The search for information regarding our library and surrounding area’s resources was both enlightening and frustrating. Carol Lockhart and Daisy Rearick were both incredible resources regarding our library’s databases and resources as well as information on how to contact many of the area museums. Overall, they were able to answer many of our general questions. However, their research specialties did not completely align with our inquiries; we will have to contact Lisa Glaubitz, who specializes in Anthropology, for more help.

Also, our library only has one archivist. Amanda Langendoerfer is the Associate Dean of Libraries for Special Collections and Museums at Pickler Memorial. As such, she is extremely busy. We had an appointment scheduled to speak with her on Friday, but unfortunately she had to cancel. Therefore, we were unable to get an answer to the question about primary resources available in our library. No matter how much we searched our library catalog, Kathleen and I could not find any mention of a primary document from the Native Americans in our area. We had hoped to ask Amanda about this item, but we will have to wait until we are able to reschedule our appointment or she responds to our email.

Overall, this scavenger hunt taught me a great deal about the resources available in our surrounding area and reinforced my knowledge about the library’s resources. I had no clue that there were so many museums and opportunities for research in and around Kirksville, and I probably would not have thought to look for them without doing this scavenger hunt.

I have included a link to our findings below:

Research Questions: Google Doc Link

Edit to Post:

Amanda emailed us back and said that we do not have any primary written sources in the Special Collections department. However, we do have a large multitude of lithics such as arrow heads and axes (a page from the finding aid  is pictured below). Not all of these are specifically from the Kirksville area, but they were brought back to the area and added to people’s personal collections that were eventually donated to Pickler Memorial Library’s Special Collections.