The Benton County Genealogical Society had been calling the annex building home since 1991.
George Davidson sits at a computer in the Benton County Genealogical Society’s new location on the third floor of Philomath Museum. (Photo by Brad Fuqua/Philomath News)
After more than 33 years in the annex building near Philomath Museum, the Benton County Genealogical Society has moved. The organization’s collection of family history books and materials can now be found on the third floor of the main building, which is the former Philomath College constructed in 1867.
George Davidson, BCGS board president, said that the organization received notice in November from the Benton County Historical Society that it wanted to rent out the annex and requested the move.
“We packed all of the books up and then we had to get movers to move all the books and shelving over here,” Davidson, 81, said.
The BCGS library is open from 1-3 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month but researchers can also reach out to the organization’s Lois Courtney to make an appointment for access by calling 541-760-0405 or emailing Loiscourtney@cmug.com.
“We’re hoping that once we get organized and set up, we’ll have volunteers at least two or three days a week,” Davidson said. “When we were in the annex before COVID hit us, we were open weekends and a weekday.”
The pandemic took a heavy toll on the organization’s membership with a drop from around 70 to today’s 37.
“We need to have a membership drive,” Davidson said. “If we can get a grand opening for this place, then people can come in and see what we have to offer and maybe we can get some new members.”
The group does not have a specific date set up just yet for the grand opening but Davidson is thinking sometime this summer.
“We’ll invite the public to come and see us and probably have a desk set up here with business cards and applications for membership and we’ll have the computers going,” he said.
Membership dues are $20 per year for an individual or family.
Davidson, who was adopted and got interested in genealogy while searching for his biological father, has been the BCGS president for the past eight years.
“We had an election for new officers in 2017 and the previous president was moving back to the East Coast so I volunteered to be on the ballot and since then, I’ve been kind of stuck,” he said with a laugh.
Titles in the BCGS collection are out of boxes and on the shelves at the new location. (Photo by Brad Fuqua/Philomath News)
The organization had been known as the Mid-Valley Genealogical Society before the name change occurred in the 1990s. The group had been meeting at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library and then the First Christian Church in Corvallis before looking for a new home.
The Benton County Historical Society stepped forward with the offer to use its annex building and the move to Philomath occurred in 1991.
The Benton County Genealogical Society offers monthly programs to the public eight months out of the year — January through April and September through December.
“Depending on who the speaker is, we will have anywhere from 25 to 30 and we’ve had 40 and 50,” Davidson said about past attendance of the events.
The next program for BCGS will be an April 12 presentation by Joe Fulton, who this past year published a book entitled, “Oregon’s Little Eden: A History of Kings Valley Through the Newspapers, 1855-1955.”
As for the organization’s library collection, they have donated some materials that are now available online to the Albany Public Library. The BCGS library has computers available for use.
“I have two computers over there and then I’m going to have a third one I’m going to put over here,” Davidson said, motioning to different parts of the room. “I’m trying to get Ancestry.com to give us a discount so that we can have access … but if people have their own Ancestry account, they can come and sign in and do research.”
The BCGS makes a donation to the historical society for use of the space, Davidson said.
By the way, Davidson tracked down his biological father, who had been stationed at Camp Adair during World War II, while he was doing research in the 1990s. He was alive in Iowa at the time and Davidson met him just a year before he passed away from lung cancer.
“I have a picture of him and I together and you would think we were twins,” Davidson said.
Others searching for people from the past have their own stories — whether they involve incredible discoveries or hitting research roadblocks. But it can be a fascinating journey to experience with the BCGS library representing an option for folks who have connections to this region.