KERNVILLE, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern River Valley Historical Society’s recent efforts to fireproof their research annex is about more than just saving a building, it’s about saving the history of the valley itself.
- The Research Annex was opened in 2007 and houses many historical documents and artifacts.
- Using money from a grant, the historical society was able to pay to further fireproof the structure.
- The museum is also preserving their documents by scanning and digitizing their entire collection. The process will take years of volunteer labor.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. We will have wildland fires here, we are in a wildfire landscape.”
John Newman, President of the Kern RIver Valley Historical Society told me it was a years long process to receive a grant that’s now allowed them to further fireproof the Society’s Research Annex building.
“We had firefighters and other experts come in to give us their evaluation on the best things we could do with this building.”
The project involves replacing the paneling on the building with fire-resistant material.
Fire safety is on the top of their mind, especially after all the documents and artifacts at the Havilah Museum were lost this year due to the Borel Fire.
“I can't think of a worse way to lose your complete heritage,”
The building, which the society built itself and opened roughly 7 years ago, is more fireproof than the Museum across the street.
In case of a nearby fire, they have plans to move the most important items from the Museum to the Annex.
“Our overall intent is to make it a vault for our historical objects, our most valuable objects, all the documents”
Started in 1967, the Historical Society has played an important role in preserving the history of the Kern River Valley –
“This is our complete heritage of the Kern River Valley. It all mostly resides in these two buildings.”
The society runs the free museum and has amassed a large collection of documents – like maps and photos
As well as other historic items - like these clothes.
“See this is why this place needs to become a vault.”
And the recent construction is only part of their preservation plan
“In the long-run what we are looking at for preservation is our archiving, our digitizing and scanning program.”
With all volunteer labor, the museum has been undergoing an extensive archiving process, scanning books, photos and maps and documenting all known information about that item.
“It's a very long process, it requires a lot of manpower, but one thing we have in the museum is a lot of passion.”
Newman, who spent his career in firefighting, said wildfire danger isn’t going to go away in the KRV.
“How do we protect our communities? We're just trying to protect one building because it is full of priceless artifacts, but our towns are priceless too.”
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
