Ironwood Carnegie Library to host Oral Histories today

By BRYAN HELLIOS

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Ironwood - The Ironwood Carnegie Library and the Ironwood Historical Society invite people to take part in recoding their personal "Oral Histories" today at the library from 10 a.m. to noon.

Lynne Wiercinski, director of the library, said preserving history is necessary for future researchers.

"We have lots of people who come through our doors every day looking at our local history section," she said.

The oral history project will allow residents a chance to share stories about their past so future generations will know about the area's history.

Wiercinski said research on family, genealogy or area history can be conducted more easily if it is a priority to preserve history now.

Ivan Hellen, life long resident of Erwin Township and local historian, is expected to be at the library to not only offer his own story for archiving, but help people identify old photos and scrapbooks.

He said the project is a worthwhile undertaking because it's important to remember the sacrifices people made to create local towns.

"More than 1,100 men lost their lives while working in the mines," he said.

Hellen said many people don't understand how important iron ore was for the survival of the nation.

"Without iron ore we would not have had a chance winning wars," he said. "The ships, the planes, the bombs were built from ore mined here."

Oral history stories will be recorded and cataloged for the Historical Society archives and available to future researchers. Those interested in sharing stories of their lives or the lives of family members are welcome to attend the event today or on the first Wednesday of each month.

For more information, contact the library at 906-932-0203.