2012 Governor's Archives Awards Winners Announced
 In 2007 the new Lake States Railway Historical Association opened at 319 Water Street in historic Baraboo, Wisconsin. Lake States Railway Historical Association of Baraboo wins Award for Archival Achievement
The 2012 Award for Archival Achievement goes to the Lake States Railway Historical Association of Baraboo for its ongoing work documenting railroad history.
About the Award
The award recognizes a historical records repository's outstanding work in preserving and providing access to Wisconsin's historical records.
About the Association
Founded in 2006, the is "dedicated to the expansion and dissemination of knowledge on the history of railroading." The organization collects bibliographic materials, archival records and three-dimensional artifacts. The group's stated goals emphasize making their "collections available for researchers and the public, and ensuring that retrieval of specific collection items can be achieved readily using modern finding aids.
The judges cited its ongoing work to: catalog and preserve endangered collections and make them available to the public; to establish permanent site housing for their expanding archives and library; and, in the near future, to make available searchable catalogs of its collections via the association's website.
A collection description is available on the Lake States Railway Historical Association website.
 Monroe County Local History Room and Museum in Sparta. Monroe County Local History Room and Museum in Sparta Wins Award for Archival Achievement
The 2012 Award for Archival Achievement goes to the Monroe County Local History Room and Museum in Sparta for its excellent work and its entrepreneurial strategy in earning program revenue by delivering photocopies and reprints to patrons.
About the Award
The award recognizes a historical records repository's outstanding work in preserving and providing access to Wisconsin's historical records.
About the History Room and Museum
Established in 1976, the Monroe County Local History Room and Museum operates a research library, archives and a collection of museum artifacts. Although the organization continues to serve a varied clientele at the headquarters building in Sparta, the organization's leadership recognized the need to improve access to the research collections via the Internet.
In 2006 the Monroe County group engaged a Wisconsin-based website designer to create and host its website. Launched in early 2007, this modest online resource has since expanded into a robust, user-friendly resource featuring 16 indexes containing more than half a million searchable entries.
The online resource includes detailed indexes to Monroe County court records, cemeteries, naturalization records, biographical abstracts, plat books, military rosters, business directories and the county archives photographic collections. In addition, a print-based index to 231,000 articles published in seven community newspapers in Monroe County (spanning from 1859 to the early 1960s) was prepared for online access. View more information on the Monroe County Local History Room and Museum website.
A panel of judges from the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board recommended these organizations receive the award. The Wisconsin Historical Society Board of Curators' Awards Committee approved the 2012 Governor's Archives Awards.
About the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board
The Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board (WHRAB) consists of 10 members appointed by the governor. It assists Wisconsin institutions in applying for federal grants for archival work and in improving the appreciation and care of historical records in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Historical Society and WHRAB jointly sponsor the Governor's Archives Awards annually.
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