One search across the association’s photographs, letters and clippings, with a map you can slide through time, a timeline and a web of connections. This preview runs on 59 records from the association’s own captions.
Safe scans come first. Everything else is built on top of them.
Proposed from region 2
Charles Reil edited The Waconia Patriot
1916 · from the photograph’s caption
Building
Sherman House
1882 to 1977 · Elm Street
Waconia’s first hotel. The 1904 storm took most of its roof; razed in 1977.
“The first hotel, the Sherman House, was built in 1882.” WHA, About Us
?Who is this?
My uncle, Tom, third from the left
How do you know? Family photo album
Four rules the archive keeps, shown with records from this preview.
Every fact has a source
The profile links to the association’s own page that says so, and to the caption that dates its razing to 1977.
Open the Sherman HouseDisagreements stay visible
One page says 30 beds in 1936, a caption shows 10 beds about 1938, Ridgeview’s history says 27 in 1954. All three are kept until a reviewer decides.
Open Dr. Harold NagelApproximate stays approximate
Dates are stored as the source wrote them. Filters use a range, but the page always shows “about.”
Open John YetzerSimilar names stay separate
Three Yetzers appear in the captions. They stay three people until a reviewer confirms how they are related, and any merge can be undone.
Open Joe YetzerA charitable gift that funds collecting stories from the people of Waconia and scanning the collection.
$5 a month, or any amount
Tax deductible as the law allows. Rather give once? Make a gift or volunteer to scan.
To the Waconia Heritage Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, as a charitable gift. It pays to collect stories from the people of Waconia in their own words, and to scan and store the collection.
Scanning starts once the equipment pledges help pay for is in place. Members see each collection as soon as it is reviewed.
No. The archive opens to members first, and the association decides item by item whether anything becomes public.
Yes. Members can upload photographs, name the people in them and share memories. A volunteer reviewer checks each addition first.
They stay with the association. Scans are copies; nothing is cut, re-sorted or altered, and folder labels are copied exactly as written.
It is donated to the association and released as open-source software, with Waconia as its first home. The association keeps control of its collection and its data.
