By Ashley Wedge Ashley Wedge and Drew Doebelin work on mold remediation. Cleaning Isaac Newton Sitton's desk from the Civil War Era. This week I researched information about Callaway’s fire department and their history, as well as helping clean items while learning about mold remediation, and learned how to encapsulate documents. Ashley Wedge learning how to clean documents from 1855. I gathered photos and facts about the different fire departments, from horse-drawn wagons to

By Drew Doebelin I got to do my favorite activity this week! Cleaning mold! Drew Doebelin cleaning active mold spores off an old spinning wheel. I cleaned multiple desks and chairs, and the back of our cleaning space is looking more spacious with every item we move into the clean room! I even got to clean two more items with active mold on them. I know it probably sounds weird to say that I like cleaning mold, but it gives me time to look at all the really cool items from th

By Aurora Padget Aurora Padget and Drew Doebelin presenting their work on the Colored Troops of Callaway County. This week at the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society Research Center I helped decorate the posters and cut and glue stuff onto them, I also helped with the event the following day. These help preserve the history by having people come in and learn about things by reading and listening to presenters. That is all I did to help out. Aurora Padget and author Michel

By Drew Doebelin My classes have just begun for the semester and as I'm going through introductions, it's reminded me of how many cool things I've gotten to do with the historical society so far! Drew Doebelin and Aurora Padget showcasing their display boards at Michelle Brooks' First to Freedom Book Signing and Presentation. Last week Aurora and I finished up the display boards for the Callaway U.S.C.T, and I'm really appreciative of her amazing art skills and the way she o

By Haley Sylvia, Museum Director Ashley Wedge Ashley Wedge is a senior at Westminster College. Her major is History and Museum Studies. She enjoys ancient history and architectural history. She works in the Reeves Library and was a digitization intern for the Reeves Library this past spring. We are very excited to welcome Ashley to our intern team!

By Drew Doebelin Drew Doebelin cleaning an old desk. This week, I've been finishing up the Callaway Colored Civil War Soldiers' display boards with fellow Intern Aurora. She's been doing the visual layout and art on the boards, and I have really enjoyed working with her! It's been so fun getting to see the project take physical form, and I hope everyone enjoys seeing it at the the Triple L on Saturday! On Wednesday we were able to go and clean some more objects, and Haley wa

By Aurora Padget This week at the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society Research Center I worked on cleaning the mold off of things and scanning more of the fashion newspaper clippings. Artifacts drying after mold remediation. Cleaning the mold off of things helps restore them so they can be put on display for more people to see and it allows us to keep it intact and keep it from rotting or falling apart. This keeps the history of the things alive and more accessible because

By Aurora Padget Aurora Padget scanning newspapers into our digital archives. This week for the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society Research Center I only really scanned more newspaper clippings for clothing ads. It preserves the history when we can't keep the physical clippings for many different reasons and makes them easy to access. I didn't really learn anything different this week so it was pretty laid back work since I knew what to do. I haven't helped with any event

By Drew Doebelin I finished up my summer classes this week, so I am officially on summer break (for two weeks)! It also means we are even closer to the day that I get to show off all of the fun information I found during my Civil War Colored Soldiers of Callaway project! The Presentation will be held at the First Christian Church in Fulton, MO One final highlight from this project comes from a court document accusing and charging Private George Washington (the third) of the

By Drew Doebelin Drew Doebelin helping move remediated items into a climate controlled space. Last week on Thursday, I got a chance to pack some of the items we have been cleaning into boxes and getting them ready to move back into the museum. I packed a variety of things, from a few small bibles to some church communion pitchers and cups! It was very hot that day, but seeing how much progress we are making through all the items has made me very motivated! Here's to hoping th

By Aurora Padget Aurora Padget learning how to encapsulate frail documents in mylar. This week for the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society Research Center I learned how to use the copy machine and copied a lot of papers. I also learned how to preserve old documents in their plastic sleeve things (Mylar Encapsulation). These preserve the history by keeping any physical papers safe from getting damaged, and making the copies of papers helps give more access to more people an

By Drew Doebelin The majority of what I did this week was on the project on colored soldiers in the Civil War from Callaway County. I wanted to share some highlights from what I’ve found so far! Drew Doebelin working on the Civil War Colored Troops of Callaway County Project. Although, I am only a quarter of the way through the soldiers service records, all the casualties I have found so far have been non-combat related. Diarrhea and Pneumonia being the most commonly listed,

By Aurora Padget My first week working at the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society Research Center was very laid back and everyone there was nice. My weekly tasks so far have been digitizing newspaper clippings, sorting newspaper clippings, and doing a research project on fashion. Aurora Padget and Drew Doebelin working on sorting through the Blattner Clothing newspaper clippings preparing them for digitization. This week I learned how to make the digital copies of the news

Aurora Padget "Hi, my name is Aurora Padget. I am about to be a junior at Fulton High School! I am involved with the Dungeons and Dragons Club and the Crochet Club at my school. My primary historical interest is focused on the early 1900's as well as art and fashion throughout history. I want my future career to be in character design and learning about past fashion styles will help me grow as a designer. I look forward to exploring these topics with the help of the Historica

by Drew Doebelin I’m continuing to work on the Callaway County colored troops who enlisted during the Civil War excel, (which ended up having more than 450 soldiers!) and recording what their ranks were and if they died during service, when and how they died. There will be a presentation board showing what we’ve collected on our soldiers during the August 22nd Life Long Learning session, “First To Freedom”. I’ve been helping scan memorial booklets, probate record, and newspap

By Drew Doebelin Last week, the weather was too wet to go and clean museum items. I stayed inside and worked on a project about Callaway county’s colored troops during the civil war, where I listed the names of soldiers and enlistment dates in an excel sheet. I will be working on a small presentation discussing the soldiers I found to go along with the August 22nd Life Long Learning session, “First To Freedom”, which is a book signing with Michelle Brooks. I will also be work

By Drew Doebelin It has been a wonderful two months since I started my internship/volunteering with KCHS, and I have had a blast getting to meet all the volunteers and people that make our Historical Society work! The first week I joined had the KCHS Annual Meeting, which I helped make a display board showing the progression of the Museum restoration and I got to draw the winner for the quilt raffle! Drew Doebelin draws the winner of the Quilt Raffle. I also sat in on two ses

By Haley Sylvia, Museum Director Drew Doebelin started her internship with KCHS on April 23, 2026. She is attending University of Missouri – St. Louis for her BA in History with a Minor in Information Technology. Her future career goals involve working for archives and/or museums. She has been a great addition to the team! Drew will be making weekly journal entries. Stay tuned to stay up to date!