It's coming down to the end of our second year in our new History Center. Well, we still call it new - it's still all new to us. We've seen a lot of new events come to our History Center. We have closed down the Pioneer Village for the winter, but visitors are still welcome to walk the grounds. The History Center itself will have reduced hours during the winter.

You know, though, that the Archives will always be open for family history researchers on Tuesdays and Fridays (except in bad weather events). Now is the time that the kids are back in school to get back on the family history research. So if you want to get out of the house plan on spending a day down here in Brown County, have a nice lunch at one of the local eateries, and bring your family history files. We just love to help you dig into your elusive ancestors.

Recently we have been building up our House History files. That is a growing hobby for many home owners. If you live in an older home, a log cabin, or just want to know the history of your property we can help you get started. If we don't have the history we can show you how to do it yourself!

We have launched a project to get our oldest newspapers photographed and put on the web. With the help of the Indiana State Library, they are at this writing working on this project. We have various old newspapers from 1857 to 1909 that have never been seen by the public. We don't have a launch date yet, but they will be put on the Library's website, Indiana Memory Project at https://digital.library.in.gov/

Our Dedication Event on April 26 has come and gone. We had a grand celebration with a ribbon cutting and speeches. Our largest crowd ever attended, well over 200 people, and had a grand tour of our new History Center. We've gotten a lot of good praise. 

We will have the History Center open six days a week in the afternoons 1:00 to 4:00 with the Pioneer Village being open on the weekends, same hours. The Archives is open for researchers on Tuesdays and Fridays 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The Pioneer Women still meet here every Wednesday and are in preparation for the Quilt Show in October. 

We are already forming alliances with the Art Guild, the Art Alliance, Peaceful Valley Heritage, etc. We are helping them to have exhibits, with research, and giving tours of our facility. Everyone wants to be here in our new building. Looks like we're going to have a busy year, but it's going to be fun!

Our time has come, we've finally moved into our new History Center. It's really beautiful with the custom craftsmanship and loads of room to grow. The Archives has almost everything unpacked and put on shelves. We have a few more shelves to get and a little more stuff to organize. We were the first ones to move in because our delicate archival stuff needed a good environment. 

The Museum Storage room is next on our list to get organized. We still have things in boxes and still have shelves to put up. The new Gift store is going to be great when we get that going. We'll have hand-crafted items from our Pioneer Women and books to sell about the history and families of Brown County.

The Pioneer Women have been busy the past couple of weeks getting their stuff organized in their new area. They will  have a work area as well as an area to store their fabrics and supplies. They have a large area to start having classes too.

You're going to have to see our Log cabin room, it is already decorated with antiques. It has an authentic wood floor, log walls from an old cabin in Brown County, a real stone fireplace, and an old fashioned charm that we all love already!

There's so much more I could describe, but you'll have to come see it on your own. Check out some of the photos on our other pages. We can't wait to get some events planned and get some visitors in here. Please come see us, you'll be inspired!

It's getting closer, we'll soon have a brand new History Center and with it a brand new Archive Department. Every day that I visit more and more is getting done. We will have an Archive room, a library, a gift shop, several galleries, a Museum storage, 2 large meeting halls, and a log room with a fireplace. We are counting down and hopefully we will get to start moving around the first week of November. Unfortunately the Archives will have to be closed for a week or two. We will still be able to take your queries, but please be patient while we pack and unpack our old documents, etc. Hope you all can come visit us in our new building. We should be all set up and ready to go by December of this year, 2014.

Christmas is almost upon us. I've seen several of my friends compiling family histories to give out as Christmas presents. Or they've reordered genealogy books that they have found useful to give to some of their family members. This is something some of you must think about if you haven't done it yet. Even if you don't think your family members are as interested in the family history as you are, time changes all things. 

I've found published family histories of my family lines - the Dunns and Conners - from a distant cousin and now they are my prized possessions. This distant cousin probably never even thought that another distant cousin would have found her work, much less loved finding it. I shared some of my early work at a family reunion several years ago, but now I've found so much more it's about time to share again. 

Even if you don't think anyone else in your family cares or maybe you don't have any direct descendents of your own, think again. There is always someone out there sometime that will be very grateful that you did it and was unselfish enough to share it with so-called strangers (distant cousins). It may not be Christmas when they find it, but it will be just as fun as getting a Christmas present. 
Rhonda, Archivist

Brown County is beautiful in the Fall, visitors are our mainstay. The Historical Society has many events occurring in the fall so check back to our website often to see if there is anything that will interest you or your family. As always the Pioneer Village is open on weekends and holidays. 

During the week is the best time to walk around Nashville and tour the shops. For those family historians the Archives is open every Tuesday for those of you who want to do research on your Brown County ancestor. The Historical Society's main focus for research are those otherwise hard to find records that you may not be able to find at the Courthouse or the Library. Hope to see you soon either as tourist or those with Brown County roots. 
Rhonda

It's that time of year again, summer, when the family historian is planning that research trip to find their ancestors. Or you may be coming back to the home county of your grandparents to attend the family reunion. Why not stop by the local library, courthouse, or historical society to do a little research for that elusive great grandparent? Make sure you do your pre-planning before you leave home. Look up all the places you plan to do research in. What are their hours of operation? Where are the particular records you are looking for? Make sure if they're only open on that one day a week that that is the day you plan to be there and maybe not 2 days too late. 

The new family historian should start at the local library - they are open late hours and 7 days a week. The courthouse has limited business hours so you'll have to plan what offices you want to spend your time in the most. If you are on a limited time schedule you need to prioritize your research area in case you run out of time. Come well prepared with family group sheets, pedigree charts, and a list of your intended accomplishments. Good luck, we hope to see some of you this summer. Remember, we are only open on Tuesdays so put that on your research schedule.
Rhonda

It's time for our Society to make some changes. Going forward to make our dream a reality, we are working toward a new History Center. For that reason our Archives will be moving to downtown Nashville at 46 E. Gould Street (red building) across from the Pioneer Village. We will get better visibility from the public and be closer to the goings-on in downtown Nashville. This will make it easier for would-be researchers to find us. We will be just down the street from the Courthouse, the County Office building, and the Public Library. So researchers will be in easy walking distance to all if you are of a mind to.

Our move will be going on during the month of October, so if you are planning a research trip during this month, please be patient with us as we may be packing and moving during your visit. We will still be open on Tuesdays from noon til 3:00 p.m. Just look for us in the new location. Please call ahead to 812-988-2899 to let us know when you are coming so we can set aside some time for you during the move.
Rhonda, Archivist

Our Archives had an Open House back in February and it was a success. We were able to connect with new county residents, artists, county government officials, and interested amateur county historians/genealogists. We plan to do it again next year. We were also able to gain some donations via new equipment and some contacts with our local county officials.  It's always nice to have a good working relationship with those that may sometime in the future want to hand down some old county records!

For those of you that want to visit the Archives for historical or genealogical research you can contact us via phone on Tuesdays at 812-988-6089. You can also contact me via e-mail at: rhonda@browncountyhistorycenter.org

It is always best to contact us first before you visit so we can better help you. The Archives are located at 1934 State Road 135 N, Nashville, Indiana. We are about a mile or so north of town next to the Orchard Motel.
Rhonda, Archivist