance or through social significance to the
community," Sparks said. "We went
for the social significance of this building in the life
of Bolivar and Polk County."
The building is much less elaborate than many other
Carnegie libraries in other parts
of the country, but Sparks said she doesn't mind.
"They only had $8,000 to build with, so they spent
their money on structural stability,
not on decoration," she said. "They put big
steel beams in the floor and in the ceiling,
and that's one reason the building is in such good shape.
I'm thankful for that."
Sparks and Kemp both said they hope other owners of
downtown buildings will get
involved in historic preservation.
"We just felt this building was important to the
landscape of the square and the life
of the community," Kemp said. "That's why we
wanted to save it."
RENOVATION 2007
Pre-renovation
 
During renovation, September and October 2007
 
 
Almost finished October 2007
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