Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø's historical books digitized

Update: See the Local 4 News WHBF-TV story https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/to-keep-history-from-being-lost-augu¡­

The Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Historical Society has launched an initiative unprecedented in its 89-year history expected to benefit researchers and history buffs alike by making the Society¡¯s books freely available through Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s online Digital Commons. The AHS Book Digitization Project has already made eight books both downloadable and searchable at digitalcommons.augustana.edu/ahs. 

Lisa Huntsha, an archivist/librarian at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center who serves as the AHS secretary, says professional historians and researchers of all types are conducting more and more of their research online.

¡°By digitizing these works and making them freely available, we can increase access to their content and eliminate barriers to the material,¡± Huntsha says. ¡°This, we hope, will engender new scholarship on these subjects, and increase interest in the history of the college and its related institutions.¡±

Kai Swanson, president of the AHS, says the Society exists to preserve the history of Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø and its relation to Swedish-American immigration and culture. ¡°We¡¯re bound together by our desire to preserve and tell Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s stories, and we do this through publications, presentations, and preserving written records and artifacts,¡± Swanson says.

Since its founding in 1930, the AHS has traced the stories of Swedish-Americans who settled in the Midwest, built the Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Synod, and organized, taught, and studied at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø and Theological Seminary in Rock Island.

Huntsha notes that through the Book Digitization Project, donors have stepped forward to ¡°adopt¡± print publications, covering the cost of the digitization and supporting the ongoing work of the AHS. ¡°We started with a list of 34 books, and all but nine have already been sponsored. So it¡¯s not only helped make the material globally available, it¡¯s actually sparked interest in and support for what the Society does,¡± Huntsha says.

Members of the Society receive a regular newsletter and annual print publications free as part of their $35 annual membership. Upcoming publications include a memoir of teaching science at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø by retired Professor Robert Frank, and a collection of Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Christmas traditions and memories.