Poplar Bluff High School and Neelyville Yearbooks Now Available Online!!

The library is happy to present to you Poplar Bluff High School yearbooks ranging 1950-1989 and Neelyville yearbooks covering 1954-1989.  These are viewable AND searchable in PDF files, and even better, files can be saved to your computer!

A big THANK YOU goes out to the Poplar Bluff History Museum to help us fill in missing years of PBHS not owned by the library. Another big THANK YOU to the Neelyville School District for allowing us to borrow the many years we don't own.

We are in the process of getting two years of Wheatley School yearbooks digitized and will post them once the process is complete.  We hope to continue expanding this online collection with additional schools in the future.

To see the yearbooks, follow this link and enjoy!

1967 MO Death Certificates Now Available

It's a new year and Spring has arrived.  Genealogists will soon be out in force scouring overgrown cemeteries, dusting off old courthouse records, and crisscrossing the country for family reunions.

Another rite of Spring in Missouri for genealogists the last several years is the annual release of 50-year-old death certificates.  Naturally, this year is the release of 1967.  Click here to visit the State Archives database.

A bonus awaits those who haven't visited the database recently.  Additional indexing work has been accomplished on the years 1959-1967 making spouse, father, and mother searchable fields!  The wonderful development of these additional access data points will be beneficial to anyone unsure of name spelling (or spelling errors to start with!) or individuals entered with initials.

Happy searching!!

Wheatley School Yearbooks Wanted

Do you, or someone you know, have any copies of Wheatley School yearbooks? 

The library is looking to digitally preserve any copies of these irreplaceable pieces of history for future generations.

Currently, we have two copies on loan to the library, one each of the years 1954 and 1956, for this purpose.

If you would like to assist the library or have any questions, please email Shon Griffin (shon@poplarbluff.org) or Sue Crites Szostak (szostak@poplarbluff.org) or call 573-686-8639.

The deadline for this temporary loan to the library is February 28, 2018.  We guarantee the physical safety and integrity of your items will not be compromised.

Missouri State Veterinarian Ledger, 1889-1893

Example page from the Missouri State
Veterinarian Ledger, 1889-1893.

The Missouri State Veterinarian Ledger, 1889-1893 contains information on the early practice of veterinary medicine. Occupational details and travel expenses for doctors Paquin, Turner and their associates comprise the ledger. The volume also contains log entries detailing owner, location of visits, animals, nature of diseases, characteristic symptoms, and treatments; quarantine regulations pertaining to the Texas cattle fever outbreaks of 1890, 1892, and 1893; and financial reports submitted by deputy state veterinarians and livestock inspectors.

Learn more about these interesting tidbits of history by visiting the Missouri Digital Heritage website.  The database can be browsed page by page or searched by keyword. 

Contained in the ledger include the following counties:

Audrain County (Mo.)
Buchanan County (Mo.)
Grundy County (Mo.)
Jackson County (Mo.)
Marion County (Mo.)
Oregon County (Mo.)
Pettis County (Mo.)
Saint Louis (Mo.)

Butler County Archives Has Moved!

Yep, this is the right place!

The Butler County Archive has a new home!  Over the winter, the Archive moved from the basement of the old State Bank building across the street into the basement of the courthouse at 100 N. Main St.  The move isn't complete yet.  Approximately 60% of their holdings have made it across the street as of this post.

An example of how the Archive
appear when visiting.

As you can see in the photo to the left, their hours are still 9-3 Tuesdays.  Thankfully, they have heat in the winter and a/c in the summer unlike their previous location where the conditions were reversed!

When preparing for a visit to an archive or library it's always important to be informed of what's available.  The MO State Archives provides a list of which records exist on microfilm and therefore should be available locally.  Use this link to browse what's available:  State Archives - Butler County

Happy researching!

Now Playing at the Rodgers Theatre and Poplar Bluff Drive In - July 1965

Perfect for a Flashback Friday, the title says it all!

We never know what we'll find when receiving donated materials.  This gem is a perfect example of some of the happy surprises we come across from time to time.

How many of these movies have you seen?  Did you perhaps even see them at these locations?

BCGS now on Facebook!

The Butler County Genealogical Society can now be found on Facebook!  Find them here:
 https://www.facebook.com/ButlerCountyMOGenealogicalSociety/

Stop by and give them a "like", a "share", or leave a comment on their posts ranging from tips to humor.  You will also find meeting dates and topics as they are announced.