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Charleroi Area Historical Society needs to move its artifacts

3 min read
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CHARLEROI – Charleroi Area Historical Society (CAHS) is looking for a new location to store its artifacts.

About a decade ago, the collection of archival items in the historical society’s collection was transferred from the Charleroi Public Library to another site, but that location will not be able to store the items much longer.

Society board members decided to notify the public about the move on Facebook.

“After conferring with the board of directors, we decided to put the statement that we did on Facebook,” said Nikki Sheppick, historical society board chairman, who’s been involved with the historical society since the 1990s. “We have an elderly board of directors who really, really love their Charleroi area history.”

Sheppick declined to reveal where the items are stored.

“It is in Charleroi, but I really didn’t want to say anything because they haven’t released any information themselves,” she said. “But we can’t wait because we need to find another place.”

According to the statement, CAHS has neither the funds nor a site to house such a large accumulation of archival items.

“We feel very appreciative to the site owner,” Sheppick said. “They allowed us to move our archives there from the library when we outgrew it and allowed us to be there for a decade or more with no cost. This was all for the community.”

Sheppick said there are no plans to dissolve the historical society, only to find a new location for its collection.

She did say the society has received a lot of suggestions as to where the artifacts can be moved, and there is a location that she termed a “good possibility.”

“We’re supposed to meet with them on Saturday and we’ll have to see,” she said. “People don’t realize how much has been accumulated through the decades since the historical society started. We need to find a place, but we also need to find the funding to make the move.”

Sheppick said the move from the library to the current site cost more than $4,000.

Without support, and as a last resort, the historical society will contact the Internal Revenue Service for further counsel and action to resolve the matter.

As a way of raising money, CAHS has placed the Goaziou building at 807 Fallowfield Ave. up for sale.

The Goaziou building is the home of the original Goaziou Print Shop, and contains all of the original printing equipment. The historical society has used the building for tours and its address.

“You always have to figure out what’s the most important thing we need to do,” Sheppick said. “It was a hard decision (to sell the building), but we decided everything in the archives was more expansive to the whole community.”

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