If you walk through the streets of Bellefonte, it’s easy to see that it is home to Centre County history. Sprawling Victorian homes, the historic Bellefonte Train Station and the looming Brockerhoff are all glimpses into a Bellefonte from times past.
In addition to the town’s important architectural history, Bellefonte is famous for being the home of governors — seven, in fact. Of those seven men, five served as governors of Pennsylvania, while two others governed the territories of California and Kansas.
History buffs and genealogists alike know that Centre County Library and Historical Museum’s Pennsylvania Room is home to countless resources for research, including historic documents. One such collection, “Bellefonte Governors’ Papers,” which includes 20 items of correspondence, inaugural addresses and other documents of those seven governors, has not been accessible to patrons because of concerns regarding preservation.
Now, thanks to a project undertaken by Matthew Maris, a graduate intern at the Pennsylvania Room and Historical Museum and a Bellefonte Area High School social studies teacher, that has changed.
Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, a project hosted by POWER Library, provides libraries and other heritage institutions across the commonwealth a platform to share digitized documents and photographs from their unique collections. Thanks to Maris’ work this summer, digitized materials — beginning with the “Bellefonte Governors’ Papers” — are now available for use on Pennsylvania Photos and Documents. Starting in September, the library’s collection also will be indexed and made available through the Digital Public Library of America. Materials held in Bellefonte now will be shared on a national platform for researchers all over the country to use.
According to Maris, who is completing a master’s degree in public history, “Digitization is all about accessibility, discoverability and preservation. It has been a pleasure to make a range of historic artifacts more available to the public through digitization.”
Even with Maris’ many hours of work, there is much more to do, and there are many more documents that would be invaluable to researchers using Pennsylvania Photos and Documents or the Digital Public Library of America. The Pennsylvania Room now is searching for committed volunteers who will help to keep this important digitization initiative going. Those interested in volunteering can email paroom@centrecountylibrary.org.
To view the “Bellefonte Governors’ Papers” collection, visit www.powerlibrary.org/category/collection-subjects/centre-county-library-historical-museum.
Julie Valora is communications coordinator and outreach assistant at Centre County Library and Historical Museum.
