Floyd County Historical Society
Celebrates 30 Years

The Floyd County Historical Society was organized in 1976 as part of Floyd County’s Bicentennial Celebration. This year (2006), the Society is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The Society has held regular meetings since 1976 with featured guest speakers at most meetings. The Floyd County Historical Society is an incorporated, tax-exempt 501 (3) (c ) non-profit public charity.

Our Purpose
The purpose of the Floyd County Historical Society has been, and continues to be, to maintain a non-profit association of persons interested in the history of Floyd County, Virginia, and surrounding areas;  to encourage the collection, maintenance and preservation of significant historical material related to the county and surrounding area; to focus public attention on the Society and its goals; to stimulate the use of the Society’s resources; to receive and encourage gifts, endowments and bequests to the Society; to support and cooperate with existing libraries within the county in developing and providing facilities for historical research in the community; and to lend legislative support where it is needed.

Current or Recent Historical Society Projects
-Sponsor educational lectures (about six per year) on topics of historical interest
-Working on a cemetery project, documenting small and forgotten cemeteries in the area.
-Working with 4-H/Cooperative Extension and the public schools on incorporating local history into the school curriculum. Helped sponsor a living history essay contest for 6th graders last year.
-Assisting with planning Floyd County’s 175th anniversary events.
-Sponsored a contest for design of a cancellation postmark in observance of Floyd County’s 175th anniversary. That winning postmark is being made available at a temporary postal station, beginning January 15, 2006.
-Arranged for the design and sale of two commemorative envelopes in honor of the county’s 175th anniversary.  One has a black and white pictorial cachet of John Floyd, the county’s namesake.  The other commemorative envelope has a color cachet of an early Floyd County court house – taken from a painting recently done by local artist, Frances Harman.  The commemorative envelopes may be purchased from the Historical Society ($2 each for the John Floyd cachet  and $3 each for the court house cachet.)
-Our Historical Society is the recent recipient of a $25,000 grant which is being used to put in place an office and staffing to enhance the Society’s ability to manage its acquisitions process, undertake important archival and preservation work and maintain the current collections through proper cataloging and storage. As part of this grant project, several hundred historic photographs will be digitized. Besides being important in its own right, this work with documents, photographs, and artifacts is necessary in order for the Society to prepare museum exhibits and make materials available for educational research to the public.
-Currently, the Society is selling archival-quality prints of historic photographs.  The prints are 11x14 in size, with a short history included with each. The prints are of Buffalo Mountain, the Hotel Brame, and early Main Street Floyd.  Each print costs $20. Profits are being given to help establish a museum.

Membership, Meeting, and Contact Information
We encourage new members to join the Historical Society.  We welcome anyone who has an interest in local history, whether they live in the county or not.  About half of our members live out of area.  We make an effort to communicate with and serve both groups.  Annual dues are $15.  Membership dues may be mailed to the Historical Society at P.O. Box 292, Floyd, VA  24091. Meetings normally are held in January, March, May, July, September, and November – on the 2nd Saturday of the month at 1:00 pm at the Jessie Peterman Memorial Library in Floyd. In addition to members, visitors are also welcome at our meetings.

For more information, contact THE FLOYD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC.
P.O. BOX 292, FLOYD, VA 24091