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PCGS Home Page
Important Info.
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You can contact us at:
PCGS
PO Box 632
Bolivar, MO
65613-0632
info@pcgsmo.com
417-777-2820
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
President
Susan Sparks
Vice President
Ray Brown
Secretary
Leta Gass
Treasurer
Julie Trout
Director-at-large
Ben Gravely
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Click
here for directions to PCGS Library and Research Facility
The PCGS Research Facility is located at 120 E. Jackson,
on the southeast corner of the town square in Bolivar.
Current hours:
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and
Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
or by appointment.
INCLEMENT WEATHER
POLICY:
If Bolivar schools are closed
because of weather, the library will also be closed.
There will be no night meeting, either, if school is
closed on a Thursday. If bad weather develops on a
Thursday afternoon before the regular monthly meeting,
members can call 417-777-2820 to find out the status of
the meeting. Click here for
school closings list at ky3.com
Contact PCGS for more information.
CLOSING DATES FOR
2012:
Wednesday, July 4, for Independence Day
Monday, September 3, for Labor Day
Wednesday, November 21 through Sunday, November 25, for
Thanksgiving Break
Monday, December 24 through Tuesday, January 1,
2013, for Christmas Break
PCGS will re-open at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 2,
2013.
ALL INDEXES UPDATED
AS OF APRIL 2009
Library Holdings
Index
Arranged
alphabetically. Please click on the letter of the file
you need.
First
column is category and shelf location at the PCGS
Library.
1-10
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Polk County, Missouri library holdings
Books in the PCGS Library pertaining specifically to
Polk County, Missouri
Family
Histories at the PCGS Library
Click here to see a list of the family histories in the
library.
Microfilm
Index at the PCGS Library
Click here to see a list of the microfilm available in the
library.
Archives
Holdings Index
Go to Our
Archives page or jump right to A-K or L-Z or Open Shelves Holdings
Contact PCGS for
more information about the books listed.
TELEVISION CREW FILMS SEGMENT IN
POLK COUNTY
The Polk County
Genealogical Society Library turned into a television
studio for a few hours Wednesday morning, June 2, 2004.
The first floor of the building was the back drop for a
segment for the public television series "History
Detectives."
Click here
for the complete story and pictures. The episode aired Sept. 13, 2004.
LIBRARY
BUILDING DECLARED HISTORIC SITE
In November 2001, PCGS started the application process to
get the PCGS Library building, formerly the public
library, listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. Lou Kemp was the coordinator of the process.
The building was built by a grant from Andrew Carnegie
and the Carnegie Corporation in 1914/15. T. H. B.
Dunnegan donated the land where the building is located.
picture from the early days of the library
The building was designated as a historic site because of
its "social significance in the life of Bolivar and
Polk County" according to President Susan Sparks. It
was officially added to the National Register of Historic
Places on July 17, 2003.
For more on this story, see the article below from the Bolivar
Herald-Free Press, August 27, 2003, page 1-A.
(Reprinted with permission. A big thank-you to BH-FP!)
OLD LIBRARY IS COUNTY'S
FIRST HISTORIC SITE
By Linda Fuerst
After a year and a half
of research, the latest project of the Polk County
Genealogical Society has reached a successful conclusion.
The former Polk County Library building on the Bolivar
square, now the home of the genealogical society, has
been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
It is the first building in Polk County to be designated
as an official historic site.
The members of the society started the application
process for the historic designation in November 2001.
Lou Kemp acted as coordinator for the project, gathering
the necessary documentation about the role of the library
in community life.
"It had always been a dream of mine to get this
building named as a historic building," Kemp said.
"The other members of the society were a lot of
help; every time they were looking in old newspapers for
someone's obituary, if they saw something about the
library, they copied it, too. We gathered a lot of
information."
The building was built in 1915, funded by an $8,000 grant
from Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Corp. The Bolivar
Library Board was headed at that time by T.H.B. Dunnegan,
who also donated the land where the building is located.
The architect who designed the building, James
Heckenlively of Springfield, was also involved in the
design of the Shrine Mosque, St. John's Hospital and
other Springfield landmarks.
"This kind of research wasn't that difficult for
us," said Susan Sparks, president of the
genealogical society. "We have experience in finding
the history of people; it wasn't that different to find
the history of this building."
An application for a historic site has to go through the
state Office of Historic Preservation, which approved the
Bolivar application in April. The state office forwarded
the request to the National Park Service in Washington,
D.C., which officially added the library to the National
Register of Historic Places on July 17.
"There are two ways to be designated as a historic
site; either through architectural significance or
through social significance to the community,"
Sparks said. "We went for the social significance of
this building in the life of Bolivar and Polk
County."
The building is much less elaborate than many other
Carnegie libraries in other parts of the country, but
Sparks said she doesn't mind.
"They only had $8,000 to build with, so they spent
their money on structural stability, not on
decoration," she said. "They put big steel
beams in the floor and in the ceiling, and that's one
reason the building is in such good shape. I'm thankful
for that."
Sparks and Kemp both said they hope other owners of
downtown buildings will get involved in historic
preservation.
"We just felt this building was important to the
landscape of the square and the life of the
community," Kemp said. "That's why we wanted to
save it."
RENOVATION 2007-2010
Before
(2007) . . . . . . . . . . . . During renovation,
September and October 2007
 
Almost finished October 2007
WORK
ON THE OUTSIDE STAIRS
The library was
built in 1914; the first set of stairs failed in 1926.
New ones were built on top
of the old stairs. There was no support built for
the new stairs, hence the reason the latest ones
had bowed and cracked. The old ones were knocked out and
new ones were poured in their place.
Day 1, July 2009 .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Day ?, August 2009
 
After (2009)
WINDOW REPLACEMENT
Kenny Jones with Bolivar Insulation installs
windows at the Polk County Genealogical Society’s
Library and Research Facility in downtown Bolivar
Wednesday, January 20, 2010. All 30 windows
in the building are being replaced to increase energy
efficiency and maintain better climate control
for the documents stored in the facility. The windows
being replaced were installed in the 1960s.
Caption from page 1A, Bolivar Herald Free
Press, Friday, January 22, 2010. Photo by
Charlotte Marsch.
Other pictures by PCGS members
 
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