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Former Oswego Library director honored for work on preserving local history · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Former Oswego Library Director honored for work on preserving local history. This
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  article is being read by an automated voice brought to you by
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  Everlett. At their regular meeting on September 24th, the Oswego Land Heritage
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  Association Board of Directors presented former Oswego Public Library. District Director Sarah
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  Skilton with the association's 2026 Mary Cutter Bickford Award for extraordinary commitment
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  to preserving local history. Back In 1999, Sarah Skilton began her career
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  by staffing the reference desk at the Oswego Public Library. At that
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  time, the Oswego Public library district’s had one campus that was located
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  on Jefferson at Main Street in downtown Oswego. In July 1999, she
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  was appointed Library Director, replacing Barb West, who had taken early retirement
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  the previous January. And then, last September, she announced her retirement after
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  thirty-one years with the district and twenty-five years at the Library District's
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  helm. When she was appointed, Skilton’s prediction.
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  Her biggest challenge would be helping the Library cope with the district's
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  accelerating growth. The district includes all of Oswego Township, the village of
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  Montgomery in both Oswego and Aurora Townships, and small portions of Bristol
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  and Nause Townships in Kendall County and Wheatland Township in Will County.
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  All of those areas have experienced extraordinary growth during the past three
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  decades, validating Skilton's prediction. During her term steering the fortunes of the
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  Oswego Public Library District, its population grew from 25,500 to
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  more That 70,500. To handle that growth, Skilton helped organize the successful
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  campaign to obtain and build the district's Montgomery Branch campus as well
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  as overseeing the expansion of the district's downtown Oswego campus. There were,
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  of course, some hiccups along the way during that period of time,
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  like finding out a piece of land bordering Wabonsey Creek the Library
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  District was trying to buy, didn't seem to legally exist. That meant,
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  in part, working with the Little White School Museum to figure out
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  why and how that happened. But that was far from the first
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  time Skilton and the museum worked together. Thanks to her, the Oswego
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  Public Library District has, during her term as library director, donated almost
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  two hundred items to the Little White School museum collections. Including oral
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  history interviews with several longtime Oswego area residents, government reports, biographical information
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  on Mary Oswego residents of the past, maps, photos, Oswego related business
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  histories, Oswego area church and governmental histories, Oswego related postcards, books by
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  Oswego authors, local government documents and board meeting minutes, and Oswego comprehensive
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  plans dating back more than seventy years. In addition, Skilton worked with
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  the museum to mount special exhibits at the library, and the library
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  has partnered with the museum on several programs for area residents from
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  adults to children. The Heritage Association's Board of Directors established the Mary
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  Cutter Bickford Award for Excellence in Local History in 2000 to honor
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  excellence in the preservation of Oswego area history. Although the OHA Board
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  considers nominees every year, the award is not presented every year. The
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  first recipient was John Hafenrichter, honored for his contributions to the preservation
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  of the community's family and religious history. Subsequent winners included Ted Closer,
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  Helen Zamada, Stephen E. Todd, Glenn Young, Kathy Munsinger, Bob Steckel, Fred
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  Mitchell, and Judy Wheeler. The Oswegoland Heritage Association, established in 1976, is
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  an Illinois not-for-profit corporation dedicated to preserving Oswegoland's rich history. The
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  Little White School Museum is the repository for the area's archives and
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  historical artifacts, operated in close cooperation between the Heritage Associations and the
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  Oswegoland Park District. For more information, visit the museum website at www.littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org.
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  Call 630-554-2999 or email director at Littlewhite Schoolmuseum.org.