Cottage Grove Genealogical Society marks 50 years, plans open house and large digitization effort

Deborah Montsev, president of the Cottage Grove Genealogical Society, addressed the council on June 23 to mark the society’s 50th anniversary and to outline preservation and community programs.

Montsev invited the public to a fiftieth‑anniversary open house on Wednesday in the Shepherd Room (2:00–6:30 p.m.) where attendees can tour the Ellis Memorial Research Library, pick up a free "getting started" packet, and talk to volunteers and local experts. She described the society’s ongoing digitization project, which is part of long‑term disaster‑preparedness efforts, and encouraged at‑home volunteer participation for scanning and indexing.

Montsev said the society has more than 10,000 indexed obituaries and life‑event entries in its database and that volunteers logged 2,397.25 hours in 2024. She reported a private donor’s recent grant to acquire equipment to digitize a full pallet of negatives and slides from the Sentinel—an estimated 700,000 images—and said the society has agreed to be the repository for bound local newspapers on permanent loan. Montsev also explained that earlier digitization through the University of Oregon’s historic newspaper project revealed microfilm oxidation and OCR problems, underscoring the value of retaining originals for higher‑quality re‑digitization.

Montsev closed with an invitation to attend the society’s programs (monthly meetings, history pubs at the Axe and Fiddle) and stressed that the society’s aim is to preserve local family histories and make them accessible for research.

"Cottage Grove Genealogical Society is where discoveries happen," she told the council.