While organizing information in our township boxes into folders, I thought this would be something to share with our researchers who are not aware such a thing exists. Oh, I’ve not finished organizing, as the museum has close to 50 townships boxes; but I marvel at some of the information that has been collected in these boxes over the years. This accumulation happens not only by the staff at the museum doing research, but by our researchers sharing their information. We are always seeking more to add to our collection, so If you would like to share your Morrison County information, we would be happy to accept.
Just to give you an idea of what is found in the township boxes, I am going to tell you about the Bowlus Township Box. There is information on the history of Bowlus, but also on families that lived/live there, businesses past and present, stories, etc. There is also a book titled “BOWLUS, A Pictorial History, One Hundred Years”.
According to their acknowledgment page, it took Louis Titel, James Bieniek and Tim Jendro four years to accumulate the information it contains. There are 198 pages, and I quote from their book, photographs, historical documents, old newspaper articles and miscellaneous material. Many people contributed their time, information and pictures to help make this book possible.
This book is a good research tool as numerous family names connected to Bowlus are mentioned throughout, along with old and new photos.
I even checked it out for our family name, even though we had/have no ties to that area. At least we don’t think so, but then…you never know where your family name will “pop up”.
~ Alice Smuda