July meeting of the Logan County Genealogical & Historical Society features Bill Donath
Donath shares and discusses videos he's made for the LCGHS

 

[July 20, 2023] 

At the July 17 Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society meeting, Bill Donath did a program about the YouTube channel he has set up for the society.

For the past several months, Donath has been scanning historical artifacts and doing research for YouTube videos he has been creating. Donath uses the free software DaVinci Resolve to set up these videos. He uses two cell phones and the camera he uses for digitizing items to make the videos.

To show how he sets up and edits the videos, Donath shared the steps involved. First, Donath adds photos and then sound with his voiceovers to describe processes like digitizing. For slideshows of images, he adds background music to the video. The videos are used to tell a story.

When Donath works on the videos, he can control the sound volume and the brightness of the images.

Each video opens with a photo of the Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society sign followed by an image of the building’s front window. The final image provides contact information for the society.

One of the first videos Donath made this past March discusses the vertical file collection he and others have been digitizing and organizing at the Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society building.

Using a file cabinet the society already had, Donath has been alphabetizing the files including miscellaneous pages. LCGHS is working on setting up digital representations of each page. Donath said they get many emails requesting information, so having digital files they can send to people is important.

To digitize documents, Donath uses a VuPoint Magic Wand scanner. He attaches the scanner to the computer using the USB port. An electric eye on the scanner reads the document and gives an image number to each page.

Once the artifacts are scanned, Donath checks the computer to see how the images look. He will then make a spreadsheet of the artifacts in the file to create the indexes.

Another video Donath has created talks about humidifying and pressing the papers. A humidifying tub “hydrates” historical papers like maps and other documents. It takes three days to humidify the papers. If there is an item with mold or mildew on it, Donath said they add a capful of concentrated Lysol to the water. A press is then used to flatten and dry the papers before digitizing them.

Many paper artifacts the society receives are tightly wrapped. In 2017, Donath said the society received the “Shew collection” found in a walled off area of the MKS Jewelry Store. Between seven and nine boxes included about 700 issues of the old Lincoln Herald newspaper. Donath put the newspapers in chronological order by month and year. Most of these papers were from 120 to 140 years ago and some were covered in dirt.

A different collection includes copies of a newsletter called the Charitable Observer. This newsletter shared information from Lincoln’s Asylum for Feeble Minded Children, later known as the Lincoln Developmental Center.

In two separate videos, Donath shows how to digitize newspapers and index newspapers.

Some videos Donath has made are of the contents of what he refers to as fire logs. These fire logs have brown paper wrapped around rolled paper artifacts.

As one LCGHS member said, [the artifacts shown in] these images provide a Who’s Who of Lincoln and Logan County in the late 1800’s.

Fire Log 1 Slides 1 is a slideshow of artifacts from one fire log includes the images Donath found the most interesting. There were ads for stores in Lincoln such as Akers and Smysor, which sold stoves and ranges. Other ads were for A. Bree Furniture Store, Boston Clothing and Shoe House in Lincoln, Alexander and Layman Fancy Grocers and Adam Denger Grocer.

Some ads shown are from Companies like A. C. Boyd and Sons Milliners, Citizens’ Coal Mining Company, the Cork Faced Collar Company and Lincoln Roller Mill.

At 134 Tenth Street in Lincoln, H. C. Alexander offered standard bred heavy weight light Brahmas along with selling eggs.

Atlanta’s L. M. Coons, a veteran stock dresser posted an ad saying he “gives castrating, spaying and deworming his entire attention” and would do “work cheaper than anyone.”

The business card for Andrew Armstrong of Beason shows he was a breeder of Hambletonian and Clydesdale horses, Poland-China hogs and shorthorn cattle. Several other ads were for sales of racing horses and provided their pedigree.

W. N. Bock Wallpaper and Stationery posted a notice about a “beautiful and valuable collection of etchings and engravings” to be shown at the business on Friday, October 23, 1891.

John A. Lutz Carpet and Millinery posted an ad September 12, 1888, inviting “snowbirds with all their relations and friends to call and see the best stock of dry goods, carpets and millinery, at lowest prices in the county.”

Cards for both the Bank of Elkhart and First National Bank are also shown in the video.

Other images include a Broadway theater ticket, an old school calendar and old abstracts. Also shown is a ticket for a November 14, 1886, lecture on “Religion and Life” by the Right Reverend J. L. Spaulding at Gillett’s Hall in Lincoln.

In Fire Log 1 Slides 3, Donath included images of several business cards from the 1880s. Businesses represented are Randolph and Company Machinery, J. B. Paisley and Son Dealers in Staple and Fancy Groceries, Parker and Son Grocers, Randolph and Company Grain Merchants, John A. Lutz (Dry Goods) Company, Wah Lee Laundry and several others.

An ad for Regner and Morgan Artistic Upholsterers says they have a full line of upholstered goods and mattresses of all kinds constantly in stock. The Wodetzki Manufacturing Company manufactured mattresses, awnings, tents and goods of all kinds and said they could get “upholstering done on short notice.”

C. W. Richards was selling Ladies’ Oxfords for 98 cents.

C. E. Ross’s ad says the company has the World’s Washer that “saves the most labor [and] takes best care of clothes.” Members were talking about how much washing machines have improved since then.

Voepel Brothers on 126 Chicago Street were manufacturers of Choice Grade Cigars.

E. M. Schuler had raffle tickets good for one chance on a 17 x 21 art medallion to be drawn January 1, 1899, at Schuler’s Drug Store.

C. C. Ewing farm a half mile west of Lawndale posted an ad for a sale of 18 head horses, 60 head of cattle, 300 head of sheep and 50 head of hogs. Another man who had sold his farm had an ad for a December 13, 1898, sale of work horses, a span mule, Jersey cows, Poland-China Gilts and various farm equipment.

Several lists of horses for sale show their names and pedigrees.

A business card for Dr. Katharine Miller, whose office was on Broadway Street, was an interesting find since there were few female doctors in the 1880s. Donath said Dr. Miller served on the Lincoln College board and was a secretary of the Brainard Medical Society.

Veterinary Surgeon Dr. C. M. Young’s business card provided his “resume” showing he was a U.S. Army veteran for six years then practiced veterinary surgery in Nashville, Illinois for twelve years; Carlinville, Illinois for two years and three months and Lincoln, Illinois for seven years.

In an ad for Real Estate Man and Promoter J. M. Morris of Lincoln, Morris says he can exchange bargains in the best neighborhood, in the best town, in the best counties in the best states in the union.

The video also includes images of a program for a Grand Masque Ball, a Mozart Chorale Union and a May 29, 1888, recital by Mrs. K. D. Thomas’ piano students.

One image is a list of Scully tenants sent to the grain elevators telling the elevator operators not to accept any grain from the tenants unless they could prove their taxes were paid. Other lists were for Stock sales of pigs and sheep.

The images of the ads, business cards and programs in these videos provide a glimpse of life in Logan County in the 1880’s.

Besides the informative and instructional videos Donath has created, he also has been recording and posting videos of the 2023 LCGHS meetings.

To watch these videos and many others Donath has posted, go to the YouTube channel LoganCoil1839. The videos offer a glimpse into the past of Logan County and how to preserve the information.

There are currently about 22 videos on the channel and Donath is continuing to create and post videos. Donath said he has 14 more fire logs to go through and will make videos from those logs.

Next month’s meeting will be held at the Logan County Genealogical and Historical Society Building on Monday, August 21 at 6:30 p.m. LCGHS member Gary Dodson will share his research on the Kickapoo Indians in the area many years ago.

[Angela Reiners]