Historic Preservation & Research

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 there are more good weather days!

Drew Doebelin and Aurora Padget learning the process of Mylar Encapsulation.

Aurora and I learned to encapsulate a set of documents related to Shamrock, Missouri. Like Aurora said in her blog post, encapsulating was much easier than I thought! We were able to finish getting the documents scanned and in the protective mylar 'folders' very quickly, and ended our day making copies of some WW1 document books.

Drew Doebelin and Aurora Padget working on Mylar Encapsulation.

Over the weekend I've been making some progress on our Civil War colored soldiers, and I wanted to share one of the most interesting soldiers I've found so far: Private George Yancey of the 68th Infantry, Company C, wrote two letters home to his family asking about their whereabouts, if they were doing well, ect. He wrote from Memphis, Tennessee and at one point in a letter described the area as having "five times as many soldiers camped around us as there are people in Callaway County."

George Yancey's letter home.

The two letters were from June and September of 1964, and he signed each letter as "your affectionate husband, George Yancey". Unfortunately, his wife Amanda Yancey and their children were not able to reunite with him before he passed that same year on November 28th of Dysentery.

George Yancey's sign off to his wife.

Private Yancey was born in Pittsylvania, Virginia (though written as Pennsylvania, Va on his documents), and was 48 years old and a citizen of Callaway County before he enlisted in Jefferson City. While I have enjoyed learning more about Callaway County's history through this project, it's soldiers like George Yancey who showed his dedication to his family even while fighting for his country that really reinforce my love for history and for Callaway County.

Also just wanna say thank you again for the opportunity to work on this project!!! I am having so much fun with it, when I found his letters I literally screamed!