A small town's history turns a new page and is preserved for future generations

A small town with plenty of history to share. At the Mishicot Historical Museum they are making sure their history can be seen and never forgotten.

• The Mishicot Historical Museum and volunteer Michael Steeber began an online collection of more than 3,500 pieces.
• Steeber says it will help preserve the history of the town.
• He says they are only a quarter of the way through scanning and uploading all of their material.

(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)

Michael Steeber, a volunteer at the museum.

"We have a large collection here of historic photos and documents,” Steeber said. “But, people weren't really able to access it unless they are able to come to the museum when it's open."

This is a problem he wanted to fix. Through a $13,000 grant from the West Foundation in Manitowoc, Michael created a digital portfolio on the museum's website.

"Of the more than 3,500 items in the collection, each item goes through quite a process,” Steeber told me.

First he scans the picture or historic artifact with a high resolution scanner. Then final touches, like photo enhancing, before the image goes into a database before it's posted on the site.

"I've heard people say they feel like they can get lost just spending hours learning about the history of our community,” Steeber said.

Michael says that this project is rare for small museums, especially volunteer led, but it couldn't be more important.

"If we want future generations to have an interest in history and continue to preserve our history, we need to spread awareness of it,” said Steeber.

Michael says that of the three thousand items in the collection, they're only about a quarter of the way to having everything scanned and uploaded. The current collection can be found here.