Some “Old Flora” families are descended from early settlers. Some come from people who arrived in Flora as it began to prosper, or later when the town had become established. Their descendants were not only raised in Flora, but stayed. These are the people who developed the town and who remember the events and stories that make Flora home. They are assisting in identifying people and places in old photographs and other memorabilia. Once these memories are digitized, they will keep Flora’s history alive and available via the “This is Our Town: Flora, Indiana Local History Website”.
Q&A with Legacy Project Coordinator Melissa Bishop
What do you consider the key accomplishment of your Legacy Project?
- The website gathers information about the Town of Flora that is not available elsewhere online. The content had mostly been stored in a physical archive and was generally unavailable to the public. None of it had been previously digitized. One of the most valuable and appreciated features of the site are the local school yearbooks that are now available online. The website opens the history of the town to a very broad audience.
Describe a highlight or most memorable moment related to your Legacy Project.
- Images of history panels of local buildings that were done as part of another Bicentennial project ("Flora History is Indiana History") were uploaded to this website. They generated a lot of traffic and were shared by a number of users. The county newspaper has used photos from the website in their weekly "Looking Back" feature.
How/where are you preserving information and artifacts related to your Legacy Project?
- We are creating a digital archive. Documents and items are stored using archival materials at the Flora Public Library.
Total number of volunteers who participated.
Committee Members
- Melissa Bishop, Flora PublicLibrary Director
- Cathy Butcher, Flora Public Library Adult Services Coordinator
Project Details
- Organization: Flora-Monroe Township Public Library
- County: Carroll
- Contact: Melissa Bishop, 574-967-3912, mbishop@flora.lib.in.us
- Type: Government/Municipal
- Project Number: IBC-HC-376
- Website: www.flora.lib.in.us