Get in the Habit is SCHRC campaign theme

The Sheboygan County Historical Research Center has announced the kickoff of its Annual Campaign for 2010, “Get in the Habit — Support the Research Center!”

Each year the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, 518 Water St., Sheboygan Falls, serves the community by collecting and preserving thousands of documents and images relating to Sheboygan County and the counties surrounding it.

Started in 1983 by a group of ambitious researchers with a dream, the Research Center’s volunteers numbered six; there was no budget and no paid staff. Today, 27 years later, SCHRC is the largest private archive in the state of Wisconsin dedicated to local history and open to the general public at little or no cost.

The collection that began with one room and two drawers in a filing cabinet has grown to fill a 9,000-sq. ft. building that is packed to the rafters with local history. Since 1983 more than 450,000 images have been collected and more than 1,000,000 documents have been made ready for use by researchers.

The goal for the 2010 annual campaign — Get in the Habit — Support the Research Center — is $60,000, or about half of the money needed to preserve this fabulous collection.

We need your help. When you receive your donation request in the mail, please donate generously. We know times have been tough lately, but your gift is so important to the operations of the Research Center. Your donation will save valuable photos and documents, support great educational programming, make information readily available for local authors and help educate school children and college students.