Capturing Crete: Historic Documents Collection

More about the collection.

Recently, the library was awarded a grant entitled Capturing Crete: Digitizing the Ray Piepenbrink Historic Documents Collection. This grant was awarded by the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board and will allow the library to work with the Crete Area Historical Society to identify and digitally preserve materials relevant to local history.

The late Ray Piepenbrink was a lifelong Crete resident and avid local historian. Over the years, he amassed a great collection of photographs, plat maps, atlases and souvenirs, among other things, which are now in the care of his son Tim. Some of the most unique items in Ray’s collection are a series of glass plate negatives that depict images of Crete taken between 1898 and 1920. Staff of CPL has recently been trained at the Illinois State Library and the Field Museum in handling and digitizing glass negatives, and soon those from the Piepenbrink collection will be added to the Illinois Digital Archives.

Additional items, such as newspapers and books on local history will also be digitized as part of the grant, and it is the library’s intention to continue the work, with the assistance of the historical society, into the future.

Stop by the library soon to view more of the images and to help identify the people and places depicted or check out some of the collection at the library’s website (www.cretelibrary.org).