Paragould, AR – Contributed – The Greene County Public Library is pleased to announce it has been awarded a $2,800 grant from Arkansas Heritage, a division of the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.
The funding will support the purchase of specialized equipment for a new Memory Lab to be housed in the library’s S.S. Lipscomb Genealogy & History Research Center.
The Memory Lab will provide community members with access to tools for digitizing and preserving personal and historical media, including VHS tapes, cassette recordings, photographs, and other aging formats. This initiative will help ensure that important family and local history materials are preserved for future generations.
“This grant will allow our community to have access to equipment and guidance that will help create local historical records personalized for our area from people who lived it,” said Library Director Mike Rogers. “We feel there is an urgency to this project since we are losing valuable historical data as our agin populating finds their health failing or as they pass away. This grant will provide our community the means to compile a vibrant history through recordings and safe, meaningful, and longlasting media storage that are truly alive and preserved for years to come.”
Tonya Barnes, history room manager, echoed the remarks made by Rogers. “History is not just what we inherit—it’s what we choose to remember, restore, and share. Through memory labs, we turn fragile fragments of the past into living stories, ensuring that voices once at risk of being lost continue to shape our future.”
The S.S. Lipscomb Genealogy & History Research Center serves as a hub for historical research and archival resources in Greene County. The addition of the Memory Lab will enhance the library’s ability to support both individual and community-wide preservation efforts.
The Greene County Public Library extends its gratitude to Arkansas Heritage for its continued support of cultural preservation initiatives across the state.