2015 LC Spring Magazine

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34 LYCOMING COLLEGE 2015 SPRING MAGAZINE
F E AT U R E S
he Lycoming County Women’s History Collection project began in 2005 with
three goals: to research the lives and contributions of women in this area and
to share their stories with the world through digitized primary documents; to
bring together cultural heritage institutions in Williamsport to make this possible; and to
secure outside funding to staff the project and pay for expenses related to the endeavor.
The project stemmed from growing interest in the Williamsport community
concerning the importance of the roles that women played throughout the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. There was also an expanding need to provide primary
research materials on women’s history to scholars, genealogists, history enthusiasts,
and students at various educational levels.
Snowden Library partnered with the Lycoming County Historical Society and with
James V. Brown Library, and applied for an LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act)
grant. We were awarded a planning grant, and our research soon made it obvious
that rare photographs, newspaper articles, diaries, correspondence, record books, and
college materials such as scrapbooks and annuals were available in the Lycoming College
Archives and the two partnering cultural heritage institutions. With the overall theme
of “Williamsport Women: Words, Images, Actions,” the project was furthered through
a second LSTA grant that provided money for digitization of the primary documents
the partners held. We were fortunate enough to obtain additional LSTA funding with a
third grant which funded the digitization of important documents held by the Alumni
Association of the Williamsport Hospital School of Nursing, the Williamsport Home
(that held materials from its early founding as the Home for the Friendless), and the
local YWCA. Further interest is obvious in other ways, with additional money given by
private donors increasing the total of outside funding to almost $100,000.
As the project continued, Dr. Amy Rogers ’92, assistant professor in the education
department, created a curriculum guide based on the materials, for use in school
students at the middle and high school levels. She has introduced it to several of the
local school districts.
Use of the online collection has
soared, with an average of 1,000 queries
each month and over 120,000 hits over
the course of the project. Although
the site is hosted on the Lycoming
College website, many searchers locate
the materials through search engines
such as Google. The collection has also
become known to researchers through
presentations by librarians at regional
and national conferences, and has
been the subject of articles in several
journals. The series “Williamsport
Women” in the Williamsport Sun-
Gazette was inspired by the materials
in the database and has attracted
considerable attention from readers.
Mary Sieminksi serves as the
projector manager with the guidance
of the director of library services
and a community-wide advisory
council. Sieminski continues to
identify more women’s groups and
papers that should be represented in
this vital area of research. Women’s
history has found its rightful place in
Williamsport’s story with the benefit
of the digital age. •
WOM E N ’ S H I S TO RY COM E S A L I V E
The Lycoming County Women’s History Collection Project
By Janet McNeil Hurlbert, Professor Emeritus of the Library, Lycoming College
T
The collection can be found online at