Category: Library News

Have you ever visited the Wall of Faces? This is a website that displays the pictures of Vietnam veterans killed in action. Some of these veterans listed don’t have pictures, and recently I was contacted at the library for information on a Leroy Sheldon. I searched the Sargent newspaper archive and found this article from 3/6/1969. Freedom isn’t free, and today we honor and remember Leroy. We also give a big THANK YOU to all of the veterans who served and are currently serving our country.

The SHS yearbooks have returned! This summer we sent the library’s collection of high school yearbooks to Oklahoma Correctional Industries. OCI scanned our collection for free and sent us back a set of seven DVDs that include Sargent High School yearbooks from 1915 to 2014 – all in JPEG format. They did a wonderful job.

We don’t have any current plans to put these online.  Some people may not appreciate having the world see their high school pictures. Another concern is that certain commercial “classmate sites” may use the information for their own website.

The yearbooks are all available on the library’s six computers.  People are welcome to come in with a flash drive and copy any years of interest.  There are also copies of the DVDs at the Sargent School library.

Here’s a picture from the 1915 annual.

Recently I was made aware of an opportunity to get the yearbooks in our library digitized for free.  My first thought was that it must be a scam, but the more I looked into it, I realized it is a legitimate program.  The yearbooks are digitized by Oklahoma Correctional Industries (OCI). OCI will send us the shipping labels and schedule a pickup through Fed Ex.  Then, after the annuals have been scanned, they will be returned to our library in the same condition that they were sent in about 5-6 weeks along with a set of DVD’s containing the digital images of each yearbook. The Garfield County Library and the Ainsworth library have both had this done, and they are very pleased with the results. Did I mention, it’s all totally free?

Here’s where we need your help. We would like to get as complete of a set of yearbooks as possible. I have contacted the school to see what years they have. We are still missing some years, so we are asking if anyone with these missing years would be willing to lend us their copy. If you have a copy, please contact me by phone 308-527-4241 or email sargentlibrary@gmail.com .

Here are the years that we need:  1914 (or older), 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954

There have been quite a few people having trouble accessing the Sargent Newspaper Archives. The most likely reason is because they are using a Chrome internet browser.   When using Chrome, the search results show up, but when the pdf link is clicked, it loads up blank. This is caused by a glitch in the Chrome pdf viewer plugin. There is nothing wrong with your computer.  The simplest solution is to use a different browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer.  If you must use Chrome, then you will need to save the pdf to your hard drive or change the pdf viewer plugin. Hopefully this will help you have a better search experience.  For more help, go to the Helpful Hints Page.

The Sargent newspaper archive has arrived.  It has been added to all 6 of our computers, and provides some interesting reading.

The oldest newspapers probably were not in the best condition when they were microfilmed, and they are hard to read.  Most of the words won’t show up in search results, but they are interesting to browse through.

I searched The Sargent Echo, from July 23, 1897. The interesting news of the day was:

“Jacob Groff, the man who was judged insane, and waiting to be taken to Norfolk, escaped from the jail last night by removing the bars from the window. “  In the editorial that followed, they were not very happy with the competence of the Custer County Sheriff.

You could get a package of coffee for 15 cents, 30#s of dried grapes for $1, and 40#s of oatmeal for $1, and 11 bars of good soap for only 25 cents.

A new drug was advertised called Vatuma.  It was an antiseptic germicide that destroyed all microbes and germs of every kind, name and nature.  People could use it as a permanent cure for whatever ailed them.  Then of course there was Dr Kilmer’s Swamp Root to be taken for back pain.

Come over to the library and search & browse for a while.