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Emory Lewis
Hatteberg's People
Reporter: Larry Hatteberg
| March 30, 2003--Emory Lewis doesn't want us to forget the past. That's why he's developed an Electronic History Museum in the little town of Burden, Kansas in Cowley County. On Hatteberg's people, saving a towns history, one picture at a time. |
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Burden, Kansas is a ranching community East of Winfield. It is Emory Lewis's hometown and the place he has chosen to retire. Walking through the declining downtown, Lewis sees what was.
"This used to be a family. We all pulled together and now it's falling apart. It's fading fast you know." |
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Emory Lewis came home....back to Burden to retire from the high-tech world of Rockwell international.
"You can't bring the old days back but it would be nice to put a nice face on these old empty buildings." |
He did on one of them. It used to be the old fire station and city hall. He restored it and it is now the headquarters of the East Central Cowley County Historical Society. His mission is to preserve electronically, the pictures and stories of three communities; Burden, Dexter and Atlanta.
"I needed something to do to feel useful. You've got to do something that is fun and useful and this is as close as I can get to that." |
| Inside the two-story building, it is neatly painted with pictures hanging on the walls of both floors. Upstairs there are tables holding a computer and other tables with dozens of old pictures. |
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| Pictures he is digitizing and then storing on his computer server. Because of his technical background with Rockwell, the technology is a simple matter, but the project is massive. Digitizing thousands of old pictures from these little towns so that they'll be preserved for future generations. He has had some success. |
"Well, I've seen a couple of people cry when a faded picture comes back to life and it was their grandmother or mother or someone special to them. You know, that's a thrill."
An elderly man opened the front door of the building and walked in carrying a paper bag with yellowing family pictures. |
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"You brought that picture in. You know we were just talking about you a few minutes ago."
Folks are always stopping by, leaving pictures for digitizing. For many the past is like yesterday.
"That's what we've got to do is to get these pictures and these stories that go with them before they are gone. Local history---it is a thrill to copy it and know that it is saved."
Sitting at his computer, he can call up thousands of pictures from the past. Each one has a story. Each one is a moment in time. |
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"There's another picture that I'd like to show you. It's a dugout. And the family had all their worldly possessions outside. But it's only four or five pieces that they owned."
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With their picture radiating from the bluish computer screen, the family who lives in the dugout stands proudly by their sparse belongings.
In terms of history, it is a 'find'.
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Sometimes Lewis misses being on the cutting edge of technology with his old job.
"I shouldn't have retired. But this is more fun really. You don't have to watch the clock quite as close." |
With thousands of pictures to do, Lewis hopes his web site will be repository of local history that will last for generations.
"It's amazing how the whole community is related to each other. But we have a long way to go."
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Larry's Note: If you would like to visit Emory Lewis's web site where many historic pictures of Cowley County reside, it is located at:
www.eccchistory.org/
You can also reach him by e-mail at: elewis@sktc.net
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