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The Beltrami County History Center is unveiling its new library and archive wing Saturday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Bemidji. The project, which took a year to come to fruition, began after the museum ran out of room for its current collection.

Emily Thabes, executive director of the Beltrami County Historical Society, said the addition is a great opportunity to repurpose museum space more effectively while expanding its collections.  

"My goal is that more folks just become aware of our presence and the resources that we make available,” Thabes said. “I think that a lot of folks have questions that come behind the histories that they hear in their family stories, and they want to fill in some of the gaps."

Thabes said the new wing will not operate as a traditional library. And visitors won't be allowed to check out materials. Instead, staff will be on hand to photocopy any information that’s gathered. 

“Our library collection is what you would consider sort of archival or special collections,” Thabes said. “Most of the materials that we have are unique, one of a kind.” 

Thabes said that includes yearbooks, phonebooks and town directories, as well as annuals from across the county. She added the museum library will also offer public Wi-Fi as well as computers to use.     

The project was funded through private donations and a Beltrami Electric Cooperative Operation RoundUp grant. And to honor the memory of two of the museum's biggest supporters and longest volunteers who have both passed, it’s being named the Louis and Mary Lou Marchand Library. 

Louis Marchand worked as an educator for many years at Bemidji State University and authored several books. His wife Mary Lou Marchand began volunteering at the county museum around 2013.

“They dedicated their lives to researching, collecting, preserving and sharing archives,” said Lois J. Jenkins, a lifelong friend of Mary Lou Marchand who volunteered alongside her for many years. 

Jenkins, who is in her 80s, said no one was more deserving of having the library named after them than the Marchands. She added that she would like to see the new addition attract the next generation of volunteers. 

"We're probably just a bridge, and then the next set of volunteers coming after we old people will have to deal with our stuff that we have left and try to figure that out,” she said. “But we will have a cohesive look at our county history."

Jenkins said volunteers are currently working on digitizing all of the museum's archives for library use.

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Mathew Holding Eagle III

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The project, which took a year to come to fruition, began after the museum ran out of room for its current collection.

Beltrami County History Center unveils new library and archive

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